Certified Master Chef Brad Barnes is a 1987 CIA graduate. He returned to his alma mater in 2009. Chef Barnes is responsible for developing the curriculum of the college's production classes, including Seafood Identification & Fabrication, Meat Identification & Fabrication, Quantity Food Production, and Classical Banquet Cuisine; monitoring food quality; evaluating faculty; and responding to student concerns. He also participates in the design of the CIA's kitchen classrooms and conducts equipment research, evaluating emerging technology to meet the demands of the industry for quality volume production.
During his professional career, Barnes has been an executive chef, corporate executive chef, and business owner. He is the Certified Master Chef Committee chair for the American Culinary Federation, and is certified both nationally and internationally as an international judge. "NAFEM has created an information pipeline to fully understand how a chef thinks about equipment," Chef Barnes says. "This is urgently needed to equip for success in today's kitchens."
"NAFEM has enjoyed a decade-long relationship with the CIA and its esteemed faculty," said Deirdre Flynn, NAFEM's executive vice president. "By expanding the existing relationship and establishing the NAFEM professorship, we open doors for collaboration to better serve the needs of our respective communities."
The NAFEM Professorship will advance the discipline of food equipment and supplies studies in a global manner by exposing students and faculty to cutting-edge ideas. Under the direction of CIA Vice President–Dean of Culinary Education Mark Erickson, the NAFEM Professor will establish industry-wide authority on equipment and facilities design and strengthen the relationship among the CIA, NAFEM, its members, and food equipment and supplies manufacturers.
