Executive Committee

Chair
Mary Roseman, PhD, MBA, RD

Mary Roseman, PhD, MBA, RDN is Professor Emeritus at the University of Mississippi, Department of Nutrition & Hospitality Management. Previously, Mary was Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky, Senior Director of Marketing and Director of Human Resources for Yorkshire, Inc. (multi-brand restaurant franchisor), and Assistant Foodservice Director at the University of Central Oklahoma. Her expertise areas include foodservice operations, marketing, human resources, organizational behavior, and strategic management. Mary contributes to industry boards and is working on international certification ILM-7 Executive Coach. Besides MFNS, she has been active at the national level by serving in elected positions or volunteering on committees and projects with the International CHRIE, AND; FSMEC, COGA MIG, and ACEND.

Past Chair
Lynn Ostrem, PhD, RDN, LD, PMP

Lynn Ostrem, PhD, RDN, LD, PMP serves as Senior Director of the Project Management Office for Aramark, Inc. leading the mobilization team business for Healthcare+. In her 35th year with Aramark, she previously served as clinical dietitian, food service director, general manager for multi-site and multi-service systems, and resident district manager. Lynn earned a BS in Nutrition and Food Science from South Dakota State and worked in clinical roles for four years before moving to management. She later earned an MBA with a concentration in Strategic Management, and a PhD in Education and Human Science with a specialization in Leadership Studies, from University of Nebraska.

Chair Elect
Martha Rardin, MS, RDN, LDN, FAND

Martha enjoyed a career encompassing 44 years in the field and 41 years in management roles. Most of her career was with Hendricks Regional Health, Danville, Indiana serving as the nutrition and dietetics director. She was responsible for 70 FTE’s, 4-million-dollar budget and over 400,000 meals per year. As a recently retired person, she is enjoying her grandchildren, flower gardens, reading, driving for meals on wheels, and motorcycle rides.

Nominating Chair Elect
Erica Block, MS, RDN, LDN

Erica is the Senior Director of Food and Nutrition Services for RUSH University Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital.  Her areas of expertise include team development, financial acumen, regulatory compliance, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement.  She is actively involved in several initiatives at RUSH around good food purchasing and increasing local and sustainable spend.  Erica started her career as a Clinical Dietitian focusing on renal and geriatric patients. 

Treasurer
Stephanie Shaw, RDN

Stephanie started her dietetics career as a Food Service Manager in 2017.  She is currently a Regional Patient Solutions Manager with Morrison Healthcare, where she uses her management experience to assist teams with improving their operations.   Stephanie earned her BS in Dietetics from Michigan State University and completed her internship at The Ohio State University in 2017.  She enjoys engaging with people in the field and looks forward to being part of the MFNS EC.

Secretary
Hayley Ruff, RDN, LDN

Hayley is a registered dietitian working in long term care. She received her B.S from Framingham State University and completed the Coordinated Program in Dietetics in 2016. She has a passion for learning, connecting with others, and highlighting members of the MFNS community. In her spare time she enjoys running, cooking, true crime podcasts, and reading.

Delegate
Antoinette "Toni" Watkins, MS, RDN

Interested in a career as a dietitian since she was a young child, Antoinette “Toni” Watkins, MS, RDN, attended University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, where she received her B.S. degree, and Boston University, where she achieved her M.S.  She is the 2021 IFMA Gold Plate Recipient and the first healthcare recipient since 1982. Toni remains highly active in the field, as an Academy (IDEA) Committee member. In 2021 she received an Advanced Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University.

Nominating Committee Chair
Julie Jones, MS, RD, LD

Julie serves as the Director of Performance Learning for Ruck-Shockey Associates. She creates a variety of learning and skill development activities for operational leaders. She spent fifteen years as the Director of Food and Nutrition Services at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center before retiring in 2018. Julie was also awarded the IFMA Silver Plate for Healthcare Foodservice in 2015. Julie has also served as an adjunct faculty member at The Ohio State University since 2015.

Communications Chair
Emily DeWitt, MS, RD, LD

Emily DeWitt is a Lecturer at the University of Kentucky, overseeing food safety and food service management courses. She is passionate about finding creative methods for supporting and expanding the dietetics profession. Emily has served as a leader in her state and local affiliates over the last several years and is excited to take on a new role within the MFNS DPG. In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, and watching baseball.

