August 2017

In the month of August we are introducing each member of the FCS Professionals board

Introducing Liz Sellett, Treasurer!  Liz began her career as a registered dietitian in long-term care, sub-acute care, and assisted living facilities for fourteen years.  She briefly worked at the University of Minnesota’s Epidemiology Clinical Research Center as the lead dietary interviewer for the Minnesota Heart Study, and she also worked as a renal dietitian for DaVita Dialysis.  Wanting to change courses in her career, she studied at Le Cordon Bleu and earned a certificate in Culinary Arts.  Since then she has worked for Interactions doing food demonstrations in retail.

As treasurer, her goal is to have a strong grasp of the financial picture of the organization so she can provide appropriate input and guidance.  She will achieve this through generating and sharing accurate reports that measure the finances of the group to the board.

Liz wishes she knew about FCS Professionals when she decided to make a career change.  Since she has joined the group, she has had the opportunity to learn about all of the possibilities in the area of food and consuming science.  She says, ” Getting to know the fascinating career paths of the many members has helped me in figuring out my own path.  I look forward to my continued growth through being part of FCS Professionals!”

On a personal note, Liz says she is a “Midwestern girl at heart!”  She grew up in a small town in Illinois and attended Indiana University.  She moved to Minneapolis for her dietetic internship and hasn’t left yet!  She loves living in NE Minneapolis with her two cats. She enjoys cooking as long as she doesn’t have to cook fast.  She spends a lot of time creating her own recipes.

During the month of August we are introducing members of the 2017-18 Board!

Introducing Colleen Glenn, our new program chair!  Colleen is a Registered Dietitian with a BS degree in Nutrition and Dietetics.  She currently works at Land O’Lakes and has worked on several projects including updating nutrition labels to comply with the new FDA labeling requirements.  She is now on the labeling team supporting the Purina feed business.  Prior to her work at Land O’Lakes she spent over three years in the clinical arena working in an enteral business setting ensuring Medicare Part B coverage for patients and leading clinical trainings for the employees.

As program chair, Colleen hopes to increase attendance at meetings and also to increase our member count overall, including a variety of members in age, profession, education and diversity. She also hopes to increase the appeal and interest of our organization and programing by providing unique, fun, and educational events.   And lastly she hopes to cut costs of programing and raise funds for the group through a successful fundraiser.

Colleen joined FCS Professionals as a way to increase her network in the food industry when she was making a career change.  She received so much support from our group.  She says, “I enjoy being a FCS Professionals member because of all the wonderful connections I have made and continue to make with fellow food and nutrition enthusiasts! I am looking forward to serving on the board this year by providing programming that will be fun, unique, and educational for our members!”

On a personal note, Colleen enjoys spending time outside biking the lakes, rollerblading, walking and in the winter she enjoys broomball.  She also loves trying new restaurants and recipes, playing board games, and spending time with family and friends.  She tries to make it home to Ohio to visit her family, including three nephews and one niece, as often as possible.

During the month of August we are featuring each member of the FCS Professionals Board

Introducing Amy Lawson, Secretary!  Amy has worked in the food industry for the past twenty years in restaurants, catering, recipe/flavor development and in R&D.  She has a BS in Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management from UW-Stout.  She has been at General Mills since 2006 and has held positions in product performance, research and development, and in culinary as a corporate chef.  She currently is a design accelerator for One Global Baking.

As secretary Amy intends to take notes, real-time, on her laptop to ensure the most timely share-out possible.  She also serves on the programming, fundraising, and nominations committees.  She hopes to continue to represent the potential needs of those in corporate R&D in the food industry.  She also has set a personal goal of recruiting five new members by next June!

Amy joined the organization in 2006.  It was the first professional organization she joined after graduating from college and becoming an employee at General Mills.  Her intent was to find mentorship in the food industry and also to learn from the wealth of interesting programming that we had to offer.  Of all the organizations she has joined over the years, FCS Professionals is the one group she has stayed with since the beginning of her career.  She remains part of FCS Professionals because, “I love the peer-support and progressive, innovative energy that I get from many of our members!  FCS Professionals is very unique and I’m proud to be part of its growth and evolution.”

On a personal note, Amy lives in Maple Grove with her husband Christopher, a graphic designer and owner of Varsity Trading Cards , and their two cats, Abraham and Fidgit.  She loves to read, go on long walks and runs, and voluntarily spends about half of her time in the kitchen cooking! She also has a strong interest in microwave science and previously sat on the Board of Governor’s for the International Microwave Power Institute for four years as both Executive Secretary and Education Coordinator.

During the month of August we will be introducing the FCS Professionals board members on the blog.

Marge Ryerson is the mentoring program co-chair for FCS Professionals.  In her twenty-five years (and counting!) in the food industry she has worked at Pillsbury and Land O’Lakes with positions in marketing and test kitchens.  She currently owns her own consulting firm, Ryerson Consulting, working on food related projects.

As the co-chair of the mentoring program she hopes to increase the power of the program as a member benefit.  She also desires to work with the board to increase membership and the financial strength of the organization.

