SPEAKERS

Taiwanese born Chef Andre Chiang started his culinary career when he moved to the south of France at the age of 15. After 15 years of training under the masters of French Nouvelle cuisine such as Pierre Gagnaire, Pascal Barbot, Jacques & Laurent Pourcel, and Michel Troisgros, today Chef Andreis one of the most influential Chefs in the World.
Chef Andre has researched how our capacity to taste food is influenced by our memory banks, through the personal experiences we acquire over time. This has led him to develop a culinary principle – OCTAPHILOSOPHY – based on eight primary characteristics: Unique, Texture, Memory, Pure, Terroir, Salt, South and Artisan – the backbone of the creative process at Restaurant ANDRE. The OCTAPHILOSOPHY book is one of the most beautiful books documenting this spontaneous style of cooking and creation in 365 days at Restaurant ANDRE.

Restaurant ANDRE was recently ranked #14 World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2017 and has been on the coveted list since opening in 2010. Joining Restaurant ANDRE at #2 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017 and Best Restaurant in Singapore, are his restaurants Burnt Ends Singapore at #10, and RAW Taipei at #24 and Best Restaurant in Taiwan.”

As chef/owner of Bo Innovation, Chef Alvin Leung’s unique ‘X-treme Chinese’ cuisine is lauded for modernizing centuries-old ingredients and traditional recipes with modern techniques and flavours, delivering novel dishes in tune with contemporary palates.
The self-proclaimed ‘Demon Chef’ - the Chinese characters for which are tattooed on his arm - has no formal kitchen training. Yet, he is one of the rare self-taught chefs to have a 3 Michelin star establishment. In 2003, Chef Alvin began cooking professionally at a private kitchen restaurant that eventually became Bo Innovation. In 2009, it became one of Hong Kong's few independent restaurants (not affiliated with a hotel) to be awarded 2 Michelin stars. In 2013, it was elevated to 3 Michelin stars status.

Award winning author of Leadership Lessons From A Chef: Finding Time To Be Great and Tasting Success “Your Guide to Becoming a Professional Chef,” Chef Carroll is currently the Executive Chef of River Oaks Country Club, in Houston Texas. River Oaks Country Club enjoys the reputation of being rated the number four Country Club in the United States. The Club has 1700 members and 75 culinary team members.

Chef Carroll was Executive Chef at Oak Hill Country Club from 1996-2000. Oak Hill Country Club is rated the number seventeenth Country Club in the United States and is home of the Ryder Cup, U.S. Amateur, U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open, and PGA Championship.

Before Oak Hill, Chef Carroll was Executive Chef, and employed at The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel for thirteen years. The Balsams is a four-star four-diamond resort located in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. He also served as Apprenticeship Coordinator for one of the country’s leading apprenticeship programs.

Charles is a 1985 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. He served as a Coach for the 2008 United States Culinary Olympic National Team, his seventh Olympic Team. Other teams have included 2004 Manager of the United States Regional Team which captured third in the world and the best in the world Category B, Team USA 2000 national team which received 4 gold and one silver in the world Culinary Olympics held in Germany, ACF New England Olympic Team in 1988, which won more gold than any other regional team; Team USA Northeast 1992, which placed number two in the world; Team USA National 1993, Basel Switzerland, which placed third in the world; and was Manager of Team USA National Apprentice Team, which placed number two in the Taste of Canada Competition.

Charles has received over ninety national and international awards, including chapter Chef of the Year in 1988, 2005 and the American Culinary Federation President’s Medallion four times from four decades (1989, 1999, 2005 and 2014). He received the Central Regional “Good Taste Award” in 2006 and Sharing Culinary Traditions Award from the American Academy of Chefs as well as the regional and national winner of the Chef’s professionalism Award in 2008. He has been nominated twice for ACF regional Chef of the Year. In 1993, Charles was selected by The James Beard Foundation as one of the Great Country Inn Chefs and was awarded Educator of the Year by the ACFEI. Since the year 2000, he has been inducted into the World Master Chefs Association (2000), the American Academy of Chefs (2001), the Confrerie de la Chaine des Rotisseurs (2002), and the Honorable order of the Golden Toque (2005).

As a professional speaker, he has been a guest at hundreds of events to include ACF meetings, regional and national conventions, as well as culinary classes, colleges and universities, and multiple private and public businesses and corporations.

Chef Carroll served on many Boards and Committees to include; President to the Board of Trusties of the LeNotre Culinary Institute, Secretary Treasurer of the Les Amis d’ Escoffier Society Houston. appointed chairman of ACF certification appeals committee (2008) and appointed chairman of the World Association of Chef’s Society (WACS) world congress held in the year of 2012 in Daejeon, Korea and Norway 2014. In 2015 he was inducted as an honorary member into the Indian Federation of Chefs Association (IFCA), The Chefs Association in Argentina and The Northern Chefs Clubs of Greece. In 2014, Chef Carroll was named Vice President of World Association of Chefs Society, an organization that encompasses over 10 million chefs and 100 countries, then in 2015, Chef Carroll was named President and served in that position for 2 years. He currently sits on the Worldchefs Board as Past President.

