Jim Dodge is Director of Specialty Culinary Programs for Bon Appétit Management Company. Trained as a chef, Jim became a celebrated pastry chef, published several cookbooks, became a culinary educator and joined the food service industry. Since 2004 he has been Bon Appétit Management Company’s director of specialty culinary programs, based in Palo Alto, CA. In his role as Jury Chair for the Julia Child Award, Jim leads the jury and its decision making process.
Jim has published several cookbooks, including the award-winning American Baker and Baking with Jim Dodge. He is a contributing editor to the revised Joy of Cooking, as well as a former contributing editor to Food & Wine, and consulting culinary editor to Cooks Illustrated. Jim has received numerous honors, including a James Beard Award for Excellence in 2005, a Gold Plate Award presented by the American Academy of Achievement in 1989, a James Beard Cookbook Award in 1987, and the Honor Roll of American Chefs for Food & Wine in 1983.
A native of Nashville, TN, Hall attended L’Academie de Cuisine in Maryland where she completed her culinary training, going on to work as a Sous Chef at the Henley Park Hotel in Washington, DC. She also served as Executive Chef at both The State Plaza Hotel and The Washington Club, and has taught classes at CulinAerie, Sur la Table and her alma mater, L’Academie de Cuisine. Carla is also active with a number of charities and not-for-profit organizations that reflect her passion for causes close to her heart. She serves as a Board Member for the Pajama Program and GenYouth. Carla also actively works with Chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen Chef Network, DC Central Kitchen, The USO, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Feeding America, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs (WCR), and she serves on the advisory boards for the Edible Academy for the New York Botanical Gardens and for the Food and Finance High School in New York City. Carla is also a member of the James Beard Foundation’sWomen’s Leadership Advisory Committee and is the Culinary Ambassador for Sweet Home Cafe at the Smithsonian National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. She lives in D.C. with her husband, Matthew Lyons.
Stephan Pyles is considered a founding father of Southwestern Cuisine and Modern Texas Cuisine. A fifth-generation Texan, he has opened 22 restaurants in 6 cities over the past 34 years, including Routh Street Café, Star Canyon, the eponymous Stephan Pyles and Stampede-66. His most current restaurant is Flora Street Café, which since its opening was named Texas’s Best New Restaurant by Texas Monthly Magazine and nominated for the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in America.
Stephan has authored four successful cookbooks and hosted two seasons of the Emmy Award-Winning PBS series New Tastes from Texas. He was the first person in the Southwest to win a James Beard Award for Best Chef. He has cooked for dignitaries and celebrities from around the world, including five American presidents and HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
A tireless philanthropist, Pyles is a founding board member of Share Our Strength, the country’s largest source of private funding for hunger relief, a board member of the North Texas Food Bank and founded The Hunger Link, Dallas’ perishable food program in 1990. Pyles has given $250,000 in culinary scholarships in his name over the past 12 years and has served on the board of Goodwill Industries. He is currently on the Board of Trustees for the Dallas Opera.
Andrew F. Smith has taught food studies courses at the New School since 1996. He is the author or editor of thirty-two books. His most recent works include the three-volume Food in America (ABC-CLIO, 2017), Savoring Gotham (Oxford University Press, 2015), and Fast Food: The Good, the Bad and the Hungry(Reaktion 2016). He serves as the series editor for both the “Edible Series” and the “Food Controversies Series” at Reaktion Books in the United Kingdom.
Tina Ujlaki was the Executive Food Editor at Food & Wine, where she oversaw the test kitchen and recipes, scouted products and traveled widely to identify emerging talent for editorial features and for the magazine’s annual roundup of Best New Chefs. She has worked with cooks and chefs including Julia Child, Paula Wolfert, Jacques Pépin, Marcella Hazan, Jean Georges Vongerichten, Rick Bayless and many, many more. She began her career in food as a stagiaire at La Varenne in Paris, where she worked on cookbooks with Anne Willan. She has translated and adapted French chefs’ cookbooks for the American market including Dining in France, The Natural Cuisine of Georges Blanc and Michel Guérard for Home Cooks. Other book projects include several volumes in Time Life’s Good Cook series, Cucina di Lidia by Lidia Bastianich and Beefsteak by Jose Andres (upcoming).
Tina has served as a judge for both the IACP and James Beard Foundation’s cookbook awards and is a longtime product judge for the SOFI awards (Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation) for the Specialty Food Association. She has worked with consumer brands including Amy’s Kitchen, Breville, OXO, Earthbound Farms. She is currently a freelance consultant, editor, recipe tester and developer.