Staff Bios

Amanda Serrato
Production Team

Amanda comes to TCHO with tremendous chocolate experience, having worked at Joseph Schmidt Confections for 19 years. At Schmidt she supervised the chocolate moulding line as well as the decoration and packaging preparation. In her free time, she loves to read chocolate and food magazines while hanging out with her wonderful puppies Hennessy and Remy, both Yorkshire terriers.

Brad Kintzer
Chief Chocolate Maker

Brad's passion for chocolate began when he encountered his first cacao tree on a field trip to the Montreal Botanical Garden while studying botany at the University of Vermont. Immediately determined to learn all aspects of the chocolate making process, Kintzer spent months working on cacao plantations throughout Latin America, learning firsthand the crucial agricultural and post-harvest processes that influence chocolate flavor.

Continuing his quest for chocolate knowledge, Kintzer began product development work with pioneer artisan chocolate producer Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, in 2003.

Following the 2005 acquisition of Scharffen Berger by Hershey’s, Kintzer’s product development responsibilities expanded to include Joseph Schmidt Confections and Dagoba Organic Chocolate. In addition, Kintzer has worked with other fine chocolate industry leaders including Lake Champlain Chocolates, Michael Recchuiti Confections and others.

As part of the dynamic team at TCHO, Brad continues to focus on making world-class, delicious chocolates that showcase the diversity and complexity of cacao.

Recent Blog Entries:
Unglazed
Tour de France
Field Trip

Cash Shurley
Technology / Web / eCommerce / Social Media

Cash brings over 15 years of Information Technology experience to TCHO, running the gamut from Internet startups to large enterprises and production datacenters. He is very interested in how social media affects today's lives, and how it can be used to expand a brand and get in on the conversation. Cash spends his remaining time juggling many creative projects, including music production, novel and screenwriting, and painting.

Recent Blog Entries:
SMART!!
Blogo!
A Trip to Texas

Jane Metcalfe
President

Jane is perhaps best known as the co-founder, with Louis Rossetto, of Wired magazine (US, UK and Japanese editions), Wired TV, Wired Books, and the Wired Digital suite of websites. They created an enduring brand and a pioneering and innovative company.

Jane now serves on the boards of the University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and the UC Berkeley Foundation, and she is a founding board member of the One Economy Corporation, an international non-profit whose mission is to use media and technology to help low income people accumulate assets and join the economic mainstream. She loves organizations and industries on the verge of transformation, and the leading edge of anything.

And she is the proud parent, with Louis Rossetto, of two 21st century citizens, with whom she loves cooking, jumping thoroughbreds, skiing and sailing.

Recent Blog Entries:
21C Museum Hotel offers TCHO some downright legendary Southern Hospitality
21C: Voted #1 Hotel in U.S.

Jeremy Wanamaker
Logistics Coordinator

Jeremy has spent the majority of the last few years working in the home winemaking/ homebrew industry. His hobbies include outdoor activities such as: cycling, basketball, football, and disc-golf. He is an avid sports fan; especially bay-area sports teams, such as the 49ers and Warriors.

His plan is to someday start his own franchise of brewpubs all over the world, and has been working feverishly at creating the perfect chocolate beer. Meanwhile he is attempting to expand the knowledge of brewing beer to the masses.

Recent Blog Entries:
MMMM Beeeer.
The Great Outdoors
More Beer...

John Kehoe
Vice President, Sourcing and Development

John began his career in international trade in Caracas, Venezuela in 1987. Since the cocoa market in Venezuela was liberalized in 1991, John’s work has been dedicated to the procurement and marketing of specialty cocoa, working closely with farmers, exporters, importers and chocolate manufactures. In 1999, client and colleagues, ED&F Man Cocoa, hired John to restructure a cocoa exporting operation in the Dominican Republic. In 2002, John returned to the United States, and founded “EcoTrade” a Specialty Cocoa brokerage and consultancy based in Miami. Through friendships and contacts developed over the years, John expand his experiences to initiate new relationships and diversifying supply to include Ecuador, Jamaica, Trinidad, Madagascar, as well as fair trade cocoa from Ghana and the Ivory Coast. This work was considered by many as pioneering a market in the United States for Specialty Cocoa.

Recent Blog Entries:
Blog From the Field
New Horizons
It's like your Birthday!

