March 2019 Membership Luncheon: NEW SPEAKER! Lorena Cantarovici, CEO of Maria Empanada

Lorena Cantarovici is the force behind Maria Empanada, the Denver-based restaurant chain that in only 7 years earned national recognition as the leading brand of artisan empanadas and is credited with developing the on-trend, and highly scalable craft-casual concept. In 2017, Lorena traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Person of the Year Award for the State of Colorado. The Argentine Department of Exterior Commerce has referred to Lorena as the Ambassador of the Argentine empanada in the U.S. Lorena also been featured on The Food Network and in scores of local, national and international media.

Maria Empanada has won several awards for its food and as an originator of a new category in fast casual dining. 

• Zagat has rated Maria Empanada as “One of the 12 Hottest New Bakeries in America” 
• One of the 8 Breakout Brands of 2018 -Via QSR Magazine
• One of 40 most innovative brands with less than 40 units 2019- Via QSR Magazine
• The chain won a Top 50 Colorado Companies to Watch Award.
• Maria Empanada is a 2018 cohort of Denver Gazelles, a group of five fast-growth companies that the City features when attracting other companies to settle and/or invest in Colorado. 
• In November of 2017, Maria Empanada announced that it secured Series A funding from the Colorado Impact Fund. 

Lorena holds an undergraduate degree in accounting from Argentina and a master’s degree in marketing from Mexico. She is also a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program at Babson University and the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Education Scaling Program at Stanford University. 
 

As a highly regarded and seasoned practitioner, Chalyse Robinson guides public and private companies and private equity sponsors through all aspects of their debt financing transactions. Ms. Robinson has built a distinguished practice over the years, with a broad range of experience representing national and international companies and private equity funds active across a diverse range of industries, including energy and natural resources, oil and gas, mining, financial services, technology, entertainment, retail, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing and real estate. With her invaluable practice experience and wide industry knowledge, Ms. Robinson is able to provide comprehensive and exceptional service for her clients.