Northeast Regional Conference in Columbus, OH – 2011

Town Hall Questions and Answers Provided by David Ivey-Soto

As usual, there were many who attended the Town Hall Meeting. Below are my responses.

Please feel free to let me know if you want clarification on any of my answers here. I will post my answer to any question I am asked to answer.

We have decided to go to electronic voting. There is not a ballot being mailed to Senior Chefs. There are Senior Chefs who do not have email or computers. What can be done or will you do to insure that Senior Chefs are sent a ballot so they may vote? [Question addressed to candidates for President.]

The Nominations and Elections Committee has developed the policies and procedures for the elections process. It is important that the hard work that the committees do is not undermined by the Board of Directors. This issue was addressed by the Board of Directors. The committee reviewed the process and determined that the process that is being used by the balloting company handling the election does not require an email address. As such, even a chef – whether they be a Senior Chef, Professional Culinarian, Culinarian, or Student Culinarian – who does not have an email address would still be able to vote so long as they were able to access the Internet. The ability for an eligible voter to have access to the Internet is universal. Therefore, the Nominations and Election Committee determined that no paper ballot would be necessary. The Board of Directors supports the committee's findings. The committee did the tactical work while the Board of Directors did the strategic work and policy was established. This tactical issue really should be addressed to the Nominations and Elections Committee. I am comfortable and supportive of the work of the committee. We did encourage the committee to do its due diligence. And they did.

If elected, where do you see the role of Chef and Child going forward? [Question addressed to all candidates.]

Chef and Child is a very important part of the American Culinary Federation. It is our philanthropic arm. It is a vital part of the organization. The nutrition focused seminars at all of the regional conferences and at the national convention are sponsored by Chef and Child. Chef and Child has also developed relationships with other organizations – very visibly and vitally is the relationship with Clemson University. Chef and Child can continue to forge these relationships and continue to expand the scope of the American Culinary Federation. It has been instrumental in establishing the relationship with First Lady Michelle Obama's Chefs Move to Schools program. I see the Chef and Child being able to continue developing relationships and partnerships of mutual benefit. It is a wonderful outlet to share with the general public the great actions of the American Culinary Federation.

What is the role of the National Secretary? [Question addressed to candidates for National Secretary.]

The job description is laid out in the following document: http://www.acfchefs.org/download/documents/elections/National_Secretary_Job_Description.pdf In addition, I view the job of the National Secretary as the person who helps facilitate the operations of the American Culinary Federation. As a function of working with the Bylaws and Resolutions Committee, it is the job of the National Secretary to insure that the proper structure of the organization is developed and that all aspects of the organization has proper policies and procedures to follow. Currently, the policies and procedures of the organization need review and alignment. There are conflicting aspect and even to inaccuracies that need to be addressed and cleaned up. I would like to be able to achieve in the coming two years a top-to-bottom review and alignment of these operational tools.

It is also part of the fiduciary responsibilities of the Board of Directors in general to be cognizant of the operations of the individual chapters. For this reason, I have taken on the challenge of insuring that all chapters are in compliance. This will take a long way toward behaving more businesslike.

As evident in the Strategic Plan, we have developed an alignment strategy that will enable the organization to operate as a business and therefore grow.

When a Associate Members have been long-time members and local chapter supporter, what kind of life-time recognition can be given to these valuable partners? Upon retirement why can't they be given the same rights as professional members?

It is very important that we do not make bylaws changes that effect only a finite segment of the operation. Bylaws changes need to deal with universal structure and should be developed as such. I made the recommendation to the person who submitted a bylaws change dealing with this issue to address it in a different manner. The proposal was to establish a category of membership that would relate to Associate Members. It was my suggestion that the proposal be along the lines of establishing a reward for longevity and continuity. Such as a lifetime membership plateau for an individual who had maintained a continuous membership relationship with the American Culinary Federation for, say, twenty-five years, or perhaps thirty years. That detail – of length of service – could be one established based on due diligent review. This approach would have a universal impact on the membership.

In the specific case that is being dealt with, there are several approaches that can be taken. One would be to change the category of membership to Culinary Enthusiast – if the concern were about money. Another would be for the chapter to convey the membership – if the concern were about recognition. A combination of these could be done if both were an issue.

As a federation, it is the responsibility of the local chapters to run their business. As such, it is the local chapter's issue as to how to ultimately run its business and how to handle such a valuable asset to the chapter and the American Culinary Federation.

This is a rebuilding year for our chapter. What do you see as your role as Regional Vice President to help chapters grow? [Question addressed to candidates for Vice President.]

Again, we are a federation. It is the job of the chapters to run their business and grow it as viably as possible.

With that said, it is the job of the American Culinary Federation to provide programs, initiatives, support, and more to the membership – addressing the needs of the industry in general and the membership specifically. If the national organization has the proper strategic process, it is my belief, that a properly run business, as a local chapter should be, will grow and thrive. It is for this reason that a Strategic Plan has been developed. We are still far away from implementing it. We are in the process and the reform has begun. I would like to complete this first phase of the process.

Would it be possible for the Northeast Region to have a calendar of events for the educational workshops? It seems as though the size and scope of the workshops are small. The announcement of these workshops tends to accompany the registration and they fill up fast. It there a way to have the workshops put on by chapters? [Question addressed to candidates for Vice President.]