Communications Assistant
Stephanie Durbin, MS, RD

Stephanie Durbin, MS, RD is currently serving as the Patient Services Manager at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, VA. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Human Nutrition and Foods from West Virginia University. She has previously practiced clinical dietetics in long-term care and was a Board Certified Specialist in Gerontological Nutrition from 2017-2022. Stephanie has been an adjunct professor for over 12 years at Virginia Peninsula Community College. 

Membership Chair
Kim Brenkus, MBA, RDN, LD, FAND

Kim Brenkus serves as Vice President of Patient Experience and Clinical Services for Metz Culinary Management. She is responsible for patient experience strategy, operations and outcomes with the ability to translate concepts and innovations of patient experience into actionable behaviors and outcomes for success. This includes creating and implementing programs and technology solutions that drive patient satisfaction, provide training opportunities, recommend and implement service style methods and open new business across divisions. Kim also leads our healthcare systems informatics analysts and project managers that maintain and enhance our patient dining software. Kim provides clinical practice leadership, training and development of clinical staff, sets nutrition standards, develops programs and performance improvement initiatives, maintains professional standards as well as serves as a resource for all divisions within Metz Culinary Management.

In preparation for her leadership role, Kim has years of career growing experience. She holds a Masters of Business from Lake Erie College and a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Edinboro University. She is an Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) Fellow, has served on the Executive Committee as Chair for both Management in Food and Nutrition Services (MFNS) and Clinical Nutrition Managers (CNM) Dietetic Practice Groups. She has been a speaker at the national Food and Nutrition Conference Expo (FNCE), developed a Management Training module for AND and authored a chapter in Effective Leadership and Management in Nutrition and Dietetics.

Business Development Chair
Thomas Cooley

Nationally Recognized MFNS Administrator with 35+ years in three 400 plus bed Tertiary Care Hospitals. Tom got LTC experience at Inglis Foundation providing specialty care for quadriplegics.   Tom chaired the Self-Operations Committee for the Association for Healthcare Foodservice and is Treasurer for his chapter. He teaches Foodservice Systems at Cedar Crest College and is co-author of a 2022 textbook for dietetic students: Foodservice Operations and Management: Concepts and Applications, with Jones and Bartlett Learning.   

Education Chair
Mary Branscome, RDN, LD, CPXP

Mary Branscome, RDN/LD, CPXP, serves as the System Director, Quality and Standards, for Aramark Healthcare+ at Baylor Scott and White. In the 37 years at Aramark, she has served as clinical dietitian, clinical nutrition manager, food service director, general manager for multi-site and multi-service lines. She currently oversees all System Clinical Nutrition, Patient Dining, and multi-service patient experience. Mary earned her degree in Nutrition from Texas Woman’s University and is a Registered/ Licensed Dietitian and Certified Patient Experience Professional.

Policy and Advocacy Chair
Karen Byrd, PhD, RD

Karen Byrd, PhD, RDN, LD, PMP, is an Assistant Professor in Purdue University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Before academia, Karen had a long career in senior living culminating as Kindred Healthcare’s corporate-level Senior Director of Nutrition Services. Her areas of expertise include foodservice systems, procurement, menu development, program development, and strategic management. Her research is concentrated on consumer behavior related to nutrition and food safety in restaurants and on-site foodservice operations.

Newsletter Editor
Ami Patel, MS, RD

Ami serves as the Director, Nutrition Services for University of California San Francisco Medical center. Over the past 20 years she has worked a variety of leadership positions in food services operations, developing and implementing systems. She has trained over a 100 dietetic interns in food service management and mentored several administrative dietitians at UCSF. Ami is also well versed in evaluating new technology use in food services and passionate to develop sustainable food systems.

Newsletter Assistant Editor
Lynne Ometer, MS, MHA, RD, LD

Lynne retired in April 2020 following a career in healthcare food and nutrition leadership positions including 36+ years at the director level. Over the years she also served in elected leadership roles at the district, state and national levels of the Academy and in national positions in another professional organization. She has been a longtime member of MFNS and is excited to have the opportunity to continue to serve through the Assistant Newsletter Editor position.