20 Most Influential: Michelle Obama, Let’s Move!

Michelle Obama
First Lady; Creator,
Let’s Move! Washington, D.C.

It’s good to have friends in high places. And it doesn’t get much higher than the White House.

Never before has one person brought so much attention to school cafeterias. Since her family took up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in early 2009, Michelle Obama has been the biggest advocate on a nationwide basis for child nutrition. She started Lets Move!, a campaign dedicated to solving obesity within a generation.

One of Let’s Move!’s five focus pillars is providing healthy foods in schools. To help accomplish this goal, Obama developed Chefs Move to Schools, to pair commercial chefs with school foodservice teams for training and inspiration.

“Chefs are one of the few groups that have that deep knowledge of food and cooking but also have that star power to turn a vegetable into a fun, exciting moment,” Sam Kass, assistant White House chef and senior policy advisor for healthy food initiatives, says about Chefs Move to Schools. “There is something about a chef’s coat that kids are really drawn to. We wanted to have that knowledge and power to support what schools were doing.”

It’s not just the chefs who bring excitement to school cafeterias. Kass says when Obama walks into a school it’s “pandemonium.”

Related:FSD's 20 Most Influential

“The first lady has had a tremendous impact on school lunch and the school meal program,” Kass adds. “The most important accomplishment was helping to pass the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which will bring more resources than ever before to school meal programs and improve the nutritional standards for the first time in 15 years. It’s going to help school chefs who are working hard to put nutritious meals on the plate.” 

Foodservice Director has undertaken a bold initiative by identifying people who we believe are having the biggest impact on non-commercial foodservice. Our list may surprise you and should certainly intrigue you. Our honorees have backgrounds as varied as their personalities. They range from the father of the modern-day food truck to the wife of a sitting president. They include operators and suppliers, chefs and consultants, CEOs and civil servants. There are traditionalists and there are mavericks. Well-known names share space with hot newcomers. In all, 17 people, two groups of individuals and one institution compose the list. It’s time to meet FSD’s 20 Most Influential.