About ME:

I am a native of North Carolina. I was born on Thanksgiving Day, 1977. So it seems that I was destined to have a life and career centered around food. I own several cats, am a fan of any and all Pittsburgh related sports teams and I collect comics books. My current count is over 11,000 books.

I recently became the proud adoptive father of goats. Mine is named Moppet and my wife's is named Brickey. We visit them weekly and they've kinda become the unofficial mascots of my classes.

I graduated with a BA in History from NC State University. But a lifelong interest in food and a workplace injury inspired me to change careers. Before obtaining my degree in Restaurant Management and Culinary Arts, I briefly owned a hot sauce store in Orange County with my wife. 

Unfortunately, the economic crisis of 2008 resulted in my having to close my small business. But I went on to study the culinary arts at the Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham. After graduating in 2011, I began my career path by becoming a sous chef at BD Technologies Flik International Cafeteria in RTP. Later, I was a deli chef for a small town butcher in Hillsborough, NC and a restaurant manager for Duke's dining system before ultimately returning to the Art Institute in which I had graduated, as a chef instructor and storeroom manager. At Ai, I taught a variety of college level courses, including American Regional Cuisine, African and Middle Eastern Cuisine and Restaurant Management.

I have over 13 years experience in the culinary field. My areas of expertise are in garde manger, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, and culinary industry consultation. People ask me all the time what my favorite foods are to cook at home. My answer is Italian, Asian fusion and soups!

2024-25 begins my 6th year teaching at Chapel Hill High School. I look forward to adding Culinary III to our department curriculum. And with the official creation of our monthly café, potential caterings and the addition of a food truck to our kitchen arsenal, there will be many exciting challenges that await our Tiger family!

For those of you who may be a returning family to the Culinary Dept. along with our newcomers, I hope you will check out our new line of social media pages (click on the SOCIAL MEDIA tab to access links.) which we will use to highlight the amazing culinary work of our students and increase their networking status and marketability in the culinary segment of our local community! Also for those of you who've always wanted to compete in cooking competitions, check out our FCCLA tab for more information about this exciting Career Industry club that has a hospitality and culinary focus!

CERTIFICATIONS:

Servsafe Safe Food Handler
Servsafe Safe Food Manager
Sersafe Proctor
Servsafe Certified Instructor
Wilton Cake Decorating Level I & II