Rich Deferia brings more than 20 years of experience across restaurant operations, foodservice sales, and senior commercial leadership. He joins Whetstone with a strong track record of driving organic growth, building scalable sales organizations, and executing enterprise-wide revenue strategies.
After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, Rich began his career in the culinary industry in New York City before becoming an Executive Chef for Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas. There, he led multiple hotel foodservice outlets across several properties, managing large teams and overseeing high-volume operations.
Rich transitioned into foodservice distribution in 2010, joining Sysco where he advanced through sales and leadership roles of increasing responsibility. He ultimately served as Region Vice President of Sales for Sysco’s Mideast Region, leading a ~$1.4 billion business and overseeing more than 200 associates across sales, strategy, and operations. Most recently, he served as Chief Revenue Officer at Fortune Fish, where he led key commercial initiatives including sales compensation redesign, digital platform launch, customer segmentation, and full-funnel sales execution.
As Chief Revenue Officer at Whetstone, Rich leads the company’s revenue growth strategy across all business units, with a focus on organic growth. He oversees sales, marketing, and business development, expands key sales channels, strengthens customer acquisition and retention, and partners cross-functionally to drive profitable growth and long-term value creation.
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