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Academy 2025-2026 Board of Directors Announced


June 2, 2025

CHICAGO – The 2025-2026 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Board of Directors features 18 nutrition, health and business leaders from across the country. Representing more than 112,000 credentialed practitioners, the Academy is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals.

The Board is tasked with executing the Academy's strategic plan, policy development and fiscal management, from June 1 through May 31, 2026.

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Board of Directors, 2025-2026:

Deanne Brandstetter, MBA, RDN, CDN, FAND, President (Naples, Fla.)
Brandstetter has recently retired; her last role was vice president of nutrition and wellness at Compass Group North America, a global foodservice company, author of numerous scientific journal articles and book chapters and a speaker to professional and consumer groups.

Elizabeth (Lisa) Abbay, MBA, RDN, LDN, FAND, House of Delegates Director (Collierville, Tenn.)
Abbay is the vice president of Talent Acquisition at Powerback Rehabilitation.

Carl D. Barnes, MS, RDN, LDN, Director-at-Large (Rockville, Md.)
Barnes is the founder of RD2BE, a professional resource for nutrition students, and the president of United Nutrition Group LLC and Chow Solutions LLC.

Catherine Christie, PhD, RDN, LDN, FAND, Academy Foundation Chair (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Christie is professor and Associate Dean Emerita in the Brooks College of Health at the University of North Florida.

Livleen Gill, MBA, RDN, LDN, FAND, Immediate Past President (Bethesda, Md.)
Gill is president and CEO of Apostle Group LLC, a consulting company that provides innovative solutions to clients in health care, food and nutrition. She is also the CEO of The Wholesome Village Inc., a non-profit centered on equitable access to healthful foods.

Amanda L. Goldman, MS, RD, LD, FAND, Past Treasurer (Lexington, Ky.)
Goldman is the system vice president of Food and Nutrition Services at CommonSpirit Health.

Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE, Chief Executive Officer (Chicago, Ill.)
Harris has oversight of all entities under the Academy's umbrella and is also the chief executive officer of the Academy's Foundation.

RoseAnna B. Holliday, PhD, MPH, RDN, LD, FAND, House of Delegates Speaker (Twin Falls, Idaho)
Holliday is an associate professor in the biology department at the College of Southern Idaho.

Suzanne M. Jiménez MS, RDN, LND, Director-at-Large (Guaynabo, P.R.)
Jiménez works at Head Start/Early Head Start Quintana Baptist Church, providing nutrition-related services and education to program participants, families and staff.

Young Hee Kim, MS, RDN, LDN, CNSC, FAND, House of Delegates Director (Windsor Locks, Conn.)
Hee Kim most recently worked as a clinical nutrition manager from 2012 to 2023 at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass.

Rory C. Pace, MPH, RD, CSR, FAND, FNKF, House of Delegates Speaker-elect (Gilroy, Calif.)
Pace is a nutrition therapy consultant for Patient Care America and a nephrology consultant.

Tamara Randall, MS, RDN, LD, CDCES, FAND, President-elect (Shaker Heights, Ohio)
Randall is an instructor and director of the MS in Public Health Nutrition and Dietetic Internship Program at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Patty Riskind, MBA, Public Member (Chicago, Ill.)
Riskind is a health care technology leader and currently leads the health care division at AvePoint, a data security and AI company, supporting health care providers, payers and life sciences organizations.

Elisabeth Ritz, Public Member (Chicago, Ill.)
Ritz is the founder and president of Ritz Communications, a global public relations, marketing communications and branding firm specializing in health care.

Christina Rollins, MBA, MS, RDN, LDN, CNSC, FAND, Treasurer (Rochester, Ill.)
Rollins is the finance administrator in the Department of Surgery at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and owner of Rollins Nutrition, LLC.

Nina L. Roofe, PhD, RDN, LD, FAND, House of Delegates Past Speaker (Conway, Ark.)
Roofe is the assistant vice president for Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.

Shey Schnell, MHA, RD, LGBC, HPTC, Treasurer-elect (Morrisonville, N.Y.)
Schnell is the regional director of Performance Improvement at the University of Vermont Health Network, CVPH and AHMC.

Lauren Coheley Spain, PhD, RDN, LD, CDCES, FAND, Director at Large (Austin, Texas)
Coheley Spain is a pediatric medical science liaison with Abbott Nutrition.

Tracy Wilczek, MS, RDN, LDN, FAND, House of Delegates Director (Boston, Mass.)
Wilczek is a regional wellness director with FLIK Hospitality, a division of Compass Group USA.

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Representing more than 112,000 credentialed nutrition and dietetics practitioners, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. The Academy is committed to improving health and advancing the profession of dietetics through research, education and advocacy. Visit the Academy at www.eatright.org.

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Members of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics receive exciting benefits including complimentary continuing professional education opportunities, discounts on events and products in eatrightSTORE.org, invitations to exclusive members-only events and more!