ABOUT US
Who We Are
The Food Service Wellness Institute™ (FSWI) brings together organizations, leaders and visionaries, forming a strong united front for onsite dining to seize wellness opportunities, address concerns, and influence change including industry policy, guidelines, benchmarks and standards.
We empower onsite foodservice providers to deliver their unique approaches to wellness with greater efficiency and proficiency through certified wellness standards for excellence providing a framework for best in class wellness programming.
By providing wellness expertise, support, guiding principles and a clear benchmark for excellence, we transform wellness into a valuable industry growth vehicle, enhancing it's value proposition by facilitating effective integration between onsite dining and organizational wellness.
One of the biggest wellness obstacles for onsite dining is the confusion, lack of support and direction.
This prevents the industry from truly understanding how to address wellness and maximize success. Until now, we have lacked wellness education, support, tools and resources that are strictly focused to onsite dining. This institute fills the gap by providing onsite dining with standards and benchmarks for wellness excellence and the skills, expertise and support they need to deliver best-in-class wellness programming with command and confidence.
Franceen Friefeld, RDN., P.H.Ec. CEO, Board Chair,
The Food Service Wellness Institute™
Meet Our Executive Board Of Directors
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Richard Arakelian, CEC
As Vice President of Global Offer Development and Deployment at Sodexo, one of the largest global foodservice companies, Rich is an industry leader in Culinary program development, with strong expertise in Wellness and Sustainability, Marketing, and Operations. He has an exceptional ability to develop and facilitate high performing teams, interface with clients and key suppliers partners.
After completing his education at The Culinary Institute of America, Rich continued his culinary training through apprenticeships in some of the country’s finest restaurants. This combined education led to successful positions in several different venues within private clubs, fine dining and contract food service.
Franceen Friefeld, RDN., P.H.Ec.
Franceen’s work is backed by over 35 years of experience as a dietitian-nutritionist in the foodservice arena, motivational speaker, 3-time published author, media professional, and TV food show host.
Franceen has implemented healthy dining and wellness programs in over 6,000 locations across North America and supports organizations with wellness strategy, positioning and programming. She offers consumer-centric solutions that drive participation, sales, and customer retention and ensures that organizational changes to incorporate wellness are sustainable, and profitable.
Cited as one of the top speakers and wellness strategists for the foodservice industry, Franceen is an empowering and entertaining speaker who presents at conferences nationwide. She brings her food industry knowledge to audiences through her public speaking, books, and broadcast media appearances.
Franceen is the co-author of "The Healthy Weigh" (featured on bestsellers) and "Fill Up Not Out®", which has been rated one of the top nutrition books by aboutnutrition.com. Her third, most recent book is titled "Healthy Meals for Your Busy Life Cookbook".
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Rebecca Johnson, MS, CHWC, TWCC
Rebecca Johnson is a seasoned expert in individual and organizational wellbeing. Blending her educational background in psychology and mental health with the practical knowledge she has gained from 25 years of experience in health promotion, Rebecca brings a unique perspective and skillset to her work with companies ready to transform their culture.
Rebecca is the co-founder and Chief Integration Officer of ViDL Solutions, a company that works with employers looking for meaningful solutions for improving both organizational culture and employee wellbeing. She is recognized as a leader in her industry and can often be found speaking at conferences, contributing to professional papers or delivering trainings for peers.
At work and in her personal life, Rebecca is an innately energetic and positive person interested in learning, growing and contributing to the lives of others. When she’s not working, Rebecca enjoys the simplicity and contentment of time with her children, family and friends; books, podcasts; yoga; running and nature.
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Robert Maluso, CEC
Robert Maluso is the executive chef and vice president of culinary at SSP where he is responsible for driving culinary innovation and creativity within each of SSP America’s brands throughout the United States and Canada. He leads the formation of new, in-house creative brands, takes leadership of SSP America’s culinary staff, and nurtures and develops further relationships with local chefs and restaurant partners.
Maluso is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has more than 30 years of experience in catering, fine dining, event management and corporate services. He previously served as culinary director for Sodexo; while there, he was responsible for developing wellness and culinary programs that supported more than 1,000-plus corporate services account nationally. He has spearheaded the development and implementation of wellness initiatives, including Mindful by Sodexo which received the Best Concept Award from Food Management. Prior to joining Sodexo, he was division executive chef for Eurest Dining Services, a division of Compass Group.
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Sean McCaffrey, B.A.
Sean brings over 20 years of progressive experience within the service industry and currently manages multiple locations in the managed dining services arena for NexDine. He has notable success in building brand identities and creating vivid dining environments including jumpstarting over 40 new corporate cafes and private schools from the opening phase. He has personally overseen operations for premier clients including the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C, the John Hancock Tower in Boston, and Bridgewater Associates in Connecticut. Sean has also served as regional director of merchandising and standards and brings his understanding of communicating the café’s purpose to guests to the board of directors for FSWI.
Sean is passionate about the details of food and the guest experience and works to ensure that each client has a dining program tailored to their particular location. He is instrumental in weaving in operational goals to the client’s site including building employee retention and wellness via the corporate café. He is committed to setting high expectations and raising service standards and enjoys training and coaching of his team to allow them the opportunities to grow and succeed. Sean earned his B.A. in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, including hiking, travelling, and exercising with their dog. Additionally, he is an avid golfer and gardener that loves to share his passion for food with family and friends.
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Tony Morro, MBA, B.A. Foods & Nutrition
Tony Morro is currently Category Director, Human Experience in JLL’s Supply Chain and Procurement Group. Based in Southern California, Mr. Morro has 35 years of experience in the corporate dining, hospitality, and the workplace service industry. In his current capacity, Mr. Morro provides leadership and direction to JLL food/hospitality programs globally and leads the strategic supplier relationships in this category which has grown to roughly $400 million in managed volume across more than 90 accounts. He also manages the office services category that includes services such as security, mail room, reception, and managed print in support of all JLL America’s business lines and clients.
Prior to joining JLL, Mr. Morro was Principal of Food Industry Solutions, LLC (FIS), a consulting organization that helped clients achieve success in areas such as food safety, operational efficiency/profitability, business development, and vendor management.
Over his career, Mr. Morro has also held food service executive positions in 3 distinct industries, including Commercial Banking, Pharmaceutical, and Computer Software. Organizations he has worked for include Bristol Myers Squibb, Microsoft, Marine Midland Bank (now HSBC), and Compass Group.
He is a current board member of IFMA’s Hospitality Council and a former board member of the Society for Hospitality and Food Service Management (SHFM).
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Sherie Nelson, MBA, RDN
Sherie Nelson, MBA, RDN, believes food service is the gateway to teaching Americans how to eat for their health. As the Wellness Director at Elior North America, she has the remarkable opportunity to bring her strong belief that food influences health to a large audience – over 1 million customers daily. With over 16 years of nutrition, wellness, and food service experience, she currently leads all nutrition and wellness programs and initiatives within all Elior groups, including healthcare, higher education, business dining, and K-12, plus employee wellness. Sherie is a registered dietitian nutritionist and has an MBA and Masters in Arts of Management from the College of St. Scholastica.
When not promoting wellness, Sherie is practicing it in her daily life. Cooking and eating well takes the center of her plate next to the time she spends on a mountain bike, chasing her beautiful red and white Siberian husky down dirt and snow-covered trails.
