Meet Kerwin Higashi, Sodexo Education Vice President of Sales West
By Michelle Thomas, Senior Manager, Diversity Recruitment

Tell us about your background.

My career with Sodexo began 27 years ago.

Today, I wear several different hats within the company. My official job title is Vice President of Sales West for the Education Division. I am also a chair of the Northwest Business Group and an Executive Sponsor of PANG, which is Sodexo’s Pan Asian Network Group.

I’m from Hawaii originally and currently live in Seattle with my wife and two children. Since there were not very many choices for colleges on the island, I decided to go to the mainland to attend Seattle University, where I majored in Business Administration and minored in Economics. My very first job was at Seattle University working in the pots and pans room washing dishes. Honestly, even though I was a business major, the real reason why I decided to take this position was because I was able to eat for free while working my way through college! Eventually, I started working more hours and learning more about different areas of the campus food service operation and earned a promotion to student manager. More »

Sodexo Partners for an Invigorating Black Culinary Alliance Event
By Maggie Feazell, Senior Diversity Recruiter

Sodexo operational leaders participated in an invigorating Black Culinary Alliance (BCA) Meeting in New York. Founded in 1993, the BCA is a nationwide non-profit, educational and networking organization of hospitality and food service professionals.

The mission of the BCA is to create exposure and provide educational and professional opportunities for culinary and hospitality professionals of color. The BCA accomplishes this objective by exposing inner-city high school students to the culinary arts through a series of workshops that serve to introduce culinary arts as a viable career option, while providing additional benefits to its members. These benefits include quality educational and employment resources, job coaching, mentoring and assistance with placement, as well as networking support and job counseling with a goal of bridging culinary arts in the new millennium.

The BCA Meeting kicked off on Friday, March 7th, with the its first-ever Student Reception at the High School for Hospitality Management, where Joe Iannibelli, from Sodexo’s Health Care Division, addressed hospitality and culinary students about the vast opportunities available within the contract services industry. The next evening, many cross-divisional representatives from Sodexo attended the 15th Annual BCA Cultural Awareness Salute Dinner. In addition to attending the dinner, three of Sodexo’s chefs guided more than 100 students from various culinary schools in the preparation of the meal.

Back row from left to right:  Joe Iannibelli, Health Care Director of Operations; John DiSessa,  Health Care Regional Exec Chef; Jeffery Rogers, Health Care Executive Chef; Ellington Taylor, Campus Services Resident Dining Service Manager; Mahlet Tesfatsion, Corporate Services HRG; Chris Follari, Corporate Services Director of Culinary Services; John Guillemette, Corporate Services Senior Retail Manager. Front Row: Chef Douglas; Chef Tim Pitts, Health Care; Maggie Feazell, Talent Acquisition

Sodexo Supports Les Gourmets 2008 Flavors of South America
By Kay Williams, Senior Recruiter

The School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University hosted the 57th annual Les Gourmets on Saturday, April 5, 2008, and Sodexo was pleased to be one of the many who attended the student-run event.

Les Gourmets is a six-course formal dinner with a champagne reception. It is unique in that it combines all of the skills and practices taught by MSU professors into one culminating event. This year’s event took ten months to plan and utilized the resources of 250 student volunteers working in all areas, such as management, sales, marketing, purchasing, finance, cooking, bartending, serving and more.

The evening commenced with a fabulous reception of hors d’oeuvres and champagne and was followed by a six-course meal. Flavors of South America was the theme of the evening and showcased the South American food experience. Students served up courses of Chilean sea bass with crab topping wrapped in a banana leaf, roulade of marinated flank steak filled with roasted peppers and spinach, and chorizo & smoked chicken tamales in corn husks. To round things off, for dessert a chocolate tulip filled with tropical fruits and a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake with Venezuelan ganache were served. It was a truly delightful experience that will not soon be forgotten.

