Sunday, May 31, 2026

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear directly from our NACAS CEO, National Board President, and NACAS West President. This Town Hall will cover important updates, share progress on key initiatives, and provide a look ahead at what’s next for our organization. The session will include time for audience questions and open dialogue.

Speakers:

Joseph Pearson, CASP
Executive Director Auxiliary Enterprises
Central Washington University
Scott Seagren, CASP / CFO, University of Iowa 
Rich Steele, CASP / CEO, NACAS

As higher education seeks innovative and dynamic ways to elevate the experience for students and the broader campus community, campus store operators must evolve to play a more significant role in helping to shape those experiences and support the highest priority goals of the institution. This session, featuring Ryan Adelman-Sessler Director, Business Development & Commercial Activities at the University of California, Berkeley and Aaron Beckmann, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Barnes & Noble College, explores a transformative campus retail model designed to modernize the bookstore environment, heighten the retail experience, and create a center on campus that serves as a destination that delivers measurable value to students, faculty, and the broader University community.

Speakers: 

Gene King, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Barnes & Noble College
Ryan Adelman-Sessler, Director of Business Development & Commercial Activities at the UC Berkeley Student Union, University of California, Berkeley

Auxiliary leaders are feeling the squeeze: delivering high-quality dining experiences while protecting margins, all amid staffing constraints and increasingly volatile commodity markets. Protein is where these pressures are showing up most clearly. Since 2021, beef prices rose by as much as 40%, with chicken prices up approximately 27%. Looking ahead, prices are likely to remain high or continue rising due to market concentration, price fixing, and profiteering by major processors. At the same time, the broader nutrition conversation is evolving. Recent dietary guidelines and the scientific advisory report have emphasized a balanced protein intake, incorporating protein from both plant and animal sources, with specific attention to whole foods vegetable protein, such as legumes/beans as a core option. Drawing on insights from CU Boulder’s institutional experience, this session explores how plant-rich and mixed-protein approaches can act as a practical risk-management strategy for campus dining operations. Panelists will examine what “balanced protein” looks like in practice and how these approaches can help stabilize and reduce costs while continuing to meet student expectations for taste, satisfaction, and nutrition. Presenters will share per-gram protein cost comparisons, real-world menu examples, and insights into marketing and communications strategies that support student acceptance. An auxiliary leader from CU Boulder will join the panel to offer an institutional perspective on rising protein costs and how campuses are responding in practice. Also joining the panel is Jennifer Channin, Executive Director of the Better Food Foundation, a nonprofit that helps hundreds of institutions, including colleges and universities, shift to more sustainable food systems by providing training, educational resources, and facilitating connections between campus dining and auxiliary services, student, academic and community stakeholders. She will share insights on low-friction implementation strategies, available from dozens of nonprofit organizations, to help universities seamlessly transition to more plant-rich dining. The session will be moderated by the NACAS Plant-Rich Program team.

Speaker: 

 Sid Mehta, NACAS NexGen Dining

Speaker: 

Amber Grenhart
Director, Student Union and Event Services
Fort Lewis College | Student Union and Event Services

The three-year closure of the Student Union at California State University, Long Beach as part of the Future U renovation eliminated the campus’s primary dining hub and significantly disrupted auxiliary revenue streams. This session examines how auxiliary services redesigned its dining model to maintain food access, stabilize operations, and manage financial risk during a prolonged facility shutdown. Without a centralized food court, the campus implemented a decentralized dining network, including food trailers, pop-up vendors, expanded vending programs, food trucks, and a campus farmers market. Rather than replicating the former Union model, leadership prioritized speed to deployment, operational flexibility, and strategic placement in high-traffic areas across lower and upper campus. Site selection and service hours were guided by student traffic patterns and demand data to protect transaction volume and ensure reliable service coverage. Execution required coordinated oversight across compliance, facilities, and technology. The Long Beach Department of Health Services supported permitting and regulatory approval, Campus IT ensured connectivity and point-of-sale reliability, and Beach Building Facilities Management managed utilities, site preparation, accessibility, and safety standards. At the same time, core auxiliary operations—including maintenance, waste management, vendor coordination, and daily logistics—continued to operate seamlessly behind the scenes. Financially, the shift introduced significant pressure. The loss of centralized dining reduced overall revenue concentration, while temporary food trailer operations often carried higher fixed monthly costs than realized returns. Rising food and labor costs, combined with student feedback about affordability, highlighted the importance of perceived value. In response, auxiliary leadership partnered with vendors to create clearly defined Value Meal options, offering consistent, budget-conscious pricing across all temporary locations. Strategic decisions focused on balancing student access and satisfaction with long-term auxiliary sustainability. This session provides a practical operational and financial case study for managing auxiliary dining during extended infrastructure disruption. Attendees will gain actionable insights into decentralized dining models, vendor management under cost pressure, value-driven pricing strategies, and the financial tradeoffs required to maintain student services during major capital projects. The lessons are directly applicable to universities planning renovations or temporary closures of primary dining facilities.

