Congratulations to the 2024 ANFP award recipients! ANFP celebrates the critical work they are doing across the country to provide innovative leadership and support the value of the CDM, CFPP credential.

Ambassador Award

Marcus Braz

The Ambassador Award is dedicated to an industry colleague, such as an administrator or dietitian, who demonstrates continuous commitment to the CDM, CFPP credential through mentoring and support of the nutrition and foodservice department leader within their facility.
 
Marcus Braz joined Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Sarasota in 2010. He is responsible for the hospital's day-to-day operations. Prior to his time at Encompass Health Sarasota, Marcus served in leadership roles at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Sunrise and several leadership roles at St. Lucie Medical Center on the east coast of Florida for 14 years. Marcus completed his undergraduate studies at Stonehill College in Massachusetts, received his master's degree at Arcadia University as well as a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Temple University.

Marcus has been the Area Chief Executive Officer with Encompass Health (Sarasota, FL) for the last 15 years. In his role, he has been an advocate and mentor for the director of nutrition as well as the department. He has supported employee engagement ideas, and continually allows his director to use the skills developed as a CDM, CFPP to shine, and improve the foodservice department. Through his support and insights, directors have been able to develop initiatives that improve systems, as well as patient outcomes and overall satisfaction.  

Like any good leader, Marcus sees the potential in all his employees and empowers them to work towards their goals and further their education. He saw potential in several employees of the dietary team and encouraged them to pursue the CDM, CFPP.  He provided support through financial assistance and allowed for the time off needed to study and prepare for the exam. 

Marcus continually leverages his position to showcase his directors’ talents and abilities as a CDM, CFPP on a national scale and ensure his staff is supported and set up for success. 


Student of the Year Award

Jessie Anderson

The Student of the Year Award recognizes a current student enrolled in an ANFP dietary managers program who exemplifies dedication, hard work, and commitment to earning the CDM, CFPP credential and pursuing a career in the foodservice industry. 

Jessie Anderson’s career has been rooted in hospitality and foodservice, rising in independent restaurants on the East Coast before falling into healthcare with a cross country move to Florida. Hired as a cook, Jessie fell in love with everything that healthcare offered to a culinary minded individual. 

While staffing levels were low, Jessie stepped up, frequently working 70+ hours a week to cover any needed positions. Jessie was rewarded with a promotion to supervisor within months of starting. When numerous additional hires were secured, Jessie was able to step back from covering positions, and explore the supervisor roll. When Jessie Anderson was promoted, one of her first priorities was to obtain her CDM, CFPP. Jessie began the course by setting a realistic timeline and scheduling time specifically for daily classwork. Leaning on her director as a mentor and guide, Jessie quickly advanced through the lessons while still working a full-time schedule (often more) and taking care of her young daughter by herself. Jessie was diligent and dedicated, and at times had to schedule her test and meetings with both her preceptors (one located in Alaska, 4 time zones away) around her working hours, sometimes having to return to work with her child in tow to complete her coursework. 

Jessie is looking forward to the next steps in her career and has defined a clear roadmap that paves the way to her managing her own foodservice department. She has shown a willingness and ability to reach out to her mentors and co-workers and has created a positive impact within her department.

Horizon Award

Maria Alvarado

The Horizon Award recognizes members who are new to management, and who demonstrate a desire for future growth through initiatives within their facility or community, or local chapter, and display leadership in fostering equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace. 

Maria Alvarado’s career journey began as a nutritionist with the National System for Integral Family Development in Mexico. She was proud to be part of a government nutrition program, providing essential food services to kindergartens and protective home shelters for children and adolescents, making a tangible difference in their lives.

Driven by her passion for nutritional education and community service, Maria transitioned to the Polytechnic University of Bacalar, where she served as a professor, teaching classes in basic nutrition, food science, public health, community health care, and safety food standards. Maria was eventually promoted to Manager of Undergraduate Studies. In this role, she not only managed and coordinated undergraduate degrees within the health division, including nutrition programs, but also developed and implemented health promotion programs for students, their families, and the university community, fostering a culture of well-being and learning.

