Clare Reichenbach
Chief Executive Officer
Clare Reichenbach is the chief executive officer of the James Beard Foundation (JBF), the country's preeminent culinary arts organization dedicated to celebrating, nurturing, and honoring chefs and other leaders making America's food culture more delicious, diverse, and sustainable for everyone. In her role as CEO, Clare works with the JBF staff and board of trustees in directing the strategic, programmatic, financial, and management operations of the James Beard Foundation.
Clare’s responsibilities include overseeing a wide range of the JBF programs such as the James Beard Foundation Awards; the JBF Women’s Leadership Programs; the James Beard House dinners and events around the United States; the non-profit’s scholarship programs; and the JBF Impact Programs, all in pursuit of a more equitable and sustainable food system.
Before joining the James Beard Foundation, Reichenbach founded CJJR Consulting, where her clients included New York Public Radio, NBCU, and Samsung. Prior to that, Clare worked at the BBC for over 10 years, both in the U.K. and the U.S. where she was executive vice president of strategy and business development, a position she also held at AMC Networks. Her accolades include being named one of CableFAX’s “Most Powerful Women in Cable,” Multichannel News’s “Women to Watch,” and Management Today’s “35 Women Under 35.”
Reichenbach has a bachelor's degree from Oxford University and completed the advanced management program from Harvard Business School. Clare lives in Manhattan with her young daughter.
Mitchell Davis
Chief Strategy Officer
Mitchell Davis is the chief strategy officer of the James Beard Foundation, a cookbook author, a food journalist, and a scholar with a Ph.D. in Food Studies from New York University. With the Beard Foundation for 20 years, Davis has created and overseen many of the organization’s important initiatives, including the JBF Greens for “foodies under 40”; the non-profit’s popular five-week pop-up restaurant JBF LTD in Chelsea Market (2011); the annual JBF Food Summit, a national dialogue of thought leaders on sustainability and public health in the food system; and the JBF Chefs Boot Camp for Policy & Change. In 2013 Davis assembled and led the team that was selected by the U.S. Department of State to create the USA Pavilion at the World Expo Milano 2015, the theme of which is American Food 2.0.
In addition to his work at the Foundation, Davis frequently writes about and reviews restaurants. He holds a chair on the academy of the London-based World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranking program. He has written four cookbooks, including The Mensch Chef and Kitchen Sense (both Clarkson Potter), co-authored the ground-breaking electronic book My Provence (Alta Editions) with famed French chef Laurent Gras, which won two 2013 awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, including “Judges Choice,” and is a regular contributor to The Art of Eating. Davis’s television appearances include History Channel’s 101 Fast Foods that Changed the World, Food Network’s Food(ography), Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Best in Smoke. Davis is host of Taste Matters, a weekly radio show (Wednesdays at 11 a.m.) on the Heritage Radio Network. In 2013 The Forward selected Davis as one of the 50 most influential Jews under 50 in America.
Marilyn Platzer
Chief Financial Officer and Chief of Staff
Marilyn Platzer has more than 30 years of experience in financial oversight, having worked in the magazine publishing field as financial director of Fortune and business manager of Family Circle and Fitness. She previously worked in the non-profit sector as CFO and COO for the Young Survival Coalition, an organization devoted to supporting women under the age of 40 who were diagnosed with breast cancer. She joined the James Beard Foundation in 2007 as CFO, where she oversees financial management reporting and accounting operations, directs human resources, and handles legal and governance issues. In addition to her passion for the Foundation’s pursuit of a better (and more delicious) food world, Platzer and her husband support the culinary community as appreciators of the talents of the many and varied New York City–area chefs and restaurants which they frequent.
Kris Moon
Chief Operating Officer
Kris Moon is the chief operating officer at the James Beard Foundation. During his tenure at the Foundation Moon has been instrumental in launching the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change, which was piloted in summer 2012. Under Moon’s leadership, the program teaches established chefs necessary policy and advocacy skills for creating food system change and has educated over 145 chefs to date on effective advocacy. Most recently, Moon is responsible for spearheading the strategic planning which led to the launch of the Foundation’s JBF Impact Programs in April 2016. These new programs engage the culinary community in the ongoing process of creating a sustainable food system that provides nutritious an delicious food for all. Moon has also helped the Foundation to grow its major gifts and foundation funding. Working closely with former president Susan Ungaro and chief strategy officer Mitchell Davis, he transformed JBF’s annual dinner and auction into a full-scale fundraising gala in 2012, making it the Foundation’s most successful event to date which has continued to grow year over year.
Before moving up the ranks to chief operating officer, Moon held several positions at the James Beard Foundation. He first joined the Foundation in 2007 as the director of house operations and house events a position in which he oversaw the daily operations of the historic James Beard House in Greenwich Village and the execution of the Foundation’s house events with featured chefs. After a year working with amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, as manager of special events, Moon returned to the Foundation in 2011 to assume the position of director of charitable giving and strategic partnerships overseeing the Foundation’s various fundraising initiatives, and was promoted to vice president.
Prior to his promotion to vice president, Moon served as senior director, strategy and development for the Foundation and managed all fundraising initiatives for the Foundation including; sponsorship sales, grants, and major gifts; and continued to craft and develop strategic partnership opportunities to help the Foundation achieve it’s broader strategic goals. He also helped assemble and evolve JBF’s Young Professionals Committee, which was launched in 2012 to help cultivate a younger audience for the Foundation.
Moon has made multiple appearances on WNBC and has been featured in numerous publications on behalf of the Foundation. He also frequently speaks on the Foundation’s work at culinary events and food conferences across America. Moon holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Boston University and is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition where he was certified as a holistic health counselor through AADP.
