PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
By Michael Ty, CEC, AAC
Vision 2010-2011
As we begin the second half of this
administration, I reflect back on the board’s
accomplishments in the past year. We
were able to provide financial stewardship,
better communication, a truly transparent
administration and what I hope was a
building of trust within our federation.
Dave Smith Photographer
But there is still a lot of work ahead of us,
and the members of the board of directors
and employees at the national office
cannot do it alone. We need teamwork, and
we respectfully ask you all to participate.
and organizationally. This will allow us to
focus on branding our federation with
targeted messages in strategic markets in
the coming year.
Michael Ty serves a healthful veggies and
rice dish to Destiny Franco during Chef
Outreach to the Community day in Anaheim.
I would like to share with you these visions
for the coming year.
teamed with registered dietitians and
schoolchildren to create healthy menus for
our school lunch program. It is my desire to
provide these recipes to the USDA to help in
its fight against childhood obesity in America.
First and foremost, if we consider ACF to
be the premier professional organization
of cooks, chefs and pastry chefs, we need
to demonstrate that. Our No. 1 mission
is to increase our professional-culinarian
membership with industry professionals. We
need to do this one member at a time, and
we need your help to recruit these chefs
and retain them as members. It requires
your leadership and guidance to make this
successful. Imagine how our membership
would swell if everyone recruited just one
industry professional culinarian. I challenge
you to make this your No. 1 priority.
We have a stronger relationship with our
government, as was witnessed during this
year’s national convention in Anaheim. Our
military presence was even stronger, with
the ACF National Championship featuring
the Freedom Chef Challenge. And we were
fortunate to have a U.S. Navy vice admiral
at our Chef of the Year competition to cheer
on Brandon Parry, CEC, as he competed.
Finally, the apprenticeship program at Fort
Lee, Va., should be in progress this month.
This means we will have 1,184 military
apprentices by the end of the year.
I am reinvigorating the Membership
Enhancements Committee under new
leadership. I hope that before the end of
my first term in office, we will be able to
start implementing more tangible member
benefits that give a reason to belong to ACF.
The Retirement Committee, under the
leadership of Ben Fonbuena, CEC, CCE,
AAC, has committed to presenting a
proposal to the board of directors on the
feasibility of a retirement plan for our
members. We will keep you posted and
provide more information in the near future.
Dr. Janey Thornton, USDA deputy
undersecretary for food, nutrition and
consumer services, addressed us in Anaheim
and spoke about the importance of ACF
members recognizing childhood obesity in
this country. She also met with a group of our
chefs for a roundtable discussion on how ACF
can be more involved with the “Let’s Move”
initiative, spearheaded by Michelle Obama. We
were also asked to be part of a recipe contest
that the USDA will promote to create healthy
kids menus for our schools across America.
I will appoint two at-large board members
who will be part of the current board. These
individuals will either be leaders in the industry
or professionals who could help us in the
infrastructure of our federation. They will be able
to share their expertise and offer suggestions
for ways we can improve our brand. They will
serve for a two-year term. If this proves fruitful,
we will have the opportunity to add two more
at-large members for the next two years, for a
maximum of six to the elected board.
It is my opinion that we are on our way to
getting your house in order, both financially
The 2011 ACF National Championship will
feature chefs in the healthcare industry
How many times have we heard the word
“mentorship?” Well, we have to put some
meat into what this program should do and
how we plan to execute it. Mentorship is not
only for the youth. I, too, look for mentors in
