Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa Appoints John Teza as President and Chief Development Officer and Announces Other Changes to the Executive Team

John Teza has been added to the team as President and Chief Development Officer starting August 10th. John has C-level experience in the restaurant and franchise space including his time as Chief Development Officer at Jersey Mike’s Subs where he directed all aspects of brand expansion for the NJ-based chain of 1,750+ units and $1.2 billion in system-wide sales. Most recently he was a Principal at NRD Capital Management leading operational and strategic functions for a number of restaurant and retail concepts.

John will immediately head all franchise, real estate and business development efforts for Hand & Stone. John will also supervise legal and compliance matters and have full responsibility for Company store operations. Based on his prior Canadian franchise experience, John will also oversee the 31-spa Canadian operation, working in conjunction with the brand’s current Canadian president.

“We are excited to have an executive of John’s caliber and experience join the Hand & Stone team. As we position the Company for continued accelerated growth and transition we need executives like John who bring high energy and tested leadership skills to the business,” noted Todd Leff, CEO of Hand & Stone.

“I am very excited about this opportunity and to join this team. The current group under the leadership of CEO, Todd Leff, has made Hand & Stone the fastest growing concept in a very dynamic industry and I am confident that my background and expertise can help extend this growth even further,” said Teza.

Current Vice President of Franchise Development, Bob McQuillan, has announced his retirement at the end of August. Bob has been at Hand & Stone for over 11 years and in that time has been instrumental in building the current franchise base to 475 spas. The entire executive team and Board acknowledge the efforts Bob has expended in those 11 years and how the brand would not be in the place it is today without his efforts. He will pursue more family and philanthropic endeavors in his retirement.

Separately, Cindy Meiskin has been elevated to Chief Experience Officer where she will continue to be responsible for the brand experience through franchisee training, consumer research and feeback platforms, brand compliance and other consumer experience functions. Cindy joined Hand & Stone in 2012 and was most recently the Vice President of Brand Experience.

“Especially during the recent COVID period, Cindy has demonstrated an amazing ability to synthesize various processes across the company into a one very clear direction for our consumer experience. She worked exhaustively in analyzing local, state and federal requirements and combining those with our own and outside industry expert analysis to help develop our reopening guidelines. She was the driving force behind our post-opening COVID strategy that is not only the envy of others in our space but the envy of the entire retail segment,” said Todd Leff, CEO of Hand & Stone.