Tony was born in Chicago and shortly thereafter his family moved to the suburbs.
Early in life, he became aware of his creativity and interest in the arts and architecture, as well as his affinity for details. He won first place in his eighth-grade science fair and an art contest at a local bank. Tony embraced physical activities and began working out and running at a young age. He played high school football and was nominated as "The Most Ideal Freshman Guy."
Early in life, he became aware of his creativity and interest in the arts and architecture, as well as his affinity for details. He won first place in his eighth-grade science fair and an art contest at a local bank. Tony embraced physical activities and began working out and running at a young age. He played high school football and was nominated as "The Most Ideal Freshman Guy."
Working with the public and demonstrating a commitment to service is second nature to Tony. At age nine he began working at his family's busy and successful restaurants. Over the years, he mastered every single restaurant position. As a people person, he was a natural to work in the family business.
In college, Tony's outgoing personality and talent for working with people landed him a position managing a four-home, multi-acre Miami estate owned by a group of successful businessmen. As resident manager, he had diverse duties with an emphasis on tending to the needs of guests at the Miami estate, the Jockey Club penthouse, a Palm Beach estate and on his employers' yachts and planes.
Later, while further pursuing his education and experiences in the arts, business management, public relations, and marketing, Tony became one the youngest butlers ever employed at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, California.
Over the years, Tony worked at many corporate and signature restaurants. He acquired extensive training in all aspects of the business and managed numerous restaurants. In time, he owned his own food-and-beverage venue on Chicago's prestigious Oak Street.
Tony had a vision to create an entertainment concept about Chicago. Tony knew Navy Pier was the best location in the city because it had more than 7 million visitors a year, making it the number one tourist destination in the Midwest. Tony entered the entertainment business with two motion simulators he designed in England and Italy. The motion simulators were immensely successful on the main outdoor promenade at Navy Pier. Tony produced his first film, “The Chicago Skyloop”, for the motion simulators. He managed the attraction's day-to-day operations and led its expansion to Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, San Diego, Cincinnati, Key West, Panama City, Miami, Grand Rapids and other locations. In addition to setting up and managing operations at these new locations, Tony directed the activities of a mobile motion simulator that traveled all over the United States and as far as Puerto Rico.
Because of the success of Tony's motion simulation venture, Navy Pier dedicated 7,500 square feet of newly built indoor space for a permanent indoor amusement and entertainment attraction. Several major companies in the industry submitted proposals, but Navy Pier chose Tony's concept of a time travel adventure through Chicago's past, present, and future. Tony assembled an outstanding team to create this experience. He chose Landmark Entertainment in Hollywood, responsible for such outstanding attractions as Terminator II, Jurassic Park, Star Trek, Hershey's, Atlanta Aquarium, and many others worldwide, to work with him to design and implement the installation.
Tony spent more than a year in Los Angeles coordinating all phases of the project with Landmark. He worked to create the film for the new venue with REZN8, a leader in motion graphics and animation with such notable clients as the Academy Awards, the Super Bowl, NBC, CBS, NASCAR, and many other significant companies. Back in Chicago, Tony worked closely with the city, the state of Illinois, and the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority. He supervised the high-tech build-out, set up operating procedures, placed staff, and managed Time Escape, a $7-million-plus 3D thrill ride featuring animatronics, special effects, multiple screens, and six degrees of motion. Not relying solely on traffic passing by the venue to generate business, Tony set up an off-site program to create revenue for his and ten other businesses at Navy Pier.
Because of the success of Tony's motion simulation venture, Navy Pier dedicated 7,500 square feet of newly built indoor space for a permanent indoor amusement and entertainment attraction. Several major companies in the industry submitted proposals, but Navy Pier chose Tony's concept of a time travel adventure through Chicago's past, present, and future. Tony assembled an outstanding team to create this experience. He chose Landmark Entertainment in Hollywood, responsible for such outstanding attractions as Terminator II, Jurassic Park, Star Trek, Hershey's, Atlanta Aquarium, and many others worldwide, to work with him to design and implement the installation.
Tony spent more than a year in Los Angeles coordinating all phases of the project with Landmark. He worked to create the film for the new venue with REZN8, a leader in motion graphics and animation with such notable clients as the Academy Awards, the Super Bowl, NBC, CBS, NASCAR, and many other significant companies. Back in Chicago, Tony worked closely with the city, the state of Illinois, and the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority. He supervised the high-tech build-out, set up operating procedures, placed staff, and managed Time Escape, a $7-million-plus 3D thrill ride featuring animatronics, special effects, multiple screens, and six degrees of motion. Not relying solely on traffic passing by the venue to generate business, Tony set up an off-site program to create revenue for his and ten other businesses at Navy Pier.
