Our Team

Principal

Steven Rice

Steven purchased Taylor Arizona in December 2012. Steven has ownership in two other distributorships and brings a tremendous amount of experience to the Taylor Arizona. He has over 39 years in the industry and prides himself on his results-oriented management style, strategic partnerships, and effective alignment with and support of key business initiatives.

Steven thrives on navigating high-performing teams through changing business strategies with clear focus on the customer. He is passionate about our purpose, mission, and vision in everything we do at Taylor Arizona. This is the key to our success as we continue to build our world-class food service equipment distributorship. “I believe that we are true partners with our customers and helping them be successful, we in-turn, are successful.”

President, Managing Partner

Paul Hodges

Paul officially joined Taylor Arizona in January 2019 but has supported the Principal, Steven Rice for several years in a consultant role.  Prior to joining Taylor Arizona, Paul has held various executive roles in large corporations and start-up ventures. 

He has spent most of his career in a Technical or Operational role, supporting companies to improve bottom line performance. Paul is a “Lean Practitioner” and focuses his teams on Continuous Improvement in every aspect of the business; from Sales, Finance/Administration to Warehousing, all to ultimately enrich the customer experience.

Director of Operations

Jason Wambolt

Jason joined Taylor Arizona in July 2023 after spending significant time with organizations such as Apple and tech insurance startups, Oscar Health, and Lemonade.  As the Director of Operations, he is dedicated to creating both customer and employee loyalty through observation, analysis, collaboration, and recognition. He strives to provide our valued customers with an outstanding customer experience by ensuring consistent service and value.

Focusing on the details that produce excellence, Jason is committed to acquiring the best talent, leveraging team-member strengths, and providing experiences that encourage growth and development.  Balancing people and process, he recognizes that even the best laid plans and strategies only work when the hearts and minds of the team are aligned.

In his free time, Jason enjoys writing, cooking, and gardening. 

Controller

Brian Herrera

Brian joined Taylor Arizona in March 2020. As the Controller, he oversees all day-to-day financial aspects of Taylor Arizona, Ventana Distributing, Saratoga Leasing and STIG. He has worked in a variety of industries but mainly within the hospitality industry for over twenty years and brings a great deal of accounting knowledge to the organization. His overall responsibilities are financial reporting, planning, and budgeting, systems of internal controls and general administration. Brian has a BS degree majoring in Finance and a minor in Accounting. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family & friends and traveling.