Mark Eppers '93

Director of Operations, ESP Productions &
Partner, Circle Two Productions

q: What do you do?

a: At ESP, we produce pre-game and half-time shows for major college football games including the Capital One Bowl, Orange Bowl and some Superbowls. My own company, Circle Two Productions, focuses on audio-visual, consulting and logistics management for the meetings and special event industry.

q: What's your favorite part of the job?

a: Creating smiles on the faces of my clients, and knowing that my company played a big part in the success of their events.

q: What's the greatest challenge?

a: I travel constantly throughout the U.S. and internationally, planning multiple shows at the same time. I need to keep up with regional labor and union laws, hiring local vendors, shipping and renting equipment, venue insurance requirements and special requests. It's a challenge just packing clothes and being away for weeks at a time, while still maintaining a home and sense of being an Orlando resident.

q: Do you stay in touch with any other UCF hospitality alums?

a: Scott Kaylor '93 to this day remains a great friend of mine.

q: Outside work...you're most likely to be seen?

a: Walking around Lake Eola and Downtown Orlando, with the occasional stop at an Irish Pub.

q: Your biggest accomplishment since graduating, outside your career?

a: Working with local children's charities and building homes for those in need. I try to give back as much as I can. What goes around comes around.

q: How did UCF prepare you for what you do?

a: Classes geared toward the business and financial side of the hospitality industry proved to be helpful, as well as learning industry terminology. College in itself is a place to learn about life and how to deal with people, politics, finances and relationships.

q: Your favorite class?

a: The cooking class (Quantity Food Production). We constructed a menu and then prepared it for our fellow students.

q: How could the hospitality program have been better?

a: The program had basically just started and I feel lucky to be a part of it. I had some great professors like Bill Quain and Bob Ashley. It's important to bring in guest speakers from a variety of hospitality fields for the students to interact with. There are so many ways to make a living in this industry. It's eye-opening to talk to real-live working professionals.

q: A UCF memory?

a: The first moment I stepped on the UCF campus. Right then I knew it was the school I wanted to attend.

q: Favorite meal in Orlando?

a: I love to cook and I'm rarely at home, so my favorite meal comes out of my kitchen. Here it is: seared ahi tuna with a warm spinach salad and a glass of red wine, on my balcony overlooking Downtown Orlando.

q: On your iPod?

a: All over the board including AC/DC, Jimmy Buffett, Kings of Leon, Sister Hazel and Zac Brown. Music is a great way for me to relax; it clears my head of everything. About 50% of the music on my iPod is for work though.

q: Little known fact about you?

a: I used to be a pyrotech, building and shooting off fireworks. I also spent a summer traveling, promoting and producing concerts at state and county fairs around the country. I slept in the back of a semi-tractor trailer and my boss was literally a clown.

John Giordano '94

Assistant General Manager, San Diego Office
Freeman

q: What do you do?

a: I work for Freeman, the world’s largest provider of integrated services for face-to-face marketing events, including conventions, exhibitions and corporate events. I began my 15 year career with them in Orlando, moved to San Francisco in 2000 and have held various positions in operations, sales and management. I moved to the San Diego office in 2004 as Director of Sales and I currently oversee the day to day operations as the Assistant General Manager.

q: What's your favorite part of the job?

a: Every day is a challenge and my responsibilities change from one day to the next. One day I could be out selling our services to prospective customers and the next producing their event, which is always in a new city and venue, and the next day negotiating union contracts, or performing my management duties in the office. I’m seldom doing any one thing in any one place for very long, which helps keep things fresh and interesting. I get to wear a lot of different hats and the company has given lots of opportunities to grow and advance, as well as travel around the country.

q: What's the greatest challenge?

a: Bringing all the elements of event production together to produce World Class events with an exceptional level of customer service. It’s a very demanding, fast-paced business with many moving parts. We work long hours under pressure to produce successful events for our customers. We set them up and tear them down and are on to the next event, usually without much of a break in between. It’s definitely not boring, which why I’ve stuck with it for the last 16 years.

q: Do you stay in touch with any other UCF hospitality alums?

a: Not since I moved to the West Coast, but I keep do keep in touch with Scott Kaylor '93.

q: Outside work...you're most likely to be seen?

a: Out surfing.

q: Your biggest accomplishment since graduating, outside your career?

a: Convincing my wife to marry me.

q: How did UCF prepare you for what you do?

a: The hospitality program introduced me to the somewhat invisible service contracting side of the convention and tradeshow industry. I originally entered the program thinking I would be a hotelier. The exposure to other avenues through the curriculum took me in another direction, as did the internship program. Once I identified that I wanted to focus on convention services I took the courses and co-op opportunities that helped focus me in that direction. The course content in the convention services and other classes gave me a broad base of knowledge that was very relevant and I still use the things I learned to this day.

q: How could the hospitality program have been better?

a: The biggest step towards improving the program was already taken shortly after I graduated when the program was moved from the College of Health and Public Affairs to the College of Business. Involving more guest speakers from the industry will add some color to the course curriculum, including alumni with industry experience.

q: A UCF memory?

a: The trip with Dr. Quain and some of the convention services students to PCMA in Chicago. Picture a bunch of Floridians in Chicago in January, in 60 below zero weather! I made some great industry connections that helped me get a job after graduation.

q: Favorite meal in Orlando?

a: Bonefish.

q: On your iPod?

a: Anything I can get my hands on. I love music and have a very extensive and diverse collection.

q: Little known fact about you?

a: I love to travel and in the past few years have been to Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and El Salvador.

