Chef Tom Recinella, Dean of Culinary at Baker College and its Culinary Institute of Michigan (CIM), has been appointed to the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation Accrediting Commission (ACFEFAC) as the Central Region Education Representative, effective immediately.

Recinella will serve the national organization in this new role through 2024. He will begin training to become a Site Visit Lead Evaluator, to help determine educational program grants of accreditation at culinary schools throughout the central region, which includes Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin. 

“It’s imperative to have seasoned chefs and educators serving on the commission and overseeing policy that is relevant and impactful to culinary schools and the industry,” said Chef Recinella, CEC, AAC, HGT. “For myself and the CIM team, it is an honor to have one of our own taking an active role in helping to shape and move the accreditation process forward to meet the challenges and demands of the future, for our industry and its academics.”

Chef Recinella, who has been in the culinary industry for more than 35 years and with Baker College’s CIM since 2012, is an ACF Approved Mentor for ACF Practical Exam Evaluators and an ACF Culinary Competition Judge, as well as a member of the Honorable Order of the Golden Toque, the highest acclaimed recognition a chef can receive in America.

The CIM and its students have thrived under the high standards of Chef Recinella and his team’s leadership, earning hundreds of culinary competition medals over the years. Additionally, CIM Muskegon recently received new ACFEFAC seven-year grants of accreditation with exemplary status for both its culinary arts and baking and pastry programs.