Chef Carroll has also had the pleasure of being honored at several colleges and universities. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Visiting Author Award presented to him by Johnson and Wales University, as well as Distinguished Visiting Chef by Sullivan College and honored by Grand Rapids Community College, New England Culinary Institute and Paul Smiths College; and received the Lifetime Achievement Award by Cordon d’ Or and the Crystal Icon Award by the International Special Events Society. He was most recently awarded with the title of Ambassador for the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). One of Chef Carroll’s most proud moments was creating and producing “Operation HOT” (Honoring Our Troops) in 2011, and again in 2013. Chef Carroll put together a team of 21 celebrities and support team, raised $450,000, assembled 30,000 lbs of show gear, produced a total of 8 shows, 2 of which were Vegas Style, and fed 8,000 troops a home cooked meal in the middle of a war zone in Afghanistan. For his collective efforts in organizing these events, Chef Carroll was recognized by 5 past U.S. Presidents, and invited to the White House. In September of 2013 he was presented with The Honorable Order of Saint Martin Award, given to him by the Army for his significant contributions to soldiers based in the Middle East.

Chef Carroll takes pride in mentoring students due to which he has written the award winning “Leadership Lessons from a Chef, Finding Time to be Great” and “Tasting Success, Your Guide to Becoming a Professional Chef”. His 3rd book, “The Recipe” is soon to hit shelves on October 17th, 2017.

Chef Carroll has spent the past three years traveling around the United States and the world to include Ireland, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Iceland, Portugal, Turkey, Chile, Korea, Paris, South Africa, Afghanistan, Greece, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Macao, and Canada mentoring, sharing and presenting his messages to culinary students, chefs, industry professionals and executives as well as the United States military personnel. His influence and inspiration has helped thousands of individuals reach their full potential and strive to be the best they can be.

For more information about Chef Charles Carroll, please visit www.chefcharlescarroll.com

As the younger son of Dilmah’s Founder, Mr Merrill J. Fernando, Dilhan mirrors his father’s devotion to tea and his mission is the fulfilment of the pledges his father made in the 1950s, as a young tea man with a big dream.
Dilhan is the Director of the Dilmah School of tea, the first international school of tea, with session in Colombo, and in partnership with the Institute Paul Bocuse, also in Ecully, France. His desire to share the pleasure in tea with a new generation of tea drinkers saw the birth of the t-Series, designer gourmet teas www.teatimerocks.com and an entirely contemporary approach to a traditional beverage.
In addition to his responsibilities in tea, Dilhan also manages the humanitarian and environmental outcomes of Dilmah. These are the fulfilment of his family' commitment to making business a matter of human service.

Peter Kuruvita began his love affair with food and passion for cooking in the traditional kitchen of his ancestral home in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Spanning 3 decades as an award-winning chef and restaurateur, Peter has now diversified his career to encompass the roles of TV presenter, author, industry speaker and restaurant consultant.
Peter has worked with Dilmah Tea in an ambassadorial role for many years, developing the concept of tea gastronomy. He was an official judge at the “Dilmah Real High Tea Challenge” and is a consultant for the Dilmah t-Lounge franchise across the globe.

As a butcher’s son he has passion for meat, especially veal. Edgar Buhrs also knew at young age that he wanted to be a cook. He has followed the classic cooking school in Amsterdam and has worked at leading restaurants in the Netherlands and even went to France to work with the renowned Chef Bernard L’Oiseau. He developed his own style of cooking during his time working on a cruise, and started his own culinary company in Amsterdam in 2007.
Veal Love It
Veal can be used in many cuisines and culinary traditions. Watch Chef Edgar demonstrate specialized technical cuts onstage and explain it. Learn about the various specific characteristics of the veal, be it the forequarter, hind quarter and by products. The possibilities are endless, so let the master show you how.

Eric Olmedo is currently Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) at the National University of Malaysia. He conducts research activities in the fields of anthropology of food as well as organisations and sociology of work.
He is the Director of a laboratory in applied anthropology, namely ""ANTROPOTEK"", from which he has been providing consultancy services, mainly in human resources' management and development, for multinational companies.

Anisha Chai is anthropologist by training and educationist by calling. She is both an effective and dedicated manager, and scholar – specializing in cultural anthropology and food studies. Anisha has close to twenty years of extensive professional experience in managing academic units and teams, from diverse backgrounds, in the private higher education sector in Malaysia. She also has cumulated work experience in the hospitality industry sector. Having lived, worked and been educated in Taiwan for six years, she writes and speaks fluently in Mandarin.

