2007 Fame Awards Winners Honored

FM Staff

Some of the brightest stars of the school foodservice world were honored with FAME Awards at the annual Child Nutrition Industry Conference of the School Nutrition Association (SNA) held in Tucson, AZ in January.

The FAME Awards recognize school foodservice professionals who go above and beyond in foodservice achievement and management excellence.

Jean Ronnei, director of nutrition services for the St. Paul (MN) Public Schools, received the top honor, the FAME Golden School Foodservice Director of the Year Award, for demonstrating outstanding achievement in leadership, dedication, innovation, management, career awards, community involvement and bettering the lives of students.

As the manager of a $19 million foodservice budget and supervisor of a 370-person staff in a district of 44,000 students, Ronnei was recognized for her consistent development and execution of new ideas. Always keeping in mind the needs of her students, many of her recent programs have experimented with ways to encourage student customers to eat more fruits, vegetables, low-fat, and whole grain foods (for an example, see www.food-management.com/article/13382). Ronnei also worked with students to plan new meals and implemented healthconscious, "to-go" snack items in district high schools.

Other winners included: Geri Dee of Hacienda la Puente (CA) Unified School District (Silver Leadership Award); Grennan Sims of Hickman Mills C-1 School District in Kansas City (Silver Spirit Award); Jon Dickl of Highlands County (FL) Schools (Silver Rising Star Award); Cindy Hormel of Liberty (MO) School District (Silver Special Achievement Award); and Dr. Alice Jo Rainville, Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at Eastern Michigan State University (Silver Friend of Child Nutrition Award).

Basic American Foods, Campbell's Foodservice, Edibowls, and Tyson Foods, Inc. sponsor the National FAME Awards. For more information, visit the FAME Web site at www fameawards.net