Lisa Schweickert, FMP

VP of Training, Golden Corral

Lisa Schweickert, FMP, started her career in the foodservice industry as a dishwasher in 1976 and has been involved in restaurant operations and training ever since. In her 10 years with Jerrico (Long John Silver's/Fazoli's Restaurants) she worked in company operations in California and Texas and spent six years in various positions within the Training Department. In 1992 she joined Golden Corral, starting out in operations and then moving into the Training Department as the Manager of Program Design. In 1998 she became the Director of Training for Sonic Industries, America's Drive-in. At Sonic, she was responsible for establishing a corporate Training Department, setting up a field training function, creating structured crew and management training, and establishing a management school. In June 2002 she returned to Golden Corral as the Director of Training for the Corporation and was promoted to Vice President of Training and Development in 2004. During her tenure with Golden Corral, she has led the development of Golden Corral's eLearning Center in addition to taking on responsibilities for management and Co-worker training, operations communication, and food safety.

Ms. Schweickert has a BA in Sociology from the University of Oklahoma. She has been an active member of CHART (Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers) since 1992, serving on the Executive Committee for four years, including one term as President. In 2005 she was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Food Service by NAFEM. Ms. Schweickert has been serving on the North Carolina Hospitality Education Foundation Board of Trustees since 2008.

Tanya Hill

Manager of Program Design and eLearning, Golden Corral

Tanya Hill, Manager of Program Design and e-Learning, started her career in the foodservice industry as a cashier in 1978 and has been involved in restaurant operations and training for the majority of the last 30 years. Her strong background in restaurant operations stems from extensive experience with McDonalds, including the position of First Assistant Manager. This paired with her technical background as a programmer/analyst and network engineer in varied settings such as Sara Lee, Siemens, Wachovia Bank and AT&T, gives her a unique skill set to serve today' restaurant industry.

Ms. Hill's career at AT&T, which began in 2001 as a programmer/analyst, launched her into the field of network engineering and instructor led training and curriculum design. She taught classes in Wide Area Networks, switches and various applications in both the classroom and via the internet. In 2003, she transitioned to the position of curriculum designer for both instructor led and online courses.

In 2005, Ms. Hill joined Golden Corral as a Senior Communication Specialist, whose responsibilities involved communication of Golden Corral policies, procedures, and standards to all levels of operations. In 2006, she was promoted to the Manager of Program Design; then in 2007, e-learning responsibilities were incorporated with her position and she became the Manager of Program Design and e-Learning. During her tenure at Golden Corral, she has been instrumental in the development and rollout of the new Golden Corral Management Training program and the new online Test Engine. Additionally, she is in the process of completing the development of the next generation Learning Management platform.

Ms. Hill has a BA in Communication from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She has been an active member of CHART (Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers) since 2006.

Jennifer Tarazona

Instructional Designer, Golden Corral

Jennifer Tarazona, Instructional Designer, has 10 years of experience working as a Corporate Trainer and Instructional Designer. Jennifer began her career in customer service in 1999, scheduling package pick-ups and tracking packages for TeleTech, an outsourcing company for UPS. Passionate about providing the best quality service and believing that all customers deserve an exceptional call-handling experience, she was promoted to Training Manager within 6 months of tenure. Since then, she has worked in various training positions for such companies as Chase, World Savings, Wachovia and most recently, Golden Corral. Two years prior to joining Golden Corral in August 2007, she dedicated a majority of her experience and time to designing and developing facilitator-led, self-guided and computer-based training programs.

For a decade, Jennifer has trained employees at every level and has developed training on a wide variety of subjects, including the power of positive communication, proper telephone etiquette, customer satisfaction, effective listening, software training, job-specific training and leadership training programs. She is able to walk into a workplace, evaluate job roles and employee responsibilities, assess employee performance and create a learning program that increases job efficiency and employee morale. In order to keep training motivating and practical, she has a multi-faceted approach when developing training programs. During her tenure with Golden Corral, she has developed a comprehensive Manager Candidate Training Program, produced occupational resources for Managers and Co-workers, and assisted in the development of eLearning courses.

Jennifer has a BA in English from Liberty University.