SNA Names Norfolk's Phillips Its Next President

During the closing session of the School Nutrition Association’s 65th Annual National Conference, Helen Phillips, SNS, senior director of school nutrition for the Norfolk (VA) Public Schools, was named the 64th President of SNA.

Phillips has held a distinguished career in the school nutrition arena for 19 years. She got her start in school nutrition as district supervisor for school nutrition for Norfolk Public Schools in 1992.

She left Norfolk in 1999 to manage the school nutrition program for Suffolk (VA) Public Schools, but returned to Norfolk in 2001 to serve as assistant director. In 2002, Phillips was promoted to her current title, in which she oversees a staff of 375 serving more than 23,000 lunches and 10,000 breakfasts daily.

From 1985 to 1989, she had served as a nutritionist working on the Women, Infants and Child (WIC) program, including three years as director of the WIC program at Virginia Beach’s Public Health Department.

Phillips has twice been nominated for the Foodservice Achievement Management Excellence (FAME) Rising Star award. She has served as president of the SNA of Virginia and on the board of the School Nutrition Foundation.

Phillips was named president at the final general session of SNA’s Annual National Conference in Nashville, which drew more than 7,500 school nutrition professionals and school foodservice industry members.