Lara Hardcastle, LEED AP®: Vice President

All great teams need a strong utility player — a player with the versatility, aptitude, creativity and flexibility to take on any new process, program or task with a true can-do spirit and hard-core determination. VSAG has that in Lara. Lara graduated cum laude from New York University in 1992, then moved out to Los Angeles for law school. While in Los Angeles, she worked for one of the country's busiest Cheesecake Factory locations, where she successfully ran the front desk. Within a few months she became an in-store trainer and then went on to open new locations and participate in management development. Lara found that within the fast-growth environment of The Cheesecake Factory she could stretch her talent bandwidth in many directions.

During her four-year tenure Lara helped open 10 new restaurants, developed staff-level training materials, participated in the development of an integrated management development program and taught Guest Schmooze and Service classes to MITs and KMITs.

In 1997 Lara was recruited by eatZi's Market and Bakery to become their Opening Units Manager. She was responsible for all facets of new-unit openings. Lara quickly became the go-to person for everything from construction layout and equipment selection to specialty goods purchasing. In 2001, Lara was promoted to Manager of Facilities and R&M. She was key decision-maker for local and national contract negotiation. She managed several remodels, including a quarter-million-dollar remodel of eatZi's flagship store in Dallas.

In 2003, Lara spearheaded a $2 million dollar systems and network infrastructure implementation. Reporting directly to the CFO and COO, she successfully implemented the JD Edwards system for eatZi’s. This involved full integration between the accounting system, a full-range integrated food management program, which included order entry, purchasing, inventory and manufacturing. The company was tasked with an extremely aggressive timeline in which Lara was responsible for juggling the needs and resources of accounting, culinary operations, information technology and operations. Nine months later, Lara was promoted to Director of Information Systems and supported company profitability by streamlining operations through technology.

In 2006, Dan Simons and Michael Vucurevich recruited Lara and put her talent and extensive knowledge to work for their clients. Lara is the go-to person for all things construction, technology and systems related and a top-notch Project Manager for VSAG. She recently earned her LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accreditation via the U.S. Green Building Council and is the go-to person for LEED related project concerns or questions. With her amazing wingspan, she can do everything from run the front desk on a busy shift to manage a $10 million construction project from inception to completion.

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