Regional Vice President, California

Tayha brings a wide variety of experiences and expertise to our team. Most recently with KBP Brands serving as Regional Vice President, Tayha focused on team building and development, creating systems and processes, delivering operational efficiencies, franchisee relations, acquisitions, and new restaurant openings.

With more than thirty years in the food and hospitality industry, other professional experiences include positions of varying levels with Yum! Brands, Rubio’s Restaurants, Inc., and Boston Market. Additionally, Tayha has held a variety of operational and corporate function roles of increasing levels of responsibility during her career progression. She is grounded in her ‘why’ which is a strong passion for her teams’ success, delivering on her promise to partners and continuous improvement. Tayha holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Phoenix.

Tayha currently lives in Vista, CA, and has two children, Nick and Katie, and two granddaughters, Brooklyn and Audrina. Katie is in Oregon finishing up her pharmaceutical degree and Nick lives nearby. Away from work Tayha enjoys spending time with her family doing watersports, spending time in nature and helping others. She lives by the motto – Love your space, love your people and it will come back to you.

Liz Miller-Galvond, is a passionate and resourceful business leader committed to building strong client partnerships and elevating teams’ performance. Liz was the Resident District Manager at California State University, East Bay starting in 2021, where she led the team to consistently execute excellence in service, focusing on creating and delivering an exceptional student experience.

Liz has worked in higher education dining services for nineteen years. Before embarking on a career in contracted services, Liz was an Executive Chef in a privately owned restaurant immediately following the completion of her associate degree in culinary arts and science. Liz later pursued and received her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration with a specialization in human resources from Regis University.

With experience, innovation and data-backed strategies Liz is proficient at leading teams to success. She is recognized as a developer of talent, and a strategic and thoughtful client partner.

Liz resides in Brentwood, California with her husband and daughter where she raises chickens and koi. She and her husband grow olives for a private local olive brand. In her spare time Liz enjoys gardening, Pilates, cooking and decorating.

Omar brings with him a wealth of experience in catering and foodservice management. The majority of Omar’s career was spent with Sodexo at Toyota’s North American Headquarters, where again he worked up from a cashier position to become an Area General Manager. He has now been with Chartwells since 2019, first coming onto the team as the Dining Director at Portland State University and transitioned to be the Resident District Manager at CSUN in 2020 and most recently stepping into the District Manager Role for Southern California's CSU Partnership. Omar’s passions in life extend beyond the foodservice industry. He lives in the San Fernando valley with his wife and is a proud father of 4, one a graduate of CSUN and the other currently attending UCLA. Together they enjoy attending basketball games and shooting hoops. Omar loves to stay active and has completed over 30 marathons in his lifetime. He has even participated in two Iron Man races, despite admitting he is a very poor swimmer. Omar is also passionate about photography, and early in his career, he worked as a photographer for events such as the Emmys and Oscars. He loves the adventure of finding beautiful landscapes as much as he loves photographing them.

Suzanne Kim comes to Chartwells with a background in marketing, operations, culinary and finance. She worked in the financial services sector before leaving it all behind to begin a career in dining, moving cross-country to attend The Culinary Institute of America. Staying on the east coast, Suzanne coupled her management, marketing and culinary experience in NYC restaurants, corporate dining and higher education locations. Moving back to California, Suzanne is enjoying the sunny winters and working with the Chartwells team!

Born and raised in Southern California, Joan Chang (goes by “Jo-Ann”) began her marketing career as a marketing intern/coordinator at Mt. San Antonio College. After graduating from CSUF with a degree in Communications with a focus in PR, she landed a promotion to Field Marketing Manager at the showcase account of Loyola Marymount University for a major contract service provider. There, she ran the university dining program for 2 years. While there, she further developed her skills for program management, event planning and coordination, graphic design, and team building.

Joan is thrilled and excited to bring her skills and background to the District Marketing Manager position for Chartwells Higher Ed in the Southern California region. She hopes her engagement and support for the clients, managers, associates and guests in her district will blossom under her support.

In her free time, Joan enjoys baking all sorts of sweets for those she loves, as well as for non-profit organizations, lounging around with her adorable yet mischievous kitties, and tending to her small patio garden.

District Chef

Chef Johnston’s love of food started as a child from sitting on his grandmother’s kitchen counter and watching her cook. That time then translated into attending La Varenne Ecole du Cuisine in Paris, France. After graduating in 1985 Chef Johnston worked in the top hotels and restaurants in the San Diego area for the next 27 years. Chef honed his skills at renowned San Diego places like Mille Fleur, Top of the Cove, The Rancho Bernardo Inn and The Star of the Sea. As Chef of the Star of the Sea, Chef Johnston was invited in 2003 to cook at the James Beard House in New York. Years later Chef Johnston became Executive Sous Chef at the San Diego Convention Center. In this position chef learned the challenges of feeding great food to 3000 people at one seating, buffets for up to 4000 and building themed food courts. All of this led to Compass and Morrison Living as Corporate Executive Chef and then Sr. Corporate Executive Chef for the last 10 years.