Scott Kaylor '93

Proprietor,
Wackadoo's Grub & Brew

q: What do you do?

a: Come to work and have fun. I hang out and talk with people at our full-service restaurant located on the UCF campus. We've been open for 13 years and serve 800 people a day, often 400 in a single hour at lunch. I manage the day-to-day operations including catering and events. At one point I had nine locations and 1200 employees, but was stressed out with all the traveling. I chose to have one restaurant that's pretty much perfect. I'm very happy.

q: What's your favorite part of the job?

a: The campus environment. I'm like a student that never grew up since I never had to leave UCF.  I enjoy mentoring the students. At any given time, we employ 75 UCF students, including several from Rosen College. No day is the same and it's like I'm the quarterback calling the plays so the students can deal with different situations. For instance, today we had a reservation for 15 but 40 people showed up, and the cook and a server were hours late. I help the students navigate what can seem like quicksand.

q: What's the greatest challenge?

a: Consistency. Many people eat here 3-5 times a week. We know what they're going to order before they even sit down. They want it to taste and look the same as last time they ordered it. Ensuring that the service and food quality is always the same can be difficult when dealing with a large number of student employees.

q: Do you stay in touch with any other UCF hospitality alums?

a: Lots of them, especially Mark Eppers '93 and the ones who have worked at Wackadoo's. John Giordano '94 lives in San Diego but we still get together when he comes to Florida for Bike Week. I'm still in touch with professor Bob Ashley.

q: Outside work...you're most likely to be seen?

a: On campus at all kinds of events. Wackadoo's also has season tickets for UCF Baseball and Football. In my quiet time, I'm home on the ranch relaxing or on my Four Wheeler, where no one can reach me by cell phone. I have cows, horses, cats, a dog and share a pot-bellied pig with a neighbor.

q: Your biggest accomplishment since graduating, outside your career?

a: I've achieved the ability to give back. I serve on the board of the UCF Alumni Association. I exclusively hire UCF students and train them to be successful. I appreciate my degree and with all my professors did for me. They would expect me to give back to today's students and I'm glad to do it.

q: How did UCF prepare you for what you do?

a: Courses like Hospitality Financial Accounting gave me the tools for problem-solving. I was especially inspired by professors Bob Ashley, Stephen LeBruto and Bill Quain. Classes covering liquor liability and business law were relevant, and eye-opening.

q: How could the hospitality program have been better?

a: At the time I attended, the material was very dated. It's critical to have people currently working in the industry speak in classes. For instance, the trend now is vegetarian food that tastes amazing. This is different than what was in style even last year. Someone like me could come speak in the Quantity Food Prep course and explain what's happening in real-life restaurants, because textbooks could never keep up.

q: A UCF memory?

a: I literally create new UCF memories every day, whether talking with people at Wackadoo's, traveling with UCF friends to the game in Austin last month, or watching UCF beat Houston. From my time as a student, I'll never forget a Hospitality Marketing class I had with Hank Melton. We literally spent three days straight cold calling on I-Drive businesses to sell hotel packages. His philosophy was: "Here's the fire, now get in it."

q: Favorite meal in Orlando?

a: A ribeye cooked by me on the grill in my backyard. Sitting on my porch overlooking the pasture, with a steak, salad and baked potato....no restaurant can beat it.

q: On your iPod?

a: I consider music to be background noise since I listen to it all day and evening at Wackadoo's. I have satellite radio and listen to all genres from country to gospel. Guests at the restaurant want to feel welcomed and know the owner, so I make it a point to know all kinds of music and T.V. shows. I can have a conversation with anyone.

q: Little known fact about you?

a: There was a month during college that to pay the bills, I worked full-time at a motorcycle shop from 9-5 p.m. then straight to work at Sears from 5-9 p.m., then to UPS from 2-7 a.m. I don't relate to students who tell me they need to miss shifts because they have to study. Other jobs I've held include being the assistant coach of the UCF Women's Volleyball team for three years. I was a professional motocross racer. I was a rancher with 100 herd of cattle. I worked at Hooters. I traveled around the U.S. promoting fairs. I even worked as a Union teamster; I had special certification to go inside nuclear reactors around the country.