Last year, Maria relocated to Houston, Texas, where she embraced a new opportunity at YES Prep Public Schools in the Child Nutrition Department. During her time with YES Prep Public Schools, she implemented wellness goals and challenges that help students learn and appreciate nutrition. She also implemented monthly nutrition objectives for parents to practice with their students at home. One of Maria’s accomplishments is ensuring all students receive the same nutritional meals, with the same nutritional value and the same nutrition education as any other student. 

She is committed to making a significant difference, both locally and globally, by promoting health and wellness in youth. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from Anahuac University and a master’s degree in education.

View Maria's Acceptance Speech


Innovation Award

Ambika Senthilvel

The Innovation Award recognizes an individual who has enhanced their nutrition and foodservice operations through technology, program development, nutrition, and operations. 

Ambika Senthilvel is the Director of Strategic Planning with CKC Good Food and is responsible for identifying long-term operational initiatives and working with cross-functional teams to implement improvements. She also oversees menu creation and IT. |

Ambika is integral to CKC Good Food’s operational success. She has an adept vision for strategic process improvements to benefit both CKC Good Food and their clients’ food service programs. She is a true problem-solver who can consider issues from both a visionary and a granular perspective. She is the chief architect for company’s proprietary “Tagger” system, which guides everything from procurement to daily food prep to delivery, helping reduce shortages, substitutions, and cold storage fees due to excessive inventory. The “Tagger” system enables the company to scale its capabilities to serve an increasingly complex matrix of about 30,000 daily meals from many different recipes. Given the diverse ages and cultural backgrounds of its clients, CKC Good Food prepares meals for more than 200 menus serving primarily public charter and private schools, child and adult care centers, and out-of-school enrichment programs. With its volume of meals, sites, menus, and recipes, CKC Good Food needs Tagger to keep its daily operations running smoothly.

Through Ambika’s work, she is contributing to thousands of kids’ physical and intellectual development and fostering cultural awareness – in the Twin Cities today and, in the future. Additionally, she is a role model to other foreign-born women living in the United States and pursuing a career in corporate America. She first moved to the U.S. from India in 2013, when her husband’s career brought them to the Twin Cities. She found a place to grow professionally while making positive contributions to her community.

View Ambika's Acceptance Speech


Partnership Award

Amy Wees, MBA, RD, LD

The Partnership Award recognizes an individual who exhibits a strong commitment to the credential and supports the nutrition and foodservice department leaders as well as staff. 

Amy Wees, MBA, RD, LD, started her career in the hospital setting, working in both clinical dietetics and foodservice management for more than 8 years.  She also had a 2-year stint in University Foodservice management at Texas Christian University. However, she found her passion in the long-term care setting, working for the past 30 years in this field, more than 25 of those years for Creative Solutions in Healthcare.  

For the last 30 years, Amy has used her skills and expertise to lead teams and provide daily meals and nutrition to countless long-term care residents. She is currently the Vice President of Nutritional Services, and works closely with the CDM, CFPP at each facility to ensure their customized foodservice programs are in place, enabling the CDM, CFPP to serve delicious meals from safe and sanitary kitchens. Amy supports the growth and advancement of the foodservice department by ensuring the CDM, CFPPs within her organization attend regular professional development events and empowers them to accommodate client’s food preferences while honoring physicians’ recommendations.

She believes that her success is two-pronged; both from working at Creative Solutions in Healthcare who are fully committed to the importance of an outstanding meal program, as well as the daily dedication and perseverance of the CDM, CFPPs who work at each building and care for their staff and residents.  

Amy attended TCU, graduating in 1984 with a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. She became a registered dietitian, and later obtained her Master of Business Administration from University of Texas in Arlington.

View Amy's Acceptance Speech


Dining Distinction Award

Jaimie Griffiths

The Dining Distinction Award honors a member that has contributed significantly to the health and well-being of individuals while providing an optimal dining experience, including the nutritional value of food, presentation, the environment in which food is served, and interactions with clients. 

Jaimie Griffiths is a proud first-generation college graduate and native of Rockford, Illinois. With over 14 years of experience serving various communities in the Chicago Metropolitan area, Griffiths relocated her family to Houston upon acceptance as an Education Pioneer Candidate. She has been able to expand her service to culture, youth, and community development at YES Prep Public Schools where she continues to be an advocate for equity in education through food as a Child Nutrition Operations Specialist. 

