The Pizza Hut Foundation is led by a board of directors who are part of the International Pizza Hut Franchisee Holder Association (IPHFHA). The Pizza Hut Foundation board of directors is comprised of successful professionals committed to empowering the next generation of community leaders and entrepreneurs.
Gene Camarena is President/CEO of La Raza Pizza, Inc. His business interests include Pizza Hut restaurants, Marriott Hotels, banking, and real estate development. Gene has served 3 terms as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Pizza Hut Franchise Association (IPHFHA), which represents the interest of the more than 5,500 Pizza Hut franchise locations in the U.S. and was recently inducted into the IPHFHA Hall of Fame. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund which is the largest philanthropic organization in the country for providing scholarships to Hispanic college and graduate students. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund provides in excess of $30 million in scholarships annually.
Gene also serves on the Holy Savior Catholic Church Finance Committee and The Board of Directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas, Empower, Quick Hire, Hispanics in Real Estate, United Way, and the Pizza Hut Foundation.
Gene was born and raised in Salina, KS. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Business Administration from the University of Kansas and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard University.
Randy Martinez serves as the primary advisor to the Chief People Officer, U.S., and provides strategic advice and counsel to the Brand’s leadership on Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Social Impact goals and strategies into business, planning processes and practices.
Randy joined Pizza Hut from CVS Health where he spent 17 years overseeing social impact programs and building and executing enterprise Strategic Diversity Management strategies across all healthcare segments of the business.
In his Community Relations/Social Impact role, he supported a philanthropic initiative designed to support programs for children with disabilities and programs for the uninsured and underprivileged. He and his former team were responsible for awarding up to $75M annually in philanthropic and corporate contributions through community grants, disaster relief, product donations, two chain-wide annual campaigns (ALS and St. Jude), and an end-of-the-year Employee Giving Campaign.
Joe Linot has an extensive background in the restaurant/foodservice industry and in Association management. He spent 15 years of his career as Executive Director of the Kansas Beef Council and 13 years with Cargill in expanding roles of responsibility in their marketing, product innovation, and retail foodservice divisions.
Joe has been Executive Director for IPHFHA since 2016. He participates in the Advertising Committee, Asset Committee, Beverage Committee, Food Evolution Committee, Localization Committee, System Operations Committee, Government Affairs Committee, and Political Action Committee. He is also a member of the American Pizza Community.
A Kansas native, Joe and his wife Becky live in Wichita. They have two sons, Alec and Reid.
Mike Quinn has been with Pizza Hut for 12 years. During this time he has served as an area coach, market coach, region coach, head coach of more than 250 corporate locations, and as director for 500 corporate-owned restaurants and franchises in four states.
As a franchisee, Mike opened 35 restaurants in his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, and has grown his brand, JJB Brands into 70 locations. Mike is actively involved in his restaurants, from working on balance sheets to making pizzas. This involvement gives him a great understanding of his employees' daily challenges.
In his spare time, Mike enjoys spending time with his wife, golfing or spending time at the lake.
Premila Vishwanath, is the owner and operator of 14 Pizza Hut restaurants, across 3 states with over 11 years of experience as a franchisee and winner of three Elite Operator Awards. Premila started her restaurant career working as a drive-thru CSR at Taco Bell. She worked her way up to RGM and operated multiple Taco Bell restaurants in Orange County, CA, where her people skills and ability to deliver excelling results caught the attention of TB executives and landed her the role of Project Manager at the TB Corporate office. Premila worked at Taco Bell Corp. in many departments including Facility Management, Real Estate, and Franchise Development and Recruiting. It was during this time that Premila decided to become a franchisee with Pizza Hut.
As a Pizza Hut Franchisee, Premila enjoys mentoring, coaching, and developing her team, especially the women who work for her. She believes that investing back in women is an investment in the community as a whole. She enjoys being a franchisee, as she can impact the lives of many others and is also able to motivate them to grow and be better.
