Introducing Culinour: A higher standard in personalized, restaurant-quality, healthcare dining

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Leadership Team

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Our Leadership Team

Richard06-1-Edit
Richard B. Schenkel
Founder & Executive Chairman
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DanaJohnston05-Edit
Dana Johnston
Chief Supply Chain Officer
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David_Leuci_New
David Leuci
Chief Information Officer
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Matthew Thompson
Chief Culinary Officer
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Karen
Karen Lyon
Chief Marketing Officer
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Modernize Your Healthcare Dining with Culinour

Restaurant-quality meals. Clinically-aligned nutrition. Technology that improves efficiency, service, and cost management. Let’s talk about what a Culinour partnership could look like for you.

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Richard B. Schenkel

Founder & Executive Chairman

Richard Schenkel is a founder, business builder, and industry disruptor with a passion for driving organizational growth and unlocking untapped potential. In 2001, he founded Unidine Corporation to be an insurgent in the market, the first company of its kind to provide strategic dining management services focused on culture, culinary, and service.

In the years that followed, he built Unidine into a $700M+ in sales revenue ($800M in managed volume) company with over 7,000 team members. Richard led Unidine through the full life cycle of business development from privately funded to private equity to a capital group. When Compass Group, USA, partnered to acquire Unidine, Richard delivered a 9X multiple of invested capital (M.O.I.C) shareholder return from the transaction.

In 2021, he created Compass Community Living, the largest senior living and support service company in the USA and globally. He served as the Founder and CEO. Under Richard’s discerning leadership, Compass Community Living’s 15K+ employees delivered hospitality and service excellence to more than 1400 retirement communities, behavioral health facilities, and acute care hospitals across the US, generating $1.3B in revenue. Richard’s business acumen is grounded in taking calculated risks while scaling effectively, nurturing a strong company culture by aligning team members to a purpose-driven mission, and maximizing shareholder value.

Richard holds a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin. Richard worked at the executive level at industry giants Aramark and Marriott Corporation, where he gained valuable industry experience that laid the groundwork for his future industry disruption.

Dana Johnston

Chief Supply Chain Officer

Dana is a highly accomplished procurement executive with decades of experience leading teams serving clients in the health care, senior living, business & industry, education, restaurant, religious institutions, lodging, and leisure markets. He is the Founder and former CEO of North America’s largest Group Purchasing Organization, Entegra Procurement Services LLC, a subsidiary of Sodexo. Dana and his team grew Entegra to support nearly 100,000 customer sites with a focus on food and related products and services. He also worked closely with the Sodexo Mergers and Acquisitions team to identify M&A targets for Entegra.

Most recently, Dana was the founder and CEO of Owl Ridge Consulting LLC, providing contract negotiation and validation counsel, executive development, and go-to-market sales and growth support to the Procurement and Group Purchasing industries.

Dana is partnering with the Phoenix3 team, manufacturers, distributors, and service providers to build procurement programs and services that leverage technology in new ways to exceed customer expectations.

David Leuci

Chief Information Officer

David Leuci is an IT leader and visionary with a proven track record of developing and implementing technology strategies that maximize profits and drive growth, generating millions in new revenue. He is a seasoned executive of industry-leading companies.
David served as Chief Digital Information Officer at The Energy Federation Inc., where he led the company’s digital transformation, developing and executing internal technology strategies focused on innovation.

David has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer/Chief Technology Officer at Unidine Corporation, where he developed global business system strategies, introduced process frameworks, consolidated transactional systems, drove digitalization, and allocated resources to meet evolving business challenges. He has also served in leadership roles at IBM, Millennium Partners Sports Club Management LLC, and MRO Software Inc.

David holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Salem State University, where he graduated cum laude with a concentration in Psychology and Computer Science from the Massachusetts State Police Academy. He has earned numerous IT management certifications, including an ITIL Foundation Certification in IT Service Management.

Matthew Thompson – MBA, WCMC, MWMCS, PCIII, CEC, CCA, GRAE

Chief Culinary Officer

Chef Matthew Thompson is a distinguished culinary executive recognized for his progressive, sustainable approach to creative menu development and hospitality.  A transformational leader, he has built best-in-class operational systems that deliver meaningful social and economic impact for over 25 years.

Throughout his career, Chef Matthew has worked closely with industry leaders to raise awareness of plant-based diets and advocate for healthy, sustainable lifestyles. He is a member of the Food Solutions New England (FSNE) Network Leadership Institute and was selected as a Network Advisory Council member with Farm to Institution New England (FINE) based on his expertise in food systems research, policy, and program implementation. Chef Matthew is a regular speaker and sustainability advocate for organizations such as the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the Culinary Institute of America Menus of Change and Global Plant Forward Culinary Summits, and the New York State Sustainability Conference.

Chef Matthew served as Chief Culinary Officer and co-founder of Harvest Table Culinary Group. This farm-to-institution dining business leveraged regional sourcing strategies and wellness-focused experiences for universities. His work included enterprise-wide food data tracking programs to revolutionize the guest experience, a partnership with the World Resources Institute to deploy industry-first 3rd party certification to combat climate change, and industry-leading regional sourcing strategies. Chef Matthew has also held leadership roles at Aramark Corporation, including Culinary Operations and Regional Sustainability Director.

Chef Matthew completed a Master of Business Administration at Johnson & Wales University and Levels II and III of the Culinary Institute of America ProChef certification programs. The American Culinary Federation recognizes him as a Certified Executive Chef and Certified Culinary Administrator.  He is also a ServeSafe-certified Food Safety Manager Trainer and Exam Proctor. Chef Matthew was honored with the Sustainable Pioneer Award from Long Island University.

Karen Lyon

Chief Marketing Officer

Karen Lyon is a visionary brand builder and skilled marketing strategist with decades of experience leading teams at iconic brands, including Life Is Good, Pastene, Rockport, Swarovski, and Fidelity Investments. She excels in transforming brands into market leaders and taking established brands to the next level. Karen has been recognized for her work leading integrated marketing functions spanning channel marketing, creative services, e-commerce, digital, brand architecture, public relations, and product innovation.

At Unidine, Karen spearheaded a premium dining marketing strategy that included rebranding, signature program development, and customer acquisition campaigns to drive growth. A valued executive leader, Karen fosters organizational agility that adapts to evolving market trends and consumer preferences.

She holds a B.S. in Marketing and Sociology from Bryant University and an MBA in Marketing from Bentley University.

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