Jaimie has been instrumental in creating an open and inviting atmosphere for YES Prep Public Schools elementary students. By providing the key information on nutrition, Jaimie is ensuring that every meal that comes from the cafeteria is healthy and nutritious for students. She ensures that each student has the required five options of items to choose from each day and gets students excited about nutrition through creative food presentation and decor in cafeterias with themes that promote nutrition. Jaimie is influential in providing information to students, parents, and staff on the importance of healthy eating. During quarterly wellness meetings, Jaimie teaches parents how to introduce new foods at home. She focuses on the importance of healthy eating at an early age to foster healthy eating as they grow. Through visuals and informative presentations, Jaimie works hard to provide the most accurate and informative nutrition possible.

Food presentation is where Jaimie excels and has created themes to celebrate nutrition in a fun and engaging way that gets students excited about nutritious food and healthy eating habits. From catchy phrases like, “Soaring to New Nutritional Heights” during National School Lunch Week, or decorations for National Breakfast Week, Jaimie provides a positive dining experience for students and a foundation for healthy eating habits for life.

View Jaimie's Acceptance Speech


Distinguished Service Award - Corporate Partner

Sherri Conde

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes a corporate partner that has demonstrated support for ANFP in pursuit of its mission.

Sherri Conde has been a dedicated Corporate Partner of ANFP for many years. She is currently the Corporate Director of Healthcare with Performance Foodservice. She has been in the foodservice industry for over 28 years with 22 being within the Healthcare segment. She has served ANFP for over 15 years including Industry Advisory Council Chair, and as a Director at Large – Corporate Partner on the ANFP Board. 

She continually strives to support ANFP’s vision and mission by way of speaking engagements at ACE, Regional meeting, and chapter meetings, on topics such as personal branding and working with GPOs. Her position at Performance Foodservice also allows her to support the Foundation by securing funds for Foundation grants. Performance Foodservice’s Visionary Level support of the Foundation provides funding for up to 12 CDM, CFPP Exam Preparation grants with additional funds directed towards other Foundation initiatives. She is an advocate for Corporate Partnership and has helped recruit several prospects who have since become Corporate Partners and/or live event exhibitors. 

She attributes her passion for healthcare and nutrition to her grandmother, Mary, who was a longtime, 13-year resident of an assisted living facility. Sherri resides in Pittsburgh and has 2 daughters, a grandson, and a granddaughter.  When she isn't working you will find Sherri entertaining family and friends at her home. 

View Sherri's Acceptance Speech


Chapter Volunteer of the Year Award

Maggie Rowlands, CDM, CFPP

The Chapter Volunteer of the Year Award recognizes an outstanding chapter volunteer that serves as a positive example to others, and whose dedicated service, time, and efforts to the foodservice industry help to advance the mission of ANFP at the state level. 

Maggie Rowlands has 22 years of experience as a CDM, CFPP and the last 16 have been spent as the Dietary Director at Pulaski Memorial Hospital (PMH) in Winamac, Indiana. 

In her current role, Maggie oversees her kitchen staff, manages all the food ordering and inventory, and liaises with the clinical staff and dieticians to ensure patients receive their proper diet. Additionally, she is involved in numerous hospital committees and projects, including Performance Improvement, Activity and Wellness Committees, Do-It Projects, and large organizational projects known as OASIS Teams at PMH. 

As a member of the Indiana (IN) ANFP Chapter, she has served as the President, Past-President, President-Elect, District President, State and District Treasurer, and the co-editor and editor of the Indiana ANFP newsletter. As a dedicated Indiana ANFP Board member, Maggie is viewed as a leader that “gets things done” and ensures the board stays on task and works diligently to help create education opportunities for IN ANFP members. She embraces the hard work of a chapter leader to ensure the chapter provides top-notch education at each of the chapter’s events and is working to engage and grow a new generation of CDM, CFPPs. 

Nationally, she has served on the Program Review Committee and Items Writer Committee and as a team leader for Networking Circles at ACE meetings. In 2020, she was named as the recipient of CDM, CFPP Spotlight Award.
Maggie exhibits qualities of an inspiring leader that has left a lasting impact on the IN ANFP chapter, its members, and the foodservice industry. 

