NFTA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Red Hook Lobster Pound Food Truck Co - Founder of District Maryland and Virginia Food Truck Association
Job Titles:
- Counsel at the Global Law Firm Squire Sanders
- Red Hook Lobster Pound Food Truck Co - Founder of District Maryland and Virginia Food Truck Association
Douglas Povich is Counsel at the global law firm Squire Sanders where he practices communications and technology law in Washington, DC. In 2010, Doug started the Red Hook Lobster Pound food truck, which serves fresh Maine lobster rolls throughout the DC metropolitan area and has won numerous local and national accolades. Putting his J.D. to good use, Doug became a founding member of the DMV Food Truck Association, serves as Chairman of its Board of Directors and helps to promote food truck industry growth and persuade area governments to adopt reasonable mobile vending regulations. A frequent speaker on food truck regulations, trends and social media, Doug hopes that his law career someday will be eclipsed by his life as a burgeoning food truck entrepreneur. He received a B.A. from Union College in 1982 and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1985.
Job Titles:
- Andrew Zimmern 's Canteen Founder and President of Minnesota Food Truck Association
- Founder and President of the Minnesota Food Truck Association
John Levy is the Founder and President of the Minnesota Food Truck Association which he founded and organized after launching his own food truck with his friend and partner, Andrew Zimmern (Andrew Zimmern's Canteen) The MFTA is a nonprofit organization that represents all of the food trucks in the State of Minnesota (currently over 65 trucks are members).
When not working tirelessly for the MFTA and Andrew Zimmern's Canteen, John has over 28 years of experience as a corporate, business and securities lawyer at the law firm of Nilan Johnson Lewis, P.A., focusing his practice on advising small- and medium-sized businesses (up to $250 million in revenues), including public and privately held companies and their boards, owners and management on all aspects of corporate structuring, organization, financing, ownership and management. John has completed many middle market merger and acquisition transactions ranging from several hundreds of thousands to several hundreds of millions of dollars, has advised on over 20 initial public offerings aggregating in excess of $1 billion in capital raised as well as numerous private placement and other types of private financings. An experienced negotiator and mediator, John has developed substantial industry experience in manufacturing, construction, printing, real estate development and high tech.
John is actively developing an expertise in Food Truck Law and helping to develop the food truck community in the State of Minnesota and nationwide. John lectures regularly on food truck matters and corporate and securities law. John believes that food trucks create a wonderful nexus of entrepreneurship, great food, diversity, education and the American Dream of owning one's own business. He has worked with city and state governments, restaurants, regulatory authorities and other stakeholders (both for and against) in the development of food trucks.
John received a B.A. in philosophy and political science from the University of Vermont in 1982 and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law in 1985.
Jon Hepner is the co-founder of Aroy-D. the Thai Elephant with his wife Pupay. After spending 20 years in corporate IT, he realized his dream of launching his own business. With the culinary skills belonging solely with his wife, his skills were in being an all-around handyman and having solid business acumen. In the spring of 2011, they bought a 13 year old tool truck. For the next six months, Jon used the internet and DIY TV shows to learn how to build a food truck. Every night, he worked to convert the old tool truck into the first and only Thai food truck on the east coast.
The Thai Elephant opened in fall of 2011 into a burgeoning but challenging food truck scene in the Garden State. One year after opening the state was hit hard by Superstorm Sandy. The Elephant's attempts to help fell upon deaf ears since the trucks in the state were not "organized" and funding was not available to help a single truck provide hot meals to those in need. Local "Elefans" stepped up and the truck spent each weekend down the shore giving away hot meals. But the experience led Jon to see the importance of organizing the NJ trucks that could have mobilized in a matter of hours with the right support.
Job Titles:
- CEO and Co - Founder of SoCalMFVA
- Co - Founder and CEO of the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association
Matt Geller is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association and the Founding President of the National Food Truck Association. The SoCal MFVA is a non-profit organization that represents upwards of 130 mobile vendors in Southern California. Under Geller's leadership, the SoCal MFVA has successfully expanded rights and business opportunities for mobile vendors in over 30 jurisdictions in Southern California, while working cooperatively with Health Departments to promote balanced regulations and effective enforcement mechanisms. Geller's "Association" model has become the national standard for food truck advocacy, with Geller having assisted over twenty cities, including New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Dallas, to establish similar associations. At the request of these regional associations, Geller founded the National Food Truck Association to provide information, strategic partnerships, and a collective voice on interstate issues.
Geller is also an entrepreneur. He is a founding partner and executive of Best Food Trucks, Inc. - the developer of a revolutionary software platform that connects food trucks with event organizers, health departments, and consumers.
After almost a decade in the restaurant industry, Geller obtained his juris doctorate from UCLA School of Law in 2008. His recent publications include The New Food Truck Advocacy: Social Media, Mobile Food Vending Associations, Truck Lots, & Litigation in California & Beyond, published in the Chapman Nexus Law Journal, and the forward to David Weber's The Food Truck Handbook.
Matt's background is both in the restaurant industry, where he managed several successful operations and in the law. Matt obtained his juris doctorate from the UCLA School of Law in 2008. Follow him on Twitter & Instagram at @mattgeller.
Job Titles:
- President of the Philadelphia Mobile Food Association
Rob serves as President of the Philadelphia Mobile Food Association (PMFA) and is also Secretary of the New Jersey Food Truck Association (NJFTA). He owns nationally recognized food trucks, The Cow and the Curd.
Job Titles:
- Owner
- Board Member of the Craig Willinger Fund
- Co Founder and Special Advisor
- Owner of Au Jus Solutions
Willy Dely is the owner of Au Jus Solutions, LLC, a consulting agency based in Baltimore, Maryland, offering event planning, social media marketing and consulting services to restaurants, Hospitality and mobile food businesses. Willy has mastered the food truck and restaurant scene in Baltimore, and has been at the forefront of the surge for mobile food since 2009.
The food trucks he managed created an incredible following not only for their daily lunch offerings but for private catering from business happy hours to formal wedding receptions. The idea of using the food trucks not only as a way to sell a pre-arranged menu, but as a mobile kitchen to provide gourmet catering options, has been the driving force for making the trucks some of the most sought after in the area.
Willy founded, and spear-headed the Maryland Food Truck Association as its first President, working hand in hand with local legislators in forming the policies and regulations to benefit both mobile vendors and brick and mortar establishments. Given that Willy worked as the Director of Operations for five brick and mortar and two food trucks, he is aware of the sometimes conflicting needs of both types of businesses.
In his spare time, Willy is a board member of the Craig Willinger Fund which was founded in honor of a friend lost to cancer. This charity helps cancer survivors realize their soccer dreams by sending them all over the world to see their favorite team play.
Available for conventions and conferences, Willy's expertise in the industry is an invaluable asset. As a board member for the National Food Truck Association, Willy and his fellow members seek to share their knowledge and expertise with other food truck vendors and create a partnership of like-minded individuals across the country.