José Andrés is an internationally-recognized culinary innovator, passionate advocate for food and hunger issues, author, television personality and chef/owner of ThinkFoodGroup, named “Outstanding Chef” by the James Beard Foundation in 2011 and recognized by Time magazine on the “Time 100” list of most influential people in the world. Andrés is host and executive producer of Made in Spain on PBS. His cookbooks include Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America. Andrés teaches at Harvard and The George Washington University. He is also the founder of World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit which aims to feed and empower vulnerable people in humanitarian crises around the world.
Kathy Calvin is President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Foundation. Her career has spanned work in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Prior to joining the UN Foundation as Chief Operating Officer in 2003, Kathy served as President of the AOL Time Warner Foundation where she guided AOL Time Warner’s philanthropic activities and was the chief architect of the company’s corporate responsibility initiatives. She joined America Online in 1997 as Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, and was responsible for the company’s brand, social responsibility, and external relations.
Danny Meyer is the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, which includes Union Square Cafe, and Gramercy Tavern. Danny, his restaurants and chefs have earned an unprecedented 28 James Beard Awards. An active national leader in the fight against hunger, Danny serves on the board of Share Our Strength and has long supported hunger relief initiatives including City Harvest, God’s Love We Deliver, and the Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger.
Dr. Emily Chinitz is a Clinical Psychologist for the Center for Child Health & Resiliency, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, treating a variety of presenting concerns, including anxiety, depression, trauma, parent-child relationship and attachment issues, and adjustment difficulties related to loss or other family/social stressors. Dr. Chinitz provides services top patients at the South Bronx Health Center and Center for Child Health & Resiliency.
Kwame Onwuachi was born in the Bronx and trained in classical French cuisine at the Culinary Institute of America, Kwame works as the Executive Chef of The Shaw Bijou in Washington, D.C. After starting his own catering company at the age of 20, Kwame went on to work in some highly regarded restaurants including New York’s Eleven Madison Park and Per Se and appear on Top Chef on the Bravo Network. He has traveled the world learning different types of cuisines and cultures.
John S. Gomperts became President and CEO of America’s Promise Alliance in May 2012. Most recently, he served as Director of AmeriCorps, starting in June 2010, with a responsibility for implementing the bipartisan Kennedy Serve America Act.
From 2006-2010, Gomperts served as President of Civic Ventures, an organization devoted to promoting the engagement of millions of experienced baby boomers in encore careers.
Tanya Holland is the Executive Chef and Owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland, CA. Holland is known for her inventive takes on modern soul food, as well as comfort classics. The author of Brown Sugar Kitchen: New-Style, Down-Home Recipes from Sweet West Oakland, and New Soul Cooking: Updating a Cuisine Rich in Flavor and Tradition (Stewart, Tabori, and Chang), Holland is perhaps best known for her role as a host and expert on Soul Food for the “Melting Pot” series on Food Network.
Dr. Joseph E. Marshall, Jr is the founder of Alive & Free, an international violence prevention organization headquartered in San Francisco, and president of the Alive & Free Consortium – an organization dedicated to eliminating violence worldwide. He is also the host of the violence prevention radio talk show Street Soldiers. Founded in 1987 as Omega Boys Club, Alive & Free has transformed the lives of more than 10,000 young people and produced 183 college graduates, all supported by the organization’s scholarship fund.
Gordon Hamersley is the James Beard Award-winning chef whose eponymous Hamersley’s Bistro gave birth to the Boston restaurant scene and provided a training ground for some Boston’s finest chefs today.
Gerald Chertavian has spent his entire adult life working with at-risk youth, first in the Big Brother program and then as the founder and CEO of Year UP, which provides low-income young adults with hands-on skills development, coursework eligible for college credit, and corporate internships in an environment of high expectations and high support.