Rick Aurite

President

Rick Aurite is a highly respected veteran of the foodservice industry, who many of his colleagues consider an industry expert. As a teenager in South Philadelphia, Rick worked after school at the corner delicatessen bagging groceries, slicing deli meats and taking care of customers. He went on to graduate from Temple University with a degree in Marketing. To pay for college, Rick worked full time for a local bar/restaurant where he began as a line cook and advanced to bartender and then manager.

After graduating from Temple, Rick began a very successful 22-year career with Sysco Food Services starting as a sales associate. Through his hard work and will to succeed, he progressed to District Sales Manager, followed by Regional Sales Manager and finally Vice President of Sales. In 2011, Rick took a promotion as Senior Vice President and had to relocate to Baltimore, MD. Throughout his professional career, he nurtured solid relationships with colleagues, brokers, manufacturers and customers. Rick was in charge of departments with hundreds of employees, negotiated numerous contracts and was a top performer year after year for Sysco.

In November 2015, Rick was selected by the DVPG Board of Directors as President, combining his tremendous corporate and restaurant knowledge and experience into achieving a new set of goals.  Rick’s creative ideas, work ethic and a firm but fair leadership style was instantly welcomed by the entire organization.  Rick is responsible for running the day to day operations professionally and efficiently with the goal of delivering value to all DVPG members.  He and his staff are constantly working on better deals, pricing and rebate programs helping members to not just survive in business, but to thrive!

Rob O’Connor

Chief Operating Officer

Rob O’Connor is the Chief Operating Officer of the Delaware Valley Purchasing. He has been with DVPG since 2008. Rob oversees the DVPG Member Service Advisors, who are responsible for continuing to grow DVPG membership.

Prior to coming to work for DVPG, he worked for the Delaware River Port Authority in the Regional Development Office and then as a political operative on various local, state and federal campaigns.

Rob graduated from Rowan University in 2006 with a degree in public relations. Rob is a proud member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and is now part of their alumni association.

Jim Raley

Member Service Advisor

Jim graduated high school from Bishop Eustace Preparatory in Pennsauken NJ. He then went on to earn his degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management from Widener University. After graduating college Jim started his career with ARA Foodservices at Widener University as Assistant Food Production Manager. From there, Jim accepted a promotion with Beaver College (now known as Arcadia University) as a Food Production Manager.

In 1990 it was time for Jim with all of his experience to return home to run the family business, at the Pufferbelly Restaurant in Lindenwold, NJ. The Pufferbelly Restaurant was an active member with DVPG for over 25 years. In 1992, Jim accepted the nomination as DVPG President, and also sat on the board of directors for DVPG during that time. In his current role as Member Service Advisor, Jim’ brings 35 years of industry experience to the DVPG members.

Jim really enjoys reaching out to restaurant owners detailing all the benefits and why they should join DVPG. He equally spends his time keeping existing DVPG members well informed of all new and existing programs so they can maximize their savings.

Amy Giambanis

Office Administrator & Bookkeeper