Rick Vanzura, the former chief executive at Wahlburgers, is putting away his chef’s apron and heading to Kendall Square to focus on artificial intelligence.
Cambridge-based GrowthFactor announced on Thursday that Vanzura has been appointed as the startup’s new president, reporting to chief executive and cofounder Clyde Christian Anderson. Vanzura has held top positions at the Borders bookstore chain and Panera, but is probably best known as the first CEO at Wahlburgers, the restaurant concept launched by Donnie, Mark, and Paul Wahlberg that turned into a reality TV show.
More recently, he had been leading Freight Farms, a Boston ag-tech startup whose assets were sold through bankruptcy to Canada’s Growcer last year.
Joining GrowthFactor isn’t as much of a career switch as it might seem. In fact, Vanzura’s retail expertise and contacts will come in handy. That’s because GrowthFactor specializes in using AI to help retailers pick the best locations to open stores, and also which ones probably should be closed, along with managing the entire chain of real estate.
The startup is led by founders Anderson, Raj Shrimali (chief technology officer), and Sam Hall (chief operating officer), three MIT Sloan School of Management classmates who launched it in 2023. One of their most important clients is Books-A-Million, the bookstore chain led by Anderson’s father, Clyde Anderson, and the younger Anderson saw firsthand some of the challenges with picking real estate through the bookstore business. GrowthFactor just announced $5 million in venture funding from Teamworthy Ventures and Red Forest Capital.
Vanzura said the right location can make or break a shop’s success.
“Throughout my career, I’ve always thought that the amount of discipline around analytics in site selection has never matched what a high-stakes decision this is,” Vanzura said.
Vanzura admits he once thought of Books-A-Million as a second-tier competitor when he worked for Borders — but Books-A-Million survived, and Borders did not. “They just stuck to their knitting and did a good job with it,” Vanzura said. “My hat is definitely off to them.”
Now, it will be Vanzura’s job to help Books-A-Million and other retail clients expand. At least he won’t have a reality TV show chronicling the efforts this time around.
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @jonchesto.