Speakers

Ben Anderson

Head of Industry Relations, Tapingo

Pre-Conference Workshop: Technology Innovations Session

Anthony Baffo

Director of Food and Nutritional Services, St. Francis Hospital - The Heart Center

General Session: GEN X’ERS, MILLENNIALS, and IGENS, OH MY! Lead your multi-generational workforce with a culture of engagement

Dr. Anthony Baffo is Director of Food and Nutritional Services at St. Francis Hospital – The Heart Center, in Roslyn, NY. Practicing Servant Leadership for over thirty years, Dr. Baffo has lead teams in restaurant hospitality and healthcare foodservice operations. His team at St. Francis was among the first hospitals to implement Room Service in 2005 and today is still providing room service to 100 percent of both inpatients and outpatients. Dr. Baffo is an adjunct professor in the Department of Nutrition at Long Island University. He holds an MBA from NYIT and a Doctoral degree in Strategic Leadership from Regent University.

Kerri Burchill, PhD

Organizational Development Leader, Southern Illinois Healthcare

Pre-Conference Session: From Grumbling to Getting Along: Culture as Key to Retention and Recruitment

Kerri Burchill serves as the Organizational Development Leader at Southern Illinois Healthcare and owns North Star Coaching, her independent consulting company. She is a highly regarded coach, facilitator and leader, with over 20 years of growing others. Kerri’s style stems from helping leaders slow down to identify what they do that is working. With an appreciative lens, Kerri supports leaders implement structures that drive desired behaviors and outcomes.

Kerri’s career path is unique. She has lived in three different countries, six different cities and serving nine different organizations. During this journey, she has completed two master degrees (Master of Education, University of Alberta, 2001; Human Resource Management, DeVry, 2008) and a PhD degree (Eastern Michigan University, 2015). Her PhD focused on how novice professionals develop their skills. Kerri has recently published two chapters in peer-reviewed books on mentoring and reflexivity.

John M. Egnor

President, JME Hospitality

Concurrent Session: My Dream Kitchen

Founder and President of JME Hospitality, John Egnor has developed a reputation as a smart, savvy and creative innovator, developing custom design solutions to commercial foodservice clientele in a variety of industries.

With offices in Pleasantville, N.J., The Woodlands, TX and Columbus OH, JME Hospitality specializes in creating new efficiency with cost-effective designs including large scale, multi-property cook-chill systems, cutting-edge dynamic bar installations and more. The company serves hotels, casinos, restaurants, healthcare and other institutional clients around the world.

John has decades of professional experience in facility management, foodservice equipment contracting and HVAC service. Combined with technical expertise in plumbing, building systems and sheet metal fabrication, John’s vision and teambuilding skills have propelled JME to a position of leadership in the industry. His work has earned accolades from his peers; including many projects receiving design-of-the-month honors from Foodservice Equipment Reports magazine and in 2007 received the coveted “Design of the Year” Award. He was named among 2003’s Consultant All-Stars and Top Achiever 2004 – Foodservice Consultant.

Prior to founding JME Hospitality in 2002 and JEM Associates in 1991, John served as Business Manager for Thomas United, a design/build kitchen equipment contractor in New Jersey. He was Vice-President of Facilities Engineering for Resorts International Casino Hotel in Atlantic City and Vice President of Service and Maintenance for Liber Rich & Sons, Inc., a New Jersey mechanical and plumbing construction firm. His previous company JEM Associates has provided quality design and exceptional consulting to the Hospitality industry since 1991. He is a graduate of LaSalle University, Philadelphia.

Mike Folino

Associate Director of Nutrition Services, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Pre-Conference Session: Technology Innovations Session

Mike is Associate Director of Nutrition Services at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center where he has led multiple nutrition service lines during his 14 year tenure. He is a two time graduate of The Ohio State University, receiving his bachelor’s degree in medical dietetics and most recently receiving his MBA from the Fisher College of Business.
Mike has become a leader in food service management where he is known for embracing change management, engaging teams to reach outcomes, and developing emerging leaders. Mike has served on the board of The Ohio Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, has presented at a national level and was a competitor in the 2015 AHF Culinary Competition.

Scott Friedman, CSP (Keynote Speaker) 

Chief Celebration Officer at Friedman & Associates

Closing Keynote Session: A Celebration a Day - 365 Ways to a Happier, Healthier Workplace

Scott Friedman, CSP, and former President of the National Speakers Association (NSA), is an internationally sought-after speaker and author. As a motivational humorist, Scott’s main area of expertise is employee innovation, customer experience and using humor/celebration as a strategic tool.