Katherine Miller
Vice President of Impact
Katherine Miller is an award-winning communications executive, campaign strategist, and social media expert who leads a team dedicated to engaging the culinary community in the ongoing process of creating a sustainable food system for all. She is the founding executive director of the Chef Action Network (CAN) and has served as the Foundation's senior director of policy and advocacy since 2016. She developed and leads the Foundation's signature training program, the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change. In September 2017, Katherine was named one of "The 2017 Most Innovative Woman in Food and Drink" by Fortune and Food & Wine. Before joining the good food movement, she developed and managed integrated campaigns for many of the world's leading socially responsible corporations and foundations including TIAA-CREF, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the United Nations Foundation. Her work has won numerous awards including the People's Choice Webby, Best Non-Profit Tagline of the Year, PR Grassroots Campaign of the year, and several Pollies (the political world's Academy Award). She is a board member of the New Venture Fund and RAINN (the U.S. national sexual assault hotline). She is a graduate of the Loyola University of New Orleans and, in her free time, she is perfecting her bread-baking techniques.
Siobhan Flaherty Haber
Vice President of Events
Siobhan Flaherty Haber has over 25 years experience as an event producer and manager with non-profit organizations. Early in her career she managed the Reebok Human Rights Awards at the Apollo Theater in New York City, and was a conference planner for Amnesty International in Boston. In 1998, she joined the James Beard Foundation as assistant program director where she helped orchestrate over 200 annual chef dinners at the Beard House. In 2001, she started her own event planning company, Flaherty & Co Events LLC, where she specialized in food and beverage events and non-profit fundraisers. Clients have included City Harvest, StarChefs, Partnership with Children, Gelinaz!, and the James Beard Foundation. For the past 17 years she has worked closely with JBF producing numerous annual events such as the JBF Gala, Chefs’ Night Out, the JBF pop up at Chelsea Market and other special projects. Siobhan has also served as director of the JBF Greens program, a membership and event series for food lovers under 40 years of age, which has recently expanded to over 20 annual sold-out events in New York City and Chicago. Siobhan, a Brooklyn native, lives in Brooklyn with her family and has a bachelor's degree from Skidmore College and a master's degree in Eastern Philosophy from Boston University.
Alison Tozzi Liu
Vice President of Marketing, Communications, and Editorial
Alison Tozzi Liu has more than 20 years of experience working in the culinary and communications industries. In her 13 years at JBF, Alison has overseen print and digital publications, communications, and marketing. She heads up the Foundation's editorial projects including the multiple award-winning cookbook James Beard's All-American Eats (Rizzoli, 2016) and the forthcoming Waste Not (Rizzoli, 2018), has introduced dynamic multimedia coverage from the James Beard House and the James Beard Awards, and oversees the organization's social media platforms. Liu has extensive experience cooking in restaurants, food styling, editorial work, and in representing the Foundation in media interviews and speaking engagements at conferences around the country. She holds a master’s degree in food studies from New York University and a culinary arts degree from the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. She lives in Jackson Heights, Queens, with her husband and two sons.
Nancy Kull
Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer
Keith Butler
Director of Development
Izabela Wojcik
Director of House Programming
Debbie Holloway
House Programming Coordinator
Claudia Karach
Director of House Events and Membership
Michelle Santoro
Senior Manager, Scholarships
Ashley Kosiak
Impact Programs Manager
Sarah Drew
Impact Programs Manager
Emily Rothkrug
Impact Programs Associate
Victoria Jordan Rodriguez
Director of House Operations and House Events
Sandra Matias
Accounting Manager
Patricia Loyola
Senior Finance Manager
Alexia Billiart
Financial Analyst
Kimberly Bradley Osorio
Information Systems Manager
Colleen Vincent
Manager of House Marketing and Reservations
Marie Mondesir
Receptionist
Jose Lucio
Maître D’Hôtel
Behrim Mekuli
Service Captain
Albert Reyes
Night Kitchen Manager
Brandon Belgrave
Day Kitchen Manager
Mark Brownlee, Jean Fenestral, Fatima Gomez, Jason Martinez, and Marcus Meyers
Porters
Juan Perez, Jose Rosario
Security
Waitstaff
Zeynep Jane Bozok, Benson Lau, Adam Lenart, Iris Monegro, Mirela Mujovic, Alija Mustajilasic, Sultan Naba, Joisdan Recio, Eliya Rodeh, Rose Rungue, Katrina Sawyer, and Monika Zastocka
Volunteer Programming Committee
Hidy Chang, Silvi Forrest, Lee Kowarski, Jourdan Ludwig, Wendi Royal, Moira Sedgwick, Jennifer Watson, and Rachel Waynberg
Volunteer Young Professionals Development Committee
Damira Bowles, Claire Colasacco, Kristen Frank, Lee Gonzalez, Heath Miller, Sara Pandolfi, Benjamin Robinson, Michael Schiller, Gary Schueller, Rebecca Stein, David Strauss, Julia Tang, and Anthony Thomas
Media
Scott Meola
Art Director
Elena North-Kelly
Managing Editor
Eden Kanowitz
Event Marketing Manager
Kate Dobday
Media Project Manager
Maggie Borden
Associate Editor
Hilary Deutsch
Digital Media Coordinator
Stephanie Bourgeois, Judy Kim, and Yewande Komolafe
Recipe Testers
Special Events
Yvon Ros
Director of Sponsorship and Special Events
Julie Marshall
Director of Events and Marketing
Jeff Black
Celebrity Chef Tour Event Director
Shelley Menaged
Manager of Special Projects and Student Program
Brenda Mangru
Sponsorship Marketing Manager
Victoria Woo
Awards and Events Associate
Julie Weil
Special Events and Awards Assistant