School Nutrition Association

The School Nutrition Association (SNA) describes itself as "a national, nonprofit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members who provide high-quality, low-cost meals to students across the country." SNA is a very industry-friendly organization, maintaining an industry advisory board with representation on the board of directors, offering corporate membership, and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from the same companies that manufacture and sell products and services for school lunch.

Industry Membership
SNA welcomes industry to join as members of their organization. Industry members are invited to join at one of three levels: Patron Program, Corporate Industry Membership, and Industry Consultant Membership. Patron Program members pay $10,000 annually for a membership that covers all individuals in the organization, Corporate Industry members pay dues of $800 annually for a membership that also covers all individuals within the organization, and Industry Consultant members pay $350 annually for a membership for one individual.

Patron Program

 * "The Patron Program is designed to increase your organization’s interaction with school foodservice and child nutrition professionals. Through this program, your company will enjoy greater exposure and access to school foodservice professionals nationwide."

Patron Program member receive an "exclusive Annual Patron Meeting with presentations from the SNA Executive Team and SNA Senior Staff" and an "Exclusive opportunity to host Board of Directors Dinner at Committee Days, National Leadership Conference and Annual National Conference" in addition to other benefits. As of 2011, SNA has 78 Patron members, which means they draw in a total of $780,000 annually from this program.

Current Patron Program members as of 2011 include:
 * 4U2U Brands
 * AccuTemp Products, Inc.
 * AdvancePierre Foods
 * American Pride Seafoods
 * Barilla America, Inc
 * Basic American Foods
 * Blue Bunny
 * Cambro Manufacturing
 * Campbell Soup Company
 * Cargill Kitchen Solutions
 * Carlisle FoodService Products
 * Cavendish Farms Corp.
 * The Coca-Cola Company
 * Colorpoint/Div Low Temp Industries, Inc.
 * ConAgra Foodservice
 * Cool School Cafe
 * Culinary Standards Corporation
 * Cybersoft Technologies Inc.
 * The Dannon Company
 * Dole Food Company
 * Domino's Pizza
 * Duke Manufacturing
 * E S Foods
 * Evergreen Packaging
 * Fishery Products International
 * Foster Farms Foodservice
 * Fresh Gourmet
 * FWE/Food Warming Equipment
 * General Mills Foodservice
 * Giorgio Foods, Inc.
 * Gold Kist Farms
 * Heartland School Solutions
 * Heinz Foodservice
 * Hobart
 * Horizon Software International
 * Integrated Food Service
 * Interflex
 * J & J Snack Foods Corp
 * J.M. Smucker Company
 * J.O.Y. Foods
 * J.T.M. Food Group
 * Jennie-O Turkey Store
 * Kellogg's Food Away From Home
 * KeyImpact Sales & Systems
 * Kraft Foodservice
 * LALA USA
 * Land O' Lakes Dairy Foods
 * Los Cabos Mexican Foods, div. of MCI Foods, Inc.
 * Manitowoc Foodservice Group
 * MARS Foodservices US
 * McCain Foods, USA
 * Metro (Intermetro Industries)
 * Michael Foods, Inc.
 * MilkPEP
 * Mrs. T's
 * National Dairy Council
 * Nestle Waters North America
 * Notables
 * NUTRIKIDS®
 * Otis Spunkmeyer, Inc.
 * Pacific Northwest Canned Pears
 * Payless ShoeSource
 * PepsiCo Foodservice
 * Pinnacle Foods Group LLC
 * Red Gold, LLC
 * Rich Products Corporation
 * Sara Lee Foodservice
 * SCA Tissue North America
 * School-Link Technologies
 * Schwan's Food Service, Inc.
 * SFSPac Food Service Sanitation Systems
 * Solae, LLC
 * The Switch Beverage Company
 * Tetra Pak Inc.
 * Tyson Foods, Inc.
 * Unified Brands
 * Winston Industries

Board of Directors
As of 2011:
 * President: Helen Phillips, SNS, Norfolk Public Schools
 * President-elect: Sandy Ford, SNS, Manatee County School District
 * Vice President: Leah Schmidt, SNS, Hickman Mills C-1 School District
 * Secretary/Treasurer: Beth Taylor, SNS, Special Projects Coordinator

Regional Directors
 * Northeast Regional Director: Jackie Fiorentino, SNS, Hingham Public School District
 * Mideast Regional Director: Linda Eichenberger, Oak Hills Local School District
 * Southeast Regional Director: Marilyn Moody, SNS, Wake County Public School System
 * Midwest Regional Director: Gay Anderson, Brandon Valley School District
 * Southwest Regional Director: Jody Houston, SNS, Corpus Christi ISD
 * West Regional Director: Wanda Grant, SNS, Palm Springs Unified School District
 * Northwest Regional Director: Ariane Maori Shanley, South Kitsap School District

Committee Chairs
 * Member Services Committee Chair: Chris Neal, SNS, Highline School District
 * Education Committee Chair: Jean Ronnei, SNS, St. Paul Public Schools
 * Nutrition Committee Chair: Diane Santoro, SNS, Orange County Food and Nutrition
 * Public Policy & Legislation Committee Chair: Cindy Brooks, Seymour Public Schools
 * Research Committee Chair: Diane Schweitzer, SNS, School City of Hammond

Other Representatives
 * School Nutrition Employee/Manager Rep: Mary Betlach
 * State Agency Representative: Catherine Digilio Grimes, Office of School Nutrition Programs, Virginia Department of Education
 * Industry Representative: Chris Meinerding, ConAgra Foodservices
 * Chief Executive Officer: Frank DiPasquale

Industry Advisory Board
The SNA has an Industry Advisory Board which "supports SNA’s mission and vision by providing input and recommendations to the Association from an industry perspective and serves as liaisons to the industry membership in support of the Priority Issues of the Association." Board members serve to "enhance communications between industry members and SNA leadership." They make recommendation for the SNA's annual conference, including recommendations on workshops, breakout sessions, and the exhibit hall. They also recommend new ideas for the SNA's programs and projects, and they "serve as a sounding board for new programs under consideration."

Industry Advisory Board Members include:


 * Chair: Chris Meinerding, ConAgra
 * Julie Buric, Milk Processor Education Program
 * Moira Fulton, Sysco
 * Kim Main, General Mills
 * Jose Quinones
 * Colin Sheridan, NUTRIKIDS
 * Gary Vonck, KeyImpact Sales & Systems, Inc.
 * Joy Wallace, J.O.Y. Foods, Inc.
 * Kevin Woods, SNS, Unified Brands

Contact Details
School Nutrition Association 700 South Washington Street, Suite 300 Alexandria, Virginia 22314 Phone (703) 739-3900 Fax (703) 739-3915 E-mail servicecenter AT schoolnutrition.org Website: http://www.asfsa.org/default.aspx

Other SourceWatch Resources

 * Child Nutrition Foundation
 * Obesity PR