Nancy Sharp

President and CEO

Jill Barnes

Vice President Catering

Since she co-founded the company in 1983, Ms. Sharp has been an essential part of its success. In her role as managing partner, she leads the sales and marketing departments, while shaping the company’s brand image and growth strategy. Her professional background combines formal training with hands-on experience from Hyatt and Hilton Hotels. Ms. Sharp was recently inducted into the University of Illinois at Chicago Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.

Ms. Barnes has been in the food business for over 20 years and has a passion for food, people and hospitality as well as a deep understanding of the sales, operations, culinary and warehouse functions of the off-premise catering business. She started in the specialty and bulk retail food business. She joined Blue Plate Catering in 1988 and eventually became a partner in the business and the Director of Sales. Since 2002, Ms. Barnes has operated her consulting and business development company in Chicago and has worked with multiple local and national catering companies.

Dan Pinsel

Vice President of Finance

Russ Benson

Vice President, FFT Hospitality Group

Mr. Pinsel has over 20 years of finance experience, including the last 10 years in the food service industry as Finance Director at ARAMARK. He has successfully led teams in the areas of budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and analysis. He also provides significant experience in project management and contract negotiations. In addition, Mr. Pinsel worked at Rand McNally, Federal Express, and Midway Airlines. He received a B.S. degree from Indiana University and a MBA from Tulane University.

After graduating from Johnson & Wales University with degrees in Culinary Arts and Food Service Management, Mr. Benson worked in the restaurant and hotel industries, primarily at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. He then served as a senior member of the client-liaison leadership team at MBNA America Bank where he managed multiple onsite foodservice operations in Delaware, Maine, Ohio, Maryland and New Jersey. Russ currently oversees the FFT Hospitality Group Division. Additionally, he has served on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Society for Foodservice Management – serving as SFM President in 2006.