Advisory Board Member: A.K. Crump, Chair of the TASTE Awards, CEO of TasteTV

Bio: A.K. Crump is founder of TasteTV -- the world's first Multiplatform Digital Lifestyle Media Network, launched in 2004 as the Indie Food Channel. He is also the guiding visionary behind the TASTE AWARDS.

Prior to founding TasteTV, A.K. Crump applied years of strategic and tactical experience in market leadership at well-known companies such as Apple Computer, Sun Microsystems, Apropos Technology, SAP, Citadon, Asyst Technologies, Merck Pharmaceuticals, G.D. Searle, and AT&T.

A.K. Crump received his MBA from one of America's top-ranked business schools, and also holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance, and a Diplome of French Commercial Studies. He has authored bestselling books such as "The Cafes of San Francisco", "Chocolate French", and "The Best Waterfront Dining," as well as been editor and publisher of limited edition luxury tomes of international photographers such as "Incredible Eyes" and "Like Sand from Orchid's Lips."

Mr. Crump holds Inventor status with the U.S. Patent Office, where he is registered on several patents.

His business travels and projects have taken him to the four corners of the Earth, including to Tokyo, where he was interim Dean for the Akio Morita School of Business, named after the founder of the Sony Corporation, Akio Morita. He also holds a Doctorate Honoris Causa.

Advisory Board Member: Joanne Weir, Host of "Joanne Weir’s Cooking Class" on Public Television, Restaurateur

Bio: Joanne Weir is many things…a world traveler… a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author… a cooking teacher… a chef and television personality. In the second season of her new 26-part public television series, “Joanne Weir’s Cooking Class”, Joanne’s love of teaching cooking takes center stage. Her home kitchen is once again the classroom for each show as she works side-by-side with a real-world student for a hands-on cooking lesson. The student and viewer learn how to prepare a wide variety of Weir's latest wine country-inspired recipes, using the freshest and most seasonal ingredients available.

Awarded the very first IACP Julia Child Cooking Teacher Award of Excellence in 1999, Joanne shares a lifetime of experience that flavors everything she touches. Her first book, From Tapas to Meze (Crown, 1994,) was selected by Julia Child as one of her 12 personal favorites out of 1000 cookbooks published that year. From there she went on to publish a library of delights including a series of books for Williams Sonoma in 1997 called Seasonal Celebrations, You Say Tomato (Broadway Books 1998) and Weir Cooking, Recipes from the Wine Country (Time Life, 1999.) Her talents were finally brought to life in the PBS series “Weir Cooking in the Wine Country”, shot on location in the Napa Valley. The companion book, Weir’s More Cooking in the Wine Country (Simon & Schuster, 2001) went on to garner a James Beard Award nomination and an IACP Cookbook Award nomination. Joanne’s adopted hometown, San Francisco, is the culinary setting for “Weir Cooking in the City”, her 26-part PBS series and companion book (Simon & Schuster, 2004) for which she received a James Beard Award for Best Cookbook, General Category in 2005. A completely revised version of From Tapas to Meze (Ten Speed Press, 2004) was re-released with spectacular food photographs and won the 2004 Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best Mediterranean Cookbook. Joanne’s latest cookbook, Wine Country Cooking (Ten Speed Press, 2008) is the companion book to the second season of “Joanne Weir’s Cooking Class”, airing on public television in early 2009. Her most recent book is an exciting all-in-one reference guide, TEQUILA: A Guide to Types, Flights, Cocktails and Bites (Ten Speed Press, 2009).

Advisory Board Member: Tanya Holland, Host of "Melting Pot" on Food Network and the Cooking Channel, Restaurateur

Bio: Celebrity Chef Tanya Holland has been a visionary force in the culinary world for over 20 years. With an eye on elevating the cuisine of her heritage, Tanya pioneered the popular "new soul/southern cuisine" movement. Her incredible resume includes receiving a Grand Diploma from La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Burgundy, France; television host on The Food Network's Melting Pot (now showing on The Cooking Channel), cookbook author (New Soul Cooking ), culinary instructor, and much, much more. Tanya is the chef/owner of the legendary Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland, CA.

Tanya is currently on the Chef's Council for The Center for Culinary Development. In 2010, Tanya was inducted as a Les Dames d'Escoffier.

