Columbus, GA
General Manager at Eurest/Compass Group. Founder of Fuzzy Petioles LLC. Board member, International Aroid Society. Florida State grad. MPA. Twenty years of making things work.
Who I am
I grew up in Florida, youngest of three, with a dad who spent weekends rewiring, rebuilding, and fixing whatever the house needed. That's probably where the systems thinking started - not from a textbook, but from watching someone figure out a problem and then do the work.
I studied English and creative writing at Florida State before spending 20 years working my way through every level of operations management, from catering manager to general manager of a seven-figure corporate dining account. The writing degree turned out to be more useful than most people expect. Clear thinking, clear communication. That's most of the job.
I got into plants because of a trip to Ecuador in 2019. What started as curiosity became a business - Fuzzy Petioles LLC, a direct-to-consumer aroid operation I run out of a converted carport greenhouse in Columbus, GA. Six-figure revenue, built from scratch. I also serve on the board of the International Aroid Society, where I chair the events committee and help govern a nonprofit I actually care about.
I've been quietly sober since December 2021 - a health and wellness choice that's made everything else work better. I live in Columbus with my wife Sam, our dogs Window and Lolly, and a few thousand plants.
On the job, Eurest/Compass Group
Experience
Full P&L accountability for a private corporate dining operation in a high-visibility executive environment. Seven-figure budget. Rebuilt a high-risk account during a leadership transition, secured a multi-year contract extension, and led the largest wage increase in account history. Managed complete COVID shutdown and restart.
Built a specialized direct-to-consumer plant business from zero to six-figure annual revenue. All operations solo - greenhouse production, inventory, fulfillment, customer relationships, product development through selective hybridization. Also holds a registered cultivar: Anthurium 'Amy', named for my mom.
Elected governance role for an internationally recognized nonprofit. Lead the flagship annual fundraising event. Authored governance policies on ethics, risk management, AI use, and organizational process. Supported the organization's first formal grantmaking cycle.
Advanced from Catering Manager through Catering Director, Food Service Director, and General Manager. Multi-million-dollar operations, university dining, large-scale event execution, team development.
Education
The rest of it
The greenhouse is a big part of daily life - 2,000+ plants, most of them aroids, in a converted carport that took most of the summer of 2024 to build. If you want to understand what I actually spend my time thinking about when I'm not working, start at fuzzypetioles.com.
I love driving. My dad gave me a die-cast 1967 Porsche 911 when I was a kid and that was it. I drive a Taycan now - electric, which at least partially resolves the cognitive dissonance of being an environmentalist who loves going fast.
Baseball and college football. Florida State grad, so college football is something I have opinions about. I am a Tampa Bay Rays fan - my dad pulled me out of class in 7th grade to go to one of the first Devil Rays games ever, upper deck right over home plate. That was it. The franchise has gotten good enough now that the patience and optimism required have become almost a personality trait.
I spent years building computers and custom keyboards and I still dabble. The plants took over most of that time and mental space, but the instinct to understand how things work doesn't go away.
I grew up doing DIY repairs and renovations with my dad. We've done a lot to our house in Columbus since we bought it in 2016 - enough that I know which projects to hire out and which ones I can handle myself, which is its own kind of knowledge.
My nephew is from Florida - my late brother's son. I travel back home a few times a year to see him and family, and enjoy the place and nostalgia-inducing space I grew up in, just long enough to want to leave again.
