Pioneering experiential rail in North America

Mike Avena has spent over a decade designing, launching, and scaling technology in high-growth, emerging companies. Through purpose-built digital solutions, Mike has enabled commercial and operations teams across industries to deliver new product launches, manufacturing build-outs, and market expansions. He has turned lean, early-stage teams into mature organizations capable of supporting enterprise-scale operations. With Halloway, Mike brings his extensive experience building technology in complex, high-stakes environments to lead an innovative technology- and hospitality-first approach to luxury and experiential rail.

Before founding Halloway, Mike built his expertise leading technology teams in fast-growing startup environments. At Ori Biotech, he served as Head of IT, scaling the company’s technology infrastructure from early stages to the commercial launch of its innovative manufacturing platform. Before that, Mike led the IT portfolio at Tmunity Therapeutics, where he architected solutions that supported core G&A functions and partnered with C-suite executives from Series B fundraising through the company’s acquisition by National Resilience, Inc.

Mike earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems with a Minor in Entrepreneurship from Drexel University. He was recently recognized as one of Drexel’s 40 Under 40 (2024) for his entrepreneurial leadership in early-stage ventures.

Sam Greenberg is the Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer of Halloway, where he leads the technology powering the first digital marketplace dedicated to private railcar travel. Since 2017, Sam has designed, built, and scaled consumer-facing software for some of the largest brands in the United States, delivering high-performance digital experiences that serve millions of users and support complex, high-volume transactions. With Halloway, he brings that enterprise-scale experience to an innovative, technology-first approach to luxury and experiential rail.

As a Senior Software Engineer at Capital One, Sam built and scaled consumer applications serving roughly 13 million monthly active users in a highly regulated, security-critical environment. Previously, he contributed to Amazon’s Prime Video, one of the world’s largest streaming platforms, and began his career at Comcast, where he helped build Xfinity Stream, a video platform serving approximately 5 million monthly active users. Across these roles, he has driven the adoption of modern application architecture in large-scale engineering organizations, mentored engineers, and shared his expertise with the broader engineering community, including a talk at Droidcon 2024. Sam holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Drexel University.

With over 15 years shaping brand narratives across luxury automotive, hospitality, and experiential marketing, his work brings a refined, cross-industry perspective to every project. Blending strategic precision with elevated storytelling, he crafts experiences that resonate with discerning audiences and enduring brands.

Todd Ruff is a senior hospitality and real estate executive with over 20 years of experience across luxury hotels, resorts, and branded residential development, investment, and asset management.

He was most recently Chief Growth Officer of The Estate by sbe, a next-generation luxury longevity hospitality platform created by Sam Nazarian and Tony Robbins, integrating immersive resorts, residences, and longevity clubs to meet growing global demand for healthier, longer living.

Prior to The Estate, Todd served as Vice President of Development, The Americas, and Group Director of Residences for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, an international hotel investment and management company renowned for its portfolio of deluxe and first-class hotels, resorts, and residences worldwide. In this dual role, he led the Group’s global residences business and executed development strategy across the Americas, overseeing the full lifecycle of hotel and branded residential projects—from origination and underwriting through structuring, branding, construction, pre-opening, and ongoing operations. During his tenure, he helped double the Group’s development footprint in the Americas and played a key role in major acquisitions and repositioning initiatives.

Previously, Todd was Senior Vice President of Acquisitions at Trinity Hotel Investors L.L.C., a New York–based private equity hotel real estate investment firm, where he participated in more than US$600 million of hotel and resort acquisitions and dispositions, managed asset repositionings, and oversaw capital expenditure programs exceeding US$100 million.

His experience also includes serving as a deal manager and hospitality underwriting specialist at Blackheath Financial, advising six of the top ten CMBS and CDO issuers, as well as earlier roles in hotel valuation, feasibility analysis, and advisory work with Hotel Consulting International and Fall Creek Partners.

Todd brings a rare combination of institutional-grade financial expertise and hands-on operational experience, having begun his career in hospitality operations and special events management. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Administration, with an emphasis in Hotel Investments and Finance, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.