Colin Horsford is a new member of the chamber and the founder of Harmless Straws and Horsford Accounting & Advisory. Harmless Straws offers FDA approved, biodegradable paper straws to restaurants and hotels. Their mission is to reduce single-use plastic consumption and prevent plastic pollution in our oceans. Colin previously worked at Goldman Sachs and AIG in their asset management groups. He graduated from Baruch College with his Bachelor's in Accounting and NYU with his Masters in Statistics. He currently works with multiple businesses in Queens as a paper straw distributor and accounting service provider.

Kyle Hurst is an owner and co-founder of Big aLICe Brewing Company, which has a production facility and taproom in Long Island City, Queens (its original location), and recently expanded to include a barrel-aging location and additional taproom in Industry City, Brooklyn. He began homebrewing in the late 1990s while living in his home state of Wisconsin. In 2008, Kyle moved to New York, where he continued his passion for homebrewing. This intense passion for brewing led to the eventual founding of Big aLICe in late 2011, which is one of the first farm breweries in New York City. The brewery began production in 2013, starting out with manufacturing beer only to satisfy subscriber orders. Because of increasing popularity, which was evident from the growing waiting list for subscribers, Big aLICe significantly increased its production capacity and opened its Long Island City taproom. The brewery has received a number of awards for their beers, including a 2019 gold medal in the National Honey Beers Beer Competition and a silver medal in the 2018 New York State Craft Beer Competition for its Honey Wit.

Since the very beginning and continuing through to today, Big aLICe has incorporated diverse ingredients into their beers specifically from Queens businesses, including using the honey from Wilk Apiary, jalapenos peppers from Hell Gate Farm, and coffee beans from Native Coffee Roasters. It is through these choices and others that Big aLICe has made a conscious choice to support other Queens businesses.

In addition to his daily duties and responsibilities with Big aLICe, Kyle has been very active in the New York City brewery scene. He was elected to the board of the New York City Brewing Guild (NYCBG) in 2015 and has served as NYCBG's Vice President since 2016. In that time, NYCBG membership has more than doubled and has grown in profitability. Big aLICe also frequently collaborates with other Queens breweries, as well as other New York City breweries, to produce other handcrafted and high-quality craft beers, utilizing local and organic ingredients whenever possible.

Chief Inspiration Officer, is the fourth generation of his family to be involved in the food business in NYC. His great grandfather, Sandel Lowenthal, was a chef and restaurant owner in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His grandfather Cornelius and father Robert owned and operated the Rosedale Fish Market on the Upper East Side from 1906 until 2003.

Paul’s family history in food and passion for art guides NK creatively and inspirationally.

For the past six years Paul has served as the chair of the board of HOPE Program, which received the 2017 Brooke W. Mahoney Award For Outstanding Board Governance. He leads the NK team in mentoring H.S. students through the Exploring program. When Paul is not engaged in catering he is busy in Connecticut as collage and assemblage artist.

Graduate of Coastal Carolina University, Bachelor of Science Business Administration. Started my hospitality career with Hyatt in 2005 at Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA as Assistant Front Office Manager. Transitioned to 4 other Hyatt properties (Grand Hyatt San Antonio, Hyatt Regency Waikiki, Hyatt Regency Chicago and Hyatt Regency New Brunswick) in 12 years with Hyatt. Transitioned to Omni Hotels & Resorts to lead their largest hotel in the portfolio in Atlanta, GA as Director of Rooms for 2 years. Joined MCR in February 2018 to open the TWA Hotel.