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Jim Bucko, Managing Partner >
I was born and raised in Merrillville Indiana and moved my family to Haddam Connecticut in 2006 to join my 3 partners to create and develop Riverhouse Properties LLC and The Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station Inc. I am the managing partner for the business operations for The Riverhouse, The Society Room of Hartford and Riverhouse Catering.
For the past 27 years I have been involved in food service and hospitality. I am a graduate of Purdue University Calumet with a bachelor’s degree in restaurant, hospitality and institutional management.
I started in the foodservice business at age 15 cooking breakfast at Ma’s Diner before high school. I have always had a passion for the hospitality business especially catering and specifically weddings!
My experience has been gathered from several positions in the hospitality business such as General Manager of Sails Cafe restaurant on the shore of Lake Michigan and one of Indiana’s oldest private Country Clubs, Innsbrook Country Club but the majority of my experience coming from my time with White Lodging Services. I held different positions such as Banquet Manager, Director of Catering, Director of Food and Beverage, Hotel General Manager and Director of Engineering. It is also important to note that I have also worked in nearly every food service position there is, dishwasher, line cook, busboy, waiter, bartender. This was extremely important as it taught me the inner workings of the business.
During my tenure with While Lodging Service I spent the majority of my time at a 347 room Presidential Star award winning Radisson Hotel which has 35,000 square feet of banquet space and an attached 3400 seat performance Theatre, The Star Plaza. I enjoyed catering to the performers…..Don Henley, BB King, Ted Nugent, Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Bolton, Christina Aguilera to name a few. We also hosted The Miss USA pageant where our catering operations were responsible for 90% of the events for the pageant and the contestants over the course of 2 weeks. I was fortunate enough to learn how to provide service to clients with extremely high expectations. I am able to use that knowledge and provide it to our clients in our company.
I feel my greatest talent is finding exceptional people to work with. The management staff in our company, I feel, is the finest in New England. We hold ourselves to extremely high standards and it shows...just ask our clients!
John Thompson, Executive Chef >
 My name is John Thompson, Executive Chef of The Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station. I am a long-time resident of Haddam but born and raised in Brookline Massachusetts. For the previous 14 years before joining The Riverhouse I was the Executive Chef at The Simsbury Inn in Simsbury Connecticut. I have had the privilege to train under several well-accomplished chefs and have gained experience at various venues including the Sheraton Hotel-Boston, Holiday Inn/Crown Plaza Hotel-Hartford, the Brazilian Court hotel in Palm Beach and The Montauk Yacht Club. As a chef for the past 30 years I am proud to say I have had my work recognized by the American Culinary Federation, Les Amis d’Escoffier Society and the James Beard Foundation to name a few. I have been invited to be part of several guest chef events, where the best-of-the-best are gathered, to create culinary presentations for organizations such as The March of Dimes, United States Department of Defense and The American Cancer Society.
I am credited to have overseen the culinary presentation for more than 1000 weddings in my career. I see my strengths as attention to detail and a passion for creating from scratch, especially sauces and soups, which I say are my specialty.
When I learned about the opportunity at The Riverhouse I saw immediate and long-term potential and wanted to be a part of it. Leaving the Simsbury Inn along with its great management and ownership group was, however, the toughest decision of my career.
Libby Rutty, Sales and Event Coordinator >
I joined The Riverhouse with several years of event planning experience. I held the position as special events coordinator from 1996 to 2002 with Taylor Rental of Clinton, CT. I managed and coordinated rentals for business and social events including several weddings. Prior to Taylor Rental, I was the event coordinator at Gourmet Galley Catering in Quaker Hill, CT where I planned several hundred events a year. I also spent 11 years with Seaflour Foods in Centerbrook, CT as the event coordinator and Pastry chef.
I am proud to have catered events for President Fainstein of Connecticut College and at other institutions such as Wesleyan and UCONN. I was honored to have been involved in several high profile events including catering for the Doobie Brothers and dignitaries at the State Capital. One of my favorite locations to cater was at Katherine Hepburn’s estate in Old Saybrook including the wedding of Cynthia McFadden for which I personally made her wedding cake.
Jim Bucko, General Manager of The Riverhouse said, “Libby and I met initially to discuss how Taylor Rental could work with us. My parting comments to her were to let me know if she knew of anyone interested in our Sales & Event Coordinator position. The next day Libby called to say that she had someone for me – her!” Libby went home the night of meeting at and told her husband Mike, “I really would like to be a part of The Riverhouse.”
What I enjoy the most about The Riverhouse are the people I work with. I also enjoy meeting the new brides and grooms. The enjoyment of learning how each new couple visualizes their wedding day. Putting the bride, groom and their families at ease so they can enjoy the planning process. Then, helping them orchestrate all the small details, colors, themes, and personal tastes and style… bringing them all together to create their wedding.
