Historical
Online General Meeting for 92nd Year of Worldchefs
PARIS August 17, 2020 – A monumental and historic event occurred on Saturday August 15, 2020 when the World Association of Chefs Societies (Worldchefs) held the 1st Online General Meeting during its 92nd Anniversary.
Presiding over the Online General Meeting was Worldchefs
President Thomas Gugler with 150 online panelists and attendees including the
Board of Directors, Committee Chairs, National Society Member Presidents,
Affiliate Members, Associate Members and Observers from over 120 countries with
varying time zones spanning the entire globe. The Sergeant of Arms for
the meeting was Neil Abrahams, Continental Director of
the Pacific Rim.
Highlights of the Online General Meeting
included the ratification and welcoming of 5 New National Society Members into
the Worldchefs family: Albanian Chefs & Cooks Association; Asociacion de
Chefs de El Salvador; Kuwait Chef Club; Association of Professional Chefs
Nigeria and Spanish Selection Association of Professional Cuisine.
The two finalists bidding to host the 2024
Worldchefs Congress, Singapore Chefs Association and Culinary
Association of Wales provided spectacular online presentations. By a very
close margin and winning the bid was the Singapore Chefs Association.
Congratulations from Worldchefs to the winners and we look forward to coming to
Singapore in 2024!
Worldchefs President Thomas Gugler announced
as runner up, the Culinary Association of Wales will have the opportunity to
host a prestigious Worldchefs Competition. It was later determined this new
international team competition would showcase culinary skills, inclusion and
opportunity. Congratulations to Wales for their incredible bid efforts and
Worldchefs looks forward to finalizing the competition details with you.
In reply to the plea by Worldchefs President
Thomas Gugler, National Society Members approved by majority vote, granting the
Russian Culinary Association the opportunity to host the 2026
Worldchefs Congress due to the cancellation of the 2020 Worldchefs Congress as
a result of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19. Worldchefs is proud of its
members for their compassion and understanding as we all look forward to going
to Russia in 2026!
Managing Director Ragnar Fridriksson provided
an overview of Worldchefs Activities, financial and budget review and details
previously circulated to the Members. World Chefs Without Borders Chairman
Willment Leong and Honorary Life Member Committee Chairman Murray Dick also shared
insights and details of their Committees.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, Worldchefs
President Thomas Gugler was proud to announce the Worldchefs Honorary Life
Member recipient, Awards, Medals and Recognitions. Worldchefs extends its
heartfelt congratulations to all the recipients!
Honorary Life Member – Ulla Liukkonen
(Finland)
Humanitarian Award – Philippe Frydman
(South Africa)
Education Award – Amro
Alyassin (UAE) and James Griffin (USA)
Communication Award
– Karen Doyle (Australia)
Lifetime Achievement Award – Eddy Fernández Monte
(Cuba)
Escoffier Award – Toshi Utsunomiya
(Japan)
President’s Award – Armand Steinmetz
(Luxembourg)
Worldchefs Lifetime Honorary Judge
Recognition: Gert Klötzke (Sweden)
Worldchefs Honorary Judge Recognitions:
Marco
Brueschweiler (Thailand)
Bruno Marti (Canada)
Aloyse Jacoby
(Luxembourg)
Frank Widmann (Germany)
President’s Medals:
The Late Claudio Ferrer
(USA)
Isaac Kofi Sackey (Ghana)
Stefu Santoso (Indonesia)
Shonah Chalmers (Canada)
Frank Fol (Belgium)
Irina Danilova (Russia)
Stuart McLeod (Great Britain)
Mike Pansi (Austria)
Stafford DeCambra (USA)
Rodrigo Ibanez Rojas
(Mexico)
Sam Timoko (Cook
Island)
Damir Crleni (Croatia)
Giuseppe Casali (Italy)
Guido DeBono (Malta)
Coovashan Pillay (South
Africa)
Arkady Ponomarev (Russia)
Eric Teo (Teo Thiam Lye)
(Singapore)
Chern Chee Hoong
(Malaysia)
Karlheinz Haase (Germany)
Worldchefs
President Thomas Gugler also extended his appreciation to SARCA President Yasser
Jad from Saudi Arabia for his ongoing support and for establishing together
the Saudi Arabian National Chef Association by awarding him with the Thomas
Gugler Merit Award.
In
his Closing Remarks, Worldchefs President Thomas Gugler thanked all the members
for their confidence and trust in supporting his presidency and the entire
Presidium for another 4 years. He also
thanked the Board of Directors, Committees, Corporate Partners and Head Office
team for all their efforts, support and contributions to Worldchefs.
Before the Closing of the Online General Meeting, Andy
Cuthbert, Continental Director of Africa and The Middle East invited everyone
on behalf of Emirates Culinary Guild to attend the 2022 Worldchefs
Congress in Abu Dhabi, followed by the official ringing of the Congress bell.
Throughout the Online General Meeting, participants
had the opportunity to ask questions to the Board of Directors through a chat
box followed by a 30 Minute Open Forum.
Worldchefs would like to thank Linh To
and Andreea Mocanu from the Worldchefs Head Office for all their efforts
towards making the 1st Online General Meeting such an outstanding
success!
Thank you to all the Worldchefs members from
around the world who joined online and via the Live Facebook feed. This
certainly was an exciting and historical moment for Worldchefs and we are happy
everyone joined to support and share in this incredible and momentous experience!
By Joining Together as One, We are Worldchefs
Proud!
For further information, contact office@worldchefs.org.
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