Bill Anderson

Senior Vice President, Noncommercial Foodservice

Winsight

In addition to his Publishing duties, Bill is Conference Director for the MenuDirections Conference at Winsight Media & Events. Prior to his foodservice media career, he worked in foodservice distribution and foodservice manufacturing. Bill is a member of AHF, NACUFS and SHFM and is a current member of  AHF’s Industry Advisory Board. He is a current member of Trinity Health System’s Food & Nutrition Advisory Council.

Bill is a graduate of Carthage College in Kenosha, WI with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.

Joe Charette

Executive Director

Rutgers Dining Services

Joe Charette is the Executive Director of Rutgers Dining Services, where he has spent the last twenty-seven years of his food service career. He is a graduate of Cook College, class of 1977.

After gaining valuable experience in some of the finer restaurants in Washington D.C.’s Georgetown area in the late 70’s, Joe wrote the menus and wine lists for several privately owned upscale restaurants in Colorado.  He later opened some casual-theme restaurants, for a Denver based professional athlete, and then spent six years with S&A Restaurant Corporation, where he opened and managed several Bennigan’s in New Mexico, Arizona and New Jersey in the 1980’s.

Joe and his wife Debbie have been married for 36 years.  They live in Jackson and have two sons, Joseph and Anthony.

Pat Cobe

Senior Editor

Restaurant Business, FoodService Director

Pat plans and executes the menu innovation, food and drink content for Winsight’s foodservice digital platforms and podcasts. Pat is also editor of the weekly Recipe Report and On the Menu e-newsletters and oversees the 50-member Culinary Council made up of chefs from all segments of foodservice. She is an active member of both the Chicago and New York chapters of Les Dames d’Escoffier and is a judge for the James Beard Journalism Awards.

Ron DeSantis (CMC)

Founder

CulinaryNXT

As Chief Culinary Officer, Ron DeSantis is Hungry Planet’s culinary voice, advocating and leading customer-centric food innovation and execution. Ron provides leadership and support for Hungry Planet in recipe and menu development, new product R&D, and leads a culinary team to create a competitive advantage.

Early Career and The Culinary Institute of America

Certified Master Chef Ron DeSantis is at heart a passionate culinarian. In his 25-year career at the CIA, Ron taught several courses including a 4-year stint running a full-service teaching restaurant, the CIA’s flagship 4-star Escoffier Restaurant.  While at the CIA, Ron was promoted to associate dean for curriculum and developed curriculum for degree programs and for professional education.  Following Ron’s work as associate dean he accepted a position as Director of Education Services. Ron’s responsibilities were the planning and design of teaching kitchens and bakeshops. In 2005 Ron helped launch CIA Consulting, eventually rising to lead this consulting organization. 

Yale

Ron’s primary responsibility was overseeing the production of over 14,000 meals each day at Yale. This leadership role included culinary concept design, development of innovative menus and cuisine and training of the culinary team. In addition to undergraduate dining, Ron also oversees food production for several university restaurants, cafes, C-stores, and Yale Catering. As the first Certified Master Chef to enter college & university dining, Ron has changed the format for delivering students meals.  His approach has been to think and act like a great independent restaurant in a multi-operational institutional environment.

Industry Achievements

A 1981 CIA alumnus, Ron has received many citations during his professional career, including the highly regarded certification as a master chef (C.M.C.) by the American Culinary Federation (ACF). In 2010 Ron co-authored “Modern Batch Cookery” with Certified Master Chef Victor Gielisse, DBA.  Ron also holds a master’s in business administration (MBA) from Empire State College in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Lisa Eberhart

Registered Dietitian

Lisa Eberhart is a Registered Dietitian, Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist, and Certified Diabetes Educator.  Lisa holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Institution Management and Dietetics from Iowa State University. Lisa has over 25 years’ experience working as a registered dietitian, 13 of which were full-time with NC State University. Lisa and her team helped NC State Dining become a leader in nutrition and wellness, excelling in technology, food management systems, and ingredient transparency. 

While at NC State, Lisa and Randy Lait, 2019 Silver Plate winner, created a company called Menu Analytics. Lisa now works full time with Menu Analytics LLC, a consulting company that helps restaurants and other food services provide accurate nutrition and allergy information to their customers.  

As Director of Nutrition and Nutritional Wellness at North Carolina State University, Lisa led efforts that allowed the university to achieve recognition as Top 15 Healthiest Non-Commercial Food Services by Food Service Director magazine, one of the 26 Healthiest Campuses in the Nation and one of the top 10 allergy friendly colleges in the nation. Her proudest achievement has been that NC State was the first university in the nation to achieve all of the goals of the Partnership for a Healthier America, Healthy College Initiative 

Lisa has served in the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS), including roles as National Conference Education Co-Chair, Regional Conference Education Chair, National Nutrition Committee Chair 

Sophie Egan

Program Director

The Culinary Institute of America

Sophie Egan, MPH is the author of How to Be a Conscious Eater (Workman, 2020)—named one of Bon Appétit’s “Favorite New Books for Climate-Friendly Cooking and Life”—and the founder of Full Table Solutions, a consulting practice that’s a catalyst for food systems transformation. She is also a contributor to The New York Times Health section. An internationally recognized leader at the intersection of food, health, and climate, Sophie serves as Director of Strategy for Food for Climate League, Co-Director of the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative, and Senior Advisor for Sustainable Food Systems at R&DE Stanford Dining.