Speakers:

Iraida Venegas, MBA
Director, Commercial Business & Service Operations
CSU Long Beach
John Barcelona
Strategic Business Coordinator
CSU Long Beach

Speakers: 

Andrew Arentowicz | 50/50 Foods
Tracy Keller | B&N College
Ricky Castaneda | Agilysis

Monday, June 1, 2026

Everyone is talking about AI. But what does it actually look like when you put it to work? In this session, I’ll share a real-world, hands-on approach to using AI to improve operational excellence across auxiliary services. Using Marketing & Communications as a case study, I’ll walk through how I built simple AI agents to handle repetitive tasks such as drafting communications, synthesizing notes, creating reports, organizing data and supporting project planning — freeing up time for higher-value, strategic work. While the examples come from MarCom, the process applies to any role with recurring workflows. I’ll also cover how these agents were introduced to our team, how we encouraged adoption and how we embedded AI into everyday operations without disrupting existing processes. Attendees will get an honest look at what worked, what didn’t and how small, intentional changes led to stronger productivity, better continuity across projects and a more empowered team. And yes — AI helped write this session proposal. By offloading repetitive drafting and refinement, I was able to submit this program a full day ahead of the deadline while juggling competing priorities. It’s a simple but powerful example of how practical AI adoption creates real capacity, not just conversation. This session is designed for campus professionals who want practical examples they can adapt immediately — no advanced technical background required.

Speaker: 

Ellen Curtis, AED, Marketing and Communications; Cal Poly Partners

Four-year residential colleges are under increasing pressure to deliver auxiliary services that perform financially while also strengthening student experience, campus life, and institutional identity. Legacy bookstore and retail dining models, typically conceived and operated as separate, siloed enterprises, are increasingly misaligned with how residential students live, move, gather, and engage throughout the day and into the evening. This session presents the business case for a Next-Gen Campus Store built on the intentional conflation of the campus store and residential dining. Rather than operating food service, merchandise, and convenience retail as independent units, this model integrates them into a single, purpose-built environment engineered for residential behavior, extended dwell time, and predictable, repeatable revenue performance. Grounded in decades of SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE™ and high-performing campus retail principles, the Next-Gen Campus Store aligns menu strategy, beverage programs, merchandise mix, and space planning into one financially disciplined ecosystem. Participants will examine why traditional bookstore and food court models consistently underperform and how a behavior-driven approach produces higher throughput, improved margins, and operational clarity. The session explores beverage refill programs as primary margin drivers; breakfast, evening, and late-night service as essential residential dayparts; grab-and-go food strategies that control labor and waste; and intentional merchandising adjacencies that increase transaction value while reinforcing campus identity. Beyond financial performance, the conflated campus store functions as both a cultural anchor and a long-term brand builder. Through daily interaction with residential dining, branded reusable vessels, program- and identity-based merchandise, seasonal storytelling, and visible sustainability practices, students repeatedly experience the institution’s values in meaningful, habitual ways. These repeated touchpoints create a lifelong brand halo, one that follows students from orientation through graduation and into alumni life, where dining programs and campus merchandise become enduring symbols of connection, pride, and belonging. Attendees will leave with a clear, transferable framework for piloting and scaling a next-generation campus store model that strengthens auxiliary performance while meaningfully enhancing residential campus life.