Jose Luis Fiorentini Melendez
Production Team

Jose’s start in the chocolate world began in 2008 after 18 years of working in Production, Sanitation, and Receiving at Alioto Alazio’s, a fish company at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. Jose hails from Lima, Peru and loves fish and crab. In Peru Jose worked at Luis Banchero Fishery in Puerto Callao for 14 years. On the weekends Jose likes to go window-shopping with his wife around Market St.

Karl Bittong
Co-Founder

During his 42 years of experience in chocolate manufacturing and supply relationships, Karl has designed and built chocolate manufacturing plants and developed formulations for many of the leading producers throughout the world—including van Houten, Bensdorp, Unilever, Transmar, and a veritable who’s who of premium manufacturers in the US. Karl’s long-standing relationships throughout the cacao supply chain — with growers, exporters, brokers, equipment manufacturers, and large industrial end-users—is helping TCHO source high quality cacao at attractive prices, build a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, and will help create partnerships in our B2B market segment.

Larry Del Santo
Marketing Associate

Larry loves chocolate. He has been working in the chocolate industry for over 3 years. Scharffen Berger was his home and first exposure to chocolate, where he worked in retail and gave factory tours for the public. Studying marketing and communication at USC, along with his chocolate experience, brought Larry to TCHO. Larry likes traveling and spending time exploring all that San Francisco and Los Angeles have to offer. He loves movies, especially the ones critics hate (i.e. 300, Old School, Wanted). Social networking is one of his favorite things - he’s an avid “Twitterer” (follow him: LarryDelSanto), Facebooker and networker. You can most likely find him rooting for the Trojans or running around San Francisco getting people to come to TCHO on a tour!

Louis Rossetto
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Creative Officer

Louis is the co-founder with Jane Metcalfe of Wired magazine, Wired TV, Wired Books, and the Wired Digital suite of websites, including the first website with original content and Fortune 500 advertising HotWired, as well as the award-winning search engine HotBot. In short, he not only foresaw the major social and economic trend of our time, the digital revolution, he was an active participant and leader in its development.

Louis is obsessed with building a great business from the ground up, creating products and experiences that delight, and changing the world without politics — and with being the best dad he can be to Zoe and Orson, and partner to Jane. Not necessarily in that order.

Recent Blog Entries:
Faces
Sequencing cacao
Out of many, one

Marta Laguardia
Production Team

Marta’s extensive background in chocolate ranges from 18 years working in Human Resources at Joseph Schmidt Confections and 3 years working as a Production Supervisor, Shipping Coordinator, as well as HR at Hooper’s Chocolates in Oakland. In her spare time she studies to become a Medical Assistant. She has always been interested in making a difference in the health of others, both therapeutically and clinically. She is convinced that dark chocolate has profound health benefits!

Martina Barajas
Production Team

Martina’s experience with chocolate making began at Joseph Schmidt Confections with decoration and moulding. Prior to chocolate she worked at the Bay Meadows restaurant in San Mateo. At home Martina has 5 dogs – all Chihuahuas – and just recently had her first litter of 3 puppies. On the weekends she spends time at the park with her grandchildren. She loves TCHO and is happy to be working with chocolate!

Matilde Paredes
Production Team

Matilde is no stranger to chocolate manufacturing. She worked at Joseph Schmidt Confections for 9 years in the Production and Quality departments. She knows how to hand-temper, package intricate gifts, and document quality attributes. Originally from Guanajuato, central Mexico, she now lives in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco, which is a close commute to work everyday. She enjoys taking long walks down the Embarcadero and watching action movies with her sweetheart.

Matt Heckert
Senior Engineer

Matt has been working as an engineer, as well as a performance and sound artist, since 1978. He runs his own design-build shop where he does design, fabrication and machining. One of the founding directors of Survival Research Laboratories, he has built robots and designed soundtracks for performances and films. In 1989 he conceived and developed a group of sound producing machines know as the Mechanical Sound Orchestra and toured it in the United States and Europe. He has won numerous art grants and awards for his work and has taught at the San Francisco Art Institute. Matt is obsessed with making sound-noise-music with the mechanical devices he builds.

Recent Blog Entries:
Who likes vinyl? Licorice pizza anyone?
Fishing on the SF Bay
Salsa Time!

