Markham D. Oswald and Nancy Epstein Oswald

With more than 40 years of restaurant experience each, Mark and Nancy Oswald are co-owners of Sizzling Steak Concepts, the largest domestic franchisee of Ruth’s Chris Steak House restaurants and the developers of kitchen and cocktail brand, UP on the Roof. Mark became interested in the food industry while a student at Tulane running his fraternity’s kitchen. He began working at Commander’s Palace in 1977, where he later met Nancy. Nancy’s foodservice career began at Commander’s in 1978, working directly with owner Ella Brennan to oversee the restaurant’s sales and marketing department in addition to managing the company’s in-house advertising agency.

Nancy and Mark have worked together consistently since their time at Commander’s Palace in the late ‘70s. Today, the Oswalds own and operate eleven Ruth’s Chris restaurants in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee as well as two UP on the Roof locations (one in Alpharetta, Georgia and one in Greenville, South Carolina). Their son, Wilson, is the Director of Beverage for the company as well as the developer of UP on the Roof. Their daughter, Elizabeth, has enjoyed a career in fundraising for over fifteen years and currently serves as the director of institutional advancement for The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine in New York City.

Mark and Nancy have received numerous awards for their dedication to the hospitality industry including being selected “Atlanta’s Most Admired CEOS” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2018, jointly receiving the GRACE Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 from the Georgia Restaurant Association, and as recipients of the Ruth U. Fertel Award in 2008. The highest accolade Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. bestows, the Ruth U. Fertel Award is given to those individuals who most exemplify Ruth’s legacy of service, hospitality and commitment to the brand.

Nancy has served as past chair of the boards of the Georgia Restaurant Association and the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, was inducted into the ACVB’s Hospitality Hall of Fame in 2011 and named to the Atlanta Business Chronicle ’s list of “100 Most Influential Atlantans” in 2013. She was a founding board member of The Giving Kitchen, an Atlanta non-profit dedicated to providing grants to Georgia foodservice workers with unanticipated hardships.

Mark has continued to give back to his alma mater by serving on the Tulane University Associates Board and the A. B. Freeman School of Business Council. Together, Nancy and Mark serve on the Atlanta National Campaign Council and enjoy hosting annual “Hello Wave” events in Atlanta for incoming freshmen and their families.

Together, the Oswalds are long-time and generous supporters of the A. B. Freeman School of Business and Tulane Athletics, including the Olive and Blue Society. They previously established the Oswald Endowed Fellowship and Endowed Entrepreneurial Hospitality Fund.