Speakers:

David Porter, CEO, President; PLC | Porter Khouw Consulting, Inc.
Madison Porter, Sales & Marketing Associate; Porter Khouw Consulting

Speakers:

Jane Lynn Bergers | VitalSource
Leslie Gerretse | Webb Foodservice Design
Joey Roberts | Elior Collegiate Dining

Speaker:

Elysa Reichert, Manager - Auxiliary Services | Auxiliary Enterprises, Finance; Gonzaga University

Conflict is an inevitable undercurrent in any team, but it doesn’t have to be destructive. When silos emerge and communication breaks down, institutional currents can sabotage even the most talented groups, causing them to drift rather than move forward with intention. Success demands steady leadership to navigate the shifting tides of institutional change. As auxiliary teams maintain direction while the landscape evolves, the ability to break down silos and foster workforce resilience is more critical than ever. When handled with structure and clarity, difficult conversations become the foundation for progress rather than disruption. By providing anchored leadership, managers can help teams find their footing during organizational shifts, ensuring that conflict fuels innovation instead of hindering it. In this presentation, Vanessa Zamy, The Business Defibrillator and Workplace Wellbeing Champion, provides practical strategies to strengthen clarity when expectations feel fluid and turn moments of disruption into structured momentum. Participants will gain tools for leading with structure when the currents feel strong, building a culture of anchored communication and navigating challenging conversations with confidence. It’s time to create stability in motion and ride the waves to success.

Speaker:

Vanessa Zamy, 
CEO & Global HR Advisor; LiberationX Contracts

Operational excellence is often associated with large teams, layered management structures and complex infrastructure. But what does excellence look like when your team is two people and your portfolio exceeds $100 million? This session is designed for mid-level managers charged with delivering high-impact results amid limited staffing and growing institutional expectations. In four years, a two-person real estate department built the governance framework, financial controls and operational systems required to manage a nine-figure portfolio of commercial assets and faculty and staff housing without expanding administrative overhead. Designed for mid-level auxiliary leaders facing rising expectations and limited staffing, this session outlines the practical structures and scalable systems that enabled disciplined growth within a lean team. Rather than focusing on theory, this presentation outlines the practical decisions that enabled disciplined growth and institutional credibility, including: •Establishing governance and approval pathways that strengthen executive and board trust •Designing financial oversight models that ensure transparency and mitigate risk •Creating standardized workflows for vendor management, capital planning and asset oversight •Developing performance reporting that aligns with senior leadership priorities •Leveraging strategic marketing and communications to build institutional confidence and advance complex real estate initiatives Participants will leave with actionable strategies to structure lean teams for complex asset management, define service expectations across campus partners and balance long-term development with day-to-day operational demands. This case demonstrates that operational excellence is not defined by team size. It is built through intentional systems, clear accountability and financial discipline that support sustainable growth.

Speakers:

Kali Nowakowski, Marketing and Communications Coordinator; Cal Poly Partners
Jen Michels, Real Property Operations Manager; Cal Poly Partners

Partnerships rooted in students’ values, needs, and experiences are powerful tools for promoting the institution’s mission and driving engagement. By aligning operational excellence with purpose, campuses can create authentic connections that enhance belonging, satisfaction, and success. Gonzaga University’s collaboration with Sodexo demonstrates how a shared commitment to inclusion, flexibility, and innovation can transform dining into a catalyst for community, wellbeing, and mission-driven impact. Through 67 years of collaboration centered on Gonzaga’s Jesuit values and bolstered by trust, flexibility, and creativity, Gonzaga and Sodexo have built a partnership grounded in hospitality, inclusion, and innovation. Together, Gonzaga and Sodexo have created a campus dining program that encourages meaningful connection by offering moments of comfort, culture, and community through food. This session will spotlight strategies for building and maintaining long-term, strategic, mutually beneficial partnerships that support the campus’s vision and goals. Learn how partnerships created around mission alignment and enthusiastic collaboration drive recruitment, retention, and success. With insightful data and vivid examples, this session will illustrate how dynamic partnerships contribute to vibrant campus culture and student engagement. Attendees will hear stories of dining employees who have become trusted mentors and friends to students, see how facility design reinforces inclusion, and discover how Sodexo applies extensive data and insights to meet Gonzaga’s unique needs and ensure students always feel seen and heard. One example is Gonzaga’s Hemmingson Center, which boasts a robust student-centric hub and includes retail bistro-style locations, a vibrant resident dining hall, elevated catering services, and customizable spaces that celebrate individuality while fostering community. Through open, inviting design and emphasis on personalization, local sourcing, and sustainability, campus dining provides crucial gathering points where students, faculty, and staff share not only meals, but moments of connection and belonging. Join us to discover strategies for aligning operational excellence with institutional mission to enhance the campus experience and support student and institutional success.

