Conference Session

Robin McNulty, MPH, is an expert in the field of school nutrition. For the past twenty years she has worked with local and state school nutrition departments and has been a passionate advocate of children and ending food insecurity in every family. For the past 10 years, Robin was the Director of Nutrition Services for the Lemon Grove School District (LGSD), and founder and chair of the District's Health and Wellness Council. Her accomplishments at LGSD include successfully leading implementation of Breakfast in the Classroom at seven schools (preschool through 8th grade), which increased school breakfast participation from 25% to 85%. She also expanded the annual summer meals program to locations where children and families visit; such as the library, local parks, child care centers, YMCA summer camp, WIC and HHSA offices. This strategy provided more than 30,000 meals each summer to children 18 years and younger. Robin was an innovator and one of the first nutrition service directors to remove chocolate milk and sports drinks from the school meal service. Even with the removal of the high sugar and non-nutritional foods, Robin maintained a fiscally solvent department. As one of her final projects, she took part in the design and build of the $1 million dollar LGSD Central Kitchen.
Recognized by Kaiser Permanente as a critical thinker who inspires people to change physical environments to make healthy choices available to everyone, Robin received Kaiser's Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) School Leader Award in November 2014. Robin holds a master's degree of public health from the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University and a bachelor's in nutritional and exercise sciences from San Diego State University. Robin and her husband, Robert, and two dogs reside in La Mesa. They have four grown children and six grandsons.