Born in San Francisco and raised in the beautiful mountains just outside of Yosemite National Park, Bernadette Falany-Davis, our Sustainability Manager, has always had a love for California and its natural wonders. Her work and passion for sustainability began right out of high school, earning her Crop Science degree, and later earning AA/AS degrees in Food and Nutrition, Business Administration, and Accounting. Though her career has taken her to many places, mostly recently she has served as the Director of Nutrition and Food Services at the local regional medical center, which serves her entire county and Yosemite National Park. While there, she became a community leader of sustainability, partnering with multiple county entities to create a culture of environmental conscientiousness. Though new to Chartwells, Bernadette is excited and prepared to meet each site’s unique sustainability needs.

During her free time, Bernadette owns and operates her own small-batch, all-natural baking company called Mama Bear’s Kitchen Co. She loves to travel overseas and stateside, her current travel goal being to visit every national park. She has been married to her husband Trent for over 20 years, and together they are raising their three children, ranging in age from 19 to 7. As a family, they love organic gardening, tending to their chickens, hiking, and camping throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Division President, West

Joe Fischioni is a Division President with Chartwells Higher Education responsible for the management, growth and leadership of multiple higher education foodservice operations across the Western United States.

For eleven years and prior to Chartwells Higher Education, Joe worked for Aramark Corporation and led teams in varying roles throughout the transient hotel, private conference center, business & industry, and healthcare industries. Fischioni joined Compass Group as a Regional Director in March 2015 and was quickly promoted to Regional Vice President in May 2016. In June 2018 Fischioni advanced again through organizational restructuring and now leads as Division President.

Once Chairman of the Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Council, Joe developed and led the inclusion strategy for two Compass Group organizations (Chartwells Higher Education and Chartwells K-12 Diversity) impacting over 45,000 associates representing more than 400 accounts nationwide.

Fischioni has a Master in Business Administration and he, his wife, Amber, and their son, Ethan, currently reside in Phoenix, AZ.

Divisional Marketing Director, West

Nikki Hamzaeff is the Chartwells Higher Education Divisional Marketing Director for the West Division. She is responsible for the overall marketing strategy for the West Division.

Nikki has been with Chartwells Higher Education since May 2018 as a District Marketing Manager in California for the CSU accounts. She previously worked for Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, managing and coordinating all marketing and design efforts for their dining program. She worked for Cal Poly Campus Dining for 9 years, managing the marketing program for 27 dining operations and supporting the strategic plan for Campus Dining as a whole. Passionate about company culture, Nikki helped to create Cal Poly Corporation’s culture team which is responsible for providing team building and cultural growth to 3,000 dining employees. She also has owned her own Marketing & Design consulting company in SLO for the past 10 years. 

Hamzaeff has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and currently resides in Pismo Beach, CA with her dog Harley.

Robert has been with Chartwells Higher Education since September 2018 supporting all accounts in the West Division. In this role, he is responsible for all finance and accounting activities including accuracy of transactional processing, timely reporting and maintenance of internal process controls. Prior to joining Higher Ed, Robert served as Finance Director for Wolfgang Puck Catering (another Compass Group sector) for three years and for Aramark.

Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics from UC Santa Barbara and earned his CPA license in the state of California. He is also a certified Six Sigma Black Belt Champion.

Robert is a native Californian, currently residing in Orange County with his wife Betty and son Jonathan, a high school senior. His daughter Emily will graduate from the University of Utah with a Kinesiology degree in 2022.

Director of Business Development

Michael is the Director of Business Development for Chartwells in the West, focused on new partnerships and growth. He joined Compass Canada and Chartwells in 2017 and moved to Chartwells USA in 2021. For six years prior to Chartwells, Michael was the Director, Business Development for the higher education segment at Sodexo.

Michael helps build creative, customized and innovative client led partnerships focused on student success and engagement. Born and raised in a hospitality family, some of his earliest memories are from his dad’s family hotel and restaurant in Amherstburg, Ontario, which they ran for over 20 years. Throughout high school and university, Michael had many jobs in food services including dishwasher, line chef, server and bartender at banquet halls, restaurants and events. These experiences have fueled a lifelong passion for food service, and help when developing partnerships and operational strategies.

Originally, from Toronto, Ontario, Michael graduated with a BA in Communications from Wilfrid Laurier University and Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management from Sheridan College. He now lives in Orange County his wife Amanda, their son Peter, daughter Isla, and French bulldog Taco.