Speakers:

Pat Clelland, Resident District Manager, Zag Dining at Gonzaga (Sodexo Campus)
Christina LeMin, Director of Offer Development; Sodexo Campus
Elysa Doss-Reichert, Auxiliary Services Manager, Gonzaga University

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Speaker:

Ellen Curtis, AED, Marketing and Communications; Cal Poly Partners

For university auxiliary leaders, the question is no longer whether to expand plant-rich offerings, but how to design menu systems that are structurally viable both financially and operationally. While many initiatives focus on culinary inspiration, true long-term success is found in the "back-end" architecture of the dining program: the menu cycle. This session moves beyond individual dish execution to explore the menu cycle as a strategic lever for cost management and institutional alignment. Using data-driven examples from industry representatives (FSI) and with input from the UCLA and UC Merced culinary leaders, our panel of culinary and procurement experts will demonstrate how to redesign 4–6 week menu cycles to normalize plant-rich defaults, reduce exposure to volatile animal-protein commodities, and drive improved dining margins without taking away choice and compromising student satisfaction. Participants will examine the "Nudge Technology" of menu architecture that shifts from opt-in plant-based items to embedded, mixed-protein models and optimized protein ratios. By aligning procurement decisions with menu planning, administrators can move from "reactive" contracting to "proactive" structural design, ensuring a dining program that is resilient, cost-effective, and culturally normalized. We invite attendees to present their current menu challenges to a closing discussion with our panel, where we will workshop real-time solutions to identify specific, high-impact ideas for strengthening your institutional menu cycles.

Speakers:

Dr. Shabnam Islam; Ed.D, Academic Director; Greener by Default
Joey Martin, Senior Executive Chef for UCLA Dining; UCLA
Nevin Koepnick, Chef; UC Merced

The University of Utah launched a campus-wide operational excellence effort aimed at providing a pathway for turning old and new ideas into actionable projects. The outcome has enhanced operations and processes, improved the campus community experience, generated new revenue, and realized cost savings. Meant to be a cultural change, rather than a one-time effort, auxiliary service divisions have been actively participating and have experienced both challenges and successes in the process. Hear what we have done and what we have learned.

Speaker: 

Jenn Reed, MPA, CASP, Senior Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services & Operations; University of Utah

Does your dining or auxiliary program feel like it’s always running, but never truly improving? Many campus service teams are navigating a constant cycle of urgent issues: staffing constraints, aging facilities, technology gaps, customer complaints, and competing stakeholder expectations. The challenges are real, the list is long, and the pressure is high...yet the hardest part often isn’t identifying what needs to change. It’s deciding what to tackle first, with limited time, labor, and capital. In this interactive session, Webb Foodservice Design will share a practical, repeatable prioritization framework for turning a long backlog of needs into a clear, achievable roadmap. Instead of leaving prioritization to whoever is loudest, most urgent, or most frustrated, participants will explore how to create alignment using a structured approach grounded in both operational reality and student impact. Together we’ll examine what “high impact” truly means (for students, staff, and operations), how to account for constraints and sequencing, and how to move from ideas to execution without burning out your team. Join us as we work through a realistic dining program scenario, evaluating competing initiatives. Audience participation will be built in through live polling and facilitated discussion, allowing participants to compare how peers across institutions prioritize similar challenges, and why. Attendees will leave with tools they can use immediately on their own campuses to create clarity, build stakeholder buy-in, and translate “too many priorities” into a focused action plan.

Speakers:

Leslie Gerretse, Planning Manager; Webb Foodservice Design
Robin Hungerford, Principal; Webb Foodservice Design

*Schedule is subject to change