Your Team - Marco's Pizza Franchise

Jack Butorac
Chairman & Co-CEO

Butorac has more than 40 years of restaurant industry experience and specializes in helping high-quality brands grow and succeed. He purchased the franchising rights for Marco’s Pizza from the founder in 2004. At the time, Marco’s was a regional brand with 123 stores. Butorac knew that Marco’s was ideally positioned in the industry, thanks to our authentic Italian roots and standard-setting quality products. “It deserved to be a national brand,” he says. He quickly began building a management team capable of driving growth and supporting franchisees.

Qualifications:

President and CEO for Tumbleweed Southwest Grill
Senior Vice President of Operations for Fuddruckers
Vice President for Chi-Chi’s

Read more:

Investors.com leadership profile

Nation’s Restaurant News coverage of Operator of the Year award

Tony Libardi
Co-CEO & President

Libardi has over 30 years of successful restaurant experience building profitable organizations within highly competitive markets. Libardi joined Marco’s in 2014 and was promoted to Co-CEO & President in January 2021, from President/COO. Libardi has evolved Marco’s into a performance-driven culture that puts ‘People First’ including employees, franchisees and our customers. Libardi is focused on product, process and technology to grow the brand to new heights. Prior to joining Marco’s, Libardi spent 10 years running a $1 billion division of Burger King Corporation as the Vice President of Company Operations leading a restaurant portfolio of 750 locations with combined sales of approximately $900 million annually and over $145 million in EBITDA. Libardi also ran the joint venture between Magic Johnson and Burger King, serving as the principal liaison in a huge marketing initiative.

Qualifications:

Vice President of Company Operations for Burger King
Director of Company Operations for Friendly’s Ice Cream
U.S. Marine Corps, 2nd Division, 2nd Tank Battalion

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PizzaMarketplace.com profile

Forbes magazine’s look at Marco’s success during the coronavirus pandemic

Gerardo Flores
Chief Development Officer

Flores has nearly 20 years in franchising with to-level leadership roles in real estate. He joined Marco’s Pizza in September 2022 and is responsible for developing U.S. and international growth strategies. His core focus centers on streamlining the franchise development process to be able to grow Marco’s at a fast and efficient pace. A proven track record of hands-on real estate and strategic market planning experience informs Flores passion for franchise development.

Qualifications:

Vice President of Real Estate at Tropical Smoothie Café
Vice President of Real Estate at Jersey Mike’s Subs
Sr. Director of Development at Quiznos
Real Estate Manager at Cold Stone Creamery
Property & Lease Manager at PetSmart

Paul Williams
VP / Real Estate

Williams has 20 years experience in real estate, focusing specifically on restaurant development since 2008. He joined Marco's Pizza as Vice President of Real Estate in October 2022. In his role at Marco's, he leads a team of real estate directors who have regional responsibility to assist franchisees with real estate development in coordination with commercial real estate brokers, landlords, area representatives, and the operations team. Paul and his family live in Dallas, Texas. He holds a BA from American University and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

Qualifications:

Director of Real Estate, Jersey Mike’s Subs
Director of Real Estate, Whataburger Restaurants
Manager of Real Estate, Dunkin’ Brands

Steve Seyferth
EVP / Chief Growth Officer

Steve joined Marco's as Chief Marketing Officer in early 2017 and led the launch of the company's first national marketing campaign. Over the past six years, he has held a number of executive positions helping Marco's grow rapidly as they approach 1200 stores. In March 2023, was promoted to Executive Vice President, Chief Growth Officer overseeing all aspects of Marketing and Development.

Qualifications:

Seasoned marketing executive with experience in building brands for blue-chip clients such as Domino’s (national and co-op), Ford, Coors, General Mills and Quaker Oats which was highlighted by leading the development of Gatorade’s “Be Like Mike” campaign featuring Michael Jordan
Diverse media and internet background as VP at both AOL and AT&T AdWorks
President and Owner of SSG, a marketing and consulting analytic practice built off the Six Sigma platform for clients such as Ford Motor Company, Volvo, AT&T and Marco’s Pizza

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QSR profile

Denise Lauer
Chief Marketing Officer

Denise has a 20-plus-year history of building brands and accelerating growth for companies on an international scale, including over a decade of experience specifically within the food industry

She has an extensive background developing high-performing, data-driven marketing, and communications strategies for both startups and leading brands, including Morton Salt, PepsiCo – Quaker Foods & Snacks, FedEx, and Eaton Corporation.

She joined Marco’s Pizza in June 2023 as Chief Marketing Officer responsible for brand strategy, national advertising and media buying strategy, digital and social medial, web/app experience, product development and innovation, promotions, multicultural marketing, field/regional marketing, and consumer engagement.

Qualifications:

Previously Chief Marketing Officer with Informed Group and Morton Salt
Proven track record of developing and executing strategies that help strengthen financial performance and brand equity.
Passion for unlocking growth potential in businesses, brands, and teams, by partnering with cross-functional leaders on growth strategies, including innovation, e-commerce, digital transformation, and new product launches.

