Culinology - June 2020 - 4

P R E SI DE N T'S let ter

Board members

All in - For our members
and the future of the industry
For the last 15 years, since joining the Research Chefs Association (RCA)
as a student member, I have been part of a community of genuinely
passionate and innovative people. With my journey evolving from there
into a young professional, then to leading a committee, being elected to
the board of directors and now acting as president, I am grateful for our
community. Over the past few months, I believe the words community,
passion and innovation mean much more to our organization now than at
any time in our 24-year history.
Due to the unexpected events of the coronavirus pandemic, we were
left with little option but to cancel our conference for the first time. For
many of us, the RCA Conference is where we come together to share our
passion, celebrate and meet as an organization. I can personally share
that the weeks leading to the San Diego cancellation were some of the
longest, most sleepless nights of my career as I felt we were on the brink
of losing the sense of community all of us worked so hard to establish.
We could have quit and skipped the conference this year or postponed
to a later date, but those options did not capture the essence of the RCA.
The RCA leads through innovative thinking and creative problem solving,
inspired by a desire to do better for our communities and those we serve.
So, with the new opportunity to innovate, we seized the moment, lived
our values and through several weeks of work, we created RCA Powered
Up: a virtual education experience inspired by Culinology.
Could RCA Powered Up replace the in-person experience of an annual
conference? No, nothing we could create could replace the experience
entirely. Could RCA Powered Up enable the organization to share,
circulate and elevate our members through educational content, and
even through networking? Absolutely.
Looking ahead to 2021, I am not only excited for our 25th anniversary
to be celebrated where it all began - in Atlanta - on March 24-26, but
I am also excited we are still here choosing to lead through our actions
inspired by our mission. When I renew my membership this month, it will
be with a resolve that our organization decided
to further its mission rather than quit in
2020. It is for that reason I joined, have
grown with and now help lead us into
the next 25 years. So to you, our
students and our professionals: I
am all in for 2021 and the next 25
years. Are you?

PRESIDENT
Justin Kanthak | CCS, CRC
Segment Director: Snacks
Griffith Foods, Inc.

VICE PRESIDENT
Jessica Goldstein
Vice President
Nu Products Seasoning Company

TREASURER
Jaime Mestan | CSC
Vice President of Culinary Innovation
Vienna Beef Ltd.

SECRETARY
Nick Landry
Culinary Development Chef
Southeastern Mills

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Jason Behrends | CCS, Ph.D.
Business Development
Red Arrow

Directors
Gerrie Bouchard | CRC
Director of Marketing, Business Dev. and SCI
Tastepoint by IFF

Jeff Crace
Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Garlic King

Anne Druschitz | CRC
Corporate Research Chef
The Edlong Corporation

Charles Hayes | CEC, CRC
Vice President, Culinary Innovation
Deli Star

Darryl Holliday | CRC, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Food Service
University of Holy Cross

Sara Menard
Senior Food Scientist
Brakebush Brothers, Inc.

Mickey Miller
Product Development Food Scientist
Bush Brothers & Company

Anh Nguy
Account Manager, Ingredient Solutions
Ingredion Inc.

Kyle Stuart | CRC
Product Development Chef
Darifair Foods

Rosemary Trout | MS
Asst. Clinical Professor and Program Director
Culinary Arts & Food Science, Drexel University

Board advisor
Justin Kanthak | CCS, CRC
President, Research Chefs Association

Allen Freed
President
AJ Freed, LLC

Board member-at-large
Robert Danhi
Chef
Flavor360 Solutions

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Culinolog y | JUNE 2020
Culinology - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Culinology - June 2020
