Chela Cooper ‘05 is mid-atlantic regional culinary implementation specialist with the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN), the only national center dedicated to applied research, education and training, and technical assistance for child nutrition programs as established by an act of the US Congress. Prior to joining ICN in 2023, Chela was child nutrition program operations and training specialist with the Maryland State Department of Education for seven years and an educator with Baltimore City Public schools for four years.  She has over twenty-five years of experience in food systems including research and development in food manufacturing, small scale agriculture, and culinary operations in the public and private sectors. She is a graduate of University of San Francisco and The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.  (Baltimore, MD)