Photo Credit: Lori Sapio

Jeff Rager
Chief Financial Officer

Rager joined Marco’s Pizza in February 2019 as its CFO. Rager is responsible for overseeing the business intelligence, financial strategy, accounting, and capital planning for all Marco’s Pizza’s companies. Rager’s deep restaurant and retail brand experience includes Yum! Brands/KFC, Mast Industries Inc., Ignite Restaurant Group, Inc. and Granite City Food & Brewery. He broadened his experience base by spending five years with Accenture providing business strategy consulting services. Now as Marco’s Pizza grows to new heights, his focus will be to improve the profitability, operational efficiency, and financial performance of the brand while facilitating access to growth capital. Rager graduated from Miami University and has an MBA from the JL Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University.

Qualifications:

CFO of Granite City & Brewery
CFO & SVP/Finance, Ignite Restaurant Group

Richard Stanbridge
EVP / Chief Information Officer

Stanbridge has been with Marco’s since 2017 as CIO and was recently promoted to EVP/CIO. Rick is the driving force for all technology affecting every area of our operation including customer experience, franchise productivity and future enhancements. He has extensive experience building and managing data and infrastructure operations for large corporations.

Qualifications:

Over thirty years in the QSR industry as founder of Fidelity Communications with over 34k QSR site customers
Executive at Ford Motor Company with positions on Ford’s Marketing Roundtable as well as Ford Aerospace Satellite Technology
Holds numerous product patents for telecommunications and data products
Previously a franchisee within another national pizza brand

Milton Molina
VP / Store Technology

Molina joined Marco’s in 2019 and was promoted to VP of Store Technology in September 2023. He has 25-years of experience in QSR and a vast background that includes Finance, Analytics, Operations, Supply Chain, Procurement and IT. Over the years he has continuously taken on new challenges and has served in a variety of leadership roles with an increase in responsibilities. In his most recent role, he successfully led the implementation of Marco’s propriety order management system in +1,100 stores in just eight months. Prior to joining Marco’s, he worked with Burger King and Pollo Tropical, domestically and in Latin America / Caribbean. Molina has an MBA from Florida International University in Miami, Florida.

Qualifications:

Regional Operations Manager for Marco’s Pizza
Director of Operations for Pollo Tropical
Regional Operations Manager in LAC for Burger King
Procurement and Supply Chain Manager at Burger King
Domestic and International Experience

John Meyers
Chief Operating Officer

Meyers joined Marcos in January 2020 and currently serves as our Chief Operating Officer. In this role, he leads the FP&A, Marketing Analytics, Operations Analytics and Business Intelligence team. Meyers is passionate about finding ways to leverage insights that drive sales and profitability for the system. Meyers has a Bachelors in Economics from Eastern Illinois University and an MBA from the University of Florida.

Qualifications:

Extensive leadership roles at Darden Restaurants, The Walt Disney Company and Ruby Tuesday
Board Member for the University of Florida’s Hospitality and Tourism School

Tim Brown
EVP / Chief of Operations

Brown is a 40-year pizza veteran working his way up from a pizza delivery driver to head of Operations at Marco’s. Brown has been a Marco’s Pizza Area Representative and Franchisee for more than a decade. In his current role, Brown leads restaurant operations for both franchise and company-managed locations.

Qualifications:

Proven success as an Area Representative and strong relationships with franchisees
Owner of multiple Marco’s restaurants
Senior Vice President of Operations for the largest Domino’s Pizza franchisee, overseeing stores in eight states and two foreign countries

Danny Singh
SVP / Franchise Operations

Singh has more than 25-years in the QSR industry serving in a variety of leadership roles with both franchise and corporate store operations. He joined Marco’s Pizza in 2015 and overseas Area Representative (AR) territories both nationally and internationally. His core focus is consulting with both ARs and franchisees on how to optimize operations to maximize sales, profits, and the brand experience. Prior to joining Marco’s, Singh worked for several top brands including Burger King, Whataburger, and Miami Grill.

Qualifications:

Senior Director of Franchise Operations for Marco’s Pizza
Director of Operations for Burger King
Director at Whataburger
Market Manager Orlando/Daytona at Burger King
Franchisee with Miami Grill

Marie Brown
VP / Franchise Relations

Brown was named Vice President of Franchisee Relations in June 2020 a critical role in communication between Marco’s and our franchisees. Prior she was Vice President of Field Marketing where she was instrumental in securing new print and digital media partners for Local Store Marketing efforts.

Qualifications:

Restaurant experience includes Domino’s Pizza and Max and Erma’s Restaurants
Michigan State University graduate with a degree in accounting and began her career in public accounting
Marie and her husband have been successful franchisees and Area Representatives with Marco’s since 2008

We're here for you

Executive leadership

Jack Butorac

Tony Libardi

Growth & development

Gerardo Flores

Paul Williams

Marketing & Finance

Steve Seyferth

Denise Lauer

Jeff Rager

Technology

Richard Stanbridge

Milton Molina

Training & support

John Meyers

Tim Brown

Danny Singh

Marie Brown

Get to know us

See for yourself

Let's get rolling

Let's get rolling

Jack Butorac
Chairman & Co-CEO

Tony Libardi
Co-CEO & President

Gerardo Flores
Chief Development Officer

Paul Williams
VP / Real Estate

Steve Seyferth
EVP / Chief Growth Officer

Denise Lauer
Chief Marketing Officer

Jeff Rager
Chief Financial Officer

Richard Stanbridge
EVP / Chief Information Officer

Milton Molina
VP / Store Technology

John Meyers
Chief Operating Officer

Tim Brown
EVP / Chief of Operations

Danny Singh
SVP / Franchise Operations

Marie Brown
VP / Franchise Relations