In addition to being the CCO- Chief Celebration Officer at Friedman & Associates, Scott has written Celebrate- Lessons Learned from the World’s Most Admired Organizations, Happily Ever Laughter - How to Engage Any Audience, and Using Humor For A Change. He is also the co-author of four additional books.

Apart from speaking, Scott is very involved in philanthropic projects. Scott founded Together We Can Change The World (TWCCTW.org), a 501c3 foundation focused on anti-trafficking, social business, clean water, and the health and education of less fortunate girls and women.  Currently, they have over 25 projects in seven SE Asian countries.

Benita Gingerella

Assistant Editor, FoodService Director Magazine

Pre-Conference Workshop: Technology Innovations Session

Benita is the Assistant Editor for FoodService Director and has been with the publication since 2016. In addition to covering various sectors of the noncommercial industry, Benita is also responsible for several of the magazine's most beloved sections, including Steal This Idea and The Line. In her spare time, Benita is an avid restaurant-goer and loves to travel extensively.

Michelle Gorman, RD

Program Manager, Wellness & Lifepath, Northern Arizona Healthcare

Concurrent Session: Plant-Based Foods: Trends, Tips & Tricks for Sustainable Success with Vegan & Vegetarian Menu Options

Michelle Gorman currently works as a program manager, lifepath and Wellness for Northern Arizona Healthcare.

Gorman has more than two decades of food science and nutrition experience. Prior to her current position, she worked as a Senior Coordinator on the Performance Innovation Team at Exos, designing innovative wellness solutions in Human Performance for Elite Athletes, Military, Tactical and Corporate clients. She also served as a Health Promotion Executive for Arizona’s largest Independent Health Insurance Company, providing 1.1 million members access to personal wellness programs. In addition, she directed the nutrition communication program as the Corporate Dietitian for Albertsons and Fry’s Food Stores; she traveled extensively as their nutrition spokesperson appearing regularly on affiliate television stations in Phoenix, AZ. Her career experience managing a food and nutrition department for a large school district and serving in therapeutic nutrition services with local medical centers and nursing homes has given her nutrition expertise that spans a lifetime.

Gorman earned a bachelor’s degree in food science nutrition from Northern Arizona University. She received her Plant-Based Nutrition Certification from eCornell and is passionate about sharing the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet.

Christine Guyott

Principal, Rippe Associates

Concurrent Session: My Dream Kitchen

Christine Guyott is a principal with the foodservice design and consulting firm, Rippe Associates, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a registered dietitian with a Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Science from Pepperdine University and interned at Mayo-St. Mary’s in Rochester, Minnesota. Christine is currently active with two organizations; the Association of Healthcare Foodservice (AHF) where she serves as the chair of the Self Op Committee and a member of the Industry Advisory Board, and Foodservice Consulting Society International (FCSI) where she is Secretary of the Board of Trustees. She leads the healthcare design segment at Rippe and is involved in projects around the country, from large academic medical centers to critical access hospitals. With her background in healthcare, 24 years at Rippe, ability to conceptualize, and attention to detail, Christine is able to provide her clients and end users with Kitchen’s that Work ™.

Kinda Hall (Keynote Speaker) 

President & Chief Strategy Office at Steller Collective

Opening Keynote Session: The Irresistible Power of Strategic Storytelling

Kindra Hall is President and Chief Strategy Officer at Steller Collective, a marketing agency focused on the strategic application of storytelling to today's communication challenges. Kindra is one of the most sought after motivational speakers trusted by global brands to design and deliver business amplifying, revealing, interactive keynotes that inspire teams to better communicate the value of their company, their products and their individuality to accelerate personal and professional growth.

What began as a chance encounter at age 13 with a storytelling cassette tape grew into a complete understanding of the craft, methods and science of storytelling, in its most pure form free of promotion or agenda. She has been a National Champion storyteller (yeah, they have those), member of the Board of Directors of the National Storytelling Network and has her master's degree in communications where she conducted original research in the role that storytelling plays in defining and revealing culture. Check out her full bio here. 

Dan Henroid

Director, Department of Nutrition and Food Services, UC San Francisco

General Session: FISH Talks (Food Innovation Service Hospitality)

Dan is the director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Services at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Health where he is responsible for patient meal services at two hospitals totaling 700-beds, seven retail food operations with a combined sales of $11 million, a catering and conference services with annual sales of $3 million, 3 gift shops with annual sales of $2 million plus oversight of inpatient and outpatient nutrition services.  He has overseen the creation or renovation of all 5 retail food outlets at UCSF and implemented new retail programs for cashless payment, mobile ordering, automated temperature monitoring, healthy food branding, mobile loyalty, and nutritional information on POS receipts.  He and his team opened a state-of-the art 289-bed women’s, children’s and oncology hospital in 2015 that includes additional food operations, robotic transport of patient meals, and tablet-based bedside meal ordering.  In addition to these responsibilities, he serves as the Health System’s sustainability officer. 

