A Chicago resident and editor of FE&S (Food Service Equipment & Supplies) since 2005, Joe has held a variety of editorial positions, including general assignment reporter, sports editor and magazine editor, to name a few. To supplement his editorial experience, Joe brings to the table a relative baseline of knowledge about the foodservice E&S industry. In his previous role with Smith Bucklin, Joe served as a marketing and communication manager for the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM). Contact Joseph at

Steve Demsien

Steve is a 20 plus year sales and marketing professional with a diverse background in business to business and consumer to business experience with an emphasis in product development and product management.  He has been in the foodservice equipment industry for the past 8 years, currently as the Director of Marketing - Ice Machines with Manitowoc Foodservice. Prior to Manitowoc Foodservice Steve worked for over 10 years at Newell-Rubbermaid, a leading consumer goods manufacturer, in various sales and marketing roles most recently as the Vice President of Marketing of the

Donald R. Fisher

Eric Kirchoff

Eric Kirchhoff is a licensed professional Mechanical Engineer in the State of California who has worked in mechanical design, project management, construction engineering, and currently works at Southern California Gas Company as the supervisor of the engineering group that supports its energy efficiency programs.  His career has allowed him opportunities to work on projects that have ranged from testing foodservice equipment all the way up to district energy plants that serve major metropolitan downtown areas.  His diverse background in design, construction, testing, and energy

Vaughan Lazar

Vaughan Lazar is CEO and co-founder of Pizza Fusion. Vaughan plays an intricate role with the marketing and environmental stewardship of Pizza Fusion. He oversees the creative direction, branding, and strategic positioning of Pizza Fusion. Furthermore, Vaughan's passion for the environment is one of the major contributing factors behind Pizza Fusion’s industry leading environmental initiatives. In addition to Pizza Fusion, Vaughan also owns Stellar Concepts & Design (www.stellarconcepts.com), a printing and design firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which he started in

1996 out of his living room. Under his leadership, the company experienced a sales growth of over 200% per year until exceeding $5 million a year in gross sales, serving all 50 states and several outlying countries. Vaughan was born and raised in Newport, Rhode Island before relocating to Florida to study marketing at Florida Atlantic University. Here, he started the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity where he met his friend and Pizza Fusion business partner, Michael Gordon. When he's not working, you'll find Vaughan snowboarding at Whistler or surfing the Atlantic.

Melisa Marks

Andre Saldivar is a Technical Specialist for Southern California Edison’s CTAC in Iriwndale. He manages the Foodservice Technology Center (FTC), where energy efficiency testing on Foodservice equipment is performed, customer demonstrations and testing takes place, and foodservice education seminars are held. He has been with SCE over 2 years now. Previously, was with So Ca Gas Company for six years, where he helped develop a Natural Gas Cooking Equipment Testing lab for energy efficiency testing. Mr. Saldivar is on the Subcommittee of the American Society for Testing and Materials’ (ASTM) F26 for Foodservice Equipment, which is responsible for the various test methods for commercial food service equipment. In addition, he is on the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) Commercial Kitchens Committee, which works with the Utilities to help develop Energy Efficient Standards and Rebate programs for foodservice equipment. Andre is one of the technical leads for the statewide food service rebate program for the California Investor-Owned Utilities. He has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Cal Poly Pomona.  Contact Andre at andre.saldivar@sce.com

 Bob Vroom

Bob Vroom oversees the engineering activities at Champion industries, Winston-Salem NC, as well as Moyer Diebel, Jordon Station, Ontario.  Bob has been involved in the commercial food service industries for 20 years with his last 6 on the dish machine side at Champion/Moyer Diebel. Prior to that he was with the Middleby group for 7 years developing commercial cooking equipment. His experience ranges widely and includes sales, standards and purchasing but has mostly concentrated on new product development and manufacturing. He has been involved in many new and  

innovative product introductions and designs and holds multiple patents. At Champion his focus had been in driving down operating costs through savings in water and energy consumption. He has worked with NSF, UL and the EPA, and was involved in the development of their Energy Star standard for commercial dish machines. He received his BS Degree in Physics and Engineering in 1987 from the State University of New York.  Contact Bob at bvroom@championindustries.com

Michael Williams

Michael Williams is Director of Culinary Marketing and Corporate Chef for Unified Brands. Chef Williams’ foodservice career spans more than 25 years including strategic sourcing, product development and testing, recipe and menu development and strategic marketing.  His focus is helping clients maximize emerging culinary trends relating to recipe/menu development, sourcing, operational processes and resource management. Chef Williams has traveled both domestically and internationally assisting culinary clients of all sizes to become more efficient in decision making and creative

in the approach to foodservice solutions. As Director of the Unified Brands EnviroSafe program, Chef Williams works with product development teams focusing on equipment technologies aimed at enhancing equipment performance and food quality while reducing energy and water consumption. As Director of the Unified Brands EnviroSafe program, Chef Williams works with product development teams focusing on equipment technologies aimed at enhancing equipment performance and food quality while reducing energy and water consumption. Chef Williams is a longtime member American Culinary Federation (ACF) and Research Chefs of America (RCA) and is also a Serve Safe Certified Trainer. Contact Michael at michaelw@unifiedbrands.net

David Zabrowski

Ray Schmidt