Sentry Centers | Company

Where People & Productivity Meet

Sentry Centers’ new class of executive conference centers serve as a seamless extension of internal function space to accommodate your off site meetings and events.

Our Team

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People are Sentry’s greatest strength. We’re proud to operate with a select roster of consummate professionals who go beyond to deliver excellence. Our team is inspired to deliver seamless events and is empowered to anticipate your needs and quickly react should any aspect of your time with us fall short of perfection.

Executive Team

Christopher Kelly, Principal

Chris co-founded Sentry Centers in 2009 to capitalize on converging trends in real estate and workplace collaboration. Sentry re-purposes commercial office space into full service conference centers that simultaneously create value in real estate and serve corporate demand for local, offsite meetings. Chris leads industry discussions on alternative workplace strategies and collaboration and has initiated programs including The ReThink Forum and CoreNet's Conference Space Utilization Survey. Prior to joining Sentry, Chris founded ventures including evoJets, a leading provider of private jet charter services and several other small business projects in the United States, Central and South America. Chris is a graduate of the Villanova School of Business and has twice been recognized in Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30” for his founding roles in Sentry Centers and evoJets. Most recently he has been appointed as a member to NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's "Small Business Working Group" and is actively involved in community discussions on small business and entrepreneurship. Outside of work, Chris' passion for traveling in developing economies has taken him to over 30 countries on 5 continents. Chris is a life long student who especially enjoys playing music, cooking and photography. You can follow Chris on Twitter @ThoughtsOnBiz.

Ryan Simonetti, Principal

Ryan co-founded Sentry Centers in 2009 bringing a wealth of financial experience with a focus in real estate to the organization. Sentry Centers is quickly changing the landscape of corporate real estate by developing purpose built conference centers to meet the growing demand of companies looking for local offsite meeting and conference solutions on a variable cost basis. Ryan oversees all financial, acquisition, construction, and new development transactions for Sentry Centers. Prior to founding Sentry, Ryan served as a Vice President at Gramercy Capital Corp. where he was in charge of the workout and restructuring of a $1.0 B loan portfolio including $600 MM of related investments. Before joining Gramercy in 2006, Ryan was a real estate banking analyst within the global real estate group at Lehman Brothers, where he focused on the structuring and securitization of commercial mortgaged back securities. Ryan is a graduate of Villanova University, and has been recognized in Inc. Magazine’s “30 under 30”. Ryan is an active supporter of NourishingNYC, Nourishing America, CoreNet Global, and was selected to be a member of New York Senator Gillibrand’s Small Business Working Group. Outside of work, Ryan enjoys golfing, fishing, reading, and thinking of the next big idea. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @rwsimonetti.

Peter Chun, VP/ Head of Operations

Peter’s 16 years of professional experience brings vision and strategic focus to Sentry Centers. A native New Yorker, Peter has held various leadership positions including Director of Operations, Director of Food and Beverage and General Manager, all of which have been with Starwood Hotels, Hilton, Millennium Broadway and privately owned conference centers in the Northeast. His passion lies in creating sustainable practices to ensure streamlined processes and consistency which stems from his Six Sigma training. Peter began his career early as a young entrepreneur while attending Hofstra University. His experience in owning and managing over 25 wireless communications retail locations has been instrumental in providing the foundation to his work principles and ethics. Peter currently oversees all Sentry locations, with a core focus on the company’s vision and profitability while creating future leaders within the company.

Finance

Kathy Merritt, Director of Finance

Kathy Merritt, Sentry Centers Controller, has extensive background in the accounting and finance field, with over 20 years experience in the meeting industry. Before joining Sentry she served as Corporate Controller. Prior to entering the Meeting Industry, Kathy held various accounting positions with RCA Records and NYNEX. Kathy is a Magna Cum Laude graduate in Accounting from Rider College.

Brigette Bowman, Accounting Manager

Brigette is the second Sentry Centers’ member to hail from Colorado. She brings with her several years of accounting experience in food & beverage and retail sectors. A graduate of University of Northern Colorado, Bridgette has a degree in Accounting. Her love for numbers and finance makes her a valuable assets to Sentry team.

Sales

Robin Samkoff, Account Director

Robin started her career back in 1993 as a sales manager with the New York Vista and brings with her over 17 years of direct sales experience. She has held several positions such as sales manager, catering sales manager, senior sales manager and over 8 years experience in a Director’s capacity. Robin comes to us from her last position as Senior Complex Sales Manager for the W Hotels of NY!

Gregory Materdomini, Senior Account Director

Greg joined Sentry’s sales team in 2010 bringing with him 15 years of sales, food & beverage experience. Greg’s role has been integral with assisting in more than doubling the size of the sales team and company revenues in one year. Prior to Sentry Centers, Greg was the Director of Catering for Millennium Hotels where he was responsible for meetings and events of 110,000 square feet of space. Greg’s experience also includes Sheraton Hotels of New York, Doral Hotels as the Food and Beverage Director, and The Parker Meridien Hotel where he was part of the opening team that was responsible for Norma’s restaurant. Greg is a graduate of Penn State University and has been certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers. Greg is an active member of NACE, MPI and the F&B Association.

