Ed Tinsley served as Chairman of the Board of the National Restaurant Association for the administrative year, 2006-2007 ending his term in June 2007. During his term as an officer, Tinsley traveled nearly 300,000 miles representing the industry in the United States, China, Mexico, and Turkey, as well as numerous trips to the headquarters of the National Restaurant Association in Washington, DC. Before being tapped for the Vice Chair and Treasurer Officer seat in the preceding years, Mr. Tinsley served continuously since 1996 on the National Board representing the state of New Mexico. Mr. Tinsley has served on numerous committees of the Association, including the Board's Executive Committee. He has chaired the Finance, Technology, and the International Relations Committees, and was a Trustee and Vice Chairman of the Political Action Committee (NRA PAC). He also was the exchange director to Mexico's restaurant association for two years during which time he attended their meetings to promote greater awareness and business opportunities between Mexico and the United States. As a National Restaurant Association officer, he served on the Board of Trustees of its Educational Foundation. The restaurant industry is the largest private sector employer of twelve million eight hundred thousand (12.8 million) people with over 950,000 locations, and annual sales in excess of $500 Billion Dollars.
Ed Tinsley is the owner of Tinsley Hospitality Group, LLC. Tinsley Hospitality Group is a restaurant intellectual property company and master franchisor of K-BOB'S® Steakhouse headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico. K-BOB'S® franchises operations of 17 restaurants located in Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The company is expanding, anticipating opening three (3) new units in 2010.
Ed Tinsley was recognized as the Texas Cattle Feeders Association Beef Merchandiser of 1992, received the Silver Spoon Award for community service, was inducted into the New Mexico 4-H Hall of Fame, and has been a featured participant in various industry forums. Tinsley has provided expert testimony on behalf of the restaurant industry before U.S. House of Representatives' Committees. He has served on a number of non-profit boards, including the Carrie Tingley Children's Hospital Foundation as its past president, the International Braford Cattle Association and the Texas American Bank Board in Midland, Texas.
In 2005, Tinsley was one of two National Restaurant Association Board members selected to serve as an Air Force Hennessy Award Traveler, a duty that required spending five weeks evaluating and assisting the top military foodservice operations on US Air Force bases worldwide.
Ed Tinsley was appointed by President George W. Bush, to serve as a Trustee on the Valles Caldera Board of Trustees. He was elected as Vice Chairman of the Board in 2007.
In 2008, Tinsley made an unsuccessful bid for Congress from the 2nd District of New Mexico.
Ed Tinsley is a graduate of the University of Texas with a degree in accounting. He earned a law degree from Texas Tech in 1977 and is a current member of the State Bar in New Mexico and Texas. Following graduation, he pursued a career with a law firm located in Austin, Texas. The Tinsley's subsequently purchased the rights to develop Schlotzsky's Sandwich Shops for New Mexico and southern Colorado. In 1991, Mr. Tinsley purchased K-BOB'S® Steakhouses. Tinsley has had experience in "the dish room as well as the boardroom." Tinsley continues to operate an active cattle and quarter horse ranch, and hunting program on the Flying W Diamond, located in Lincoln County, New Mexico as well as a residential/equestrian development on the ranch, Ranchos de Caballos. This ranch has been part of the Tinsley family for several decades, providing a foundation for an understanding of the beef industry - "from the pasture to the plate."
Ed has been married to Meredith for thirty four years. They have two children: Edward Roy Tinsley IV, an attorney with the Linklater Law Firm of the UK, in their New York office and Ede Tinsley Booth who resides in California, and works remotely for Tinsley Companies of New Mexico and Texas.
