ABOUT US

Board of Trustees

  1. Emily Luchetti
    Chair
  2. Executive Pastry Chef, Farallon and Waterbar

    With six cookbooks to her credit and numerous awards, Emily Luchetti has been the executive pastry chef at San Francisco’s Farallon since its inception in 1997 and at Waterbar since it opened in 2008. She began her culinary career on the savory side of the kitchen at San Francisco’s legendary Stars restaurant before switching to the sweet side three years later. She was the pastry chef at Stars for seven years and also co-owned the retail bakery StarBake. The petite powerhouse is the author of Stars Desserts (HarperCollins, 1991), Four Star Desserts (HarperCollins, 1995), A Passion for Desserts (Chronicle Books, 2003), A Passion for Ice Cream (Chronicle Books, 2006), and The Fearless Baker (Little, Brown and Company, 2011). Her first two books were rereleased as Classic Stars Desserts (Chronicle Books, 2007). Luchetti’s honors include the 1998 San Francisco Focus Magazine Pastry Chef of the Year, the 2001 Women Chefs & Restaurateurs Golden Whisk Award, the 2003 Food Arts magazine Silver Spoon Award, and the 2004 James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. From 1994 to 1999, she served as chairperson of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs. Over the last three years, the San Francisco Chronicle chose Luchetti as one of 20 Visionary Chefs in the Bay Area, she was inducted into the Culinary Pioneers of America, and was named a dean of the International Culinary Center. In 2012, she was inducted into the James Beard Foundation Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America. Prior to being named chair of the JBF board of trustees, Luchetti served on the Foundation board for six years, three as vice chair, and as chair of the James Beard Awards Committee.
  3. Woodrow W. Campbell
    Chair Emeritus and Treasurer
  4. Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

    Under Woodrow W. Campbell’s leadership, Debevoise has built one of the largest private equity fund practices in the world. Since 1993 Debevoise has acted as counsel for sponsors of or investors in over 675 private equity funds with committed capital of more than $454 billion. Concentrating on private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds, Campbell is ranked in the highest “senior statesmen” category for private equity fund formation in Chambers Global (2004-2005) and Chambers USA (2005).
  5. Michael Phillips
    Vice Chair
  6. COO, Jamestown Properties

    Throughout his career, Michael Phillips has focused on development. Through his real estate development platform and property interests he has created concepts and designs for highly accredited restaurant and retail stores and supplemented this work by consulting and financing product programming. He has acted as a consultant and participated in the renovation, design, expansion, and financing of various homes, businesses, and programs both internationally and locally. He is the recipient of the Urban Design Commission Award for the development of West Side Urban Market in Atlanta. He is a principal at White Provision Development Company in Atlanta and a founder of the Westside Provisions District in Atlanta. Michael Phillips joined the partnership at Jamestown Properties as creative director in the spring of 2008 and opened the New York creative office. He serves on the board of directors for Sparkman & Stevens, Inc., the oldest naval architecture and engineering firm in the United States. He formed and served on the Municipal Facilities Commission for the Town of Cranberry Isles, ME, to aid selectmen. Phillips has focused on community outreach programs and supporting sustainable communities on islands in the United States and abroad. He contributes both monetarily and with his time to various organizations including Park Pride in Atlanta, Habitat for Humanity, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Mount Desert Island Sailing School, Northeast Harbor Sailing School, The Neighborhood House, Make-A-Wish, Alstrom Syndrome, Ubuntu Paideia School, 3 Dimensional Life, Camp Beech Cliff, the Ovarian Cancer Institute, and various arts organizations.
  7. Frederic M. Seegal
    Vice Chair
  8. Vice Chairman, Peter J. Solomon Company

    A graduate of Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, and Cornell University, Frederic Seegal has held a number of senior positions at investment banking firms, including president of Wasserstein Perella and co-head of domestic investment banking at Salomon Brothers. In April 2007 he founded Seegal Benson Leucadia Partners and in February 2009 he joined Peter J. Solomon Company as a Senior Advisor. Seegal is currently a director of Digital River and a trustee of the New York City Center. He has been the president of the American Ballet Theatre and has served on the boards of the San Francisco Opera, the Neuberger Museum, and Southampton Hospital.
  9. Erica Gruen
    Secretary
  10. Principal, Quantum Media

    Erica Gruen is a management consultant for Quantum Media, where she specializes in providing integrated business advice to media and entertainment companies. She also created a new online television studio, Sand & Stars, which produces programs that air on several websites including GoodHousekeeping.com and MensHealth.com. Prior to joining Quantum Media, Gruen was president and CEO of the Food Network, where she staged a complete brand and programming turnaround. Gruen has also worked as director of media services for the integrated marketing and communications firm Merkley Newman Harty and was senior vice president of Stategic Media Resources at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies.
  11. Dickie Brennan
  12. Managing Partner, Dickie Brennan and Company

