2022 ACF National Convention

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Elizabeth Falkner

Chef, author and artist Elizabeth Falkner was born in San Francisco, grew up in Los Angeles and worked her way up in San Francisco’s top kitchens before opening her first restaurant, Citizen Cake, in 1997. A decade later, she opened four more restaurants in San Francisco and New York. Today, she does recipe development and consults on numerous products and brands. She is an inspiring public speaker and has cooked and spoken all over the United States and in Japan, Europe, Mexico, Canada and China.

Falkner’s style of cuisine is globally inspired and she cooks both savory and sweet, traditional and modern. She is an advocate for people and chefs to think more like athletes and “stay fit to cook.” She played league soccer for 28 years, and has studied Jungshin and Iadō, both of which are forms of sword fighting fitness and martial arts. She also practices yoga on a regular basis, does CrossFit, pilates, half marathons (plus the New York Marathon in 2016), cycling and tennis.

Cooking competitions are a favorite “sport” for Chef Falkner. She has competed and judged for the last 15 years on many of the television cooking competition programs for Food Network, Cooking Channel, Bravo and NBC, and she has also made appearances on many other shows. She is often featured in food and lifestyle magazines, has received multiple awards and was nominated for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef (2005).Falkner was a long-time member of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs and served as president from 2014 to 2015 and again from 2019 to 2020. She sat on the board of directors of Frameline, San Francisco’s premier LGBTQ film festival from 2004–2008.

A graduate from San Francisco Art Institute with a BFA in film, Falkner produced two short films with food themes in 2018, “Food Games - Sustainability” which she also hosted, and a documented performance piece called “Croquembouche Samurai” she performed at SoHo House in New York City. She is one of the chefs featured in “Her Name Is Chef,” a documentary about the “Sheroes” in the restaurant business released March 2021, directed by Peter Ferriero and produced by Oaks Media Group (Amazon, iTunes). Deeply concerned for the hard-hit restaurant industry by the covid pandemic, Falkner is hosting and co-producing a feature documentary currently in post-production, “Sorry We’re Closed”—an insider’s perspective of how the chefs and restaurant industry deals and evolves in crisis. She is also working on a series of food inspired interactive installations and a memoir.

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Amaury Guichon

Chef Amaury is a world-renowned pastry chef, Owner of the Pastry Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada. https://thepastryacademy.com/

