Embracing ACF’s Future

By John Kinsella, CMC, CCE, WGMC, AAC

My four-year term as your president has been a wonderful yet humbling experience that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I have traveled far to meet many amazing people who believe in our organization and want to see it continue to prosper. I made promises to you when I became your president, and I can honestly say that I’ve kept them and exceeded my wildest expectations for the continual growth of the American Culinary Federation. None of this would have happened without the support of my wife Jean and my daughter Deirdre. Without them, I could not have given ACF 20–40 hours a week.

Being a national president of a nonprofit organization is extremely difficult for the individual involved. Therefore, I think it’s time to consider a new model and follow the example of the National Restaurant Association—a paid president whose duties would be working full time for the betterment of the American Culinary Federation. The paid president would have to be a renowned culinarian with strong business contacts, and would have, at the least, a bachelor’s degree and, preferably, a master’s, with extensive industry experience.

We all know that our employers are seeking chefs with bachelor’s degrees and more. The reason for this is that if they are going to invest in a person for their corporation, they need someone who is well-educated, well-rounded in culinary arts and has a good understanding of business administration. We should set those standards for our national president, and we should seek the right candidate to fill the position. I’ve had the honor of working with Dawn Sweeney, president of the National Restaurant Association, and I found her to be a perfect example of a president in a salaried position, one that we should emulate.

Although we are passionate about our profession and our chapters, it is complicated to manage an organization like this with volunteers who have families to support and nurture. In some states, we have strong chapters, but we also have some weak chapters that struggle to remain within the federation. We need to move to state representation, where the chapters within a state would vote for a representative who would carry their votes to the board of governors meeting or where the federation’s business is accomplished. State government would strengthen those weak chapters, enable more statewide recruiting and appeal to chefs within that state in a far more effective way.

I really like what Texas is doing, with an annual meeting and annual competitions, combining their educational resources for the betterment of all ACF members within the state. These annual meetings could be held before or after our regional conferences so that others, in addition to those who attend the conference, could bring information back to the state and its members.

I can hear somebody say, there he goes again, continually trying to change the structure of ACF. But every growing corporation must reconfigure itself every few years. I really would like to see the modernization of our operational structure so that we can move forward more effectively. We were founded in 1929; this is 2009, and little has really changed over the years. But our next board of directors will have to face the reality of the modern way to encourage growth—through communication and interactive systems, where members can touch a key to get the information they require, and go online or on their BlackBerry or smart phone to access the information they need to make themselves more successful.

I’ve talked to many educators, and most of them agree that eventually we are going to have bachelor’s degrees offered online. In addition, we will have more hands-on seminars at our events and, most of all, at every meeting within every chapter, strong programs to attract new members.

So, I leave you better than I found you; you were my only concern for the past four years, when I gave you the best I could as your president. Was it worth it? Absolutely. It was the best four years I’ve spent in my career as a professional chef. So again, thank you for supporting me. I shall not be going away, and I assure you that I will represent your concerns for both your profession and the future of the American Culinary Federation.

Bon voyage.