Everyone seemed to be in agreement on this point. Yes. It would be great to grow the workshop process to where there were an annual calendar in place. The program is in its infancy and needs to be further developed. Yet, the program is a great one and it has had great success in a very short period of time.

The apprenticeship program and the grant that is supporting it have provided great growth. The Department of Labor grant is coming to its end. What do you see as a way to harness the momentum? [Question addressed to candidates for President and Vice President.]

The program and the grant that has supported it has been fantastic. I have been making the argument for quite some time now that we need to be looking for sustainable external sources of revenue. We have long grown beyond the "pass the hat" stage. And, we can not continue to tax our membership this way.

I see three clear areas where we need to pursue sustainable support:

Government grants.

Foundation grants.

Non-foodservice corporate sponsorship.

It takes a great deal of effort to establish these relationships. Yet, once done and fulfilled, a great burden is relieved of the membership. It would be great for us to be able to reduce our membership dues. It would be great for a chapter to request funding for a competition or a practical exam from a sunning source dedicated to education. It would be exciting for culinary teams – student, regional, and more – to be able to request funds from the same or similar fund. The list could go on and on. It is my opinion that we as an organization need to dedicate the necessary efforts to attract such long-term, sustainable funding for the organization.

What steps would you take to insure the highest percentage of students remain in the ACF? How can students be more involved? How can we bridge the students to become Professional Culinarians? [Question addressed to candidates for President.]

I believe strongly that we need to be addressing the needs of our "customers." That is what smart businesses do. We need to find out from students what they need and want. We need to provide the appropriate programs that meet these needs.

Additionally, I am passionate that schools and students need to work together to find employment opportunities with ACF certified chefs. And, ACF certified chefs need to work to not only hire students, but also encourage their employees to be members of the American Culinary Federation.

It seems as though we do not have "room" for intermediary members of the organization. I say this with all due respect. We need to have better programing that addresses the intermediary aspects of career development. At our regional conferences, we see many students, educators, and executive chefs. We do not see many line cooks. We do not see many supervisors. We do not see many sous chefs. What messages are we sending? The students notice this!

We need programming – and the regional conferences would be a wonderful venue for this. We need programming that focuses on these needs. We need to be working to have non-ACF members come – nay, "want to come" – to our regional conferences. What better marketing piece do we have? Yet, we keep it a mystery and just for the membership.

Secondary program certification is great for the individual programs. However, how do we get more support and recognition to address the self-study money return on investment? [Question addressed to candidates for President.]

I commend all programs which have earned ACF certification. It is a challenging process. Yet, at the end of the day, the exercise is designed to insure that program have developed curriculum in a manner that makes it the best in can be and is addressing the needs of the industry.

The ACF needs to work with state departments of education to make ACF certification the standard. Much like the National Restaurant Association has made the standard for food handling the ServSafe program, the ACF can make ACF certification the de facto standard and benchmark for culinary education.

Programs which have been certified need to brag about it! They need to post the certificate. They need to highlight that through the media and other publications – including the menu if the program has a catering program or a restaurant program. It adds value and verification to the program. It should be used as a recruiting tool to attract students to the program.

What are we giving back to the Associate Members other than a tab or link on a website? Yet, they help us out with product and support. What is the value to them to be a local member? [Question addressed to candidates for President.]

Again, this is a local chapter – business – topic. It is the job of the business to find ways to provide value to the Associate Members.

I suggest allowing the Associate Members to offer space for articles in the newsletter, on the website, on blast emails, and more. Many of the Associate Members have great educational material that has been developed and is not being disseminated. Again, this is how a local business – chapter – can creatively reach out to their membership. In this case, addressing the needs of the Professional Members as well as the Associate Members.

It would be great if there were a way we could see all of the questions and responses to the questions from each of the regional conferences. [A statement made – not requesting an answer.]

Dissemination of information from town hall meetings and forums should be available. In fact, if you are reading this, you notice that David Ivey-Soto is providing his answers as you read. And will do such after each of the other town hall meetings.

There are chapters who have local only members who are not full ACF members. How should the ACF deal with local chapter logos as they relate to local membership as opposed to full ACF membership? [Question addressed to candidates for President.]

This is a double-edged sword. We want to have our logo out there! We want people to become familiar with the consistent and recognizable logo. Yet, we need to be sure that those using the logo have the right to use it. Local only membership has been very positive for certain chapters and has allowed them to grow in exponential values. I propose a "licensing fee" or some other mechanism to add value to the use of the logo – and to add value to the logo itself. A task force needs to address this issue to develop an appropriate and equitable policy for this.

Governance has been handled well by the current administration. There are been a lot of cuts. Cuts have an affect on what helps us grow such as education. Has anything been done to affect education and return on investment?. [Question addressed to the candidate for National Treasurer.]

We have done a great job to streamline the operation. There really have been no austerity measures. Areas where we have saved money is embracing technology such as going digital with our publications, being responsible with travel such as having the National Secretary and National Treasurer share responsibilities at the regional conferences to reduce costs, renegotiating contracts to reduce costs to the ACF and membership for regional conferences which has resulted in lower costs to the ACF and greater attendance, and other such actions. There has not been any compromise to programs. There has been a focus to be more responsible with the funds.