Early Life Amaury grew up in the Haute-Savoie region of France, neighboring the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Proving very creative and manual from an early age, he showed little interest for the classic school curriculum, which he left at 14 for vocational school. Career Beginnings After two years studying cooking in Thonon-les-Bains, France, Amaury felt attracted by pastry and went on for a two-year apprenticeship in Geneva, Switzerland. During this time he won a number of local showpiece contests, which, along with several internships, helped him earn the recommendation of seasoned chefs. Amaury went on to deepen his knowledge of pastry at the prestigious Maison Lenôtre in Paris, France; he followed another two-year curriculum, this time in Advanced Pastry Skills. In 2010, he was named one of the best apprentices in the Paris region by the MOF organization, not being allowed to run for the national distinction. French Career 2012–2013 After Amaury earned his Advanced Pastry Skills diploma, he worked for Lenôtre on the French Riviera for a year, where he handled the roles of deputy boutique manager, apprentice instructor and teacher at the Lenôtre School of Cannes (amateur section). In 2012 he won the Regional Contest “Délices de la Méditerranée” organized by famous French Chef Yves Thuriès, the first competition in which he was opposed to seasoned Professional. Amaury then moved back to Paris to handle his first role as boutique manager and head of product R&D at Hugo & Victor. In 2013 he qualified for participation to a nation-wide TV reality show contest called “Qui Sera le Prochain Grand Pâtissier?” (Who will be the next great pastry chef?), which concept was to have talented young pastry professionals compete against each other under the mentorship of famous pastry chefs Christophe Michalak, Christophe Adam, Pierre Marcolini and Philippe Urraca. Amaury took 3rd place in the contest, which aired on national channel France 2 during the month of July 2013. US Career 2013–2017 After his performance at French TV (Qui sera le prochain grand pâtissier?) Amaury was offered the opportunity to join the ranks of a high-end pastry company with boutiques at the Bellagio and Aria in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. He accepted and took the role of Chef de Partie Product Finishing & Product R&D, which he handled for a little less than four years. Amaury contributed in renewing the whole pastry offering and worked on numerous showpieces. It is in 2016 that Amaury decided to start publishing his creations on social media, notably in the form of “how to”/“behind the scenes” videos, which proved very popular, a number of them gathering several tens of millions of views. International Career 2017 Following the success of his videos, Amaury started his own company to consult and teach classes to professionals all over the world. He set up a series of Masterclass and to date, has taught in Russia, Mexico, Ukraine, Sardinia, Paris, Bangkok, Malaysia, Las Vegas, Chicago, Singapore, Italy, Mexico, Greece, Beijing, Melbourne, Charlotte, Indonesia, Bucharest, London, Barcelona and Taiwan. 2019–Present After seventeen years of devoting his life fully to the pastry industry Chef Amaury decided to open his very first pastry school! He has spent the last seven years traveling the world learning from different cultures and teaching high-level pastry skills, it was now time to do something great in the place he calls home, Las Vegas. He wanted to put his life experience in the pastry industry to work for everyone else who would like to learn the fundamental and advanced skills of this beautiful craft with an intensive ten-week program covering all bases: pastry, plated dessert, chocolate, ice-cream, danish, bread, candy and chocolate showpieces. Starting from the beginning and going all the way to more advanced skills, you will have everything you need to start your sweet new career! Philosophy and Personal Life Amaury is intuitive and is guided in his creations by his various inspirations, his sense of aesthetics and the love of quality execution. He opened his own Pastry Academy in Las Vegas which focus on teaching intensive three months program to passionate people and new chefs soon to be. Filmography “School of Chocolate” on NETFLIX Chef Amaury Guichon host School of Chocolate on Netflix, a competition in which contestants construct chocolate sculptures with Chef Amaury both guiding them and judging the final result. The successful 8-episode reality series premiered on the platform internationally on 26 November 2021 and was in the Netflix TOP 10 tv show in over 50 countries. Book “The Art of Flavor” Chef Amaury Guichon’s desserts are the kind that leave you speechless. In his first book, side-by-side with him, discover his ideas and artistic journey. His first book is a gourmet adventure through which you will be transported to different continents; Chef Amaury makes you discover his 12 signature creations with a step-by-step of about sixty recipes and multitudes of techniques. For a full year, Amaury has been inspired by the flavors of the world to reveal his most precious secrets.

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Frank Vollkommer, CMPC

Frank Vollkommer is a Certified Master Pastry Chef (CMPC) and the Director of Culinary Industry Development with Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts.

Chef Vollkommer is highly credentialed, earning gold and silver medals at numerous international competitions, including the Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA), also known as the “culinary Olympics,” in Erfurt, Germany, and is a recipient of the Medal of the French Government. In 2010, Vollkommer was recognized as one of the Top 10 Pastry Chefs in America by Dessert Professional magazine and has been featured in So Good.. magazine, Pastry Arts magazine, Pastry & Baking North America, and the book Food as Art.

Chef Vollkommer also earned a Masters in Education (M.Ed.), and previously held teaching and leadership positions at Johnson & Wales University, The Culinary Institute of America, and the New England Culinary Institute, and is experienced in leading academic programming, curriculum, and instructional design strategies, and assessment.

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Jeff Henderson

Chef Jeff Henderson started his culinary career in the unlikeliest of places: prison. While serving nearly ten years, he discovered an untapped passion for cooking, which led to executive chef positions at Bellagio and Caesars Palace.

Jeff’s inspiring story has been featured on “Oprah’s Life Class,” “Good Morning America,” “Today Show,” “ABC World News Tonight,” CNN, and “The Steve Harvey Show” and in major publications such as The New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today, People magazine, The Washington Post and many others. When Jeff is not traveling the world teaching his life-changing lessons, he resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his wife Stacy and their five children.