Autonomous Retail in Action: How Unmanned Markets Are Transforming Guest Experiences

Daniel Mezzanares was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana — truly the service-industry capital of the U.S. Growing up in a city where hospitality is a way of life shaped him early on to value exceptional service, community engagement, and creating memorable guest experiences. He studied at both the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and the University of New Orleans before building his career in hospitality. He has worked in the service industry for more than 25 years, with 18 years specifically in collegiate hospitality and contract food service. His work has centered on large-scale campus dining operations, leadership development, and managing service-provider transitions. He currently serve as the Director of Operations for USF Dining with Chartwells Higher Education, having remained at the University of South Florida through its dining transition from Aramark. His specialty is convenience retail within the higher-ed environment. He has focused heavily on technology-forward solutions and autonomous service models that enhance the guest experience while optimizing labor and operational efficiency. He has partnered closely with Grubhub and AWM to support autonomous retail and smart-market expansion across both the Tampa and Sarasota campuses.

Bruce Wayne Renard is a nationally recognized attorney, consultant, businessman, and trade association executive, with over four decades of experience in a broad variety of capacities and public/private sector settings. Mr. Renard currently serves as Executive Director of the National ATM Council, Inc. (“NAC”), the ATM industry trade association representing independent ATM providers and suppliers throughout the U.S. Mr. Renard previously served as Executive Director for the Alliance of Specialized Communications Providers (“ASCP”), a predecessor trade organization to NAC. In these roles, Mr. Renard has been closely involved over the past two decades with all the major issues involving the U.S. ATM industry, including implementation of ADA requirements for ATMs, passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, congressional elimination of ATM fee sticker requirements, implementation of EMV chip technology at ATMs is the U.S., and significant recent revisions to the FFIEC Examination Manual covering the banking of Independent ATM organizations. Most recently Mr. Renard was invited to serve as a member of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank’s Special Committee on Payments Inclusion, Chaired by Atlanta Fed Chair Raphael Bostick. In addition to managing NAC, Mr. Renard also maintains an active transactional legal practice, focusing on the payments and communications industries.

Nancy Santiago is the Director of Auxiliary Services at the University of South Florida, where she leads strategic partnerships with national corporations, including Fortune 500 companies and multi-billion-dollar enterprises. She oversees high-value contract negotiations and manages essential auxiliary operations, including Dining Services, the University Bookstore, Beverage Vending and Pouring, Snack Vending, Licensing, Print Center, and Retail Services.

Rashid Siahpoosh is the founder of La Galere Markets, launched in 2014, which now operates 50+ self-checkout gourmet stores nationwide. Under his leadership, the company has partnered with top real estate developers and property managers to bring 24/7 retail concepts to luxury residential, office, and student housing communities. Previously, Rashid worked in real estate leasing with Cushman & Wakefield, Transwestern, and Newmark, and earlier served as Chief Marketing Officer of Foodtrader.com, a pioneering B2B food services platform. He holds a degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and an MBA from Columbia Business School.