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American Dietetic Association Names 2001-2002 Board of Directors

June 1, 2001

Contact: Tom Ryan or Doris Acosta

CHICAGO - Seventeen national leaders with a wide range of experience in nutrition and public health will serve as the 2001-2002 board of directors of the American Dietetic Association. The board, which takes office June 1 and will serve until May 31, 2002, is responsible for strategic planning, policy development and fiscal management for the Chicago-based ADA, the nation’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. ADA promotes optimal nutrition and well being for all people by advocating for its 70,000 members. Visit ADA at www.eatright.org.

ADA’s 2001-2002 directors are:

Susan T. Borra, RD, Washington, D.C., President. Borra is senior vice president and director of nutrition at the International Food Information Council, Washington, D.C. She previously was director of consumer affairs at the Food Marketing Institute; director of the Dairy Council of the Upper Chesapeake Bay; and nutrition instructor at Anne Arundel Community College. Borra has served as secretary-treasurer and director-at-large of ADA’s Board of Directors; chaired the ADA Foundation Board and ADA’s Legislation and Public Policy Committee; served as secretary of the Dietitians in Business and Communications dietetic practice group and was a founding member of the Food and Culinary Professionals practice group. Borra, a registered dietitian, has received national awards such as the ADA/ADAF Presidents’ Circle Nutrition Education Award and the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner’s Special Citation in recognition of her work in the areas of food and nutrition information and communication.

Kathleen Cobb, MS, RD, CD/N, Old Saybrook, Conn., House of Delegates Representative. Cobb is a consultant to the National Cancer Institute’s "5 A Day for Better Health" program, which encourages Americans to consume more fruits and vegetables. From 1985 until 2001, Cobb was senior nutrition consultant for the Connecticut Department of Public Health, where she developed and directed statewide nutrition planning; coordinated the state's 5 A Day program; and worked with health-care and child-care providers, educators, community residents and groups, industry and the media. Cobb is a former faculty member in the department of nutrition and resource management at St. Joseph College, serving as chairperson in 1985. She has also worked as a nutrition education consultant and director of the Connecticut office of the New England Dairy and Food Council and as nutrition educator for the Waterbury Health Department.

Robert Earl, MPH, RD, Falls Church, Va., House of Delegates Representative. Earl is senior director of nutrition policy at the National Food Processors Association, a scientific and technical trade group representing the food industry. He directs nutrition research and policy programs and activities and represents the food industry on domestic and international nutrition issues. Earl, a registered dietitian, is former vice president of public health at the International Food Information Council. Previously, he was a study director at the Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board, where he co-directed studies on nutrition and food labeling, directed a forum on food safety and technology and directed other nutrition and food policy studies. Earl previously was ADA’s administrator of government affairs. He represents the District of Columbia affiliate in ADA’s House of Delegates and chairs ADA’s Association Positions Committee.

Sylvia Escott-Stump, MA, RD, LDN, Winterville, N.C., House of Delegates Representative. Escott-Stump is director of dietetic programs at East Carolina University and owner of a nutrition consulting firm whose clients include physicians, long-term care facilities, businesses and educational institutions. Previously she was director of dietetic services at Forbes Nursing Center; director of dietetic internships and a clinical nutrition manager at Shadyside Hospital; and associate director of nutrition services at the Family Health Council of Western Pennsylvania, all in Pittsburgh. Escott-Stump has served on ADA’s Governance, External Governance, Standards of Professional Practice and Strategic Planning task forces, Quality Management and Association Positions committees and Physicians Subcommittee on Allied Health. Escott-Stump is past president of the Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Dietetic Associations. She was named Outstanding Dietitian of Pennsylvania in 1998 and received ADA's Medallion Award for outstanding service in 1997.

Mary Jo Feeney, MS, RD, FADA, Los Altos, Calif., Director-at-Large. Feeney is a nutrition communications and  marketing consultant whose clients include packaged food companies and commodity boards. Her areas of special interest include consumer trends  as they affect food choices. Within ADA, Feeney  has held numerous leadership positions. She served on the ADA Foundation  board from 1987 to 1991. A registered dietitian and charter Fellow of the  American Dietetic Association, Feeney is a member of the Association’s  fellow assessment panel and chaired the Alliance Program Evaluation task  force. A former member of ADA’s House of Delegates, Feeney received ADA’s  Medallion Award in 1996 in recognition of her service to ADA and the  dietetics profession.

