James C. Pappas has served as a member of the Board since September 2023. Mr. Pappas is a member of the Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee. Mr. Pappas founded JCP Investment Management in Houston in June 2009 and is the Managing Member and owner of the firm. From 2007 until 2009, he was a private investor, in addition to consulting with several businesses. From 2005 until 2007, he worked in the Investment Banking/Leveraged Finance Division of Goldman Sachs, where he advised private equity groups and corporations on appropriate leveraged buyout, recapitalization and refinancing alternatives. Prior to that, he was an investment banker at Banc of America Securities, where he focused on consumer and retail investment banking. He has been the chairman of the board of directors of Innovative Food Holdings, Inc., a direct-to-chef and restaurant specialty food platform, since 2023, and a director since 2020. Mr. Pappas is also a director of Tandy Leather Factory, Inc., a specialty retailer and wholesale distributor of leather and leather related products, a position he has held since 2016. Mr. Pappas previously served on the boards of several public companies, including food-related businesses such as Jamba, Inc., The Pantry, Inc., and Morgan’s Foods, Inc. He currently also serves as Secretary for the Endowment Advisory Board of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Houston and on the Methodist Hospital Gastro Division’s Advisory Board in Houston.
Mr. Pappas’s thorough understanding of restaurant and food businesses, in addition to his expertise in corporate finance and experience on several public company boards, make him a valuable addition to our Board.