Presenters

April 14 | Exploring Leadership

Zia Ahmed
Senior Director, Dining Services
The Ohio State University

Serving as the Senior Director, Zia Ahmed provides the highest level of oversight for over 30 dining facilities at The Ohio State University, which serves over 10 million customers annually. He is responsible for creating the vision and strategic directions for Dining Services. Zia has 25 plus years of college/university dining experience. He continually seeks to implement process improvement tools and strategies into dining facilities. Zia has been involved in the industry from the beginning of his career and his leadership has not gone unrecognized. He has held multiple national and regional leadership positions in NACUFS (National Association of College & University Food Services), including serving as president. In 2020, he received the Silver Plate award from IFMA (International Foodservice Manufacturers Association). He holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in business management from The University of Akron.

April 14 | Exploring Leadership
Session Interviewer: Zee Shami, Culinarian & Owner, ZeeTheCook, LLC

Jeremy (Jez) Langhorn
Corporate Vice President, Human Resources, McDonald’s (Currently) | Chief Human Resources Officer, Global Partners (April 2021)

Currently, Jez Langhorn has strategic and operational accountabilities across several geographies and functions, including:

HR for all global corporate functions – 6,000 staff including the US and global leadership teams
HR support for the international franchised operating businesses in Europe, Middle East, Asia, Japan, China and Latin America – 14,000 restaurants and 900,000 employees
Global executive lead for digital staff engagement & employer brand – across all 2,000,000 global staff
Safety, Security & Intelligence teams globally
Workplace Solutions (facilities) for all corporate offices – 25 locations globally housing 10,000 staff

He started at McDonald’s UK, working behind the counter as a teenager and progressed through various operational roles. Jez moved into Human Resources in the late 2000’s bringing his operational expertise and business credibility with a remit to transform the UK HR team. In recognition of his success, he was promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer for the UK and Northern Europe. Jez’s reputation for heavy lifting on transformation work across McDonald's Europe, led to him being handpicked in 2014 to join the turnaround efforts of the US business. He relocated from London to Chicago where he led the move of McDonald’s corporate offices from a suburban location to a new purpose-built facility in the West Loop of Chicago with a focus on culture transformation and people engagement.

Jez has accepted a new position as Chief Human Resources Officer with Global Partners and will begin that role in April 2021.

April 14 | Exploring Leadership
Session Interviewer: Philip (Dale) Ray, Vice President of Transformation, Global Partners LP

Betti Wiggins
Nutrition Services Officer
Houston Independent School District

Betti Wiggins is one of the foremost authorities on school nutrition and food service management. In May 2017, she was named officer of Nutrition Services for Houston Independent School District, the nation’s seventh largest school district. Prior to joining Houston ISD, Betti served as the executive director of the Office of School Nutrition for Detroit Public Schools Community District, where she was responsible for school-based meal operations in 141 schools. Before her time in Detroit, she also provided both strategic and tactical food service management solutions to charter schools, food service management companies and public school districts.

In 1989, Betti was one of the first African-Americans recruited to management in the Marriott Corporation’s Division of School Services. Among her numerous honors and awards, Betti received the International Foodservices Manufacturers Association’s (IFMA) 2017 Silver Plate award, the School Nutrition Foundation’s 2017 School Nutrition Hero award and was named FoodService Director Magazine’s 2017 Food Service Director of the Year. Betti earned a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from Wayne State University and pursued graduate studies at the University of Minnesota. She holds a certificate in municipal management from George Washington University.

April 14 | Exploring Leadership
Session Interviewer: Dan Morgan, Amenities Program Manager, Wells Fargo

April 21 | Strengthening Ourselves

Shauna McQueen
Regional Nutrition Strategy Manager
Guckenheimer Powered by ISS

Shauna McQueen is a registered dietitian nutritionist, trained plant-based chef and nutrition strategist. Currently at Guckenheimer, she manages and consults on nutrition strategy and communications throughout the Northeast with a focus on Spotify NYC. Shauna is the host of the podcast Lunch Lines and editor of Guckenheimer's monthly magazine, Wholesome. Previously, she developed and managed nutrition and health curriculum for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Additionally, Shauna has created coursework for a variety of organizations focused on whole-person health including the Blum Center for Health, Yoga Journal, Natural Gourmet Institute and the Vegetarian Times. She earned her Master’s degree in Nutrition Science from Syracuse University and is a certified yoga instructor.

April 21 | Strengthening Ourselves

Adrienne Williams
Vice-President of Inclusion & Human Resources
Compass Group

Adrienne Williams has been with Compass Group for nearly 15 years and brings over 20 years of experience. She has held a variety of roles within Compass Group and has supported functions including the corporate office, procurement, healthcare and education. Adrienne currently leads the inclusion strategy for Compass Group NA. She also serves as a key strategic business partner, responsible for designing, developing and implementing effective people solutions for Higher Education. She holds an MBA from Montreat College and a Bachelor’s degree from Johnson C. Smith University.

April 21 | Strengthening Ourselves

April 28 | Connecting with Customers

Andrew Freeman
Founder, Af&Co. and Co-Founder
Carbonate

Named as one of the Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International, Andrew Freeman brings a combination of experience, passion and creativity to every endeavor. Andrew was Vice President of Public Relations and Strategic Partnerships for Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants for 10 years. In 2005 Andrew launched his own agency, af&co., and with his amazing team of professionals, the agency has developed and launched concepts, created unique culinary events, provided ongoing marketing, public relations and operations consulting for over 300 restaurants and hotels. In 2019, Andrew co-founded Carbonate to offer expanded creative strategy and brand communications services. He has a Marketing Degree from Montclair State University.

April 28 | Connecting with Customers

Candace MacDonald
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Carbonate

A brand strategist with over 15 years of experience, Candace MacDonald has worked for a range of clients from large corporations to multi-concept operators to Silicon Valley start-ups. In 2019, she co-founded Carbonate, a brand strategy and creative services agency with a focus on the hospitality industry. Prior to launching Carbonate, Candace was Managing Director of Consulting Services at af&co., one of the country’s leading hospitality consulting firms. In this role, she led a team in creating, launching and refining brand identities for over 40 different restaurants and culinary experiences. Candace holds a B.S. in Communications from Northwestern University and an M.S in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University’s Medill School.

April 28 | Connecting with Customers

Dr. Marie Puybaraud
Global Head of Research
JLL Corporate Solutions

Dr. Marie Puybaraud is a globally recognized thought leader on the Future of Work and Human Experience with a significant track record of research on corporate real estate, facilities management and workplace industry futures, workplace innovation, technologies and generational issues at work. Since 2015, she leads the Global Research program for JLL Corporate Solutions. Marie’s latest research focuses on the future of work, human experience, workplace trends, flex-space, metrics and human performance. She shapes and leads the track of global research on emerging themes (reimagine real estate, hybrid, future of work, human experience, human performance, outsourcing, future CRE skills, performance models...) and advanced themes (responsible real estate, health footprint, the enterprise of the future, future fit enterprises…). Marie’s recent projects contributed to set the vision of JLL Corporate Solutions and supported the transformation strategy around the Future of Work. Her publications have appeared in leading international press and she has delivered presentations and keynotes at major global symposiums, consortiums and for JLL client corporate events worldwide.

April 28 | Connecting with Customers