Cecilia P. Fileti, MS, RD, FADA, Ann Arbor, Mich., House of Delegates Representative. Fileti is owner of a health communications and regulatory response firm specializing in prevention, maintenance and crisis intervention services for health-care institutions and corporations. Previously, she was director of clinical nutrition in the department of internal medicine and assistant director of food and nutrition services at Catherine McAuley Health Systems in Ann Arbor. She is a former coordinator of nutrition support in the department of surgery at St. Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey and chief clinical dietitian at United Hospitals in Newark. A registered dietitian and Fellow of the American Dietetic Association, Fileti has been a member of ADA’s House of Delegates and Board of Directors, chairman of the House’s Practice Issues Task Force and a member of Board committees including Member Value, Marketing and Public Affairs and Budget and Fiscal Affairs. An ADA resource spokesperson and past president of the Michigan Dietetic Association, Fileti received ADA’s 2000 Medallion Award and received ADA’s Service Award each year from 1989 to 1999.

Judith A. Gilbride, PhD, RD, CDN, FADA, New York City, N.Y., Director-at-Large. Gilbride is professor and director of dietetics programs at New York University. She has taught at Hunter College and the University of California - Santa Barbara. Gilbride was a clinical research dietitian at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York; administrative dietitian at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; and clinical dietitian at the Boston and Bronx Veterans Affairs Hospitals. Gilbride, a registered dietitian, has served on the boards of ADA and its Foundation; as a member and speaker of the House of Delegates; member of the House’s Positions and Licensure committees; vice chair of ADA’s Commission on Dietetic Registration; and president of the Greater New York Dietetic Association. Gilbride received ADA’s Medallion Award in 1997 in recognition of her service to the dietetics profession. She has served on the board of editors of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association and as associate editor of Topics in Clinical Nutrition.

Gregory Jewell, Louisville, Ky., Director-at-Large. Jewell is president and founder of AEC Management Resources, Inc., a full-service association management and event/conference planning company in Louisville, Ky. Among the company’s clients are the Kentucky Bluegrass Chapter of Meeting Professionals International, Lodging and Lodging F&B magazines, the Hotel Food and Beverage Forum and Delaware North Companies. Previously, Jewell was senior vice president of FSA Group, an association management company serving the foodservice industry, and executive vice president of the Society for Foodservice Management, where he supervised operations including membership, event and conference planning, committees and finances. Jewell previously was managing director of the International Inflight Foodservice Association and the National Association of Catering Executives and executive director of the American Correctional Food Service Association. For four years, Jewell was a news producer at WLKY-TV in Louisville.

Gerald C. Keller, MD, FAAFP, Mandeville, La., Director-at-Large. Since 1963, Keller has been a physician specializing in family practice. A fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Keller served seven years on the AAFP Foundation Board of Directors and was the board’s president in 1998-99. He is now the nutrition spokesman for the AAFP Foundation. In his extensive involvement with AAFP, Keller has served as board member, vice president and chairman of task forces on rural health, adolescent health and cardiovascular disease. A former president of the Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians, Keller has served on the faculty of Louisiana State University and as acting chair and member of the board of governors of Ochsner Clinic, Mandeville. He was a member of the Mandeville, La., town council and mayor pro tem.

M. Elizabeth (Beth) Kunkel, PhD, RD, FADA, Clemson, S.C., Speaker of the House of Delegates. Kunkel is professor of food science and human nutrition at Clemson University and a partner in the Atlanta firm Nutrition Solutions Inc. Kunkel, a registered dietitian, has been extensively involved in ADA’s leadership. She is a former member of the Association’s House of Delegates, where she chaired the Association Positions committee. A past member of ADA’s Executive Leadership Development Task Force, she chairs ADA’s Council on Professional Issues and serves on the Governance Task Force; Commission on Dietetic Registration Fellow Scenario Development Panel; and Standards of Professional Practice Implementation Task Force.

Marilyn Laskowski-Sachnoff, MA, RD, Edison, N.J., Secretary/Treasurer. Laskowski-Sachnoff is professor and chairman of the department of hotel, restaurant and institution management at Middlesex County College, Edison, N.J. Previously she was the college’s director of dietetic technology; director of food and nutrition information systems at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center; food production coordinator and patient and public services coordinator at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and administrative dietitian at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Laskowski-Sachnoff, a registered dietitian, has served in ADA’s House of Delegates and on its Budget and Fiscal Affairs committee. She has been active in ADA’s Commission on Dietetic Registration and Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education. Laskowski-Sachnoff is a former president of the New Jersey Dietetic Association.