She joined FCS Professionals about thirty years ago! She joined as a way to network with professionals in similar fields and to better understand career options.  She has remained a member all of these years because she believes in the power of networking for people of all ages to stay up-to-date with food related topics.  She says, “I also want to give back to an organization that has helped me establish and enjoy a strong, satisfying career!”

On a personal note, she loves to travel and has visited over thirty countries!  She currently volunteers at the Minneapolis St. Paul International airport and finds it to be a great way to connect with travelers.

During the month of August, we will be introducing the 2017-18 FCS Professionals board members on our blog. 

Meet Sharon Heron, our Nominations and Awards Co-Chair!  Sharon graduated from UW-LaCrosse in Community Health Education.  In her early career she worked as a Nutrition Educator for WIC. For the past 28 years she has been at the University of Minnesota, first in the Food Science & Nutrition Department and now in Career and Internship Services. One of the student populations she serves is in the Food and Nutrition area. If you have internships or jobs in these areas, please contact Sharon!

Sharon is married with two college aged sons and two spoiled golden retriever dogs. She loves spending time at her lake place boating, kayaking, hiking and walking. She hopes to be a Big Sister and also getting one of her golden retrievers involved as a therapy dog in the Library Reading Program.

As the Nominations and Awards Co-Chair her goal is to get to know the members of this organization and the value they bring to it.  She desires to nominate members for a board position who have new ideas, passion and a vision to keep moving this organization forward and making an impact in this career field. Sharon says, “Let’s award those members who are making a difference/impact and let’s tell our story!”

Why did Sharon join FCS Professionals?  She says, “Working with a student population of nutrition, food systems, health & wellness, and food science, it is great to be a member of a professional organization to connect these students to opportunities and people while learning new things myself.”  She continues to be a member because, “I love meeting in different places/locations and getting a chance to learn something new. I always meet a new person at these meetings and I hope to be a voice on how to attract college students to this organization.”

During the month of August, we will be introducing the 2017-18 FCS Professionals board members on our blog. 

Hello!  I am Susan Vance, the blogger for FCS Professionals!  As our blogger, I get to introduce myself! My undergraduate degree is in Dietetics from UW-Stout.  My career started in clinical dietetics and weight loss counseling.  Looking for more money and adventure I took a job in medical nutrition sales.  “Corporate America” was great until a company re-organization had me looking for a new job!  I decided to pursue my passion for training and development and enrolled at the University of Minnesota and earned a master’s degree in Adult Education and Human Resource Development.   I worked in training and development at a medical device company up until my daughter was born.  Since then I have devoted most of my time to caring for my kids and I teach cooking classes through Community Education as time permits.  And of course, I blog for FCS Professionals!

My goal this year as the blogger is to utilize social media to garner some buzz for our organization!  I want more likes, more comments, more shares, and ultimately more local professionals to join this amazing org!  I would love your help in achieving this goal.  The more you interact with FCS Professionals postings, the more people find out about us.

Why did I join FCS Professionals?  Almost thirteen years ago I found myself jobless after the previously mentioned company re-org.  I found FCS Professionals (TC HEIB back then) to be welcoming and so inspiring.  I have stayed this long because of the interesting programs and the fascinating members.  It allows me to still have a “foot in the door” in the industry while I am taking a bit of a career break to hang out with my kids.

Speaking of my kids, as a little personal side note I am a wife and mom to two kids ages four and eight.  I live in the east metro and spend a good chunk of time shuttling my kids to and from activities and volunteering at church and school.  I love to mess with other people’s recipes to make them more simple to prepare and if I have any spare time you will find me baking something delicious and making someone’s day by sharing it with them.

FCS Professionals member Mary Levinski was recently featured in an article in Foodservice News .  The article speaks highly of her excellent work with the ProStart program and her amazing talent for working with teenagers.  Congratulations!

During the month of August, we will be introducing the 2017-18 FCS Professionals board members on our blog. 

Deb Zwiefelhofer serves as our Administrative Assistant.  She is a registered and licensed dietitian.  She began her career in clinical and foodservice management in a variety of health care settings.  She moved into marketing and scientific affairs in the medical nutrition industry.  She is now semi-retired and self-employed doing contract work for all types of companies that are connected to food, nutrition, or health and wellness in some way (including FCS Professionals where she serves as the organization’s “office” and admin).

Deb and her husband are “cat parents” to Shelby and Bullitt.  In her spare time she enjoys outdoor yard/perennial gardening, reading, playing piano and working on family genealogy.

As the organization’s administrative assistant, her goal for the year is for more people with any involvement in food, wellness and consumer interests will join our organization so they can experience “all this awesome group has to offer!”

She joined FCS Professionals because she was drawn to the programming and networking that provided a broad range of learning experiences and introduced her to people with fascinating careers.  She continues to be a member of FCS Professionals because, “There is always someone new to meet or something new to learn about whether it is products and services, places, information or career opportunities!”