Due to his lifelong passion for fitness, Tony took over an existing 20,000-square-foot fitness center in western Illinois that was operating at a loss and turned it around by introducing innovative concepts. He created new revenue sources such as Evolution, a martial arts studio featuring MMA's Spencer Fisher and other notable figures and introduced new services and amenities. His aggressive sales and marketing efforts grew membership and in-center revenues substantially. While directing activities at the fitness club, Tony worked with architects and equipment providers to design another upscale fitness facility to fill a unique local market niche. He oversaw the general contractor's build-out of the 45,000-square-foot space. He set up an off-site sales office to develop marketing and advertising materials. Tony signed up thousands of members within months through his remarkable pre-sales campaign. Several of the innovative ideas that Tony was incorporating into the new fitness center are now used in some of the most upscale fitness facilities around the country. During his time in western Illinois, Tony also was elected to the board of a condominium association and managed several residential properties.
As a result of the legalization of video gaming in Illinois, a window of opportunity opened up for signing qualified establishments with terminal operators. Tony formed the leading gaming sales company in Illinois, which, according to several equipment providers, was head and shoulders above any other company in both its innovative tracking systems and the number of sales made. It was instrumental in growing the portfolio of two of the largest terminal operators in Illinois.
Throughout the course of all of these experiences and business developments, Tony took time to give back to society. Most notably, he created “Don't let Time Escape you; it's totally cool to be back in school.” This program featured a television PSA (public service announcement) and radio commercials directed by Tony encouraging Chicago students to attend the first day of school. It resulted in the best-attended first day of classes in years. Tony organized an event sponsored by AT&T and featuring Destiny's Child that brought much attention to the program. Beyoncé and the other members of the group expressed their personal admiration for the program. Arne Duncan, the then-president of the Chicago School Board who later became Secretary of Education in the Obama administration, praised Tony for the program's success:
Tony brought attention to the fundraising efforts for the centennial restoration of the Statue of Liberty and designed mementos of the restoration project.
In his pursuit of human rights, Tony got involved with mayors, senators, congressmen, and governors, even having a face-to-face conversation with the President and first lady of the United States regarding human-rights issues.
Tony's passions continue to create design concepts for the amusement, entertainment, technology, and service industries. With many years of high-level experience, he creates concepts from every perspective—theming, architecture, script, storyboard, graphics, film, and audio—and directs the legal, financial, marketing, public relations, and operating management aspects of each project.
Combining all of his prior business experiences, the new entertainment venue Wow Chicago will be the most exciting and greatest accomplishment of Tony's career. Wow Chicago showcases the latest advances in technology, including military grade VR goggles and has developed a groundbreaking 360- degree multimedia experience with 6 degrees of motion, special effects and sfx immersive sound.
This high-tech experience will stimulate the human sensorimotor system to deliver spectacular and ultra-realistic adventures by land, air and sea through Chicago's skyline and architecture. Wow Chicago's motion- based technology partner, a global leader in the industry, developed motion-based technology never before experienced by retail consumers. Wow Chicago now owns the only two Quantum Orbs in the U.S that use this patented motion-based technology. Wow Chicago owns exclusive rights to use the patented motion-based technology in all of North America and Central America. This gives Wow Chicago a substantial edge to deliver an exhilarating and unparalleled virtual reality experience to thrill seekers. To complement this virtual reality experience, there will be a sitting-walking VR tour and a unique studio area for immersive cinematography featuring high-tech and futuristic visual mementos of Chicago that can be shared via social media.
Tony balances his life through uncompromised commitment to health and wellness. His daily ritual includes exercise, whether it's powerlifting and cross- training at the gym or running by the lake. One of his favorite travel rituals is to check into his hotel, change into running gear, and explore the lay of the land on a run. Tony has run enough miles to circle planet Earth!
Tony kite surfs and loves wave running but is extremely passionate about skydiving and is rapidly approaching 700 skydives. No activity, however, can top the time he spends with his furry best friend, Little Kinetic.
Tony kite surfs and loves wave running but is extremely passionate about skydiving and is rapidly approaching 700 skydives. No activity, however, can top the time he spends with his furry best friend, Little Kinetic.
