School Nutrition Foundation Welcomes Three New Members to Board
The School Nutrition Foundation is proud to announce three new members have joined our board. SNF’s independent board of directors is made up of school nutrition directors and industry partners who help us connect with communities to feed the future. The new members of the Foundation board are SNA past president Julia Bauscher, SNS, director of Jefferson County Public Schools, Mike Craig of NutriSlice, and Jose Quiñones of JTM Foods.
“We are excited to welcome these three new board members,” said SNF Chair Sandra Ford. “Each of them will bring their passion and excitement for the school nutrition profession. Together, the entire board will work to secure a bright future for the mission of the Foundation.”
Meet Julia Bauscher
Serving on the Foundation board is a natural next step for SNA past-president Julia Bauscher, SNS. As director of School & Community Nutrition Services in Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky, Julia was one of the first districts to implement a breakfast-in-the-classroom program with the help of a Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom grant. Partners for BIC is one of the Foundation’s flagship programs, and has helped almost 100,000 additional students access school breakfast since 2010.
“I have been committed my entire career to the School Nutrition Association, and have served in various leadership roles in the organization, so this was a natural extension of the work I’ve done in the past,” said Julie. “Joining the Foundation board allows me to continue to support SNA members in a valuable way.”
“I’m excited about the opportunity to work with current board members who have done a great job. They’ve been redefining SNF’s work, making it more visible to SNA members, and I want to work in a way that continues to ensure that SNA members value the School Nutrition Foundation and its programs, scholarships, and services, that enhance their careers.”
Meet Mike Craig
Before he entered the school nutrition arena, Mike Craig was working for big brands with big marketing budgets, trying to identify how to better connect and engage with young consumers. Helping large brands spend millions of dollars was fun, but eventually he started looking for a way to apply his skills in a more meaningful way.
“I always wanted to start a technology company, and I really like food! When my co-founders and I started Nutrislice, we began with an insatiable curiosity and doing a lot of discovery in the school nutrition industry. It took us about two years of identifying the “pain points” of school nutrition directors. We discovered that there is this new digital experience people have come to demand when it comes to food. They didn’t have it with school nutrition. Also, we observed all the amazing things happening in school nutrition and the gap between perception and reality. The missing piece was the lack of this digital experience. These light bulb moments have been the genesis of everything we do at Nutrislice.”
“This past January, at SNIC in New Orleans, I sat with Jane Balek in a strategy meeting for the School Nutrition Association. We share a passion for forward thinking and school nutrition. I was so excited when she asked me to sit on the board. The mission of the Foundation overlaps with so much of what we do at Nutrislice, and I’m excited about the potential to make a meaningful difference.”
Meet Jose Quiñones
Jose got his start as a food microbiologist and food chemist in the early 1980s, but it wasn’t long before he found himself in school nutrition—he celebrates 25 years in the business this year. Inspired by the passion and dedication of school nutrition professionals across the country, Jose joins the Foundation board with a vision of the future of school nutrition that is diverse, inclusive, and engaged.
“Being on the Foundation board means I will be able to touch so many people from around the country—I want people to understand that school nutrition is amazing, and to get into this profession,” said Jose. “I envision how I can use my skills and experience to go out and talk to people about the School Nutrition Foundation, to get them engaged and excited.”
“I can see the new generation, our younger members, want to get involved. We need to ask, What is our legacy? What will we leave behind? I want us to be talking about and promoting diversity and inclusion—I want people from all over to be a part of this organization. There is a new group of people coming into this industry and we need to reach out and make them feel included. We need to be out there talking to university students, asking them what it will take to get them into our industry. I’m ready to pack my suitcase and bring this message to the forefront for everyone. Not everyone attends national conferences, which means we have to raise awareness about the Foundation in other ways. I want to think outside the box and bring excitement.”
