Yes Chef! Campaign

Campaign Leaders

Anne Sado
President, George Brown College

Anne Sado became president of George Brown College in January 2004. In this role, she is responsible for driving the college’s overall direction, objectives and future growth. She is George Brown’s primary ambassador, and has led the organization through three years of unprecedented growth and renewal.

	Anne Sado President, George Brown College

Ms. Sado brings strong leadership, customer service and communication skills to the College from her career in business and extensive volunteer involvement. In 2003, Ms. Sado received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for her ongoing work on the board of the YWCA of Greater Toronto. She has also received the Professional Engineers Ontario citizenship award and an Arbor Award from the University of Toronto.

Prior to joining George Brown College, Ms. Sado spent 25 years at Canadian corporate leader Bell Canada, holding numerous positions in engineering, field operations, customer service, business development and business planning. Appointed Senior Vice- President Business Processes and Operational Effectiveness in 2000, she championed new customer service initiatives and supported company goals with significant earnings improvements.

Ms. Sado holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Toronto as well as a Bachelor of Applied Science in Industrial Engineering. She is Director - Legacy Private Trust, Director - Trillium Health Centre, Director – ORANO, Director – Housing Services Inc., Director - Canadian Urban Institute, and is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at OISE at the University of Toronto.

John Walker, MBA
Dean – The Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts,
George Brown College

John Walker, Dean of The Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts, (CHCA) has been a leader in the hospitality and culinary field for over 40 years.

	John Walker

Prior to entering the college system, John established and was a working partner at Rundles Restaurant (now Stratford Chefs School), a successful, contemporary restaurant that also offered culinary arts training programs. This led to his academic future when he became a Chef Instructor and eventually joined Humber College, where he worked his way through a variety of positions in a 20-year period from faculty to Program Coordinator, Chair, Director and then Dean.

In 2000 John made the move to the CHCA at George Brown College, where as Dean he oversees and provides revolutionary leadership with a clear vision.

John reorganized the CHCA with a focus upon transparency in management, quality control systems for academic quality, cross functional teams, and enrollment yield strategies. John continues to establish academic excellence benchmarks for all existing and new programming as well as enrollment building strategies to maximize yield which has increased enrollment by over 50% since the year 2000.

With a keen focus on student success, John has implemented a range of models to support attrition targets and KPI needs. John has a passion for connecting curriculum to industry and has restructured programs to incorporate an integrated approach with industry, including industry advisory committees, mentorship models, externships, and on-line learning.

John is a well respected member of the Hospitality & Tourism education community in Ontario and has been involved in many program design models, sat on many provincial government committees and earned a reputation for innovation in program design and integrated learning models with industry. John has a flair for pioneering original partnerships, such as securing a Culinary Tourism Research Project for the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation of Ontario and a strategic partnership with Sobeys Canada for the implementation of a Compliments Culinary Centre in George Brown Chef School.

John has worked on many hospitality training development programs around the world and has created international partnerships in Japan, Indonesia, Brunei, South Africa, Thailand, Scotland and, most recently, to Italy, France, India and Panama.

John Walker is a Member of the College Senior Management Committee and co–chairs the College’s Academic Leadership Management Committee. John has won many industry awards including the League for Innovation International Award, the Hotelier Magazine Pinnacle Awards for Leadership in Hospitality & Tourism Education, the Ontario Hostelry Institute – Educator of The Year Award, and Educator of The Year from The Canadian Food Services Executive Association.

The CHCA growth and facilities renewal project is a reflection of John Walker’s vision and through his leadership and ability to inspire, it will become a reality!

Chef John Higgins
Director and Corporate Chef, George Brown Chef School

Internationally acclaimed chef John Higgins has been leading culinary dream teams to victory for decades including winning three gold medals at the 1999 Culinary World Cup. Now, the former Culinary Team Canada captain is leading the charge in the classroom.

	Chef John Higgins Director and Corporate Chef, George Brown Chef School

The Scottish-born chef made the switch from kitchen to classroom in 2002 as an instructor in the George Brown Chef School and was named Director/Corporate Chef of the renowned school. Since joining the college, Higgins has been raising the bar on culinary excellence starting from the ground up with talented, aspiring chefs in training.

Using his contacts in the industry, he has recruited a number of employers to provide George Brown students with invaluable work experience, invited top chefs into the classroom to connect with chefs-in-training, provided networking opportunities for students in the industry and organized a number of charitable events. But the most important part of his job is helping his students get through the daily grind of breaking into this competitive field.

“Students come to me if they are having problems at their work placements or in their classes,” Higgins explained. “These things may not be a big deal to you or I but to the students, they are really important so I make sure I am always there for them.”

Higgins has supported and mentored many chefs throughout his career. Even before joining George Brown College he was an ambassador for the college system developing curriculum and international internships for several academic institutions.

He boasts an impressive résumé that includes numerous awards with recently added ‘Educator of the Year’ from the Canadian Association of Foodservice Professionals. His culinary career experience ranges from Buckingham Palace where he cooked for the Queen and heads of state to the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C. to Le Meridian King Edward Hotel in Toronto.