As a chef for 53 years and a certified WACS global Master Chef and culinary educator for more than 40 years, Master Chef Jochen is also the president of the Cordon Noir Caviar Society, an organisation that he founded in 1988. He has been a resident of Malaysia for the past 12 years and is currently with Berjaya University College, as director of the Culinary Arts faculty.
Topic: “Malaysian Palm Oil: A Culinary Advantage”
Throughout his distinguished career, Master Chef Jochen has always believed that a chef should never stop looking for affordable, quality ingredients which is how he discovered the multitudinous culinary advantages of using Malaysian palm oil. He will highlight the uses of this highly nutritious, economical and sustainably-produced oil in his presentation and cooking demonstration.

Kwan Lui founded At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy in 2001. It was the first culinary academy in Singapore awarded a National CET Institution status where Singapore students received up to 90% government tuition subsidies. At-Sunrice was awarded Best Private Education Institute for Culinary Arts Singapore by JobStreet Learning T.E.D. Awards 2016. At-Sunrice has students from 34 countries and has degree articulations with universities in USA, United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
Kwan was conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Educational Leadership by Johnson and Wales University (2011). She is a recipient of two World Gourmet Summit Lifetime Achievement Awards, one in 2006 from SPRING Singapore and the second one in 2012 from Fonterra. She sat on various boards and committees of the Health Promotion Board, Singapore Tourism Board, Johnson & Wales University, World Gourmet Summit, Spectra Secondary School and Singapore Symphony Orchestra Ladies League.

She graduated from the University of Wollongong Australia and has an Honorary Master of Science degree from the University Putra Malaysia. Megawati Suzari is now Director of New Product Development, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for Fonterra Brands Malaysia, with more than 20 years of experience under her belt.
From ensuring success in nutrition delivery, to sensory preference and halal compliance, Megawati Suzari has developed consumer products for a wide range of audiences, from young infants, expectant mothers to the elderly.
Topic:
“Halal for food service ingredients and compliance throughout the supply chain”
There has been an increasing demand for halal food products in Malaysia and around the world. Megawati will highlight the needs and demands of halal products in both consumer goods and ingredients for the industry, her experiences in ensuring halal compliance throughout Fonterra’s supply chain and the future halal trends in the F&B industry.

Chef to Royals, executive and high profile diners the world over, Chef Richmond combines 32 years of 5-star-fine-dining know how with the finest of a master chef. His expertise lies largely in the Mediterranean roots married with multi-cultural influences, which he uses to continually set new standards.

Chef Richmond has a very successful track record of developing many centres of culture and dining into recognized lands of fine dining has been seen in the Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre and the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, and he seeks to create a dining experience that is "beyond the standard dining experience".

A distinguished author, he won the coveted "Best in the World for Food Professionals" title from the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Les Folies Bergeres - Paris, France, and he has been a finalist for the "Best of the Best" and "Best Book Award" from the 20th Anniversary Gourmand World Cookbook Awards at Frankfurt Germany and the 2013 10th Annual USA Best Book Awards, respectively.

Rick Chee is an entrepreneur with 30 years of experience in the food service facility planning industry with businesses based in Malaysia and overseas. Besides fulfilling his duties as Managing Director of F & B Facilities Sdn Bhd., he is also the Chairman of Prominent Freight Services Sdn Bhd and AR Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd., a production plant that manufactures food service equipment.
He is also the Founder of Food Aid Foundation, a non-profit organisation that operates as a foodbank with the primary objective of providing basic food items. Their beneficiaries include charitable homes, rehabilitation centres, feeding centres, and the poor and needy.

In her role as Business Capability development manager for Nestlé Professional, Rochelle is responsible for creating sustainable exchange platforms between industry and culinary professionals and developing relevant industry partnerships. A previous director of the South African Chefs Association and long-time associate to Worldchefs, she has a passion for developing people and creating opportunities especially for younger people.
With relatively little “barrier to entry”, the hospitality industry widely opens its doors to any individual that is prepared to work hard and long hours for his living.

Unfortunately, the very same characteristics also make people leave. With staff turnover rates of up to 45% in some countries, this is the industry with the highest staff turnover in most countries in the world.

The cost of training people just to see them leave, as soon as they are skilled enough to be able to do so, does not make for a sustainable future for the Chefs profession.

Born and raised in Norway by a Japanese mother and Norwegian father, Jon Erik is a dedicated seafood professional armed with a degree in export marketing. He has worked internationally in the Norwegian seafood industry for the past 22 years. In the recent 4 years, he was been based in Singapore, working as the director SEA for the Norwegian Seafood Council, a marketing organization for Norwegian seafood operating in key markets around the world.
Jon’s presentation “Is farmed salmon and trout safe to eat?” will touch on the truth about farmed Norwegian salmon and trout, one of the most popular fish used in food service today, especially for raw consumption.

