Meet The Team

As a Partner at Fifth Group Restaurants, Kris leads Bold to set the industry standard in Atlanta. Starting his career with Fifth Group in 1993 and named a partner in 1996, Kris also serves as a board member of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau. He’s a devout fan of the band Phish, as well as an avid race car fan and race driving instructor.

With over 15 years of experience overseeing event strategy, sales and building impactful relationships, Martin Collins joins Bold Catering & Design as the new Director of Sales. Martin brings proven leadership skills and a collaborative spirit to Bold’s distinguished and iconic history of events throughout the Southeast.

After a tour of the military and graduating with a degree in business from Troy State, Martin began his hospitality journey at a high standard of excellence at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. Through a marriage of teamwork – which he deems the key to an event’s success – and inspiration from the world around him, Martin aims to create connected, memorable and long-lasting occasions for his clients while leading his team to record-breaking sales numbers and revenue gains.

In his free time, Martin enjoys spending time with his family and dog, visiting farmers markets, fitness training, reading, volunteering and traveling.

With over 18 years of hospitality experience, Ryan is excited to rejoin the Bold Catering & Design team as Director of Culinary – with goals of growing the team in new and dynamic ways, as well as working towards earning his Certified Master Chef Certification. 
 
While studying at the Art Institute of Atlanta and pursuing his degree in culinary arts, Whitten worked with an Atlanta catering group where he first discovered his passion for the restaurant industry. Following months of studying abroad in Switzerland, he returned with a reinvigorated desire to work in food and beverage full time, beginning his journey with Fifth Group Restaurants as Senior Event Chef for Bold Catering & Design. He then went to work in the kitchens of several FGR staples as a sous chef – including South City Kitchen in Vinings, La Tavola Trattoria and Ecco Midtown. After seven years of honing his skills, he moved on to corporate dining, joining Restaurant Associates at Turner Broadcasting Headquarters, where he successfully led the team through the renovation and reopening of their food hall-style dining facility. Soon after, he became the Campus Executive Chef for Coca-Cola World Headquarters in August of 2019. Fast forward to 2024 – he is thankful for the opportunity to return to his roots at Bold. 

Outside of the kitchen, Ryan works closely with Atlanta-based organizations like Second Helping and Goodr to eliminate food waste and get it to those in need as opposed to a landfill – leading him to receive the “Do-Goodr” award in 2017 for saving more than 11,000 meals. In his free time, Ryan enjoys spending time with his young family, hiking, cooking over an open fire and playing music with his dad's band, Wesley & the Ridge Riders.

With over 30 years of catering & restaurant management experience, Chris Villard joins the award-winning BOLD Catering & Design team as general manager, where he will apply his extensive hospitality career to ideate & execute some of the region’s top events.

After graduating with an MBA from the University of Florida, Chris kickstarted his career with various restaurant general manager roles throughout the Southeast. Soon after, Chris transitioned into the catering world where he spent nearly six years as Director of Operations for Charleston-based Duvall Catering & Events followed by time as the Chief Operations Officer for Lisa Dupar & Company in Washington.

Passionate about transforming people’s lives through events, Chris is excited to be a part of BOLD’s flawless event execution team and to help clients make everlasting memories one event at a time. Outside of work, Chris enjoys going to the gym, traveling & spending time with his family.

Aldy hailss from Puerto Rico, where she grew up working in restaurants and retail, ultimately cultivating her true passion for the hospitality & service industries. An integral part of the Bold operations team since 2006, she plans, prepares and executes events of various scales while closely collaborating with the culinary and design teams. Aldy graduated with a degree in hotel and restaurant management from the University of Puerto Rico (Carolina) before working in restaurants and becoming banquet manager of the historic El San Juan Hotel, setting the stage for her next career move to Atlanta, Ga., to join the Bold team. Tirelessly committed to helping guests’ visions come to life and gratified by the beauty of a spectacular event, Aldy has helped successfully execute extravagant weddings, presidential campaign celebrations, Masters Week events + more. Aldy spends her leisure time on road trips with her family, exploring new places and savoring time together.

With love for the connection food creates among guests, Dustin Ward brings a wealth of impressive restaurant experience to Bold’s culinary team as executive chef. First cooking in his home kitchen at the age of seven to ensure his mom had a warm meal after work each night, Dustin has always been cooking for others - for his family, and now, for guests at five-star resorts, at elegant events + beyond.

He moved to Atlanta and joined Bold Catering & Design following several years working along the Florida coast, most recently helming the kitchen at the five-star EAU Palm Beach as executive banquet chef, preceded by leading the culinary team at Shelborne South Beach and serving as chef de cuisine at BLT Prime. With years under his belt working with Jose Andres’ team at The Bazaar, Gordon Ramsay and Angela Harnett at Cielo Restaurant and the popular Palm Beach destination The Breakers, no matter the kitchen, his focus has always remained: support local farmers and fishermen, and inspire the generation of aspiring chefs after him.

Now prepared for a year full of weddings, in-home dinners and corporate events, Dustin and the Bold team are eager to execute each client’s vision. A Slow Food sustainable food award recipient in 2018, Dustin looks forward to further ingraining himself in the Atlanta culinary community and supporting local charities, while raising his three daughters.