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School Nutrition Professional Recognized with National Industry Member of the Year Award

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD (May 25, 2017) – The School Nutrition Association (SNA) will recognize Mike Burke of Vulcan Food Equipment Group as the national Industry Member of the Year at its 71st Annual National Conference in July in Atlanta, GA. In addition to state and regional award winners, SNA will honor Burke as one of four members recognized nationally for their superior accomplishments in the school nutrition arena.

Mike Burke, SNS, ServSafe Certified, is currently the K-12 Ambassador active SNA member since 1996, Burke has served on the Board of Directors for the School Nutrition Foundation (SNF) and on the SNA Political Action Committee (PAC) at the national level. He has also been a member of committees for SNA Best Practices for State Conferences, SNA Foundation Equipment Capacity and SNA Procurement Task Force.

Through the use of his personal Facebook account and the “Just 4 Schools” brand Facebook page, Burke shares many exciting updates and school meal initiatives happening across the country. According to 2012-2013 SNA President Sandra Ford, Burke has traveled to Washington, D.C. with state delegations and provided insight and perspective on many current hot topics, engaging in conversations about what industry can do to be better partners with school nutrition professionals.

“Mike has always been willing to help with his time and talents,” said Ford. “Being on the ‘quiet side,’ Mike would be helping before you even realized he was involved. While I was serving as SNA president, Mike asked me how he could get more involved – he set some goals and was willing to put in the extra time to become a recognized industry leader.”

In his role at Vulcan, he has implemented growth strategies for the Cooking Division to the K-12 School Food Service Market. He supports cooking product lines, sales management and territory representatives to grow with K-12 School Food Service customers. Burke has been a partner in the industry and an advocate of SNA’s mission to provide healthy and accessible meals to students. He stays current on regulations and trends that affect products and identifies new products that can be offered to schools.  Burke has been active presenting various education programs for local and state associations that meet and support USDA Professional Standards trainings.

For the past 10 years, he has arranged for cooking and prep equipment for SNA’s Annual National Conference culinary demonstration area.

ABOUT SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION

The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is a national, non-profit professional organization representing 57,000 school nutrition professionals across the country. Founded in 1946, SNA and its members are dedicated to making healthy school meals and nutrition education available to all students. For more information on school meals, visit schoolnutrition.org/schoolmeals/.