For over five years, Sophie served as the Director of Health and Sustainability Leadership/Editorial Director for The Culinary Institute of America’s Strategic Initiatives Group. Sophie’s writing has been featured in The Washington Post, TIME,Parents, The Wall Street Journal, Bon Appétit, WIRED, EatingWell, Edible San Francisco,FoodTank, and Sunset. (Boulder, CO) @SophieEganM

Benita Gingerella

Editor

FoodService Director

Benita is an editor for FoodService Director and has been with the publication since 2016. In addition to covering the K-12 and healthcare segments, she’s also responsible for the publication’s Anatomy of a Renovation series, which follows noncommercial operations as they renovate their eateries from the ground up. In her spare time, Benita is an avid restaurant-goer and loves to travel extensively.

Steve Mangan

Dining Director

Michigan Dining

Michigan Dining Director Steve Mangan leads one of the nation’s largest college dining operations, including nine dining halls and 24 markets and cafés located across the Ann Arbor campus.

With a staff of over 300, Michigan Dining consistently delivers high quality food and dining experiences for students and guests in partnership with University Housing, University Unions and Conference and Event Services. Since Steve’s arrival in 2014, Michigan Dining has launched four renovated dining halls and cafés, improved menu offerings, increased revenues to support dining investments, elevated student involvement and achieved ambitious sustainability goals in local food procurement, composting, recycling and waste reduction.

His expertise comes from three decades in the food service industry—first as a chef and restauranteur, and later in leadership roles at three Big Ten colleges. His successes come through a philosophy of meeting customers’ needs, working collaboratively with his team and creating a culture of innovation.

Prior to joining Michigan Dining, Steve served as Resident District Manager supervising the campus dining program of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. During his tenure, he brought the residential and retail dining programs together in unified management, created new partnerships, led new sustainability efforts and improved culinary professional development.

Serving as General Manager at Indiana University’s Indiana Memorial Union, he brought great food to varied venues and helped students explore new tastes and experiences in dining.

Steve holds a B.S. in Psychology from Michigan State University and an A.O.S. in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. He is recognized as a contributor in his profession and his community, including working with The Hoosier Hills Food Bank in Bloomington, Indiana and LIFT Chicago to combat poverty and expand economic opportunity.

He resides in the Ann Arbor area with Betsy, his wife of 40 years, and together they enjoy the outdoors, bicycling, fine dining and exploring Michigan.

Kelsey Nash

Editor-in-Chief

FoodService Director

As editor in chief of FoodService Director, Kelsey oversees all editorial content for the brand, from feature stories to podcasts and e-newsletters. Prior to joining Winsight Media, she worked in the world of content marketing. Kelsey is constantly inspired by noncommercial foodservice and the amazing folks she gets to meet in her role.

Chef Chris Olson

ACF Certified Executive Chef®

Land O’Lakes, Inc.

Chef Chris Olson is an ACF Certified Executive Chef® with over 20 years of experience in foodservice including years of C&U operations management.  He attended Western Culinary Institute in Portland, OR and began his career in some of the best restaurants in Portland and Minneapolis.  He found himself managing foodservice operations at colleges in Minnesota where he developed a passion for C&U foodservice.  He has twice been awarded a bronze medal in the NACUFS Culinary Challenge and is currently a Non-Commercial Corporate Chef at Land O’Lakes.  He strives to create great experiences in foodservice operations whether it be in a restaurant setting or in the college dining hall.  His passion for great ingredients and finding solutions for complex challenges shows. 

Rahul Shrivastav

Executive Director of IU Dining

Indiana University

With 18 years of dining and catering experience, Rahul loves working on a college campus because of the tremendous energy it brings. He is a large proponent of farm-to-table options, including IU Campus Farm, and utilizing local vendors whenever possible to ensure meats and produce are as fresh and healthful as possible. Rahul encourages all students to actively engage in learning more about their food and where it is sourced. His favorite IU Dining concepts are Hoosier Homestyle in the IMU and Farmer’s Table in Wright Food Court.

Jenn Strailey

Editor-In-Chief

Grocery Business

Jenn Strailey is editor in chief of Winsight Grocery Business. With more than two decades of experience covering the competitive grocery, natural products and specialty food and beverage landscape, Jennifer’s focus has been to provide retail decision-makers with the insight, market intelligence, trends analysis, news and strategic merchandising concepts that drive sales. She began her journalism career at The Gourmet Retailer, where she was an associate editor and has been a longtime freelancer for a variety of trade media outlets. Additionally, she has more than a decade of experience in the wine industry, both as a reporter and public relations account executive. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Boston College. Jennifer lives with her family in Denver. 

Colleen Wright-Riva

University of Maryland