George D. Rice

Founder, Vice Chairman

George Rice was educated at Boston University’s College of Business Administration where he received his degree in Business Management, and is a 1968 PMD graduate of the Harvard Business School. Throughout his extensive hospitality career, George held executive positions as Regional Vice President of Dunkin’ Donuts, Executive Vice President and COO of Chicken Unlimited Enterprises, Senior Vice President of NPD Research and President and CEO of GDR / CREST Enterprises. GDR / CREST Enterprises developed and managed some of today’s best-known food service industry databases for tracking consumer and chain restaurant sales and traffic. These included The CREST Report, IFMATRAC and GDR SalesTrac.

George is currently Chairman and CEO of GDR Enterprises, Inc. and Vice Chairman of Revenue Management Solutions. GDR Enterprises, Inc., founded in 1973, is a well-known, and highly respected consulting firm specializing in strategic planning and marketing for the hospitality industry. George authored the Industry of Choice Report Parts I and II, sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, which provide a comprehensive analysis of the food service employee work place, detailing employee needs, attitudes and behaviors. He is a two-term past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation and has served on the faculty of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration teaching Food and Beverage Strategic Marketing. As one of the food service research industry’s most respected and quoted authorities and ardent supporters, George has addressed a wide variety of domestic and international audiences as a featured speaker for virtually every major industry meeting.

Thomas John Kelly

Founder, Chairman & CEO

Tom Kelly has been an active professional in the hospitality industry for more than forty years. After eight years of work in various operational positions in the hotel and restaurant industry, including owner/general manager of his own restaurant, he pursued a career in hospitality education. He spent more than 30 years teaching hospitality management, primarily as an Associate Professor at Cornell University, having received tenure in 1986. He also served as the Director of Hospitality Management at the University of Minnesota-Crookston and taught at the University level in France, Brazil and Singapore. Tom has received many awards and is a past National Chair of the American Institute of Wine and Food.

In 1982, Tom became actively engaged in consulting work. This activity focused primarily on the hospitality industry and addressed areas ranging from operations, revenue management, marketing, quality assurance rating and development. During this time, Tom worked on hundreds of projects, some of the more noteworthy include: advising the Port Authority of New York on leasing Windows on the World, relocating the restaurant Le Cirque to the Palace Hotel for the royal family of Brunei, developing hotel properties in Florida, assisting the Irish Tourism Commission, formulating a revenue management plan for the Japan Food Service Association, writing the restaurant rating criteria and training the inspectors for the American Automobile Association (AAA), administrating the Distinguished Restaurants of North America Award inspection program and the Mobil Guide inspection program from 1998 through 2001. Tom was a founding partner of RMS in 1994, and is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on menu pricing.

Today, Tom serves as Chairman and CEO of RMS, leading a team of over 100 associates, and advising some of the largest industry chains on a global basis.