    One of the country’s preeminent restaurateurs, Dickie Brennan has spent his life in the hospitality industry. He began his career working under Paul Prudhomme at the Brennan family’s acclaimed Commander’s Palace in New Orleans and went on to apprentice at Delmonico’s restaurant in Mexico City and An American Place in NYC under famed chef Larry Forgione. After spending time in France cooking in some of Paris’s most famous restaurants, Brennan returned home to open Palace Café with his family, becoming the restaurant’s executive chef after its first year of operation. With Brennan running the kitchen, Palace Café won several awards, including the title of Best New Restaurant from Esquire magazine. In 1998, with sister Lauren Brennan Brower and business partner Steve Pettus, he opened Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse, which they followed a few years later with the equally acclaimed Bourbon House Seafood and Oyster Bar. Brennan is also co-author of Palace Café: The Flavor of New Orleans.
  13. Peter B. Cameron
  14. CEO, Lenox

    Peter Cameron is currently the CEO of Lenox Corporation, an American manufacturer of fine china. Cameron previously served as CEO of Waterford Wedgwood plc, a manufacturer of fine china and crystal products, and from 1997 to 2003 he held the position of CEO and president of All Clad Holdings, a manufacturer of cookware products that was acquired by Waterford during his tenure. He is also currently vice chairman and owner of Acuity Management Inc., an investment management company that owns and operates several commercial real estate investments. From 1988 to 1995 he served in various senior level management capacities within Hanson plc, including chairman of U.S. Industries Housewares Group, and president and CEO of Farberware, Inc. Prior to that, Cameron was CEO and president of Revereware, a leading manufacturer of branded cookware to department store and mass merchant channels. Cameron has also held senior management positions at Polaroid Corp., Bowmar Instrumental Corporation, and Starcraft. He graduated with a B.S. in economics from Northeastern University, and serves on the boards of Northeastern University, Chapel Hill, The International Housewares Charity Foundation, Acuity Management, Farberware Licensing Co., Hartmann and Lenox. He formerly served on the Board of Directors, New York Botanical Garden Association, International Housewares Association, and Bronx Green-up. 
  15. August J. Ceradini, Jr.
  16. President and CEO, Circle Navigation

    August J. Ceradini, Jr. is a business executive with 25 years of experience in gaming, restaurants, entertainment, and hospitality management. Ceradini began his career in the hospitality industry at New York’s Pratt Institute where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in food science and management. As president of New York Cruise Lines, Inc., he created World Yacht Cruises. Ceradini holds the title of Chairman Emeritus of the Culinary Institute of America and actively serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the James Beard Foundation. Beyond his commercial interests, he provides leadership to civic and professional organizations through seats on the Board of Directors of the New York Law Enforcement Foundation, the Drug Enforcement Agency Foundation, and many others. He has also received the Share Our Strength Humanitarian Award and the Boy Scouts of America Good Scout Award. 
  17. Jill A. Greenthal
  18. Senior Advisor, The Blackstone Group

    Jill Greenthal has advised and financed media companies for over 20 years. As a senior advisor in private equity at the Blackstone Group, she assists with investments in the global media and technology sectors. Before joining Blackstone in 2003 Greenthal was co-head of the Global Media Group and co-head of the Boston office of Credit Suisse First Boston, where she was also on the executive board of investment banking. Greenthal was co-head of the Boston office of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, and headed up the media group at Lehman Brothers. She is a graduate of Simmons College and received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Greenthal is on the board of directors of Akamai Technologies, Freedom Communications, Orbitz Worldwide, the Weather Channel, and Universal Orlando. She is also a member of the investment committee of Noble and Greenough School and the Women’s Executive Council of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Greenthal is a trustee of Simmons College and overseer of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
  19. Eric Kessler
  20. Founder, Principal, and Managing Director, Arabella Advisors

    As founder and managing director of Arabella Advisors, Eric Kessler helps builds philanthropy strategies, evaluates non-profits and provides back-office management services for family philanthropists, professional foundations and corporate donors around the world. Together with his team of colleagues, he has impacted billions of philanthropic dollars going to issues from food and nutrition policy to education reform to global health. He founded and serves as president of the New Venture Fund, a home for donor collaboratives and incubator of innovative new non-profits.  He founded the Creation Care Fund and co-founded the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, where he serves as board member. He is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, the Association of Small Foundations, the Environmental Grantmakers Association, and Summit Series. Eric also serves on the board of directors of the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers and Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Earlier in his career, Eric served as the national field director for the League of Conservation Voters and then as a White House appointee, helping to manage conservation issues during the Clinton administration. Just prior to starting Arabella, Eric lived in the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, where he advised civic organizations promoting democratic reforms for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. Along with chef Mike Isabella, he is a co-owner of Graffiato, an Italian-inspired restaurant in Washington, D.C. He holds an International M.B.A. from Georgetown University and a B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
  21. John H. Kessler
  22. Senior Vice President, RBC Wealth Management

