September 2015 – Back to School
Posted: September 1, 2015
A Message from Your Industry Representative,
Where did the summer go? It’s time for “Back to School” across our great land. As we head into the fall, we have many activities that will keep us quite busy, including numerous state conferences and the Patron meeting on November 3rd. I hope all Patrons will attend! We are currently building the agenda, and if you were there last year, it will offer a very similar structure and highlights.
We are also starting a new year for the SNA Industry Advisory Council (IAC). As your representative on the Board, I chair the IAC. The other representatives can be found here. The IAC supports the Association’s mission and vision by providing input and recommendations from an industry perspective. Please reach out to me or SNA Staff Vice President of Business Development & Meetings Sherry Carrigan to let us know your ideas, concerns or questions. We want to represent you properly, and we need to know your thoughts. We last met at ANC in Salt Lake City, and our next meeting will be on November 2nd, the day before the Patron meeting in Washington, D.C. Some of the topics the IAC wants to address this year are: developing another state conference white paper, defining the role of industry at the National Leadership Conference, providing information on procurement challenges to the Procurement Task Force and reviewing proposed SNA sponsorship packages.
The IAC submitted a list of potential candidates to the Executive Team for the SNA Procurement Task Force that is expected to start working this fall. The announcement of the task force members should take place in the coming weeks.
Have a great “Back to School” season!
Sincerely,
Gary D. Vonck
SNA Industry Representative
Published in – Industry Insider: News from SchoolNutrition.org – September, 2015
About the Author:

Gary Vonck
VP - Education Division
Gary Vonck has been with KeyImpact since 2007, adding to an impressive 40-year foodservice career. His knowledge and passion for child nutrition are unsurpassed. Gary oversees the Education Division, which includes sales, bid, and commodity teams across the entire nation.
Gary is an active member of the SNA and was the first and only broker/agency representative on the School Nutrition Association’s Industry Advisory Board, as the appointed Industry Representative, in 2008 and again 2014. Gary has also served on numerous SNA Task Forces and co-chaired several SNA events. Gary was also on the NSFMI national advisory council. In January 2013, Gary was awarded the Silver Friend of Child Nutrition FAME Award.
Gary Vonck is based in Illinois and can be reached at gvonck@kisales.com.