Dan has worked in various capacities within the food industry over his 20+ year career as a clinical dietitian, a researcher, an educator, and in food operations management.  He has held faculty appointments at 5 universities including Iowa State University, University of Houston, and UCSF.  He is a registered dietitian, a doctoral candidate in Hospitality Management at Iowa State University, holds a Master’s degree in food and nutrition from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and a Bachelor’s in family and consumer sciences from Bradley University.  In addition to his operational responsibilities, he has conducted research on applied food safety systems in retail food establishments.  Dan has done more than 20 food safety research projects including five USDA-funded major projects as a principal investigator or co-PI.  He published more 40 peer-reviewed articles and abstracts on HACCP system implementation, food safety culture, and hand hygiene improvement. 

Adam Johnson

Director of Business Development, Delegate healthcare Solutions LLC

Pre-Conference Workshop: Technology Innovations Session

My name is Adam Johnson and I am the Director of Business Development of Delegate Healthcare Solutions LLC. I have been working for the Delegate Group for 13 years (4 years in Vienna working with the Development team as a Business Analyst and 6 in Australia as the Managing Director.)

My background is in the hospitality industry in which I worked for 16 years prior to moving to Delegate. In which I worked my way up from a Waiter, at the age of 16, to finally a General Manager, of a 200 bed hotel with conference facilities for up to 500 people. I then moved into the software industry working as an installer and trainer for MICROS Fidelio UK, the largest supplier of Hospitality hardware and software in the world.

Chris McCracken

Director of Nutrition, University of California San Diego Health Medical Centers

General Session: FISH Talks (Food Innovation Service Hospitality)

Chris has been the Director of Nutrition services for the University of California San Diego Health Medical Centers since 2013. Chris was the Co-Chair for NHLT (Nutrition Leaders in Healthcare Team) in San Diego from 2015-2017, where he helped coordinate efforts to improve sustainable purchasing in partnership with other medical centers and school districts in San Diego. Chris has been a member of San Diego Food System Alliance since 2016, he became a Board Member for Community Health Improvement Partners (CHIP) in 2018 and is an adjunct professor at Point Loma Nazarene University teaching Food Systems and Management.

As Director of Nutrition, Chris has facilitated significant improvements within the department by implementing process changes to enhance retail operations, clinical care and patient food service. Highlights of the changes include implementation of organic waste diversion started in 2016, improved efforts to increase sourcing of anti-biotic free proteins, coordinated strategies to decrease animal protein consumption for both patient/retail meals and increased availability of plant-based options in both patient and retail operations.

Marie Molde, RD

Registered Dietician, Datassential

General Session: The Future of Food: Health, Flavor, and the New Consumer

Marie is an account executive for client solutions at Datassential, a leading Chicago-based food market research firm. With a background in both dietetics and business—she holds a combined RD/MBA from Dominican University—Marie brings a unique culinary perspective to Datassential. Restaurant chains and suppliers regularly rely on Marie’s expertise in menu and product development, and for several years she has helped foodservice and retail companies excel in better-for-you product innovation. Using her expertise as a registered dietitian, Marie gives clients of all shapes and sizes an unparalleled health-driven point of view.

Josephine Morris

Corporate Policy Specialist, The Humane Society of the United States

Concurrent Education: Plant-Based Foods: Trends, Tips & Tricks for Sustainable Success with Vegan & Vegetarian Menu Options

Josephine Morris is a corporate policy specialist for The Humane Society of the United States (The HSUS). Since 2014, she has worked with dozens of schools, universities, health care companies, and corporations to meet the demand for plant-based menus. In these mutually beneficial partnerships, Josephine introduces organizations to plant-based foods through recipe development, menu planning, culinary training, and marketing support.

From 2012-2017, The HSUS Food & Nutrition team worked with food service providers to serve over 399 million plant-based meals which reduced campus carbon emission by 595,547 tons; a greenhouse gas savings equivalent to driving 1.4 billion less miles in a car.

Josephine also works with several of the top 50 food service companies and over 70 of the nation’s largest restaurant chains, consumer packaged goods businesses, and hospitality services to improve their animal welfare standards and to diversity their proteins.

Josephine earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees in journalism and Spanish and a Master of Arts degree in communication studies from Arizona State University. She also holds a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Foundation at Cornell University.