    John H. Kessler joined J.B. Hanauer & Co. as a financial advisor in 1970 and ultimately rose to the position of chairman and principal stock holder. In May 2007, the company was acquired by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Kessler specializes in fixed-income portfolio management and has been recognized by RBC for his accomplishments through his appointment to the RBC Chairman’s Council. He is the president of Banyan Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, and a member of the New Jersey Professional Golf Association where he has run countless fundraisers over the past thirty years. He serves on the board of directors for the American Conference on Diversity and the United Way Board of the Palm Beach Allocation Committee. Kessler received a degree in business administration from Monmouth University in New Jersey, where he has been a trustee since 1997 and serves as the chairman of the buildings and grounds committee. Mr. Kessler and his wife, Henni Kessler, led the fundraising effort for the University’s football stadium, which now bears their name.
  23. Lawrence J. Lasser
  24. After graduating from the Harvard Business School in 1967, Lawrence J. Lasser joined the Putnam Management Company as a securities analyst. He worked at Putnam for his entire business career, rising to become president and chief executive officer of Putnam, before retiring in 2003. During his 18-year tenure as CEO, Lasser oversaw all of Putnam’s mutual fund and institutional investment activities, distribution and marketing, and client services. In this time, Putnam’s assets rose from approximately $10 billion to $434 billion. Lasser is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a trustee of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, the Jewish Museum, the East Side Tenement Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
  25. Nancy Lukitsh
  26. Retired Partner and Senior Vice President, Wellington Management Company, LLP

    Nancy Lukitsh has been active in the investment management industry since 1993. She spent the majority of that time as senior vice president, partner, and director of marketing at Wellington Management, where she was responsible for the development and execution of the firm’s global marketing strategy. She currently serves as a trustee of the Columbia Atlantic (Mutual) Funds. Prior to joining Wellington Management, Nancy was a partner at McKinsey & Company, where she led their East Coast healthcare practice and also served a range of clients in the health insurance and financial services industries. Nancy is the chair of the audit committee for the March of Dimes Foundation; a member of the International Council of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; and a member of the Leadership Council of the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received her MBA from Harvard Business School.
  27. Tamara L. Lundgren
  28. President & CEO, Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc.

    Tamara Lundgren is the president, chief executive officer, and member of the board of directors of Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. With approximately $2.5 billion of annual revenues, SSI is one of the largest U.S. publicly-traded manufacturers and exporters of recycled metals. Prior to joining SSI, Lundgren was a managing director with JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank in New York and London and a partner in the Washington law firm of Hogan and Hartson. Lundgren graduated from Wellesley College and Northwestern University School of Law. She is a member of the board of trustees of the Oregon Health and Science University Foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
  29. Wenda Harris Millard
  30. President and COO, Media Link, LLC

    Wenda Harris Millard is president of MediaLink LLC, a leading strategic advisory and business development firm that provides critical counsel and direction to the media, advertising, and entertainment industries and to companies and investors that interact with those sectors. Before joining MediaLink, Millard was co-CEO and president, media, for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. A seasoned executive with over twenty-five years of publishing and advertising experience, Millard was formerly chief sales officer at Yahoo!, and has held executive positions at Ziff Davis Media, DoubleClick, SRDS, Family Circle, and other major media companies. She has received numerous industry awards including the 2007 John A. Reisenbach Award for Distinguished Citizenship, the 2006 “Advertising Person of the Year” Silver Medal Award from the AAF, and the 2005 Matrix Award for “Women Who Change the World.” Advertising Age acknowledged Millard as one of the 20 most influential executives in interactive media, and she was the subject of a profile by Tom Brokaw as part of NBC’s “Women to Watch” series. Active on behalf of the advertising industry throughout her career, Millard is immediate past chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau and former president of the Advertising Club of New York. She has served on the boards of the Advertising Council, the American Advertising Federation, the Advertising Education Foundation, and others. Currently, she sits on the boards of several emerging media companies as well as on the boards of Pop!Tech and Do Something. She served two terms as a trustee of Trinity College in Hartford. Millard holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BA from Trinity College.
  31. Michel Nischan
  32. Chef/Owner, Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant
    CEO, Wholesome Wave

