Michael Lastoria

Michael Lastoria General Information

Description

Mr. Michael Lastoria is a Co-Founder at &vest and JWalk. He serves as Board Member at Velocity Acquisition. He is also a Co-Founder and serves as Chief Executive Officer and Creative Director at &pizza. Mr. Lastoria is a serial entrepreneur who is known for building companies on four core principles: design-driven, culture-centric, brand-led, and most importantly, morally sound. he co-founded &pizza, a fast-casual pizza brand that embodies those principles. In five years, he has raised more than $60 million for expansion and growth, opening 26 shops spanning multiple east coast markets. From culinary innovation to retail design, &pizza set out to create a brand with a strong point of view. The company's success is evidenced in the Tribe's intentional commitment to building a cultural movement. In addition to &pizza, Mr. Lastoria is a co-founder of JWALK, a New York-based full-service creative agency, leading the company in growth strategy and business development. Having helped grow the company into a small but powerful force in the agency world, he sold the company in 2017 to the beauty powerhouse, Shiseido. In 2002, he founded a leading marketing and media services company. As co-founder and CEO, Michael oversaw the five-year growth of the company and successful sale to Seaport Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, in 2006. Today, he is a recognized leader in the startup world and speaks regularly on the value of design thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He has been identified as one of the country's top 25 fast-casual executives and named one of the Washington Business Journal's 40 Under 40. In 2017, he was awarded the Mort Harris Small Business Person of the Year by the Small Business Council of America. Michael studied Economics and Business at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California.