Lauren Pitts, RD

Food & Nutrition Manager, The Humane Society of the United States

Concurrent Education: Plant-Based Foods: Trends, Tips & Tricks for Sustainable Success with Vegan & Vegetarian Menu Options

Lauren Pitts is a registered dietitian with Forward Food, a program of The Humane Society of the United States. She has successfully worked with several schools, hospitals, universities, and other institutions to implement healthier, more sustainable plant based meals. In these mutually-beneficial partnerships, Lauren introduces these institutions to plant-based foods through recipe planning, chef trainings, and nutrition education.

Prior to working with HSUS, Lauren provided individual nutrition counseling and corporate wellness. Lauren is currently focusing on culinary medicine working with healthcare professionals across the country to utilize a whole foods plant-based diet as a tool in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease.

Lauren completed a yearlong dietetic internship with Baylor University Medical Center, obtained her Master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma and Bachelors from Oklahoma State University. Lauren lives in Los Angeles and enjoys hiking, traveling, cooking and time spent with family and friends.

Janet Porter, PhD (Keynote Speaker) 

Strategy, Operational and Leadership Consultant, Stroudwater Associates

Thursday Morning Keynote Session: Being Courageous for Patients and Families

Janet Porter has 40 years of experience as a hospital administrator, teacher, association executive, consultant, and public health leader. She joined Stroudwater Associates in 2012 and serves as a strategy, operational and leadership development consultant. Janet was a Principal at Stroudwater Associates for five years and served on the Board of Directors.

Janet served as the Chief Operating Officer of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; the Associate Dean for Executive Development of University of North Carolina’s School of Public Health; the Interim CEO of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA); and the Vice President, and then COO of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio and as a consultant for the Lash Group. While at UNC, Janet led a team that developed customized leadership development programs for clients such as the Center for Disease Control, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Blue Cross, Novant Health System and the Kellogg Foundation.

Brenda Richardson, MA, RDN, LD, CD, FAND

National Lecturer, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Concurrent Education: IDDSI: International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative

Brenda Richardson, MA, RDN, LD, CD, FAND has more than thirty years of proven success in directing multi-million dollar food service and nutrition operations. Brenda is a national lecturer, author/contributing author of many professional books and publications, and serves on state and national offices in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Her expertise is in demand as she has successfully assisted healthcare facilities cited with serious and immediate jeopardy deficiencies, achieve and sustain positive nutritional outcomes. Brenda is a Fellow with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and serves on the Academy Finance and Audit Committee. Brenda has served on the Academy’s IMPACT Act Task Force, the Academy CMS Work Group; the Academy Positions Committee, and is Past- Chair of the Academy’s Political Action Committee (ANDPAC). In 2010, Brenda received the Academy’s “2010 Grassroots Excellence Award” and the Indiana Academy’s 2010 Honored Dietitian Award. In 2016, Brenda was then awarded the Academy’s prestigious Medallion Award for dedication to the high standards of the nutrition and dietetics profession through active participation, leadership and devotion to serving others in dietetics and allied health fields. Brenda has been selected as the Academy’s 2019 Lenna Frances Cooper Memorial Lecturer in recognition of her distinguished career and remarkable contributions to the nutrition and dietetics profession Brenda’s practical experience and skills put her in demand for advocating the profession, and professional speaking throughout the country.

Andrew Shakman

LeanPath, CEO

General Session: FISH Talks (Food Innovation Service Hospitality)

Andrew Shakman is CEO and co-founder of Leanpath, a mission-driven foodservice technology company based in Portland, Oregon. Launched in 2004, Leanpath invented the world’s first automated food waste tracking technology, and Andrew began catalyzing the global movement to address the food waste crisis. Today, working in thousands of foodservice kitchens in over 30 countries, Leanpath deploys a suite of technology and coaching tools that change root behaviors that lead to food waste. The result is a current rate of 1 pound of food waste prevented every 3 seconds. Leanpath has offices in London, Barcelona and Sydney and clients include IKEA, Aramark, Sodexo, and Google.

Abby Weiss

Marketing Manager, Heritage Foodservice Group

Pre-Conference Workshop: Technology Innovations Session

Abby Weiss is the Marketing Manager at Heritage Foodservice Group where she spearheads initiatives that equip institutional foodservice professionals with meaningful knowledge to optimize the performance of their equipment and personnel. Nearly two decades of experience in B2B marketing across an array of industries has given her insight that advances the conversation about new customer acquisition, meaningful customer experiences, and stages in the customer lifecycle. Abby holds a B.A. from Valparaiso University and M.A. in Communication and Creative Arts from Purdue University. She has taught Interpersonal Communication at IvyTech Community College and served on various committees for CFESA (Commercial Food Equipment Service Association) and NACAS (National Association of College Auxiliary Services).