Today we’d like to introduce you to Matias Pesce.
Matias, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
At only 18 years old and while I was studying to become a Public Accountant, I began my professional career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the second largest professional services firm in the world and one of the Big Four auditors worldwide, as a Financial Auditor. I was in charge of the financial audit and its internal control of important companies such as: Cargill Group (food industry), Pride International Group (oil & gas industry), Fiat Automobile Argentina and Ford Motors Argentina (automobile industry). During that time, I learned a lot about my professional career in finance as an accountant, how to be a better professional by improving my relationships, and how to manage multiple projects at the same time with different companies and industries. It was a great and fun experience because we were a big team of young people working full-time in different projects and spending a lot of time together.
When I was 26 years old, I was invited to join Pride International Group, one of the largest global petroleum services company worldwide, as Internal Audit Manager to be responsible for all the operations in Latin America. One of my greatest achievements in that position was obtaining my SOX 404 certification in its first year of implementation for the New York Stock Exchange. Under this position, I also had the opportunity to enrich my business knowledge from working in a multicultural space and understanding the particularities of business in Latin America.
Two years later at 28, I already had more than 200 employees under my supervision as I occupied the role of Chief Financial Officer for Pride International Group’s Colombia and Ecuador operations. During that time, my greatest achievement was to have been able to take two operations that were in a very bad financial situation (on the verge of bankruptcy) and transforming them into two operations of greater growth and profitability for the group, through a process of restructuring the organization, identifying the strengths of each employee and reassigning functions according to their capabilities. I had the great pride of being able to make that change without needing to fire a single employee in the process.
Later on, I became Corporate Chief Accounting Officer at Pride International Group. Under this role, my main goal was to establish a process of accounting and corporate reporting that allowed the company to have the bases to go through an IPO process and quote on the New York, Sao Paulo and Luxemburg stock exchanges. In 2009, I left the company looking for new challenges. That period of time in my life was funny and challenging at the same time because when I left Argentina looking for new opportunities in Colombia and Ecuador, the people I met during my travels expected to see an old man, with no hair, a beard and mustache, but in fact, I was the complete opposite. I was very young and energetic, eager for new challenges and opportunities.
That same year, I started to work in Pan American Energy (British Petroleum Group), one of the major exploration and production companies of oil and gas in Latin America. Being an executive there allowed me to work side by side and learn from some of the most influential and experienced executives in the world. During those years, I obtained my MBA degree. Years later, already in the United States, I earned my MS in Finance and joined V&E group as CEO. Some of my biggest achievements as CEO include being able to lay the foundation to take the company to the next level by establishing a solid corporate governance based on processes and systems that allowed us to achieve expansion, and diversification of the business in a solid and sustainable manner, which greatly expanded our company’s growth and investment process, generating more than 300 new jobs in our latest projects and totaling today more than 1,200 jobs.
We are always actively interacting with our stakeholders in Miami (including city officials, local community, regional associations and chambers of commerce) to contribute to the constant improvement of our community. V&E strives to create activations and projects that improve the quality of service and overall experience at our restaurants and generate a greater influx of tourism to the city.
Has it been a smooth road?
From a very young age, I’ve had the opportunity to perform in executive positions for world-class companies with huge responsibilities and a large number of personnel under my supervision, which came with obstacles. When I was only 26 years old, I left my native country of Argentina with the challenge of occupying the position of CFO to oversee the operations of Colombia and Ecuador in one of the most important oil and gas companies in the world, Pride International Group. Facing that challenge at such a young age was certainly an excellent and enriching experience in which I had to demonstrate not only my professional ability and knowledge, but also the leadership and tenacity in my decisions to earn the respect of my colleagues and my team.
Another great challenge has been that after more than 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, I decided to completely change my career path in order to enrich my business knowledge. I did that by joining the food and beverage industry, a business totally different from the one I had been working in, but certainly one which is more creative, fun and dynamic, and where we can directly and immediately observe the satisfaction of our clients and the result of our work.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with V&E Restaurant Group – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I’m the CEO of V&E (Vida & Estilo) Group, a premiere South Florida restaurant group that has made a mark on the restaurant industry by bringing international cuisine to the U.S. At V&E, my main mission has been to prepare our company for the next 10 years, with an aggressive expansion plan and a mid to long-term strategy, as well as continuing to develop our main culinary brands, including: Havana 1957 (Cuban cuisine), Mercato della Pescheria (Italian seafood), Café Americano (American food with a Latin twist), La Cerveceria de Barrio, a culinary concept we brought to the U.S. from Mexico where we have 33 other sister locations, Oh! Mexico (Mexican food), Tapas y Tintos (Spanish food, tapas & House of Paella), and Barsecco (global cuisine).
The group was founded by Simon Jacobo, Jamil Dib and Eduardo Araoz in 1997, and includes international and talented professionals from different disciplines (chefs, accountants, engineers, artists, cooks, servers, marketers, etc.) all highly focused on our core business: excellence of service, quality food and beverage, unique recipes, and creating the perfect ambience at each restaurant. Every detail and every corner of our restaurants has been especially designed by our team of artists to provide the most authentic and comfortable dining and entertainment experience for our guests.
What gives me the most pride about my job is being part of an organization where we work every day to provide our customers places where they can enjoy a moment of relaxation, satisfaction and happiness aimed at improving their well-being and overall quality of life. We are very focused on providing high quality service at each of our restaurants and creating a unique gastronomic and sensory experience that transmits part of the culture and traditions of the cuisine from the different countries we represent in each of our brands.
What’s your outlook for the industry in our city?
For us location is key and one of our main strengths. I firmly believe that Miami Beach is ideal for our type of business in the hospitality industry since our city is one of the top tourism destinations in the world. Miami is a vibrant, multicultural city which has seen solid economic growth from both a cultural and business standpoint. To those who want to invest in the hospitality industry, I would certainly recommend starting a business in Miami. At V&E, we have invested several million dollars into our locations here and we plan to continue investing firmly in this city. I think it’s important that to cultivate economic growth in Miami and to encourage new investments, we have to streamline the processes of approvals and permits for new projects to avoid discouraging new entrepreneurs who are seeking to invest in this city.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.verestaurants.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/verestaurantgroup/
Image Credit:
V&E Restaurant Group
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