Jon Erik sees the congress as a great opportunity to observe and interact with dedicated chefs and professionals from all over the world.

A cooking demonstration will be done by the winner of the Peppadew® 2018 Young Chefs Culinary Challenge, with the help of Chef Martin Kobald.
This demonstration will be of the winner’s final menu and will incorporate Peppadew® products

Holly Elmore is Founder & CEO of Elemental Impact, a national non-profit committed to bringing sustainable operating practices to the corporate community. Passionate and driven, Holly possesses a wealth of experience from the corporate arena to catering and restaurant operations.
She created and operated in Executive Catering & Events, a prominent corporate catering company , for 15 years, while also managing 2 successful restaurants in the Atlanta Market. Holly has also served as Director of Marketing for Wine South and Director for Restaurant Forum. During her term asFounder & Executive director of the Green Food service Alliance, she created the Zero Waste Zones program, which was acquired by the National Restaurant Association in 2012.

Utilizing the expertise and extensive business skills developed throughout her professional life, Holly is the author of the EI website and 2 EI blogs and is spearheading initiatives that benefit the community, the environment, and the bottom-line.

Holly’s presentation “The Profitability of Waste: The Business Case for Waste Reduction”, will be addressing the importance of awareness towards the reduction of food waste. Beyond environmental & humanitarian concerns, food waste reduction improves a food service operation’s bottom-line. Learn how to “Keep it simple. Keep it effective”, as Holly shares the “nuts & bolts” of back-of-the-house food waste reduction.

As Co-Owner and Executive Chef of Retaste, a pop-up restaurant in Sweden dedicated to reducing food wastage by rescuing raw produce and turning them into culinary delights, Ms Ruth Osborne and Chef Christofer Ekman are passionate about their cause and have created a new consultancy firm to further share their philosophy.
With their new consultancy firm, the duo works to maintain a sustainable future for the planet, by developing solutions for the food and beverage industry and inspiring chefs to relook at their kitchens and consider using their food waste products in an innovative way.

As coordinator for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 Advocacy Hub, Paul brings together NGOs, advocacy groups, civil society, the private sector and UN agencies to work towards ending world hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture, as part of the UN World Food Programme.
With over 20 years of experience on the national and global stage focusing on campaigning, youth mobilisation, advocacy, marketing and communication, Paul is a dynamic an strategic innovator who brings teams together to achieve planned objectives by providing inspirational, evocative leadership, and motivating others to goal achievement.

As he is passionate about bringing new voices into the Global Goals conversation, particularly around Zero Hunger, Paul will speak about Global Goals as well as the Chefs’ Manifesto – a document created by the SGD2 Advocacy Hub and more than 120 chefs from around the world, that details how chefs can contribute to the SDGs through simple, practical actions.

Chef Mark Normoyle kickstarted his culinary career at Ulruru Ayers Rock resort in Central Australia and career has taken him across Australia as Sous Chef at Hotel Sofitel Melbourne, followed by Chef de Cuisine at the exclusive Australian Club, to his current position as Executive Chef of RACV City Club in Melbourne.
His enthusiasm and love for the culinary arts have seen him as a guest chef at many prestigious events around the world, including a stint on Iron Chef, where he competed against top Japanese chefs. He was previously the president of the Les Toques Blanches Executive Chef Association and has hosted numerous food and culture tours to Japan, Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Topic: Trends And Innovation In The World of True Aussie Red Meat

Representing Meat & Livestock Australia, explore the world of Australian red meat with Chef Mark’s presentation as he provides an insight into the story behind Australian meat and the industry’s commitment to quality, sustainability and innovation.

Frances recently joined the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to lead their digital engagement and partnerships as part of a new strategy prioritising those under 35.
Before joining WFP, she led special initiatives for the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Envoy where she coordinated the #littlexlittle campaign partnership and led the launch of the UN Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals, among others.

The wonderful thing about food is you get three votes a day. Every one of them has a potential to change the world.
At this presentation, you can discover how you can make a difference by cooking sustainably to shape living for the better. Learn more about the project by Worldchefs, AIESEC and Electrolux, which aims to make a positive difference for the next generation. Don't’ miss out on this presentation that will empower you to easily inspire children to eat better.

Thomas Keslinke first began his professional career on the US Virgin Islands successfully opening and running several restaurants. Upon relocating to Washington DC, Thomas worked for the Willard InterContinental Hotel and focused on managing F&B in a fine-dining environment and now has more than 15 years of experience in restaurants, hotels, marketing and consulting.
Topic: The Power of Community

Thomas’ presentation will shed light on how Chef’s Roll can help chefs grow their careers and nurture their passion for the culinary world by engaging the global community via social media.