Executive Committee

Chair
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.

Past 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.

Chair-Elect
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.

Nominating Chair
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 Patient Solutions Division Director with Morrison Healthcare, where she supports driving positive results for patient satisfaction and key operational metrics.  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 another year being part of the MFNS EC.

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.

Secretary
Amanda Groesbeck, MS, RD, CNSC

Amanda Groesbeck, MS, RDN/LDN, is a System Director of Food and Nutrition for Morrison Healthcare supporting the largest nonprofit health system in Charleston, SC. She has been in food service operations for 11 years and counting. Starting as a clinical dietitian, she realized her passion for leading other dietitians and giving patients excellent food!
She specializes in building relationships with organizational leaders, and supporting senior directors and clinicians to accomplish their goals, while giving patients, staff and visitors a food experience that they will not forget! In her spare time, Amanda spends time with her husband and daughters and loves to be outdoors near the water…on the beach, river or pool!

Nominating Committee Chair-Elect
Dana Fillmore, RD

Dana provides industry guidance shaping Gordon Food Service sales and marketing strategy within the healthcare, long term care and senior living segments, assuring relevant products, tools and solutions to meet customer business needs.

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. Emily has served as a leader in her state and local affiliates over the last several years and is excited to continue in her role within the MFNS DPG.

Communications Assistant
Stephanie Durbin, MS, RD

Stephanie Durbin, MS, RD is currently serving as the Patient Services Manager at Riverside Regional Medical Center, a 450-bed acute care hospital located in Newport News, VA. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Human Nutrition and Foods from West Virginia University. She 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 13 years at Virginia Peninsula Community College and has served on the MFNS EC since 2023. 

Sponsorship Chair
Thomas Cooley

Tom served 30+ years at three 400 plus bed Tertiary Care Hospitals and five years in specialty LTC for quadriplegics.   He is currently the chair of the Editorial Advisory Board for the Association for Healthcare Foodservice and is also the Treasurer for his Philadelphia chapter. He teaches Foodservice Systems at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA and is co-author of a 2022 textbook for dietetic students: Foodservice Operations and Management: Concepts and Applications, for Jones and Bartlett Learning.   He and Mary (also an RDN) are avid gardeners and winners of numerous chili cook-offs.

Policy & Advocacy Chair
Ellen R. Shanley, MBA, RDN, CDN, FAND

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 and Communications Assistant
Levin Dotimas, MS, RD, CD

Levin graduated in 2017 from Brigham Young University (Provo, UT) with a BS in Dietetics and a minor in French. He later graduated from Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK) in 2021 with an MS in Nutritional Science, which included his dietetic internship. He passed his RD exam shortly thereafter. When looking for RD jobs, he vowed to never end up in Provo and in food service management. At the moment, he is the Patient Meal Services Manager at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, UT where he manages an amazing group who is dedicated to making sure that the patients have an excellent meal experience in the hospital. Although not quite the career path he had originally planned, he enjoys his job and the relationships he gets to build with his team. In his spare time, Levin performs with World Dance Company, a group that showcases traditional dance styles from several countries like the USA, Philippines, India, Hungary, Ukraine, etc.

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.

Membership Chair
Sherry Simon, RDN, LD

Sherry is an innovative professional with 38 plus years of experience as a Dietitian in numerous areas of dietetics including: clinical nutrition, foodservice management, nutrition consulting for private clients and corporations, and senior nutrition programs. Sherry is a graduate of the Coordinated Dietetics Program at the University of Texas at Austin. She has received the coveted awards of Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year from the American Dietetic Association and the Oklahoma Dietetic Association as well as the Consultant Dietitian of Year for the state of Oklahoma.

Currently, she is the System Director of Food and Nutrition Services for the Baylor Scott and White Health’s (BSWH) hospital system having oversight all clinical and foodservice operations for 26 hospital entities within North and Central Texas. Her past previous position was that of the Vice President of Nutrition and Health Programs at Meals On Wheels, Inc. of Tarrant County and had been with the organization for over 12 years.

Membership Assistant 
Samantha Davis, MS, RDN, LD

Sam is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian with over 30 years of experience in clinical nutrition, community nutrition, private practice, and dietetics education. She is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at TCU.  She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Dietetics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a Master’s degree in Nutrition from Texas Woman’s University. Her teaching responsibilities include Nutrition, Medical Nutrition Therapy I, Medical Nutrition Therapy II, Quantity Food Production, and Nutrition Counseling.

Membership Assistant
Jane Cook, MHA, RDN

Jane Cook, MHA, RDN serves as a District Manager for Aramark Healthcare+ at Baylor Scott and White. In her 11 years at Aramark, she has served as a Patient Dining Manager, Clinical Manager, General Manager, and mobilization manager for new business. In her current role, she works with hospitality teams across North Texas leading employee engagement, client relationships, patient experience, and growth. Outside of work, you can find Jane spending time with family and friends and traveling whenever possible.

Membership Assistant
Blanca Rodriguez, RDN

Blanca Rodriguez, RDN grew up in a small town in Arkansas with her parents and three siblings. There, she attended Ouachita Baptist University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics. Through the same university, she completed her dietetic internship to become a registered dietitian. After completing her internship, an opportunity to relocate to Texas arose with Aramark's Accelerate 2 Leadership (A2L) year-long program specific to healthcare. This program provided her the ability to use her passion in nutrition to care for patients and provide them with nutritious meals. Additionally, she had the opportunity to further develop her communication and leadership skills, which are essential for leading our frontline teams. With the help of great mentors, she became confident in her ability to continue down the path of food service management. Once the A2L program was complete, she decided to onboard as a Food Service Site Manager. In her role today, she has been able to use her educational background to continue to impact the patient experience. Furthermore, I have used her knowledge of nutrition to provide creative retail and catering services. Blanca enjoys being able to impact people through food. Nutrition is something she has a passion for in her personal life as well. Outside of work, she enjoys trying new restaurants and recipes while also staying active in the gym. She looks forward to spending time with friends and family, reading a good book, or planning a weekend getaway.

Education Assistant
Jeff Ketcham, MBA, RDN, LD

Jeff is employed as IT Director for ARAMARK Healthcare+ at Indiana University Health. In this role he primarily works with  two CBORD Nutrition Services Suite databases, but he is involved in anything computer-related that ARAMARK uses at IU Health for Food and Nutrition and Environmental Services. Besides computers in food and nutrition he has worked with everything from retail foodservice, formula room/milk, basic food production, and bulk cook chill systems. Before the transition to ARAMARK, he worked at IU Health for 14 years, spent most of his career at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, OH, and worked for the CBORD Group, Inc. assisting their clients in implementing systems in health care settings.

He is a forty plus year member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and was a Delegate, President, and Treasurer of the Ohio Dietetic Association. He volunteered with state and local districts in Ohio, Indiana, and New York. He has always felt that service to the profession is very important. He volunteered with the Commission on Dietetic Registration, writing questions for the dietitian and dietetic technician exam and spent many years volunteering for the CDR, including an elected term on the Commission Dietetic Registration where he served as Exam Panel Chair. His most valued professional relationships have come through volunteering with CDR. As he's worked with dietetic interns over the years, he has tried to pass along how worthwhile and important it is to volunteer and be an active leader in our profession.