View Maggie's Acceptance Speech


CDM, CFPP Spotlight Award

Michael Kopec, CDM, CFPP

The CDM, CFPP Spotlight Award honors a member that has received their chapter’s CDM, CFPP of the Year award or was named as the CDM, CFPP of the Month in Nutrition & Foodservice Edge magazine. This member has proven to be a devoted to their chapter as well as to ANFP. 

Michael Kopec, CDM, CFPP, is passionate about what he does as a CDM, CFPP. He cares deeply about his residents and is dedicated and supportive of his staff. As a servant leader and as a CDM, CFPP, he continually seeks out advanced training and development, specifically related to leadership. 

Michael is currently the Lead Food Service Specialist for the Waukesha County Behavioral Health Center and has been serving in this capacity since 2019.  Michael’s interest in food service began in 1994, when upon graduating high school, he got a summer job working as a dietary aide and cafeteria assistant at St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee, WI. Over the next 20 years Michael honed his craft, working his way through the ranks from foodservice supervisor to manager and eventually department director at various senior living and healthcare facilities. Throughout his career, Michael has been instrumental in the training, coaching, and developing of hundreds of staff members, even mentoring several to become dietetic technicians and dietary managers themselves. 

Michael leads by example through humility, authenticity, and trust. He’s passionate in helping others achieve their potential through ensuring that well-being and integrity are supported by inspiration and curiosity. 

View Michael's Acceptance Speech


Legacy Award

Sharon Vermeer, CDM, CFPP 

The Legacy Award recognizes an ANFP member who has been a member for at least 15 years and served three or more years on a national committee/board and attended at least three ANFP regional and/or annual meetings within the last five years. 

Sharon Vermeer, CDM, CFPP, has been the Food Services Director for Orange City Area Health System for 27 years, where she oversees three different kitchens. She started her volunteer career by way of presenting at one of the local chapter meetings and has continued to serve the chapter throughout the years in various capacities, starting with the secretary role and eventually working her way up to chapter president. More recently, Sharon has been helping struggling chapters by reaching out to lapsed members to determine how we can keep them in the foodservice profession, specifically as CDM, CFPPs. She’s quick to jump in and lend a hand wherever needed, including training new chapter board members as well as mentoring many individuals through their educational pursuits. She generously shares and seeks out new ideas from fellow CDM, CFPP’s to help navigate the changing healthcare environment.   

Sharon has also been active at the national level for many years starting as a member of the Government Affairs committee. In 2012, Sharon was appointed to her first role at the National level as a Director at Large. From that point on, she was appointed to Board positions including Treasurer and was eventually appointed to the role of National Chair in 2018. She is currently serving on the Leadership Development Committee as a past chair. 

Sharon is a published author, lecturer, and extensive traveler. Besides having a master’s degree in Learning Disabilities and being a CDM, CFPP, Sharon is ServSafe certified, and is married to husband Jerry, with four sons and nine grandchildren, from Denver to Detroit.

View Sharon's Acceptance Speech


Diamond Award

Iowa ANFP

The coveted Diamond Award recognizes one ANFP state chapter per year that exemplifies dedication to members through chapter initiatives and enthusiastic leadership. 

This year’s Diamond Award winner, Iowa (IA) ANFP, focused on several ways to give back to chapter members and their communities that specifically focused on re-use and recycling. They did so in several ways, including holding blood drive, hosting a uniform exchange and cookbook swap as well as a clothing drive for students looking to become culinary chefs and/or CDM, CFPP's. IA ANFP also raised funds for Project Pet Alive for pet oxygen masks. Each of these initiatives supported the overall goal of reduce, re-use, recycle.

This chapter’s efforts and initiatives resulted in many positive outcomes within their chapter and the community as well. Many current members and students in the local public school systems were gifted with new uniforms and/or business attire that some may not be able to afford as many students in the local public school systems live below poverty levels which make it extremely hard to afford clothing for interviews. Also, during the chapter’s fall conference, many members left with new recipes to incorporate into their menus from the cookbook swap. Additionally, the blood drive resulted in 31 lives saved. The chapter also raised $675 for a non-profit organization to purchase pet oxygen mask kits given to unfunded law enforcement, fire, search and rescue and our military to save family pets from smoke inhalation. These masks can also be re-used.


Congratulations, Iowa ANFP!