Meet Our Team
Tony Gemignani
Founder / Partner
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.
George Karpaty
Founder / Partner
In addition to being one of the founders and operators of The BackBeat, Ruby Skye, Slide, Aura, Pizza Rock Sacramento, Dive Bar, District 30, Reunion, Pizza Rock Las Vegas, Slice House by Tony Gemignani (Rohnert Park, CA), George Karpaty has been in the food and beverage industry for 40 years. His parents owned various restaurants located in San Francisco and the Bay Area and George learned the many aspects of the family business. George attended and completed the Hotel and Restaurant Hospitality Program offered at San Francisco City College. Some of the various positions George has held includes Food and Beverage Director for The Holiday Inn in Belmont, Director of Operations and Executive Chef for ShBoom Nightclubs, Corporate Chef for Hobee’s Restaurant Chain, Executive Chef for Lloyds of San Francisco, Executive Chef and Owner Operator for the critically acclaimed Gray Derby Restaurant along with numerous consulting positions with National Purchasing Associates. George has been married to his wife Lynda for 40 years. Has two adult children and four grandchildren.
Trevor Hewitt
Founder / Partner
Trevor entered the nightlife industry in 1999 as Founder and CEO of Mixed Elements, one of the West Coast’s largest promotion companies. Mixed Elements produced events in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Miami. Trevor quickly moved into ownership and marketing operations of San Francisco Bay Area nightlife venues, including Ruby Skye, Slide, Aura, Dolce, Circa, Apartment 24, and Sno-Drift. In 2011, Trevor and his partner, George Karpaty, opened three new venues in Sacramento, bringing 7000 people weekly to The New K Street: Dive Bar, District 30, and Pizza Rock (along with Celebrity Chef/Partner Tony Gemignani). In 2013, Trevor and his partners, George and Tony, opened Tony’s of North Beach and Slice House in the new Graton Resort & Casino in Rohnert Park, CA (operated by Las Vegas’ Station Casinos). Also in 2013, they brought Pizza Rock to Downtown Las Vegas to the new Downtown 3rd. In 2015, they opened another Pizza Rock in Henderson, NV at Green Valley Ranch Hotel and Casino. In addition to Pizza Rock, they own/manage and/or license a total of 10 Slice House by Tony Gemignani locations.
Frank J. Finelli
Founder / CFO
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.
Bill Ginsburg
Vice President of Operations
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.
Rona Ellen Grinnell
Accounting Manager
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.
Megan Hewitt
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).
Amanda Smith
Area Manager
Amanda has been a Las Vegas resident for over 20 years. She has worked at various nightclubs and restaurants in the Vegas valley. Starting out as a food server, she quickly rose to be a restaurant manager, eventually ending up as the AGM of Downtown Pizza Rock before it’s opening. She continued to grow with the company, from AGM, GM, to Area Manager. Numerous team members have been promoted to supervisory and management positions under her guidance.
Anthony Andreason
Chef
Chef Anthony Andreason came from humble beginnings. Always knocking down obstacles, and overcoming things beyond his control, the culinary world was no different. With no formal culinary education all Anthony needed was his “I’ll make it happen” attitude, and he took his native lands of Las Vegas by storm! Using his work ethic, adaptability, and natural leadership skills, his culinary story began.
Starting as a dish washer at Herbs and Rye, Anthony navigated his way into and through each station in the kitchen. After honing in on his broils skills, and ability to manage a continuous flow of fine dining tickets, Anthony stepped into his new position as executive chef. Not long after Anthony accepted the executive chef position of Bunkhouse, a contemporary new music venue, serving up a twist on bar food. Starting to really gain a passion and enjoyment in the kitchen Anthony had a yearning to take his career even further. Using this momentum he branched out into yet another lane of food, and opened Itsy Bitsy as their executive chef also. This ramen and whiskey restaurant served as an opportunity to learn to develop flavors, and that is where he really began to tell his story through food. With his desire to step even further out of his comfort zone, Anthony’s story continued and he ventured into the art of pizza.
You have been able to find Chef Andreason for the last three years at Pizza Rock GVR, Downtown Pizza Rock, or one of the Slice Houses in Las Vegas. The culture that Anthony effortlessly establishes in kitchen also extends as far Sacramento and San Francisco. His current position as executive chef of Pizza Rock, and working under the 13 time world renowned pizza champion, Tony Gemignani, reflects his determination to remain unstoppable, with proof that there is so much more to be written.
Michael Anthony Levitt
Director of Promotions
As a hospitality, promotions and marketing/advertising professional with 20 years experience in
