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Prep Cook

Finding camaraderie in the kitchen

Vet2Chef trains veterans for one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S.
The restaurant business is one of the fastest growing industries, calling for more than 2 million new jobs by 2028. Prep cooks assist head chefs by doing much of the preparation for the dishes that are served. This includes chopping vegetables, grinding meat, measuring ingredients, making sauces, and organizing the kitchen.

The restaurant business is one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S. It is estimated that by 2028, there will be almost two million new jobs in the industry. Vet2Chef, a program that trains veterans to become cooks, is looking to prepare former members of our military to fill these positions.

Jim Nugent is a Vet2Chef graduate and current prep cook at Gecko’s Grill & Pub. Jim served in the Army for three years, but after being discharged he felt lost and struggled to find good, steady employment. He was living on the streets prior to enrolling in Vet2Chef. Now, as a prep cook, he earns a livable wage and is responsible for the majority of the preparation of dishes in the restaurant — this includes chopping vegetables, grinding meat, and making sauces, among other duties.

Vet2Chef was founded by Bryan Jacobs, who created the program as part of the Vets2Success program that provides on-the-job training to help reintegrate veterans into civilian life. Vet2Chef teaches vets how to work in a professional kitchen. But Vet2Chef doesn’t just give them the skills for a new job: it also provides veterans with the organization and camaraderie that come with a new community and a new sense of purpose for their life outside of the military.

The median salary for a prep cook is a little over $26,000, and training programs like Vet2Chef are the perfect way to become qualified for this position. With projected job growth of 21.9 percent by 2028 and the ability to work in all 50 states, now is the perfect time to pursue a career in the kitchen. 

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.