Category: Team Members

Coming soon

Tony Gemignani is the chef and owner of nearly 30 restaurants in Northern California and Las Vegas: Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, Capo’s, Tony’s Coal-Fired Pizza, and several Slice Houses throughout the Bay Area; Pizza Rock in Sacramento and Las Vegas; and Tony’s of North Beach and Slice House by Tony Gemignani in Rohnert Park and Las Vegas.

A 13-time world pizza champion, Tony has been perfecting his craft for more than two decades and holds an impressive set of awards for his pizza making and tossing skills. He is proprietor of the International School of Pizza in San Francisco, where he certifies chefs from around the world, and is an official U.S. Ambassador of Neapolitan Pizza by the city of Naples, a prestigious title only given to three people in the entire world.

Tony has appeared on a number of popular shows including “Good Morning America”, “The Today Show”, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, and was a regular on Food Network, including taking home the gold medal at the Food Network Pizza Champions Challenge. He is the author of PIZZA, Tony and the Pizza Champions, and most recently, The Pizza Bible, the definitive book on pizza.

Director of Human Resources

San Jose native J5 is in her 6th year as Director of Human Resources with Pizza Rock/Slice House. However, she has worked for George Karpaty for 20 years.

The majority of her time has been in the hospitality operations, however she possesses experience in several aspects of human resources. This includes strategic planning, performance management, federal/state law compliance, onboarding implementation, employee benefits, compensation, payroll, and training and development.

J5 also ensures that all policies and procedures for the company are properly applied in the corporate office as well as all restaurant locations.

J5 went to San Jose State University and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science.

Social Media Manager

Since 2015, Megan has managed all of Pizza Rock and Slice House’s social media marketing efforts. Megan is a hospitality industry veteran with prior positions at Drai’s (Las Vegas), Vessel (San Francisco), and Apartment 24 (San Francisco).

Rona Ellen Grinnell is the Accounting Manager at Pizza Rock, where she works to manage the corporate accounting department for restaurant operations in multiple states by maintaining constant interaction with Company officers, managers and employees.

In 18 years with the company, Rona has excelled from starting as an accountant for a few of the companies local night clubs, such as BACKBEAT, SH-BOOM, AURA and RUBY SKYE. And because Rona has proven herself to be a very focused, hardworking and loyal contributor to the organization, she was promoted to the manager position.

Prior to joining Pizza Rock, Rona was in the semiconductor industry as production analyst at IMP Corp. and production control for FOCUS INTERCONNECT.

A graduate from San Jose State University, Rona holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance with a Minor in Economics. When not hard at work performing daily miracles, she enjoys spending time with her husband Michael, spoiling her dog Kaylee, collecting Hello Kitty items, antiquing and working on her house.

Frank J. Finelli has been a CEO, COO, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of a variety of companies for the past 40 years.  Frank is currently the CFO and one of the Managing Members of the Pizza Rock organization. He has been Secretary Chairman and CFO of a multitude of restaurants and late night entertainment spots of a multitude of companies which Ruby Skye was the flag ship venue.  Additionally, Frank is the President and sole owner of Third Wave Enterprises, which is a mini-conglomerate that encompasses management and financial consulting, taxes, accounting, business planning, capital acquisition, financial planning, investments, rental property management, and sale of variety of real estate that is located in Los Gatos, California.

Further, Mr. Finelli has directed the financial group of a multitude of technology companies in Silicon Valley in various capacities including serving on their Board of Directors for many years. Frank is currently a member and previously a director and officer of the Financial Executives International of Santa Clara.  He is a member of the National Association of Accountants  Also, Frank is a member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents, Mission Society of Enrolled Agents and CA Society of Enrolled Agents, Santa Clara County Board of Realtors, and National Board of Realtors.  Frank holds a real estate broker’s license with the State of California and a tax license with the Internal Revenue Service.  Additionally, Frank holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Accounting and Management from Fordham Fairleigh Dickerson and Santa Clara Universities, respectively.

Promotional Director – Pizza Rock / Slice House

As a hospitality, promotions and marketing/advertising professional with 20 years experience in restaurant, nightlife and corporate events, Michael has always strived to create conscious and creative marketing platforms for culinary success. Graduating from the University of Oregon in 1998 with degrees in Public relations and Advertising he began his career immediately after graduation as the marketing manager for KBA Advertising representing brands such as Stolichnaya Vodka and Patron Tequila.  In 2004 Michael partnered in ownership and full-time marketing management with the pioneering supperclub San Francisco / Los Angeles restaurant group/ As supperclub San Franciscos’s chief Promotional manager for over 10 years Michael successfully promoted and produced multiple marketing campaigns that greatly influenced the California experiential restaurant landscape.  Proudly joining the Pizza Rock / Slice House team in 2015 he continues to promote with pride, originality, esthetic artistry and community engagement while always “Respecting the Craft” that is Pizza Rock.

Laura Meyer first entered the restaurant industry in 2006 at the young age of 16. She began working alongside Tony Gemignani right from the beginning in which he quickly became her mentor. During her college career Laura studied abroad in Italy where she learned to speak the language as well as embrace the culture and love of food. It was during this year abroad that Laura was first introduced to the competition side of the pizza industry. After graduating from SF State in 2011 with a Bachelor’s degree in History Laura moved from Tony’s first location to his main location in San Francisco, Tony’s Pizza Napoletana. At 22 Laura took on the Kitchen Manager role and transitioned into the Head Chef and head pizza maker position. In 2013 Laura entered the Pizza in Teglia (pizza in the pan) division in Parma, Italy and went on to win first place as the first female and the fist American to win this category. The next year, in 2014, Laura went on to win top honors in the Non-traditional division at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. During that same year Laura was voted one of the top 30 Under 30 by Zagat. Since then Laura has gone on to be recognized by various publications such as Hoodline, Thrillist, and Restaurant Hospitality as well as been listed as SF Chronicle’s Rising Star Chef’s, one of Eater’s Young Guns, and even noted as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 for the restaurant and Beverage Industry in 2016. In addition, Laura is a speaker at The International Pizza Expo hosted by Pizza Today magazine and has been the administrator and one of the teaching assistants at Tony Gemignani’s International School of Pizza since 2012. Recently Laura has left the Head Chef position at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana to pursue the Corporate Chef position with the Pizza Rock Restaurant Group.

Coming soon

Bill Ginsburg was born and raised in the restaurant business in Chicago. His family owned and operated a few neighborhood bars on the North Side as well as a Mobil Four Star French Restaurant. Early on in his career he was voted the top General Manager in the country by his peers as well as top Regional Manager two years later. He has been with both Boston Market and California Pizza Kitchen during their initial growth phase when each had single digit locations.  He has previously been selected to sit on a panel discussion with Jim Sullivan, one of the foremost authorities on Restaurant Leadership. Bill was recruited by the President of AEG to relocate to California to run the Food and Beverage at The STAPLES Center and Microsoft Theater. During his time there he was directly responsible for the operations that catered to The Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Kings, The Grammy Awards, ESPY’s. BET Awards, and MTV awards just to name a few.  He left STAPLES to start his own consulting firm while looking for that perfect fit. He found it with the Pizza Rock group and has never looked back. Bill still enjoys amazing relationships with everyone he has crossed paths with. From Former Owners and CEO’s to the in-store operations team from Busser to General Manager.  He is an expert on building teams and inspiring brand loyalty while simultaneously delivering strong profits and inspired leaders.