The national, authentic wood-fired Neapolitan pizzeria welcomes a new leader and reaffirms its commitment to creating opportunities for positive Deaf representation and modeling Deaf excellence.

Mozzeria, an award-winning and internationally recognized pizzeria, welcomes Richard Horrell as its newest CEO after successfully leading as interim CEO since June 2022. Horrell succeeds Ryan Maliszewski, whose impact and accomplishments on the Mozzeria community will be long-lasting and unforgettable. Horrell plans to build upon Mozzeria’s trailblazing foundation, overseeing its strategic growth by creating more equitable spaces and more opportunities for positive representation of the Deaf community.

Richard Horrell is a hard-of-hearing member of the Deaf community with more than 20 years of experience spanning law, business, and education. Before accepting the role of Mozzeria CEO, he was a Senior Program Operations Managerfor CSD Social Venture Fund (SVF), a venture capital firm dedicated to funding Deaf-owned businesses. There, Horrell worked closely with Deaf business owners to ensure stability in their operations and prepare them to expand their businesses.

"As I humbly and gratefully step into this role, I recognize that Mozzeria is not solely about pizza or profit,” Richard explained. “I believe the real work we are doing is about raising up the community. It's about equity. I believe that Mozzeria, more than anything else, can be a place where Deaf and hard of hearing people can look and see their peers modeling excellence.”

“Richard has already had such a positive impact on Mozzeria as interim CEO and through his work with CSD SVF,” said Chris Soukup, Board president of Mozzeria. “We are certain that his diverse professional background uniquely positions himto continue to lead the growth of the Mozzeria brand. We are excited for what the future holds.”

Mozzeria was founded in 2011 in San Francisco, making history as the city’s first-everDeaf-owned restaurant, and it has continued making history ever since. The pizzeria quickly received global acclaim for its authentic, delicious cuisine by the International Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. Six years later, Mozzeria partnered with CSD Social Venture Fundin hopes of expanding nationwide. Thanks to this partnership, in 2020 Mozzeria was able to open a second, flourishing location in Washington D.C., despite the challenges of the global coronavirus pandemic. Nearly three years later, Mozzeria is poised to continue making an impact under Horrell’s leadership.

“As Mozzeria grows, we are gifted with more opportunities to create equitable spaces and model Deaf excellence, showing that Deaf people are capable of anything we set our minds to,” said Horrell.

About Mozzeria

Mozzeria was founded in 2011 with the goal of providing customers with a welcoming, memorable, and visual environment to experience Deaf culture while working to increase career placement opportunities for Deaf people. Since then, people across the globe have flocked to Mozzeria to get a taste of our famous authentic wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas. Mozzeria is proud to be a place where employees can show their talent and feel a shared sense of belonging, all while serving delicious pizza and cuisine inspired from theCampania region in Italy to our customers! Visit https://www.mozzeria.com and follow @EatMozzeria on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.