Mozzeria, the Acclaimed Deaf-Owned Pizzeria, Hires New CEO

• Richard Horrell, who has served as interim CEO since June 2022, plans to construct on Mozzeria’s trailblazing basis as a restaurant that provides alternatives for the Deaf group.
• Mozzeria was based by Melody and Russ Stein in San Francisco, then moved to Washington, D.C., the place it has flourished since 2020.

Mozzeria, the famend Deaf-owned and -operated pizzeria in Washington, D.C., has named Richard Horrell its new CEO after his success as interim CEO since June, the corporate introduced this week. Horrell will succeed Ryan Maliszewski within the function.

In keeping with a press launch, Maliszewski’s “impression and accomplishments on the Mozzeria group might be long-lasting and unforgettable.” Horrell plans to “construct upon Mozzeria’s trailblazing basis, overseeing its strategic progress by creating extra equitable areas and extra alternatives for constructive illustration of the Deaf group.”

Horrell is a hard-of-hearing member of the Deaf group with greater than 20 years of expertise spanning regulation, enterprise and training. Earlier than accepting the function of Mozzeria CEO, he was a senior program operations supervisor for CSD Social Enterprise Fund (CSD SVF), a enterprise capital agency devoted to funding Deaf-owned companies. There, Horrell labored intently with Deaf enterprise homeowners to make sure stability of their operations and put together them to broaden their companies.

“As I humbly and gratefully step into this function, I acknowledge that Mozzeria isn’t solely about pizza or revenue,” Horrell stated. “I imagine the true work we’re doing is about elevating up the group. It’s about fairness. I imagine that Mozzeria, greater than the rest, is usually a place the place Deaf and hard-of-hearing folks can look and see their friends modeling excellence.”

Chris Soukup, president of Mozzeria’s board, stated Horrell has already had “such a constructive impression on Mozzeria” as interim CEO and thru his work with CSD SVF. “We’re sure that his numerous skilled background uniquely positions him to proceed to guide the expansion of the Mozzeria model. We’re excited for what the long run holds.”

Featured within the September 2019 challenge of PMQ Pizza Journal, Mozzeria was based by Melody and Russ Stein in 2011 in San Francisco, changing into the town’s first-ever Deaf-owned restaurant with an all-Deaf employees, and it has continued making historical past ever since. The pizzeria shortly acquired international popularity of its Neapolitan pies by the Worldwide Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. Six years later, Mozzeria partnered with CSD SVF in hopes of increasing nationwide.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mozzeria closed its brick-and-mortar retailer in San Francisco in November 2020, however the firm had already opened its new location in Washington, D.C. within the partnership with CSD SVF. The D.C. location has continued to flourish, regardless of the challenges of COVID-19. In the meantime, Mozzeria operates cellular pizzeria models within the San Francisco Bay Space.

In November 2021, Melody Stein cofounded MxT 2510, a California-based sustainable trend firm, along with her daughter, Taysia Stein.

CSD SVF is without doubt one of the solely enterprise capital corporations on this planet supporting Deaf entrepreneurs and Deaf-owned and operated companies. CSD SVF offers fairness investments to Deaf-led companies that exemplify CSD’s values: enhancing Deaf financial energy, using Deaf folks, and creating social change.

“As Mozzeria grows,” Horrell stated, “we’re gifted with extra alternatives to create equitable areas and mannequin Deaf excellence, exhibiting that Deaf individuals are able to something we set our minds to.”