Conference Session

Julie BoarerPitchford joined the CDE in September 2013 and is currently responsible for nutrition education and training projects for school food service including Team Up for School Nutrition Success. Julie is a Registered Dietitian and is passionate about promoting the health benefits of plant-based nutrition.

Dawn Soto is a Senior Cafeteria Training Specialist with the Los Angeles Unified School District. She develops and oversees training curriculum for over 3,500+ District Food Service employees. Dawn has a passion to develop and train people to reach their full potential in their professional careers. Dawn believes in the importance of using multiple visual-aides like PowerPoint presentations, short videos and class activities to ensure the message is understood with clarity.

Kristin Hilleman serves as the Director of Food and Nutrition Services for the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD). Having worked in both health care and school food service, Kristin understands there are many different dietary and cultural needs and wants for customers. CUSD is a large K-12 district with approximately 47,000 students at 55 schools, plus charter schools. The district spans 200 square miles at the southern end of Orange County encompassing diverse culture and community. Feeding approximately 17,000 students daily, the CUSD food service team covers a lot of needs and wants. "Making good changes slowly" and "being creative in our box of regulations" are two of Kristin's favorite mantras guiding her and the CUSD food and nutrition services department to provide what is possible for their customers' needs and wants.

Adleit Asi is a registered dietitian who has over 15 years of experience in school food service. Mrs. Asi currently plans, organizes, and directs the nutrition services department, for the 15th largest district in the State of California. With an enrollment of 42,000 students, the department provides more than 38,000 meals per day, at 50 school sites in addition to child-care programs and charter schools. She was the district's first "Farm to school Salad Bar Coordinator." She implemented the "Farmers' Market Salad Bar Program" at four pilot schools and promotes the program to the rest of the school sites. In addition, she provided nutrition education and other farm to school programming for students. The rewards of providing a healthy alternative to school lunch as well as being able so source fresh produce from local farmers has been irresistible to her. In addition, she wrote "The How to Manual" to implement the Farmers' Market Salad Bar. In 2010, she helped in implementing the Summer FEEDS program during summer break. Mrs. Asi was promoted to an operations manager overseeing 25 school sites before she took the role as a Director.

Danielle Willhite has worked for Riverside Unified School District for 12 years, 8 years with Nutrition Services. With 49 school sites and a Central Kitchen, Danielle serves as one of two Operations Managers. She was previously the database manager for applications, warehouse inventory, and their online Google site. Danielle also oversees the Meal Program Campaign and special projects, like their Pop-Up Food Shop, California Fresh, which serves plant based, vegan choices, while still utilizing USDA commodity foods.