Mr. Hewko joins at a pivotal moment. As GEN extends its brand beyond the dining room into consumer packaged goods, retail, and online commerce, his appointment brings the finance leadership the Company needs to build the systems, reporting, inventory controls, and margin visibility that scalable, multi-channel growth requires. As part of this next chapter, GEN expects to continue building out its leadership team, including hiring additional executives to lead and scale its consumer packaged goods (CPG) division.

Mr. Hewko most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Westcliff Technologies, Inc., where he built the finance function from inception into a platform with five completed GAAP audits and led the company through the sale of its assets to Bitcoin Depot Inc. He expanded operating margins through cost discipline and operational improvements, while overseeing financial reporting, treasury, tax, strategic finance, and investor communications.

That experience traces back to Haas Automation, Inc., where he created the company's e-commerce business and its financial and operational backbone. He led cross-functional buildout across finance, operations, and systems, designed an ASC 606-compliant revenue recognition framework, architected the general ledger and reporting, and stood up scalable infrastructure across inventory, payments, and tax. It is the same playbook GEN intends to run as it brings products to retail shelves and directly to consumers online.

"GEN is a powerful brand with a clear opportunity to reach guests wherever they are: in our restaurants, on retail shelves, and online," said Mr. Hewko. "Scaling a CPG and direct-to-consumer business comes down to the financial foundation. Revenue recognition, inventory discipline, tax compliance, payment flows, margin analytics, forecasting, and KPI reporting all have to work together. I have built that foundation before, and I am excited to bring that builder's mindset to GEN's next stage of growth."

Mr. Hewko began his career at Ernst & Young LLP. He holds a Master of Science in Accounting and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, cum laude, from Pepperdine University, and is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in California.