Persona Wood Fired Pizzeria has named Glenn Cybulski as chief executive, giving the World Pizza Campion and company co-founder a bigger role in leading the brand in its next stage of development.

Cybulski will lead the execution of the brand’s long-term growth strategy while overseeing day-to-day operations for the emerging brand, which currently has one restaurant open and operating in Santa Barbara, California, and nearly 30 more in various stages of development across the country.

“Over the past couple of years, Glenn has consistently shown why he is widely regarded as one of the most talented, innovative and entrepreneurial pizzaiolos in the business today and will be a key player in the future growth of our brand,” said Joseph Baumel, who co-founded Persona with Cybulski in 2013. “Glenn is the natural choice to write the next chapter of Persona’s history.”

Cybulski has been in the restaurant business in one way or another for nearly 30 years, opening several restaurants, but he’s always had a love for pizza. He went to Italy for the first time in 1986 and stayed on and off for about 10 years gaining his culinary refinement. He graduated from the prestigious Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli, the oldest pizza school in the world, where he learned the craft of Neapolitan Pizza. Since, he has been recognized with more than 100 culinary awards nationally and internationally – including “World Pizza Champion” at the Citta Di Napoli world pizza competition in Naples, Italy – and is widely regarded as one of the Top 10 Pizzaiolos in the United States.

“I’m honored to have this opportunity and excited about working with the Persona leadership team, our employees, restaurant teams, franchise partners, and suppliers to contribute to the growth and profitability of the company,” Cybulski said. “There is no doubt in my mind that Persona has all the ingredients to position itself as the premier create-your-own, hand crafted pizzeria concept in the booming fast casual pizza segment.”