Lina Cantillo, Account Director

Lina Cantillo started her career in as a sales intern with Hotel Macklowe/Macklowe Conference Center 18 years ago. She joined the team full time after graduating from Johnson & Wales University. Lina grew in her sales role as that hotel transitioned to the Millennium Broadway Hotel and her positions included Conference Sales Manager, Senior Sales Manager and Director of Group Sales. Lina then joined NYC & Company as Regional Director of National Accounts and in this role she was responsible for bringing meeting and convention business to the city. She is a member of many industry organizations such as MPI, HSMAI, and ALPFA.

Arlenis Cruz, Account Manager

Arlenis joined the Sentry team in April 2011 and brings with her 10 years of combined operations and sales experience. Arlenis began at the Intercontinental as an intern within the Catering Sales Departments. It was not long until she was brought on-board full-time as a Conference Service Admin. Her time and experience at the Intercontinental positioned her for a Catering Coordinator role at the Warwick Hotel--where she worked and grew for five years. Looking for a change of pace, Arlenis took a position at the Carlton Hotel acting as the Conference Service Manager. Her time was later devoted towards Group Sales until she boarded the Sentry Sales Team as Account Manager.

Marketing

Maya Stanic, Director of Marketing & Brand Development

Maya’s experience includes developing, leading and managing an array of marketing initiatives in commercial real estate and hotel industries. Prior to joining Sentry Centers, Maya was Director of Marketing at Malkin Holdings LLC, where she guided marketing efforts for extensive portfolio of office buildings including the Empire State Building. Previously to her career at Malkin Holdings, Maya served as the North America Brand Manager for W Hotels. In that capacity, she developed North American marketing and branding initiatives for the luxury lifestyle brand, and supervised marketing programming at 29 hotels in North America. Maya’s experience encompasses a range of creative marketing efforts, which contributed significantly and positively to the image of W Hotels. Earlier, she held the role of Marketing Manager for W Hotels of New York, where she spearheaded marketing initiatives for the 5 hotels in New York. Maya was named “Manager of the Year 2010” by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Operations

Jeffrey Reichstein, Director of Operations at 730 Third Avenue

Jeffrey Reichstein contributes 25 plus years experience in the meeting industry to Sentry’s roster. Jeffrey began his career in Operations at the Grand Hyatt New York and went on to work under Ian Schrager at the Morgan’s Hotel Group. Jeffrey’s service skills were further refined at Sonnier & Castlespecial events and catering and then at the Westin Hotel Time Square where he focused on event and catering sales.

Iman Aden, Director of Operations at 810 Seventh Avenue

Iman comes to Sentry Centers with over 10 years’ of experience in the meeting industry. She has served as a Service Express Manager , Conference Planning Manager and most recently Housekeeping Manager at Sheraton New York and Towers. Iman studied at Hasseris College where she graduated with a bachelor degree in Liberal Arts and Languages. Iman is fluent in 6 languages.

Conference Services

Lori Quagliana, Senior Conference Service Manager at 730 Third Avenue

Lori, Senior Conference Service Manager, brings 11 years of experience to Sentry Centers. She has held several positions within the New York City Marriott properties including Front Desk Manager, Sales Manager and most recently Senior Event Manager. In this role, she handled groups of up to 1,500 guests and was responsible for planning high profile social and corporate events. Lori is a graduate of R.I.T. with a B.S. in Management.

Kathy Sixon, Conference Service Manager at 730 Third Avenue

Kathy brings in 7 years of experience to Sentry Centers where she serves as a Senior Conference Service Manager. She has held several positions within Starwood Hotels including a role as the Human Resources Assistant within the St. Regis--working with Union Labor employees and providing health benefits to 650 employees. Kathy’s passion for excellence in client experiences and front of the house duties flourished while she worked at Westin NYC as Sales & Catering Coordinator. Here she applied her skills and knowledge to the test while facilitating the VIP clients’ events. Later, she transitioned to an Executive Assistant-working with hotel owners on quarterly budgets for the Executive Committees. Kathy was also responsible for additional revenue for the private dining/reception sales in the hotel’s restaurant and bar. She is a graduate of College of Staten Island with a BS in Psychology.

Ashley Elizabeth Lishner, Conference Service Manager at 810 Seventh Avenue

Ashley first experienced Sentry Centers as a client before joining our team as a Conference Coordinator where she now serves with an intimate knowledge of meeting planner needs and priorities. As an Event Operations Coordinator for World Research Group she independently worked as the primary point of contact for speakers and sponsors, prepared all BEOs and oversaw F&B arrangements, budgets and attendance management. Ashley served as a Marketing Coordinator at EvensonBest Contract Furniture preparing all travel arrangements, itineraries and appointments both overseas and locally. Ashley is a graduate of Salem State College with a degree in Public Relations.

