Our senior leadership team is comprised of restaurateurs, culinary professionals and foodies who embody our Passion Principles and believe in the importance of local restaurants. We call ourselves the food travel experts and are passionate about bringing a “taste of place” to airports throughout North America.
With 25 years’ experience in the food and beverage industry and with SSP America since 2014 as Chief Executive Officer, Michael Svagdis leads a talented team driven by an unparalleled passion for bringing cool, authentic restaurants to airports that reflect a taste of place. Michael’s tenure is marked by his ability to assemble a world-class executive team who have collectively driven dramatic corporate growth of 300% in annual revenues since Michael joined SSP America. The team simultaneously developed a unique corporate culture based on a set of highly embraced principles. Called the PASSION Principles, the Principles were imparted to each manager and employee during a continent-wide effort to unite the company around one set of ideals. The result has been a dramatic decrease in employee turnover and increased employee satisfaction.
George Mboya is the Chief Financial Officer and is responsible for over $700 million of revenue generated across SSP’s US and Canadian divisions. George oversees all financial elements of the company, including finance, accounting, payroll and treasury. George also manages the loss prevention team and information technology department, ensuring well-organized support for the company’s operations. George has over 20 years’ experience in managing financial operations and directives in three different countries. He joined SSP America in 2017 following 13 years with Compass Group.
Pat Murray is SSP America’s Executive Vice President and is charged with developing and growing the company’s portfolio across North America. Pat oversees a division responsible for business development, design & construction, brands & concepts, strategic partnerships and, corporate marketing and communications. Pat has been an instrumental force in realizing SSP America’s vision of delivering a ‘taste of place’ to North American airports, driven by SSP’s strong alliance of award-winning local brands, impassioned culinary professionals and leading restauranteurs. Pat is also recognized for spearheading unique strategic partnership models that have helped to drive innovation and transform business development within the travel food and beverage industry. His leadership and extraordinary commitment to the industry have been integral to SSP America’s dramatic and continued growth.
As General Counsel, Jag Singh provides leadership to the business as the primary legal advisor to the Company’s senior management and Board of Directors. Jag advises on all legal matters including major domestic and international contracts and transactions, and matters relating to joint ventures, corporate governance, licensing and litigation. Jag is considered a highly effective, strategic and practical transactional attorney with over 20 years of diverse experience in various fast-paced environments.
Lieske Renz is SSP America’s Vice President of Human Resources. In her role, Lieske is responsible for building a strong talent pipeline to support SSP’s customer service promise and growth expectations, as well as further cultivating SSP America’s culture to inspire passionate food travel experts in a supportive and enthusiastic working environment. Lieske leads SSP’s overall human resources strategy of “Cooking Up Experts” including talent acquisition, leadership development, diversity and inclusion, employee education and development, organizational design, compensation and benefits, as well as policy implementation. Before joining SSP America, Lieske was most recently the Senior Vice President of Shared Services for Liquor Stores N.A., as well as the Senior Director of Human Resources of YUM! Brands International.
Pat Banducci is a seasoned hospitality and travel retail industry executive with a twenty-seven year career leading successful operations, business development and financial teams. As the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Pat is responsible for harnessing the commercial strength of the North American portfolio in order to maximize current and future growth and maintain a competitive position in the marketplace. Areas of responsibility include commercial strategy development and oversight, passenger marketing, restaurant openings, operational automation and excellence as well as business controls. Prior to his role as CCO, Pat served as the Chief Operating Officer for SSP America.
Bob Como leads SSP America’s procurement team, providing oversight of the purchasing and distribution of all goods and services across the North American operations, ensuring quality, value and customer satisfaction are met.
A 30+ year food and procurement veteran, Bob’s career is noted for an ability to build strong, large-scale supply chains for prominent food companies. By building strategic sourcing plans, Bob has specialized in process improvement in contracting and cost management strategies. Under his leadership, the SSP America procurement team has developed business improvement processes as well as manufacturer and distribution agreements in the U.S. and Canada.
As Executive Chef & Vice President, Culinary, Robert Maluso has a broad set of responsibilities that ultimately center on delivering SSP America’s world-class culinary experience to each customer we serve. Robert leads a distinguished team responsible for menus, recipes and culinary innovation. He partners with SSP’s marketing team to create exciting new proprietary brands and ensure the SSP America brand portfolio remains refreshed, relevant and meets global passengers’ dietary needs. Robert also oversees SSP America’s food cost and waste management programs, as well as kitchen design and layout. He serves as a culinary point of contact for all local restaurant partners and chefs and, is actively engaged in the pursuit of new business opportunities.