    Michel Nischan is chef/owner of Dressing Room, located at Connecticut’s Westport Country Playhouse, and president and CEO of the Wholesome Wave Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on making local, healthy, and sustainably grown foods available to everyone. Wholesome Wave was created in 2007 with funding from the Newman’s Own Foundation and the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation, and is now supported in part by funding from Grow for Good, a philanthropic initiative of Food & Wine magazine. Wholesome Wave and Dressing Room work in tandem to create grassroots initiatives that celebrate local food systems and heritage recipes. A son of displaced farmers, Nischan grew up with a deep appreciation for sustainable agriculture and those who work the land. As a professional chef and advocate for a more healthful, organic, and sustainable food future, he has built on those childhood values to become a catalyst for change and new initiatives in local and regional food systems. He has been the recipient of two James Beard Foundation Awards, for his work on the PBS series, Victory Garden, and his 2003 book, Taste Pure and Simple (Chronicle Books, 2003). He is also the author of Homegrown Pure and Simple (Chronicle Books, 2005). Nischan serves on the boards of the Amazon Conservation Team and Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment. He lives in Fairfield, Connecticut, with his wife Lori and their five children.
  33. Richard Perlman
  34. Chairman, Compass Partners, L.L.C.

    Richard Perlman is the chairman of Compass Partners, LLC, a merchant banking and financial advisory firm he founded in 1995 that specializes in middle market companies and corporate restructuring. He is also co- chairman and CEO of ExamWorks, Inc., a national provider of independent medical examinations. Previously he served as chairman and director of TurboChef Technologies, Inc., which was acquired by Middleby Corporation in January 2009. Prior to that, Perlman was the chairman of PracticeWorks, Inc. until its acquisition by the Eastman Kodak Company in 2003, and he served as chairman and treasurer of VitalWorks Inc. from January 1998 and as a director from March 1997 until the completion of the spin-off of PracticeWorks, Inc. from VitalWorks in March of 2001. Perlman is a director of Alloy, Inc., a media and marketing services company as well as several other privately held companies and the non-profit board of Fighting Chance. Perlman received a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a M.B.A. from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
  35. Walter C. Richter
  36. Vice Chairman, Deloitte LLP

    Walt Richter is a vice chairman of Deloitte LLP and the managing partner of the Office of the Chief Executive Officer (OCEO) program. As managing partner, Richter oversees interactions with Deloitte’s largest clients. He also is a member of the executive committee of Deloitte & Touche LLP. Prior to joining the OCEO, Richter was the managing partner of Deloitte’s Connecticut practice. He is the audit committee chairman and a trustee of the James Beard Foundation, and is a board member of Ridgefield Animal Organized Rescue. He also has served on the board of trustees for the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants’ Education Trust Fund.
  37. David W. Rivkin
  38. Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

    David W. Rivkin is co-chair of the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. He has broad experience in the areas of international litigation and arbitration, and has handled arbitrations throughout the world and before virtually every major arbitration institution. Mr. Rivkin is consistently ranked as one of the top international dispute resolution practitioners in the world. In 2012, the American Lawyer’s AmLaw Litigation Daily named Mr. Rivkin one of two “Global Lawyers of the Year.” In 2011, the National Law Journal named him one of the country’s “Most Influential Attorneys.” Mr. Rivkin is also vice president of the International Bar Association, whose membership includes more than 40,000 members and nearly 200 bar associations, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He was appointed by the U.S. State and Commerce Departments to be a founding member of the NAFTA Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes. Mr. Rivkin is also a member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law and a member of the Sanctions Subcommittee of the Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy. In 2008, Mr. Rivkin served as a member of the Ad Hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, after previously serving on the panel for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Mr. Rivkin graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in history, and received a J.D. from Yale in 1980.
  39. Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D.
  40. Founder, Phoenix House

    Dr. Mitchell Rosenthal is a psychiatrist and founder of Phoenix House, a pioneer in substance abuse treatment. In addition to lecturing at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, Rosenthal has served as a White House advisor on drug policy and as a special consultant to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. With more than 100 programs in nine states, Phoenix House now has a treatment population of some 6,000 adults and adolescents and an operating budget of more than $100 million.
  41. John Washko
  42. Vice President of Operations, Auberge Resorts

    John Washko is the vice president of operations at Auberge Resorts, where he oversees food and beverage programs for all properties in the collection. Washko joined Auberge Resorts in 2010 with more than 30 years of hospitality experience, including over 20 years with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts. During his Four Seasons tenure, Washko held various operational leadership positions within the company’s food and beverage and rooms divisions throughout the United States and internationally. While with the Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Washko was a part of opening teams worldwide, including Dublin, Istanbul, Whistler, and Costa Rica. He was also hotel manager at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills and Four Seasons San Francisco, which achieved the Mobil 5 Star rating within its first year of operation, as well as food and beverage director at properties including the Pierre in New York City and the Ritz-Carlton Chicago. Washko received a James Beard Foundation Angel Award in 2008 in recognition of his significant contributions to the Foundation. He is a resident of Napa, California.
  43. Jacques Pépin
  44. Trustee Emeritus
  45. Peter Kump
  46. Founding President (1986-1995)
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