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Women’s Foodservice Forum names new board chairWomen’s Foodservice Forum names new board chair

Wendy Davidson of Kellogg Company to head leadership development organization

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

January 5, 2016

2 Min Read
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The Women’s Foodservice Forum has named Wendy Davidson, president of U.S. Specialty Channels at the Kellogg Company, its board chair, the organization said Tuesday.

The WFF also appointed Susan Adzick of McLane Company Inc. as treasurer, putting her in line for succession to the chair position in 2018. 

The organization also added new members to its board of directors.

Davidson joined the WFF in 1995, and joined the board of directors and executive committee in 2011. She is also a member of the Women of Kellogg network.

“I am honored to be a part of the leadership working to elevate women leaders and create a pipeline of ready talent for our industry,” Davidson said in a statement. “WFF is the premier resource for developing the next generation of leaders that will fuel growth for both companies and the industry as a whole. I feel fortunate to work alongside some of the most talented and influential men and women in the industry and look forward to continuing to drive the mission and vision of the organization during my term as chair.”

Adzick is vice president of sales and marketing for the foodservice division of McLane Company Inc., a business unit of Berkshire Hathaway, and has been on the WFF board since 2011. She is also on the boards of the National Restaurant Association, the Arby’s Foundation and the Restaurant Leadership Conference.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of such an incredibly talented and passionate group of leaders who work tirelessly to advance women,” Adzick said in a statement. “The possibilities are endless when I think of what we can all do collectively.”

The WFF’s new board members, who have been appointed for two successive three-year terms, are:

• Kathleen Ciaramello, president of national foodservice and on-premise, Coca-Cola North America
• Mike Hickey, executive vice president and president of global institutional, Ecolab
• Julie Juvera, vice president of people and field operations, California Pizza Kitchen
• Denny Marie Post, executive vice president and chief concept officer, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc.
• Sandy Romoser, senior vice president of sales and chief customer officer, PepsiCo Foodservice
• Salli Setta, president, Red Lobster

The WFF is a leadership development organization for foodservice segments including operations, manufacturing, distribution, publishing and consulting. 

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
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Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
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