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Nine New Silver Plate Winners Include Donna Wittrock, Food Services Executive Director

During the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association's (IFMA's) Gold & Silver Plate Awards Jury meeting in Chicago on February 12, members of the Jury selected outstanding operator executives as recipients of the 2002 Silver Plate Awards.

The list included DPS Executive Director of Food Services, Donna Wittrock. Denver Public Schools daily serves approximately 9,500 breakfasts and 36,600 lunches to students across the city.

The coveted operator awards are presented annually by IFMA in recognition of excellence in nine segments of foodservice operations. The awards acknowledge lasting and extraordinary achievement and innovation and pay tribute to the winners' contributions to the advancement of their segments and the foodservice industry as a whole. Silver Plate recipients are selected on the basis of qualifications in areas of management, marketing, human resources, and industry and civic participation.

The 2002 Silver Plate Award winners are:

• Jeffrey Dunham, Chef/Owner, The Grove Grill (Independent Restaurants category)
• J. Michael Floyd, Department Head, Food Service Administration, University Food Services, University of Georgia (Colleges & Universities category)
• Gary Green, CEO, Compass Group, North American Division (Foodservice Management category)
• Lavinia Johnson, Trainer & Instructor III, Academy for Staff Development, Virginia Department of Corrections (Specialty Food Services category)
• Mary Keysor, M.S., R.D., FADA, Director, Department of Nutrition Services, Maine Medical Center (Health Care category)
• Kerry Kramp, President & CEO, Buffets, Inc. (Chain Full Service category)
• David C. Novak, Chairman & CEO, Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. (Chain Fast Service category)
• W. Bryan O'Shields, Vice President of Food & Beverage, Bellagio Hotel and Casino (Hotels & Lodging category)
• Donna Wittrock, Executive Director, Department of Food and Nutrition Services, Denver Public Schools (Elementary & Secondary Schools category)

A Jury made up of the 2001 Silver Plate Award winners, national foodservice trade press editors and the chairperson of the International Gold & Silver Plate Society selected the winners.

After the nine Silver Plate winners were selected, a secret ballot was cast to choose one Gold Plate winner from among them. The Jury's secret ballot, tallied by PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, will be kept in strict confidence by the accounting firm until the evening of the Gold and Silver Plate Celebration in May when the winner's name will be announced.

The 47th annual celebration event will be held May 20 at the Chicago Hilton and Towers Hotel. More than 1200 industry notables and guests will be on hand to congratulate the 2002 winners and to help celebrate the foodservice industry's most prestigious operator recognitions – the Gold and Silver Plate Awards.

For more information on the Gold & Silver Plate Celebration, contact the IFMA office at Two Prudential Plaza, 180 N. Stetson Avenue, Suite 4400, Chicago, Illinois 60601. Telephone: (312) 540-4400. Fax: (312) 540-4401. Email: ifma@ifmaworld.com.

IFMA is a leading trade association comprising 680 of the world¨s most prestigious food, equipment and supply manufacturers in the foodservice industry, as well as related marketing service organizations, foodservice trade publications, distributors and brokers. IFMA and its members serve the nation's $411 billion food-away-from-home market, which is the third-largest industry in the United States. IFMA is the only broad-based, total-industry trade association fulfilling the educational, governmental, public relations, marketing research and customer relations needs of its members.