Nona Golledge, the director of dining services at Kansas University, has been selected as the 2015 winner of the Silver Plate Award in the College & University category, one of the segment’s top honors.
The International Foodservice Manufacturers Association annually bestows a Silver Plate on the year’s outstanding operators in various categories. One of the seven 2015 Silver Plate winners will be named at a banquet during the National Restaurant Association’s convention in Chicago this May as the winner of the Gold Plate, after being selected by a jury of past Silver Plate winners and editors from the foodservice media. The winner is widely viewed as the top operator in foodservice.
Vying with Golledge for the Gold Plate this year from the non-commercial channel are Mary Hill, executive director of foodservices at Jackson Public Schools, in Jackson, Miss., in the Elementary & Secondary Schools category; Julie Jones, director of nutrition services at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in the Healthcare category; and Ed Sirhal, president of New York City-based Restaurant Associates in the Business & Industry/Foodservice Management.
The winners from the restaurant industry are John Miller, CEO of Denny’s Restaurants, in the Chain Full-Service/Multi-Concept category; Kat Cole, group president, Focus Brands, Chain Limited Service; and Michael C. Gibbons, president and CEO, Main Street Ventures in the Independent Restaurants/Multi-Concept category.
Golledge is a 34-year veteran of the foodservice business. Most of that time has been spent in the college and university market.
She has been director of Kansas University Dining for nine years. The operation extends to 22 foodservice facilities, with five more on the way.
Under Golledge’s direction, KUD adopted the new mission of positioning itself in the yes of students as summer, giving itself the unofficial name of Your Campus Kitchen Table.
Toward that end, the university has set the end of this year as the deadline for renovating or changing out all of its foodservice venues.
Golledge has also adopted such sustainability initiatives as eliminating trays in the dining halls, planting a rooftop herb garden and composting organic waste.
FoodService Director Editor Paul King and Director of Digital Content Peter Romeo were members of the Silver and Gold Plate selection jury.