Mary Kay Lavy – Wedding and Social Events Assistant Coordinator >
I joined The Riverhouse in 2009 as a part time office assistant. The position quickly evolved into becoming the assistant coordinator for weddings and the social events. My past experience in offsite catering and 5 years in the Medical Communications Industry of project managing and planning offsite medical education events gave me the opportunity and experience in event planning. With 20 years of sales experience with companies like IBM and Ceridian my strong motivation, communication and work ethic skills have proven in this position.
I enjoy working with our clients from assisting and planning a special birthday or anniversary celebration to a large Gala or Wedding. I am proud to be a member of The Riverhouse Team.
Jim Bucko said “ our business grew to the point we needed to add another support staff in the office. Mary Kay came highly recommended and even though she did not have the background in the catering business like our other office personnel, Mary Kay has increased her knowledge of our business and is now our expert for our social events. She has also added a wonderful dynamic to our wedding department as well!”
Matthew Rutty, Banquet Manager >
I started with The Riverhouse as one of the original employees. I worked on the original construction of The Riverhouse and continued working closely with the management to develop systems, processes and training. My background is in education at both Boston University and University of North Carolina, where I studied in the School of Management.
I’ve grown up in the catering business and have been involved with it in some way since I was 12. I would help my mother on weekends for big events, and her high standards helped me understand how to make events over the top.
Jim Bucko said, “when we had the Banquet Manager position open, I interviewed 16 candidates over the course of 8 months but just couldn’t find the right person that the position demanded. Matt was given an agenda to accomplish in order to be evaluated as the right fit for the position. I was ecstatic to know our new banquet manager had been right in front of me all along! Matt has a way with our clients that immediately put them at ease. I usually see his type of demeanor only in people much older and in seasoned professionals. Matt, for a young man, is well ahead of his age in knowledge of the catering/customer service business as well as in his leadership skills and professionalism.”
I have had the opportunity to lead events for several high profile clients including the Kennedys, William Ivy Long, Lynn Redgrave, several NFL and NBA players, Michael Price/The Goodspeed Oprah House Gala Ball and Yale University.
Kelley Smith, Corporate Sales Manager >
I came to The Riverhouse with 20 years of event sales and planning experience in 2007. My career began at Water’s Edge Resort and Spa in 1987 as a Sales Manager in the sales and catering department. During my time at Water’s Edge, I solicited and detailed corporate functions, in addition to weddings and various social events.
In 2004 I was contracted by Pfizer as a Meeting Consultant – I provided support for offsite meetings and events at various 5 star resorts around the United States. “Kelley used her knowledge of the hotel and hospitality industry, along with her personable style, to ensure that Pfizer planners and meeting participants were always satisfied with each event’s outcome” said a member of the Meeting Development team at Pfizer.
Jim Bucko, General Manager of The Riverhouse said, “Kelley introduced herself early on in The Riverhouse project. With our management team already in place, I filed her resume for future contact. Weeks after The Riverhouse opened its doors on June 22, 2007 I realized we needed a corporate sales and event coordinator to simply work with the corporate markets. Kelley’s background was very impressive, not only with the corporate markets but her experience with weddings and social events from her time at Water’s Edge. It was a natural fit and easy transition for her to make.”
Ivy Mellow, Off site Catering Manager >
I started my culinary career at a very young age in fine dining restaurants in the Westerly Rhode Island area. As much as I loved the restaurant scene something was missing. I moved to Gourmet Galley Catering where I spent the 10 years as the Head Chef and knew I had found my passion. As the Chef I was able to use several of the wonderful tools I learned and was then able to add my own twist and flavors to them.” I am proud to say that along with my culinary team we created dinners for single events topping 500 guests and weekends where we served thousands. I feel fortunate to have catered to clients such as President Michael Roth of Wesleyan College and former Wesleyan President Mr. Doug Bennet. I created such a wonderful relationship with the Bennet’s that I had the opportunity to personally cater their son’s wedding, rehearsal dinner, Mr. Bennet’s formal retirement party and a small private retirement dinner amongst many others. A few of my other clients include New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick, automobile tycoon Herb Chambers, and Jim Parker, CEO of Southwest Airlines. I had been running events from the kitchen but will now bring my experience and creativity to coordinate the client’s entire event all the way from the initial meeting all the way through the end of their event.
Jim Bucko says, “Ivy is the perfect fit for our company’s catering division. By combining her culinary knowledge as well as her attention to detail and service standards, Riverhouse Catering is focused on first-class catering events not only at established locations such as Wadsworth Mansion, Rocky Neck & Eagle Landing State Parks but at private residences, yachts and yacht clubs as well. Ivy and Libby Rutty managed the first ever Mother’s Day brunch at The Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, CT where they served over 350 people to rave reviews.”
For information about Riverhouse Catering call the Riverhouse, 860-345-4100 or visit our website www.theriverhousecatering.com.
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