Nina Luttinger
New Products

Nina arrived into the realm of TCHO (employee #1, actually) from the specialty coffee and fair trade worlds. After launching a fair trade importing company in the mid-1990s, she later worked as an account manager with TransFair USA, the Fair Trade certification organization, collaborating with leading specialty coffee and tea companies to launch fair trade products. Nina is the author of “The Coffee Book: Anatomy of an Industry” and has been a strategic marketing consultant for numerous sustainable businesses. She grew up baking all the chocolate birthday cakes (nicknamed “ninacakes”) in her family. She loves chocolate and coffee together.

Recent Blog Entries:
store concept...
wrapping your head around bar wrappers...
connection....

Richard Barajas
Production Team

Richard has quickly become an expert in chocolate manufacturing and equipment maintenance, manning the moulding line, tempering, wrapping machines, and depositors. Richard loves to make all the different kinds of chocolate products that TCHO has and is always impressed by how many kilos we can produce. Prior to TCHO Richard did construction, refining, and piping work in the Bay Area. Outside of work Richard loves to spend time with his wife and three children, going out to the park and Chucky Cheese where the kids get to go wild!

Rick DeCost
Production Supervisor

Rick writes: “Born in Niagara Falls, N.Y., right down the street from Love Canal. My connection with chocolate goes back to My Grandmother who used to work the counter at Fanny Farmer’s Chocolate. Of course we would go visit for the samples. I spent most of my life running a printing press. After that dried up, I decided to become a baker, to keep working with my hands. One day I stopped by to visit [head engineer] Matt at TCHO. I was drawn in by some unforeseeable force — and now can't seem to find my way out.”

Robert Kopf
Director of Sales

Rob has more than 20 years experience in sales and operations — primarily in the confectionery and food & beverage industries. He is passionate about building brands and growing new businesses. Prior to joining TCHO, Rob helped successfully launch award-winning products and grow sales for companies such as Impromptu Gourmet, FoodService.com and the San Francisco Chocolate Factory. Rob is obsessed with cooking the perfect meal.

Shiaosan Williams-Sheng
Assistant Chocolate Maker

Shiao works magic at TCHO as an assistant chocolate maker. She helps R&D develop recipes and calibrate minute adjustments in formulas, relying on veracious palate. She comes from a family of chocolate addicts and grew up on an apricot orchard. Shiao has always loved food creation, especially dessert. She worked in kitchens since the age of 13, working her way from prep-cook to pastry-chef, and eventually went to culinary school at age 21. When she is not slaving away in the chocolate laboratory, you can find her nose buried in a book – or “historical time pieces” as she calls them – with a cup of PG Tips tea within arms length.

Timothy Childs
Co-Founder and Chief Chocolate Officer Emeritus

As co-founder and our first (and so far only) Chief Chocolate Officer, Timothy was responsible for the company's original vision and strategy, including TCHO's Flavor-driven approach to chocolate making as well as TCHOSource, the company's project which he developed with Sourcing Director John Keogh to improve livelihoods and generate prosperity throughout the cacao value chain. After four years of insane effort, he took a much deserved break in January 2010, preparatory to his next entrepreneurial adventure.

Prior to founding TCHO, Timothy launched the successful retail brand Cabaret Chocolates, where he co-pioneered single-origin marketing with distribution through national outlets. He is also the founder of early stage companies in the Internet and computer graphics industries and also co-founded VeRGe and the Web3D RoundUP. Before becoming hooked on chocolate, he developed machine vision systems for NASA's Space Shuttle program.

Timothy is a sought-after speaker whose other obsessions include community building, artistic and cultural movements, paragliding and multi-camera video time-lapse projects.

Recent Blog Entries:
Roxie, the wonder dog
5.7 and 9 gram mold dies, Sexy! (SFW)
Spore - the ultimate of digital generative systems

Zohara Mapes
Chocolate Maker

Zohara’s deep passion for chocolate began early starting out as a young girl making French style truffles. The passion for cacao took hold and led her on journeys through the Mayan jungles and into labs with chocolate technologists. She created a confection company selling seasonal flavors at farmers markets and special events and has led classes in Hawaii on cacao from tree to chocolates.

She also has a background in multimedia and has traveled the world on projects for the UN doing documentary video and web work through Europe, the Middle East, Brazil and Hong Kong. She has a deep love for music and toured with Jazz great Ornette Coleman on his European Tone Dialing tour doing live video Jazz at 16.

Zohara feels at home with TCHO blending the worlds she loves of Chocolate & Tech.

Recent Blog Entries:
Strange...