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About Our 2010-2011 Speakers
[for more information, click on the speaker's name]
Ruth Reichl (October 23, 2010)
Ruth Reichl joined Gourmet as Editor in Chief in April 1999. She came to the magazine from The New York Times, where she had been the restaurant critic since 1993. As chef and co-owner of The Swallow Restaurant from 1974 to 1977, she played a part in the culinary revolution that took place in Berkeley, California. In the years that followed, she served as restaurant critic for New West and California magazines. In 1984, she became restaurant critic of the Los Angeles Times, where she was also named food editor.
Reichl began writing about food in 1972, when she published Mmmmm: A Feastiary. Since then, she has authored the critically acclaimed, best-selling memoirs Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me With Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires, which have been translated into fourteen languages
Reichl has been honored with four James Beard Awards (two for restaurant criticism, in 1996 and 1998; one for journalism, in 1994; and Who´s Who of Food and Beverage in America, 1984) and with numerous awards from the Association of American Food Journalists. She is also the recipient of the YWCA´s Elizabeth Cutter Morrow Award. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. in the History of Art from the University of Michigan, and lives in New York City with her husband, Michael Singer, a television news producer, and their son.
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John McKnight (November 20, 2010)
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John McKnight is the co-director of the Asset Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) at the School of Education and Social Policy of Northwestern Univeristy. He has spent the past 40 years studying what makes successful small communities and neighborhood groups across North America and Europe. He has worked with police departments, government agencies, hospitals, universities and businesses, helping them learn how to relate to local communities. He authored the book Building Communities From the Inside Out, and also co-founded the Gamaliel Foundation in Chicago, a national training program for community organizers. The ABCD method is being adopted worldwide as a key community building strategy. In addition, he has written on many topics including social service delivery systems, health policy, community organizations, neighborhood policy, and institutional racism. He currently directs research projects focused on asset-based neighborhood development and methods of community building by incorporating marginalized people. He has written widely about many aspects of his research.
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Jenny Greer (February 19, 2011)
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Jenny Greer is Deputy Executive Director of the National Peace Foundation and Director of their Open World Program. With more than 10 years experience addressing social challenges that often lead to violence, Ms. Greer is dedicated to supporting peace activities and efforts at the grassroots level. Prior to joining NPF, Jenny managed Kidsave International's Russian programs, designed to help find families for children living in Russia's orphanages. She also worked for five years at the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation as the manager of grants programs focused on redirecting former weapons scientists into non-military, commercial research and development activities. In this role, she managed more than 70 projects in 11 countries. She holds a Master’s Degree in Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies from Georgetown University and a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Brigham Young University.
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Dr. Zorba Paster (April 16, 2011)
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Dr. Zorba Paster is a well known author, radio personality, family physician and professor. He hosts a weekly radio call-in show called Zorba Paster on Your Health, produced by Wisconsin Public Radio and broadcast on public radio stations around the country. His highly acclaimed book is The Longevity Code: Your Prescription for a Longer, Sweeter Life. Dr. Paster is a practicing family physician at the Dean Medical Center and a professor of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He has traveled and studied extensively in Asia and India, where he volunteered medical expertise and services for the Tibetan refugee population in Northern India's Himalayas. He credits his mentor, the late Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, with fostering his respect for a patient's right to be a full partner in health care.