Brian West

Details

Assistant Director of Culinary and Nutrition Services, Rockynol Retirement Community
Akron, OH
Age: 28
Education: Associate degree in hospital management and culinary arts from the University of Akron
Years at organization: 4

Why Selected?

Brian Lippiatt, director of culinary and nutrition services and executive chef, says: In addition to being an overall great guy, Brian holds all employees accountable for their actions and deadlines. He encourages employees and has established programs to recognize employee efforts. He enhanced his education and also became involved in area programs in order to demonstrate his talents by performing cooking demos for students at local schools.

Get to know

Q. What has been your proudest accomplishment?

Being one of the first to graduate college in my family and becoming a chef/manager in the healthcare field while making a positive impact on the lives of others.

Q. What would you say you excel at over more seasoned colleagues?

Managing all different types of employees from different age groups and skill levels and teaching them how to become better at their jobs and more efficient workers. 

Q. What's the best career advice you've been given?

To always strive to do your best each and every day and to set goals for yourself to constantly improve while on the job. 

Q. What's been the biggest challenge you've had to overcome?

Learning how to manage all different types of staff personalities, work styles and skill levels and getting them to work as a team and respect me as a manager. 

Q. What's been your most rewarding moment?

Being involved with my boss and the nutrition services team to remodel and make changes in our assisted living dining room. Seeing the impact those changes have made on our residents’ quality of life has been a very rewarding experience for me.

Q. What would you like to accomplish in your career in the next two years?

I would like to become an even stronger manager within the company, while continuing to learn new things so that I can become more and more valuable. I have considered going back to school to further my education and skills.  

Q. What's been your funniest on-the-job disaster?

We had an event outside for marketing. We had tables set up outside in the garden with fruit displays and assorted appetizers. As soon as the guests started to arrive tons of bees started to swarm the table and food. The more we tried to keep the bees away it seemed like the more they came at us. We had to rush everything inside the building to keep the food and everyone clear of the bees.