The Mad Mex Team

It takes an impressive team to conquer the booming Mexican food market… hola Mad Mex!

Born in California, raised in San Fransisco and San Diego; Clovis is passionate about Baja Mexican food and knows first hand that it’s the food sensation Aussies have been waiting for.
Click here to read more about the Mad Mex Story…

He started out at 13 years old washing dishes and since then has worked in every part of the restaurant business. Business is definately in his blood….  In his 20s he worked in finance; for Fidelity Investments (the largest private asset management company in the US) and then with Barclay’s Capital and other Wall Street firms as an investment banker and equities trader.  Oh, and he also attended Carnegie Mellon University, graduating Beta Gamma Sigma; top 10% of the class.

But, in the end, he decided to get a real job…  entrar Mad Mex!

Another American who loves his Mexican food, Phillip has been a long time Aussie too.

Back in 1996 Phillip came to Australia with Gloria Jeans as GM of the Aussie operations and International Development Manager.  He oversaw the explosive growth of the Gloria Jean’s domestic and international expansion so he knows what it takes to be successful in fast growing markets and quick service restaurants.

A man with his finger in many pies, he’s also been part of the successful retail concept T2 (premium tea retailing in major shopping centres across Australia) and Firefly Wine Bars (three hot locations in Sydney, more to come).

Phillip is in charge of working with potential franchise partners to identify great locations and opportunities for Mad Mex.

James was born in a small town just outside London in sunny England. He started working in the Restaurant industry when he was 15, washing dishes for pocket money. After a short spell in the kitchen as a chef and then another short spell as a waiter, it was clear that he had both the passion and a flair for catering. He worked his way up through the ranks of a large UK pizza chain (Pizza Express), and before he turned 20 he was running his own store.

His career and enthusiasm continued to blossom, and most recently he was the Commercial Operations Manager for Harrods restaurants in Knightsbridge London, overseeing one of the biggest single site catering operations in the world.

In retail a great business needs a great location.  In his property career Mark has worked across many different classes of retail:

Five and a half years at Baker’s Delight means he understands food retailing and kitchens.  Mark ran company owned bakeries, was a state manager responsible for 130 stores and was their National Product manager.

Four Years at Optus; first as the National Franchise Manager for 155 stores and then two years of store redesign when he was the National Retail Manager.

Head of Retail for Aussie Home Loans and now director of McCredie Retail Solutions where he works with Mad Mex, Optus, Battery World and Virgin Mobile.

Sarah is passionate about great food and fantastic brands. Since graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Food and Consumer Management has enjoyed marketing roles working for various managed pub groups in the UK.

Now loving life in Sydney, Sarah looks after all of our central marketing activity and supports franchisees with developing local marketing opportunities.  Being key target market herself, Sarah offers valuable insight into our customer base, plus she’s is in love with our Veggie Burritos!

Originally hailing from Durban, South Africa Ryan completed his BSc Degree in 2000 and travelled around Australia on a one year working holiday, where he began his love affair with the country and in 2009 decided to bring his family back to Sydney to live.

Ryan spent 7 years in London where he completed a Chartered Management Accountant Degree and is now an associate member of CIMA (CPA). Ryan has held various senior finance roles working in the retail, IT, construction, property and the hospitality sectors.

Ryan manages the financial operations at Mad Mex and oversees the 5 year strategic financial planning. His responsibilities include budgeting, modelling, process improvement, management reporting, funding options, systems implementation, project management and day to day running of the finance team.

Sarah Sweeney started her hospitality adventure as a kitchen hand at Pizza Hut in 1993 where she soon became a shift manger. During this time Sarah discovered her passion for leadership, training and customer service. She completed a Diploma in Hospitality Management at Ryde TAFE in 1996.

After college Sarah leapt straight into Management of catering at a yacht club, running functions, the restaurant & a takeaway shop.  Sarah discovered her passion of snowboarding & travel when travelling the world from 2000-2007 working in various hospitality roles.  Her greatest achievement was becoming Floor Manager at 2 Elk a 1500+ seat restaurant in Vail, Colorado, USA.  It was here that Sarah discovered her passion for Mexican food and training, each season training a new intake of seasonal staff.

On her return to Australia Sarah ran events at one of Sydney’s most prestigious golf clubs & also obtained her Certificate IV in Training & Assessment.  At Mad Mex Sarah coordinates all aspects of training, creating training materials, training managers, franchisees, line staff as well as opening new stores.

Anthony started his hospitality career age 15. Commencing a 10 year career with the McDonalds, Anthony worked his way through the various levels of the McDonalds management training system.  Managing in over 8 restaurants during his time, including a 24 hour operation that was at the time Australia’s busiest McDonalds restaurant and by the age of 21 was managing his own restaurant. During this time Anthony completed a certificate 4 in retail management and a diploma and advanced diploma in Business Management. Anthony’s keen interest in business studies then led him to enroll in university and continue his education completing a Bachelor in International Business Management.

Anthony then turned his attention to franchising and continued his career with the then rapidly expanding Portuguese chicken and burgers group, Oporto. Anthony proved his natural ability to form strong relationships with people and prospered in the franchise consulting role. Now with 15 years industry experience, Anthony oversees the strategic development of the Franchise Operations nationally at Mad Mex.