Candy Wallace, founder and executive director of the American Personal & Private Chef Association (APPCA), recently received an honorary medallion from the Chicago-based Foodservice Educators Network International (FENI).”This year, FENI has selected to recognize and award medallions to individuals who are enhancing the quality of culinary education and attributing to the success of our Summit,” says Daniel von Rabenau, FENI executive director and publisher of Chef Educator Today magazine. “The FENI Medallion of Excellence symbolizes Chef Wallace’s creative and continuous efforts to advancing culinary-arts education though her excellent work as emcee of the FENI Summit.”
Wallace served as master of ceremonies to upwards of 300 foodservice educators from schools nationwide at FENI’s most recent annual Summits in Chicago and Las Vegas.
“I’m extremely honored to be recognized by FENI,” Wallace says. “Just as I founded the APPCA to serve the needs of an emerging and viable career path for aspiring personal chefs, FENI was first to recognize and fulfill the need among foodservice educators for professional development and peer networking. The partnering of our two organizations, given our parallel visions, is a natural fit.”
In addition to Wallace, FENI awarded 2010 Medallions of Excellence to Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE, dean of the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College, Chicago, and vice president of culinary arts for Laureate International Universities, Baltimore; Jacquy Pfeiffer, academic dean for student affairs and cofounder of the French Pastry School, Chicago; Linda Rosner, CEC, CHE, culinary-arts director at Lexington College, Chicago; Marshall Shafkowitz, vice president of academic affairs and student services at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago; and noted author and TV personality Fritz Sonnenschmidt, CMC, AAC, former dean of cooking at The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y.
Wallace founded the American Personal Chef Association in 1996 as the first significant national effort to recognize the impact of personal chefs on Americans’ evolving lifestyles and to provide career and management training to those who aspire to become personal chefs with their own businesses. She led the positioning of personal chefs as culinary professionals, culminating in 2002 with a formal partnership with the American Culinary Federation to award certification to qualified personal chefs. The following year, she was honored with the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ (IACP) Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Wallace earned additional industry accolades in 2006 by formally acknowledging the contributions of private chefs to society and addressing their specific professional needs by restructuring her organization to become the American Personal & Private Chef Association.
In recent years, Wallace has forged relationships with professional culinary-training programs in colleges and universities nationwide to bring the opportunity of culinary entrepreneurship to aspiring cooks seeking a certificate or degree.
Most recently, Wallace was named Entrepreneur of the Year in the 2009-2010 Cordon d’Or – Gold Ribbon International Culinary Academy Awards. She will be honored at a commemorative reception and dinner hosted by Cordon d’Or – Gold Ribbon and the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association at the Don CeSar Resort in St. Pete Beach on April 30.
About the Foodservice Educators Network International (FENI)
The primary purpose of the Foodservice Educators Network International is to provide a focal point for culinary educators to network and better prepare for those they educate and influence. Through Chef Educator Today magazine (www.chefedtoday.com) and the annual FENI Summit (www.fenisummit.com), culinary educators and others allied to the field have a continuous opportunity to expand their culinary knowledge, present papers and analyze the latest technical and theoretical concepts. FENI acknowledges the dedication of its past members, sponsorship and institutional partners, the funding of Talcott Publishing (www.talcott.com) and the leadership of its executive director, Daniel von Rabenau.
About the American Personal & Private Chef Association
The American Personal & Private Chef Association (APPCA), based in San Diego, promotes the “business of doing business” as a personal or private chef through ongoing peer interaction and education while fostering professionalism in all aspects of cookery. Through its Institute and education partners, APPCA offers sound training in establishing successful and fulfilling careers. For more information, call (800) 644-8389, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.personalchef.com.
Posted on 4/21/10.
