Becky Schilling
Articles by
Becky Schilling
Page 12Lora Gilbert: Changing Directions
At a Glance: Lora Gilbert •Senior Director of Food & Nutrition Services •Orange County Public Schools, Orlando, Fla. •Years in foodservice: 23 •Years at Orange County: ...
Lisette Coston: Expertise in Expansion
For some people, an expansion project can be a daunting task. But for Lisette Coston, director of nutrition and food service at the 912-bed Saint Francis Health System in Tulsa, Okla., it’s like a thrill ride.
Creating a family atmosphere has always been important to Virginia Ohanian, culinary services director at 400-resident St. Andrews Estates North, an ACTS retirement-life community in Boca Raton, Fla. “It’s not just about serving food,” Ohanian says about her job. “It’s about food, family and relationship building.”
Change isn’t just a slogan for Gary Petill, director of food and nutrition services at 132,000-student San Diego Unified School District. After 23 years in the hotel industry, Petill joined SDUSD in 2002, and since then he has made significant changes. He created new programs at both the elementary and high school levels, started a breakfast in the classroom component and plans to eliminate all processed foods during the next three years.
Jim McGrody, director of food and nutrition at 650-bed Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, N.C., has a vast culinary background. He attended a culinary arts high school. He was a cook in the Army. After attending the Culinary Institute of America, he worked in several hotels and restaurants before moving into the non-commercial world, where he worked in college and university and B&I accounts. In 2002, McGrody was recruited to join a hospital’s foodservice team, where he says he was shocked at the difference between patient and retail offerings.
Michael Atanasio, manager of food and nutrition services at 525-bed Overlook Hospital in Summit, N.J., often bounces from one topic to the next in the same breath. He begins with the launch of a new convenience store, which transitions into a recently started VIP service for new mothers, which leads to a community cooking show. To some it might sound like chaos, but Atanasio is a man with a plan and lots of ideas.