People
Some of the most innovative and out-of-the-box thinkers in the noncommercial foodservice industry.
People
Nadeem Siddiqui: Rebuilding a Brand
After more than 20 years of a near-nomadic existence in college foodservice, Nadeem Siddiqui believes he finally has found a home, at 45,000-student Texas A&M University. And like a new homeowner, he has wasted little time in putting his own stamp on the campus foodservice program, a program with a proud heritage that had fallen into disrepair in recent years.
People
Neal Lavender: Successful Transplant
Transplanted South Carolinian Neal Lavender has successfully and impressively set down roots within a four-block area of downtown Dallas, Texas. There, the dynamic 37-year-old serves as director of food, nutrition and conference services at 866-bed Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas (PHD), one of the largest healthcare facilities in the Southwest.
When Lesha Colin was in high school in Philadelphia, she dreamed of running a hotel, perhaps something on the order of The Sands in nearby Atlantic City, N.J. Today, as fate would have it, she brings upscale dining and a touch of show biz flair to Winchester Gardens, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Maplewood, N.J. This Sodexo Senior Services account, just about 10 miles from New York City, is home to 240 independent and 90 assisted living residents.
It’s been a stellar decade for New York City-based Restaurant Associates (RA), a division of Compass Group, and so, too, for Julie Sajda. In 1997, as a senior in the four-year hotel, restaurant, travel administration program at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Sajda took a summer class during which a guest speaker, Victoria Vega (then with Aramark, now a vice president at RA) served up enticing details of careers in contract management.
David Friend, director of dining services at West Virginia University in Morgantown, is bringing kudos to WVA dining. In response to student demands, he’s signed on nationally branded concepts. He’s also devised the Healthy ‘U’ Initiative to help combat heart-related diseases with a 2,000 calorie per-day plan.
Dona Zavislan, foodservice administrator for the Colorado Department of Corrections, keeps cost per meal at less than $1 while serving more fresh produce to 15,000 offenders. By eliminating the need for a special diabetic tray, she aims to reduce the $360,000 wasted annually when medical trays go unclaimed.