Whitney Ellersick Transformed Foodservice at Portland Public Schools

Whitney Ellersick

The go-to person for her coworkers for advice and guidance on all aspects of the jobs in school operation

Whitney Ellersick, Portland Public Schools Details:

Senior Program Manager, Portland Public Schools, Oregon

Age: 30

Education: B.S in clinical nutrition from UC Davis and a master’s in clinical nutrition from Oregon Health and Science University in Portland

Years at Portland Public Schools: 5

Why Selected?

Gitta Grether-Sweeney, director of nutrition services at Portland Public Schools, says: Whitney is the go-to person for her coworkers for advice and guidance on all aspects of the jobs in school operations. She manages day-to-day operations at 22 schools. She is responsible for hiring and training of all new employees. Whitney revitalized the district cafeteria and transformed it into an inviting deli featuring local products. Whitney has already shown her leadership within the department, and I believe she is and will be a leader in the school foodservice industry.

Get to know :

What has been your proudest accomplishment?

Being able to hire highly skilled and qualified employees for our team who love their jobs and share our vision for school food.

What would you say you excel at over more seasoned colleagues?

My coworkers joke that I have the memory of an elephant. I also think creatively to solve problems using technology and finding efficiencies for a lot of areas of our department.

What’s the best career advice you’ve been given?

My dad told me to keep my eyes and ears open because there are jobs out there that you never knew existed or you never knew were for you. He also told me that wherever you go you’re going to work with different people and personalities and to learn how to work with everybody.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome?

Balancing home and work. I love my job and my field and I’m always looking at a new food or idea or an efficiency or procedure. I just had my first baby in March, so she’s testing me on the balance part.

What’s been your most rewarding moment?

The best part of my day is when I get to be out at the schools and see students enjoying the meals. Another is that because I’m part of the hiring process, when I offer a position to a new employee and I hear the excitement in their voice.

What would you like to accomplish in your career in the next two years?

I’d like to continue working with our progressive and proactive district and this great group of coworkers. I want to continue changes to school food and the impression of school food.

What's been your funniest on-the-job disaster?

When I was filling in at a school I was cooking food. I realized I needed to use a different oven so I put a pan of an entrée in the oven and didn’t realize it was set to a higher temperature. When I pulled out that pan it was completely burnt.

What can you look back at now and laugh at?

We always look back at the first month of school and we tend to have a lot of equipment down, personnel holes to fill and we’re trying to start new programs. We are always running around and it always ends up not going how we planned, but we work together, have a good time and laugh about it.

Related Terms: K-12, Manager