Walter Ganzi, Jr. (Wally) is Chairman, CEO and Co-owner of The Palm Restaurants and Palm Management Corporation (PMC), which operates 29 fine dining, white tablecloth steak houses across the United States and Mexico.  He is the third generation of the Ganzi family to own and operate this successful company.  Ganzi has been an active member of The Palm since his start at the flagship restaurant in Manhattan in the early 1960's. He learned the business first hand from his father, Walter Ganzi, Sr. as well as grandfather and founder, John Ganzi.

As CEO he oversees the management of the company, strategic planning and long-term development.  Ganzi is a financial wizard and spends much of his time working on the fiscal management, development and expansion of the company.  Under his tenure The Palm has grown from one to 29 locations with all of the growth coming from internal capital.  With his partner, Bruce Bozzi , they approve all general manager candidates and then Ganzi oversees and mentors each one to make sure they are following The Palm's rigorous standards of quality and hospitality.

The Palm was the first steak house company to expand across the United States.  Ganzi was successful in pioneering the expansion through a personal attention that no other CEO can claim & with each new Palm, Ganzi packed up his family and moved to the new city to pass on The Palms culture, focus on quality, unsurpassed customer service and Palm-style hospitality. He built The Palm's legacy one city at a time, only leaving when the restaurant was ready to stand on its own two feet.

His passion for the business has extended into many personal relationships with The Palm's famous customers. His fondest celebrity moments include dining with Henry and Jane Fonda, and watching Fred Astaire tap dance on the bar at the L.A. Palm in celebration of his caricature. After many years, he remains close friends with such stars as Leslie Neilsen, Brian Dennehy, Brenda Vaccaro, Cheryl Ladd and many others. In the late1970's, Ganzi served as a regular guest-host for three years on The Dinah Shore Show, performing cooking demonstrations and showing Dinahs audience how to select and prepare steak.  

Ganzi also has a long-standing relationship with President George H. W. Bush, who convinced The Palm to open their second location in Washington D.C.   He served as Bush's national finance co-chairman in the 1988 presidential campaign, as the finance chairman for that year's presidential inauguration and was on the planning committee for Bush's recent 80th birthday celebration.   President Bush once referred to Ganzi as a tireless worker for things he believes in and the people he believes in.

Mr. Ganzi's passion for the business benefits all restaurant companies today with the FICA tip tax credit.  In the late 1980's, Ganzi teamed up with Norm Brinker and Rick Berman to work with Congressional leaders and the Treasury Department to change tax law for employer liability on tip income. His effort saved the industry hundreds of millions of dollars and continues to provide this help every year.

Ganzi honed his skills as a restaurateur at the prestigious restaurant and hospitality school, Paul Smith's College, where he graduated in 1963.  He has since become one of the school's most active alumni and prides himself on recruiting top talent from the school for both front and back of the house. Paul Smith's will soon honor Ganzi with the construction of the "Wally Ganzi, Jr. Training Restaurant," a 50-seat facility that will include a display kitchen, technology lab, interview suite, and resource center.

Ganzi received a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from Denver University in 1964.  He received an honorary doctorate of business administration in foodservice management from Johnson & Wales and was elected into Nation's Restaurant News - Fine Dining Hall of Fame.

He resides in Naples, FL, has three children and four grandchildren. In his spare time Ganzi enjoys traveling, the outdoors, fly-fishing, golf, horses and was captain of a Palm polo team.

Bruce Bozzi Sr. is third generation co-owner of The Palm Restaurants and Palm Management Corporation (PMC), which operates 30 fine dining steak houses throughout the United States and Mexico.  Together with partner Wally Ganzi, Bruce helped build the restaurant that their grandfathers first opened in 1926 into a national presence and a fine dining phenomenon.

As co-owner, Bozzi helps oversee management of the company.  Along with Ganzi, he personally approves all general manager candidates and offers mentoring and guidance to ensure that every Palm location meets the company's unparalleled standards of service and quality and be worthy to carry the name Palm.  Bozzi maintains an office in the original Palm, which has remained located at 837 Second Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan since the restaurant was first co-opened in 1926 by Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi.

Over the course of their 40-year partnership, Bozzi attests that he and Ganzi have never had a serious argument.  Together, the pair led the expansion of The Palm from a single, legendary New York restaurant into a leading restaurant company with locations coast-to-coast.  As The Palm began its rapid expansion in the 1970's, Bozzi remained in New York where he managed the company's New York operations. A die-hard New Yorker, he attributes a significant degree of The Palm's success to its ability to replicate a New York attitudes in each of its new cities- not too mention unparalleled service, delicious food and its trademark casual yet refined dining atmosphere.

Bozzi can be credited with introducing jumbo lobsters to the original Palm's menu in the 1960's, dispelling the myth that large lobster meat is tough while helping to popularize the surf & turf concept.  Today, The Palm is world famous for its giant-size jumbo Nova Scotia lobsters, and fine dining restaurants across the globe serve entrees inspired by the original lobster and steak and lobster platters made popular by Bozzi.

Known for his generosity and loyalty, Bozzi enjoys deep personal relationship with hundreds of Palm employees and customers.  His most fond celebrity memories include serving such iconic stars such as Liz Taylor, Eva and Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jimmy Stewart, Jackie Gleason and Joe Namath.

During the 1960's, Bozzi and Ganzi took over The Palm from their fathers, Bruno Bozzi and Walter Ganzi, continuing the incredible bond between the two families which has now spanned eight decades.  Shortly after becoming co-owners, the pair loosened the dress code, introducing a more casual atmosphere that drew a hip crowd of young, up-and-coming New Yorkers.

To this day, Bozzi maintains a deep emotional connection to the original Palm.  He literally grew up at the restaurant, performing various jobs at the restaurant as a teen, occasionally serving as a busboy and waiter.  In 1963, he formally joined The Palm as a steward.  One year later, he and Ganzi joined The Palm and the two began their partnership by working split shifts.

A veteran of the United States Army, Bozzi spent three years in active duty during his early 20's, rising to the rank of Sergeant (E-5) before returning to the family business.

Born and raised in Queens, Bozzi now lives in Florida with his wife where he is an avid golf and tennis player.  He continues to maintain homes in Manhattan and East Hampton, and spends several days per week working out of the original Palm.  He has two grown children, Bruce Jr. and Andrea, and three grandchildren.  Following in his father's footsteps, Bruce Jr. serves as executive vice president at The Palm.