Back Row From Left to Right: Mr. Gibbs; Karlah Gibbs, Health Care Human Resources Manager and MSU Relationship Manager; Kay Williams, Talent Acquisition; Kirsten Alonso. Front Row: Steve McQueen, Health Care District Manager; Mrs. McQueen

Seattle Pacific University Experiences a “Taste of Colombia” in an Exchange of Food and Culture

“It was amazing,” a group of students from Seattle Pacific University exclaimed as they finished their meal prepared by visiting Sodexo chef Joaquin Suárez. Students lined up to enjoy a delicious meal and experience a bit of the culture of Colombia.

The meal included fresh ceviche in martini glasses, Ajiaco Santafereno (three-potato soup), BBQ of passion fruit marinated chicken from the Sabana, Papas Bogota (mashed potato stuffed tomatoes) and, for dessert, banana flambe in chocolate sauce.

The event, which was open to the public, was sponsored by Sodexo, which provides dining services for Seattle Pacific University and more than 850 other colleges in the U.S. It is part of the company's month-long Global Chef Program. This program allows chefs from across the globe to share their culture and favorite dishes with the rest of the world.

Before joining Sodexo in 2001, Chef Suárez, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, was chef at a variety of venues, including the Hotel Tequendama Intercontinental of Bogotá, the Hotel Bogotá Plaza, the Hotel Oro Verde in Quito, Ecuador and the restaurant La Petite Ferme in New York City. He is currently National Director of Culinary Training for Sodexo South America. More »

Sodexo Embraces Earth Day on College Campuses across America by Going Trayless
By Kerry Noone, Marketing Communications Specialist

April 22nd marked the 28th anniversary of Earth Day, which is a worldwide campaign to protect our environment. Students on 300 college campuses served by Sodexo lined up to get their meals without the convenience of a plastic tray.

You may be asking yourself, "Why no trays?" The company’s studies show that when students use plates without trays, the amount of waste decreases by one ounce per plate. Furthermore, the environmental impact research shows that when trays are removed from dining locations, less food is wasted, less energy is consumed, and it reduces the amount of water and detergents used for washing the trays.

Trayless dining has so many unexpected benefits, and it's easy to achieve. Many of the approximately 600 campuses that Sodexo serves have already retired their trays. So far, the program has been embraced by Georgia Tech, Colorado College, Tulane in New Orleans, Georgia State, Rowan University in NJ and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. More »

Let a Career Find YOU with the Sodexo Job Search Widget

The Sodexo job search Widget delivers the most recent career options right to your desktop. Set your Widget to find openings in the state of your choice and reveal the most recent updates hourly, daily or any time that works for you.

All you need to do to get started is:

1. Visit widgets.yahoo.com/download and click Get Started Now to download Yahoo! software.

2. Download the Sodexo Job Search Widget Here.

If you are ready for a new position, a promotion or if you are looking to relocate, let our Widget find the right Sodexo opportunity for you.

Did You Hear Sodexo Has a Careers Blog?

Sodexo's Talent Acquisition Group recently created a Careers Blog to share stories about Sodexo and the people who work for Sodexo, much like this newsletter. While this blog is still young and not the official Sodexo corporate blog, it is Sodexo USA's "official" Careers Blog and it serves as an excellent opportunity for us to reach potential candidates and share our culture and what it might be like to work with us.

We’ve made it easy for you to stay in touch with Sodexo’s Talent Acquisition Group with e-mail delivery of our blog. By subscribing to this blog, you will be notified by e-mail whenever we post a new story to the blog. Follow these easy steps to subscribe to our blog. More »

> Past Issues

Don't allow spam filters to prevent you from receiving our newsletter. Please be sure to add our "From" address (TAG@sodexo.com) to your safe senders list.

We want to thank for your interest in Sodexo and we are eager to keep you informed regarding industry news and developments in our career environment. You can also network with us on:

Become a fan of our
Sodexo Careers page!

Subscribe to our
Sodexo Careers channel!

Join our Sodexo Careers group!

Careers Blog
Sign up to receive blog updates
by e-mail at our new blog site!