Navigation for Food Service Management:

Meet the Instructors

Chef Mark Dowling prepares omelets for WKRS talk show

Meet the Food Service Management Instructors:



jorgeJorge Alvarez
jalvarez@clcillinois.edu
Jorge Alvarez, Industry Trainer, has being involved with food safety education and training throughout his 20 year career. Jorge currently works for the Lake County Health Department as a Sanitarian and is an approved ServSafe instructor through the National Restaurant Association as well as being an approved instructor and monitor for the Illinois Department of Public Health. Jorge is also approved to teach Basset for the hospitality industry. Jorge conducts classes both in English and Spanish.


jackJack Bress
jbress@clcillinois.edu
Since graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in Hotel/Restaurant Management, Jack has worked in several Hospitality fields; some of which include GM and Fand B Director of hotels, FSD at the University of Illinois and at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. After leaving management, Jack has worked as a Food Broker representing the top manufacturers in the industry. He currently teaches the FSM 110-Introduction to Professional Hospitality and FSM 213-Quantity Food Purchasing.


lynnLynn Destry
ldestry@clcillinois.edu
Lynn Destry is a first semester adjunct faculty member in the Food Service Management Program. She joins the department with over 25 years of food industry experience. Lynn's culinary background includes catering, corporate, contract, hotel, and university food service.

Prior to joining the College of Lake County, Lynn was Regional Executive Chef for Au Bon Pain (50 restaurants in five states), conducting employee training, teaching food safety, conducting restaurant quality audits and coaching, teaching and training culinary principles to both crew members and managers. Lynn is a graduate of Palatine High School, Purdue University, (West Lafayette, Indiana), an honors graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, New York), and is currently enrolled in coursework at CLC.

In her spare time, Lynn enjoys cooking, digital photography, home improvement projects, organic gardening and attending CLC Jazz Band concerts.


markMark Dowling
A.S., Culinary Institute of America
B.S., University of New Haven
M.B.A., Everest University
mdowling@clcillinois.edu
Mark Dowling, known as Chef Mark, is CLC's new instructor in food service management/culinary arts. He holds an A.S. in culinary arts from The Culinary Institute of America and a B.S. in hotel administration from the University of New Haven in Connecticut. He also earned an M.B.A. in hospitality marketing from Everest University. Mark spent seven years teaching at the community college level, five years teaching at proprietary colleges and eight years in administrative positions.

Mark says that preparation "is everything" in effective teaching and creating the "aha" moments. "I am prepared and I have a passion that is contagious," he said. "Building up to a crescendo is important... the 'piece de resistance' that the students want to see, whether lecture or lab. This is very important. It's the ham in me (onstage, that is!) That drives me to make every class as exciting as I can."

Mark and his wife Patra live in Carpentersville. They have one child, Brendan, age 17. In his spare time, Mark enjoys oil painting, using his Texas-style wood smoker for pork ribs and chicken and reading about gastronomy, wine-making and anthropology.


tomTom Maguire, CMP
tmaguire@clcillinois.edu
Tom Maguire is responsible for setting the strategic direction for Eventcom International. Since 1998, he has strived to create an organization that executes highly customized meetings and events while maintaining excellence in customer service standards. Today, his vision is still alive as he continues to be a driving force behind the growth and success of the division.

Throughout his 21-year career with Marriott International, Tom has been instrumental in consulting top companies in search of meeting technology and production solutions. Prior to joining Eventcom, he held a variety of diverse positions within Marriott including Sous Chef, Senior Event Manager, Director of Catering, and Director of National Catering Accounts and Videoconferencing.

In addition to being a dedicated Marriott employee, Tom has taught professionally for the past 15 years and is currently a part-time instructor at the College of Lake County. He is often asked to speak at various professional engagements on the subject of technology trends in the meeting industry.

Tom is a Certified Meeting Professional through Meeting Professional's International and is active in the ASAE (American Society of Association Executives), HTFP (Hospitality, Technology, and Financial Professionals), and SAMA (Strategic Account Management Association). Additionally, he has a Bachelor's Degree in Hotel Restaurant Management from The Culinary Institute of America.


micheleMichele Turcotte, M.S., R.D., LDN
mturcotte@clcillinois.edu
Michéle Turcotte has been a food and nutrition expert for over 12 years and is owner/president of A Perfect Plate, Inc. Most recently she was National Spokesperson for Enova™ brand cooking and salad oil (ADM Kao, LLC). Key objectives of this position included managing a network of registered dietitians (key influencer group that provided product education to peers and consumers), writing assignments for ads/journals, coordinating programming proposals, public speaking, attending national food and nutrition conferences and developing educational/promotional materials. In addition she has been a freelance food and nutrition writer for Trouvé Publishing Inc. since 2004. Prior to becoming a nutrition consultant, Michele was Manager, Careers and Student Services for the American Dietetic Association. In this role Michele founded and represented the national ADA student member organization; was involved in advertising and marketing of the dietetics profession; coordinated all student recruitment activities/member benefit initiatives and played a key role in growing ADA student membership by 17% in 2 years.

Currently, Michele is active in the Illinois Dietetic Association as the New Member Communications Representative. Her priority lies in promoting healthful food as a tool for living well, preventing disease and improving quality of life. Her passion is to promote wellness and disease prevention through both traditional and alternative approaches.

 
 
 
College of Lake County, 19351 West Washington Street, Grayslake, IL 60030-1198    (847) 543-2000