Joy Flammer, Chief Service Operator at 810 Seventh Avenue

With over 10 years of industry exerience, Joy joined the team at Sentry Centers as 810’s newest Chief Service Officer. Joy’s career started in 2003 when she was a Bar manager for Café Mojo where she worked for over 7 years. By 2007, she decided to get more involved in operations and became an Operations Manager at Environmental Services Inc. where she excelled in Operations with both her organizational skills and costumer recognition. After 2 years at ESI she was introduced to the hotel industry by a fellow co-worker and has worked for both Starwood and Marriott hotels.

Catering and Banquet Services

Stephen Meade, Executive Chef at 730 Third Avenue

Chef Meade brings 28 plus years of culinary experience to Sentry. Immediately prior to joining Sentry he was Executive Chef for Restaurant Associates at Pfizer’s three New York facilities including its World Headquarters. As Executive Chef Stephen oversaw all budgets, management, food purchasing and menu design for the complete culinary operation including cafeteria, catering, board of directors food preparation and private functions. In his tenure at Restaurant Associates Stephen also served as Executive Chef to Bear Sterns, The United Nations and Sony Music.

Victor Cano, Executive Chef at 810 Seventh Avenue

Over his 14 years of catering and banquet experience Chef Cano has developed a notable talent for producing crafted cuisine on a grand scale. In his tenure at Compass Group he held various corporate restaurant accounts including Dallas Medical Hospital, Lehman Brothers and Pfizer. In 2007 Chef Cano authored “From the South to the North…The Rediscovery of South American Cuisine” in which he shares his passion for the South American history and cuisines. Chef Cano graduated with a degree in Nutrition Fundamentals from Framingham State College and is currently pursuing a second degree in Marketing.

Ruben Perez, Catering Chef

Chef Perez has served as Sous and Catering Chef for over 16 years with balanced expertise in food preparation and team leadership. Prior to joining Sentry Ruben spent over a decade overseeing various operations for Restaurant Associates including Cucina & Company, JP Morgan Chase, Rockefeller University, Alliance Bernstein and Pfizer. Prior to his corporate experience Ruben was Sous Chef at Piatti Pronti where he excelled at delivering dining room cuisine and outside catering. Ruben is a graduate of the Universidad Autonoma deGuerrero, School of Marine Ecology.

Drew Kromm, Director of Purchasing/ Cafe Manager

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 2004, the majority of Drew’s focus has been dedicated to the corporate food service industry. While working for the Compass Group, he was a key player in winning a new account with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. Drew has a great background in managing operations in both the front and behind the scenes. He is also well versed in the purchasing needs of large scale corporate food service accounts. Drew brings his passion for excellent food and excellent service to Sentry Centers on a daily basis.

Technology

Nicholas Cox, Director of Technology

Nicholas joined Sentry in December 2010 to create a best in class conference center technology department. Since joining the company he has personally overseen the installation, maintenance and staffing of our two conference centers. In his daily role Nick and his event technology team provide valuable consultation services to our clients and are onsite to administer and operate the company’s technology and IT network. Nick comes to Sentry with over 13 years of audiovisual management experience and has held various Event Technology positions at hotels including Assistant Director of Event Technology at The St. Regis Hotel New York City, and The Westin Times Square New York City. Director of Event Technology at The Omni Berkshire Place Hotel New York City, and Millennium Broadway Hotel & Executive Conference Center, New York City. Nicholas was recently nominated for “AV Manager of the Year 2011” via AV Technology magazine for his contributions at Sentry.

Bennett Chua, IT Director

Bennett has been in Information Technology since 2002 and previously managed the technology needs for 3, 4 and 5 star hotels. He also served as an IT Project Manager for Starwood’s New Builds team, opening several hotels throughout North America. In his role at Sentry Centers, he provides strategic direction for Sentry’s IT growth, including the design, planning and execution of the successful construction of Sentry’s second location at 810 Seventh Ave. Bennett earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago and MBA from DePaul’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

Jeffrey Beck, Technology Consultant

Jeff has 12 years of experience in event technology complemented by a genuine dedication to customer service. Jeff comes to Sentry from PSAV where he ranked “Top 25” in sales out of 700 locations in his service to New York hotels including The Intercontinental, The Barclay and the Millennium Broadway Hoteland Executive Conference Center. In his work experience Jeff has held positions as a sound designer, audio engineer, audiovisual technician and event technology manager and with a BA in Communications from William Paterson University with a focus on Radio Broadcasting, Sound and Audio.

Matthew Rubinstein, Technology Manager at 810 Seventh Avenue

Matt has been in the meeting industry since 2008 having first been an Audiovisual technician at the Marriott Marquis with an outsourced company hired by the hotel. Prior to this he worked as an audio engineer for local and national talents while attending high school and college. He loves to travel and is a musician who enjoys playing a variety of brass instruments, his primary being the trumpet. Matt is a graduate of the University at Buffalo with a B.A. in History