Julie O’Sullivan Maillet, PhD, RD, FADA, West Orange, N.J., President-Elect. Maillet is chair of the department of primary care and associate dean for academic affairs and research at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - School of Health Related Professions. A registered dietitian, Maillet is former internship director at the university and clinical nutrition manager at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Maillet has served in several leadership positions in ADA including chair of the ADAF Scholarship Committee, a site visitor for the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education, a member of ADA’s Board of Directors and Speaker of the House of Delegates. She served on the Research Committee of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions and the New Jersey Virtual University Design Team and received the ADA’s Medallion Award for outstanding service in 1992. Maillet will serve as ADA president in 2002-03.

Margaret H. Tate, MS, RD, Phoenix, Ariz., Director-at-Large. Tate is chief of the Office of Nutrition in the Arizona Department of Health Services. Previously she was director of the Division of Chronic Disease Prevention and Nutrition at the Virginia Department of Health. Tate has served as acting director of Virginia’s Office of Family Health Services; director of the Division of Public Health nutrition; state WIC nutrition coordinator; and regional program supervisor and training and development coordinator in the Division of Public Health Nutrition. A registered dietitian, Tate was a member of ADA’s board of directors in 1992-94 and 1999-2000. She chaired ADA’s Council on Practice, Division of Community Dietetics, Annual Meeting Planning Committee, Primary Care Providers Task Force and the Public Health Nutrition dietary practice group. She also served in ADA’s House of Delegates and the Association’s Health-Care Reform Advisory Committee.

Kenneth W. Wear, MS, RD, LD, Mobile, Ala., ADA Foundation Chair. In a 34-year career with Morrison Restaurant Inc., Mobile, Ala., Wear worked as management trainee, cafeteria manager, district manager, director of dietetic education, manager of training and development, director of staffing and development and director of human resources. Wear later worked as human resources manager for Gardner Merchant Food Services Inc., of Trumbull, Conn., and Sodexho USA. Currently he is a nutritionist for the Mobile County Health Department. Wear served on ADA’s Diversity Committee and as a representative to ADA’s House of Delegates where he was a member of the Fiscal Affairs and Nominating committees and chair of the Budget Advisory Committee. Wear has served as treasurer, secretary, board member and board president of the American Dietetic Association Foundation. In 1995, he endowed ADAF’s Kenneth W. Wear Minority Scholarship. Wear received ADA’s Medallion Award in 1992 and the Association’s Copher Memorial Award in 2000. He was named Alabama’s Outstanding Dietitian in 1980.

Jane V. White, PhD, RD, Knoxville, Tenn., Past-President. White is professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Knoxville and Memphis, where she has been a faculty member since 1975. As part of her lengthy service to ADA, White has been a member of the Association’s board of directors, speaker of the House of Delegates and a member of numerous committees, task forces and research councils. A registered dietitian, White received ADA’s Medallion Award for outstanding service in 1996. An authority on physician nutrition education and the role of nutrition in treating illness and chronic diseases, especially among the elderly, White has published numerous scholarly research articles, chapters and books and is a frequent lecturer at scientific meetings. She served as ADA president in 2000-01.

Melinda Zook-Weaver, MS, RD, LD, Blacksville, W.V., House of Delegates Representative. Zook-Weaver is clinical nutrition manager at Monongalia General Hospital, Morgantown, W.V., and adjunct clinical instructor at West Virginia University. Previously, she was a clinical dietitian and outpatient clinic dietitian at West Virginia University Hospital. In addition to her service in ADA’s House of Delegates, Zook-Weaver is a member of several ADA dietetic practice groups, including Geriatric Nutrition, Clinical Nutrition Management, Consult Dietitians in Health Care Facilities and Diabetes Care and Education. Zook-Weaver is former treasurer and president of the West Virginia Dietetic Association and former secretary and director of the West Virginia chapter of the American Society for Hospital Food Service Administrators. She has received the Outstanding Dietitian and Recognized Young Dietitian in West Virginia awards as well as the Distinguished West Virginian Award.