Helene York
Faculty Bio
Course: Manufacturing, Co-Packing, Supply Chain, and Legal Contracts; Sustainability and Climate Change.
Now a private consultant after two decades as a supply chain innovator with global and national experience for Bon Appetit Management Company, Compass Group at Google, and Guckenheimer Enterprises, Helene has made a career of questioning business as usual, partnering with chefs, and building trust among suppliers and distributors to move in new directions.
At Bon Appetit, she developed new produce, seafood, meat, chocolate, snack, and coffee supply chains, and developed the Low Carbon Diet, the first U.S. national program to implement climate-friendly menus. The key ingredient to this successful program was partnering with chefs, the “choice editors” of our food system.
As Global Director of Responsible Business for Compass Group at Google, Helene led a supply chain team supporting 60 restaurants and 300 micro-kitchens in Silicon Valley. She supported on-the-ground procurement officers in 27 countries and led the implementation of food waste reduction technology and practices across the world. Chefs again, were her key partners.
At Guckenheimer she served as Chief Procurement Officer and as Head of Social and Environmental Responsibility. She developed and won support for a broadly responsible procurement strategy that embedded shared value and profitability, supporting chefs’ ability to continue to serve delicious options, responsibly.
She has visited countless farms, fisheries, and processors across the world in pursuit of understanding levers of change and creating channels for byproducts dismissed as “waste.” She takes pride in having coached numerous emerging food business leaders and smallholder farms get a foothold supplying contract food service.
Helene has served on numerous boards including Humane Farm Animal Care (animal welfare), Chef Ann Foundation (school nutrition), Fishchoice (traceability/sustainability), and Project Open Hand (food as medicine). She graduated from Harvard College and the Yale School of Management.
Courses, Events & Writings
INNOVATION INTENSIVE: Building Supply Chains for a Sustainable Future
Building Supply Chains for a Sustainable Future will help food business leaders design supply chains through a systems approach that takes into account the interconnected forces of climate change, global food production, responsible sourcing, and distribution. Advantages and inefficiencies of existing supply chains, state-of-the-art procurement systems, and practical roadmaps for profitable sustainability will all be covered in this course.
