William Kovel | Chef/Owner
Kovel’s culinary career has brought him overseas to London and across the United States to San Francisco before he settled in Boston.
During Chef Kovel’s time in San Francisco he worked under, and learned from, one of the best chefs in the country, Traci Des Jardins of Jardinière.
Family called him back to New England and being an admirer of Restaurateur Michael Schlow, he soon joined his team at Radius where he worked his way up to Sous Chef and helped run Schlow's flagship restaurant for three years. William then decided to spend a year in London at the Michelin rated French restaurant Orrery.
Before opening Catalyst, Kovel was Chef de Cuisine of the esteemed and award-winning restaurant, Aujourd'hui. When the Four Seasons announced that they would be shutting the doors of the Grande Dame of the Boston restaurant scene in June of 2009, Kovel was ready for a fresh start. His next natural step was to own restaurant, which he had spent over 2 years year planning and building.
Kovel’s interests outside of the kitchen include reading, gardening, traveling, fishing and spending time with his family. You can follow his IG feed to see the latest antics “the dudes” are up to.
Eric Alexander | Sous Chef
Danny Escobar | Sous Chef
Robyn Yee| Director of Events
Robyn joined the Catalyst team after after spending 12 years working in the luxury event planning and hospitality industry. Most recently at Winston Flowers as a Sales Manager, Robyn has come to appreciate the understated details that make an event memorable. Previously, Robyn spent 11 years as a Catering Sales Manager at the Five Star Five Diamond Four Seasons Hotel in Boston in both the catering department as well as in the fine dining restaurant Aujourd'hui. Robyn believes that a corporate dinner, holiday party, beautiful wedding, a festive birthday party or a special anniversary celebration becomes exceptional when careful thought is placed on to the smallest of details.
In her downtime Robyn loves to travel to interesting destinations (most recently Japan & Costa Rica), perfect her calligraphy skills and design custom invitations, menu cards, place cards, banners, swag bags.
Donna Tin | Corporate Event Sales Manager
Donna’s career in hospitality began at the Four Seasons Hotel Boston where she spent three years in reservations as well as as a concierge. Donna transitioned into the role of a catering coordinator at the esteemed Taj Hotel and then spent several years at the Ritz Carlton Boston Common in the catering department before she made the transition into the restaurant industry where she accepted a sales manager position for a large restaurant group in Boston. Donna’s deep knowledge of the hospitality industry, amazing work ethic and her upbeat and sunny personality make her an invaluable asset to the Catalyst Management team
Sara Kovel | Director of Sales & Marketing
After spending 15 years gaining invaluable experience in the hospitality industry working at luxury properties such as the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach Florida and the Four Seasons Boston in both event operations and sales and planning, Sara and William opened Catalyst Restaurant in 2011.
Sara also founded Sara Kovel Events a full service event planning and design firm as well as her most recent venture Sara Emily Creative Co. which specializes in website design and management for creative entrepreneurs, hospitality groups and wedding/event professionals.
As a working mother of three children, time management and grace under pressure are two of her superpowers.
Matt Bonetti | Restaurant Manager
Matthew Demma | Sommelier
Originally from Boston, Matthew returned home this past fall from spending the past year living and working in The Hamptons. Matthew began his restaurant career working at a high-end butchery in Washington DC before focusing his efforts on becoming a Sommelier. Since then he has managed beverage programs and worked as a sommelier in fine dining restaurants in Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York. He is also currently a candidate for a Bachelor’s in Business at Boston University.