Ann Cooper

Ann Cooper works as a consultant for school administrators revamping their school lunch program to provide healthy food and nutritious choices for students, author of "A Woman's Place is in the Kitchen" and "Bitter Harvest", former Executive Chef of the "Putney Inn" in Vermont. Ann was formerly the executive chef of The Putney Inn in Vermont, and has authored two books, Bitter Harvest: A Chef's Perspective on the Hidden Dangers in the Foods We Eat and What You Can do About It, and A Woman's Place is in the Kitchen: The Evolution of Women Chefs. She was one of the first fifty women to be certified as an executive chef by the educational arm of the American Culinary Federation. Ann's career has taken her from positions with Holland America Cruises to Radisson Hotels to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Telluride Ski Resort where she catered parties of up to 20,000. She has been featured in Gourmet, Food Arts, Chef, Restaurants & Institutions, Nation's Restaurant News, National Culinary Review, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, Woman's Day, Newsday and has been on both local and national radio and television shows. Ann is president of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, former member of the Executive Committee of Chefs Collaborative, former president of The American Culinary Federation of Central Vermont and is currently serving on the United States Department of Agriculture's Organic Standards Board.