February/March 2023 - 16

Mark Kronenberg
Mark Kronenberg is a lifelong veteran
of the industry, having grown up in his
family's business, providing vending,
OCS, cafeteria and catering services to
southern Louisiana. In the early 1980s,
Kronenberg wrote software to manage
the company's operation and founded
CompuVend Systems. CompuVend was the first to develop
a coin counter interface and handheld computer application
for use on routes and warehouses, the first to provide lineitem
tracking of products in machines, and the only company
to provide software to manage commissary operations.
After selling CompuVend to Cantaloupe Systems in 2014,
Kronenberg worked for Cantaloupe Systems and USA
Technologies after their acquisition. He lent his experience
to several areas of both companies and was responsible for
introducing Cantaloupe's Seed Cashless Plus to the industry.
In 2019, he left USAT/Cantaloupe and started Automated
Retail Associates, which performs projects, consulting
services and training for vending and foodservice companies.
He is an original member of the DEX standards committee,
the VDI Task Force and the VDI Task Force subcommittee on
Remote Price Change standards.
Bill Lockett
Bill Lockett joined VendSys/NAYAX and
led VendSys to become a leading provider
of VMS and OCS management systems in
2009 as the sales and marketing director.
Lockett began his career at National Cash
Register in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1974,
migrating from programmer to sales and launched NCR's
first electronic cash register and barcode reader. From 1981
to 1985, Lockett was the sales and marketing director for
route management systems for beer wholesalers at Tudor
Systems. In 1986, he was the co-founder and VP of sales for
vending, OCS and DSD management systems at Rutherford
& Associates. In 1996, he became VP of sales at inOne
Technology, which became the first provider of DEX retrofits
and teamed with NAMA for VDI DEX standard. In 2001-2008,
Lockett was top VMS and DSD sales rep for Streamware.
In 2015, Lockett founded Copper Branch, LLC. He was also
awarded Automatic Merchandiser's Pros to Know in 2016.
Lockett graduated from North Louisiana University with a
management information systems degree and served in the
U.S. Marine Corps, receiving the Presidential Unit Citation and
Purple Heart.
Steven Lambert
Steven Lambert started in 1996 at
Southern Coffee/Vending Chattanooga,
washing coffee bowls and testing and
cleaning bottled water coolers and coffee
makers. Then, he learned how to repair the
equipment, including vending machines,
and learned how to work with bean-to-cup coffee machines.
In July 2011, Lambert became a certified technician on Franke
Sinfonia coffee systems. In January 2017, Southern Coffee
was acquired by Five Star Food Service, and for the first three
years, he worked in the OCS division, adding vending and
markets in summer 2020. Since joining Five Star, Lambert
has also become certified in refrigeration. Lambert says he
is grateful to have worked with experienced technicians and
learned from them.
Joe Loparco
Joe Loparco began his career in the
industry in 1973 as a sales rep for Abbott
Coin and later, Empire Distributing. After
starting two businesses, including Just
Good Games, he acquired the rights
to Service America's vending machine
remanufacturing facility in Charlotte, N.C. in 1989. He
founded Automated Services International Inc. in 1997,
and he partnered with Global Payment Technologies and
Mars Electronics to develop and support payment systems
for Coke Moscow, Russia. In 2000, he partnered with Kraft
Foods and its Russian distributor, Mercury Food & Beverage,
to launch an office coffee service operation in Moscow.
As co-founder of ZAO Automated Service, the company
secured the exclusive contract to place vending machines in
1,600 Moscow secondary schools. In 2012, he co-founded
micro market pioneer, Revive Self Service Café. Most
recently, Loparco entered into a consultancy agreement
with Swiss technology company Invenda to help Invenda
penetrate the U.S. vending market.
Michael J Melton
Michael Melton is the founder of Peachtree Breakroom Services in Atlanta, one of the largest independently
owned full-service operations in the Southeast. As the president and industry innovator, Melton researched
healthy vending and is credited with bringing it to Georgia, offering fresh fruits and other healthy and organic
options. Peachtree was one of the first companies to be 100% cashless, embracing the technology necessary
to run and grow a successful convenience services business. Over 31 years, he built Peachtree into a highly
profitable business that he sold in 2020. Melton is an NCE5 NAMA Certified Executive (NCE) and a graduate
of the Michigan State Mini-MBA program. He currently serves as national director of operations with Refreshing USA and as
an industry consultant. He has served on the GAMC state board for over 10 years, helping achieve Sales Tax Parity for Georgia
operators and led the effort to merge Georgia into the Southeastern Vending Association (SEVA).
16 Automatic Merchandiser * February/March 2023

February/March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February/March 2023

February/March 2023 - PCOV1
February/March 2023 - PCOV2
February/March 2023 - 1
February/March 2023 - 2
February/March 2023 - 3
February/March 2023 - 4
February/March 2023 - 5
February/March 2023 - 6
February/March 2023 - 7
February/March 2023 - 8
February/March 2023 - 9
February/March 2023 - 10
February/March 2023 - 11
February/March 2023 - 12
February/March 2023 - 13
February/March 2023 - 14
February/March 2023 - 15
February/March 2023 - 16
February/March 2023 - 17
February/March 2023 - 18
February/March 2023 - 19
February/March 2023 - 20
February/March 2023 - 21
February/March 2023 - 22
February/March 2023 - 23
February/March 2023 - 24
February/March 2023 - 25
February/March 2023 - 26
February/March 2023 - 27
February/March 2023 - 28
February/March 2023 - 29
February/March 2023 - 30
February/March 2023 - 31
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February/March 2023 - 33
February/March 2023 - 34
February/March 2023 - 35
February/March 2023 - 38
February/March 2023 - 39
February/March 2023 - 36
February/March 2023 - 37
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February/March 2023 - 39
February/March 2023 - 40
February/March 2023 - 41
February/March 2023 - 42
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