Advisory Board Member: Susannah Chen, Editor, YumSugar

Bio: As the editor of YumSugar, Susannah has up-to-the-minute knowledge on anything food-related, including the hottest food trends, celebrity chef news, and what to cook (and drink) for just about any occasion. Since she first started with Sugar Inc. in 2008, Susannah's roasted her own coffee beans at Starbucks headquarters, tossed Waldorf salads in the kitchen at New York's Waldorf=Astoria Hotel, and talked Thanksgiving trends on ABC. She's also interviewed dozens of top culinary personalities, including Alton Brown, Jamie Oliver, Gail Simmons, and Ruth Reichl.

Susannah came to Sugar Inc. with an degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. She's been cited in The Wall Street Journal and Salon, and has written about cuisine, culture, business, and fashion for a number of various outlets, from the Houston Press to BusinessWeek. When she's not writing or editing, she's on the hunt for the best cloth-napkin burger in San Francisco.

Advisory Board Member: Bobby Bognar, History Channel

Bio: TV Host and Bobby Bognar has been in the food service industry for over 25 years. His love of food and foodservice led directly to his stint as host of "Food Tech," on History Channel. "Food Tech" has been broadcast in over 15 countries and translated into over a dozen different laguages. Bobby is also an in-demand speaker, and has appeared in the US, Brazil, and Mexico, where he has lectured on agriculture, food, and foodservice.

Bobby owns a restaurant ("The Point") and a catering company in Los Angeles, and is currenlty developing two new television shows. Bobby and his Executive Chef wife, Mayet Cristobal, live in Hollywood, CA with their son Max.

Advisory Board Member: Stan Marvin, Director, KRCB Public Television

Bio: Stan Marvin brings over 40 years of broadcast and marketing experience to KRCB. Stan has been the Director of Broadcast Operations for KRCB Public Television since 1998. His department has recently won multiple regional Emmys for the nationally distributed environmental series “Natural Heroes.” Stan also successfully co-produced the 2005 LINCS funded “Smitten,” a Nancy Kelly production.

Currently, he is the Executive Producer for a monthly local music series, titled “KRCB Live!” Stan has been an on-air host for public television and radio as well as morning show host and news anchor for commercial radio and TV broadcasters on both coasts. He has owned and managed local radio and advertising-marketing businesses as well. Stan also shares his years of experience in marketing and advertising as the Marketing Director for KRCB.

Advisory Board Member: Ron Margulis, Managing Director, RAM Communications

Bio: Ronald Margulis is Managing Director of RAM Communications, a public relations firm based in Cranford, NJ. RAM Communications provides media relations counseling, trade marketing and editorial support to more than a dozen clients, including CHEP, Universal Ad, Ecolab, IGA, Real Time Freight, RW3 Technologies, Carttronics, Nat Sherman, VICS and NCR Teradata. Among the services offered are media relations, information sourcing, speech writing, issue research and analysis, editorial and design analysis, newsletter publishing, presentation and video scripting, marketing brochure and training manual production, focus groups and meeting planning.

With more than 1,000 articles published, Ron is also an accredited journalist. His writings on the food, retail, information technology and transportation industries have appeared in Canadian Business, Chicago Tribune, Cigar, Computerworld, Convenience Store News, Executive Technology, FT.com, Food Arts, ID, Sales & Marketing, Supermarket News, Washington Times and several other newspapers and magazines. As an editor and reporter, he has interviewed more than 50 CEOs of leading global companies and dozens of government officials including four US Cabinet Secretaries, the Governor of the Bank of England and the Treasurer of Australia. He has won numerous awards for his writing, has written more than one dozen industry reports/white papers and is contributing editor of three professional reference books. Harvard Business School Press published Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment, to which he contributed two chapters, in June 2002.

Ron graduated from George Washington University, earned his Master's in economics from New York University and studied journalism at University of London.

Advisory Board Member: Mary Orlin, Orlin Media, WineFashionista, Huffington Post

Bio: Mary Orlin is the WineFashionista, where she blogs about wine, food, fashion and fragrance. She is the James Beard Award and Emmy Award-winning co-founder of Orlin Media, specializing in video story telling for wineries. Mary blogs about wine and perfume on Huffington Post where she is a featured blogger. She also produces for the AOL “You’ve Got” video series about interesting and inspirational stories. Most recently Mary was the Executive Producer of the NBC show In Wine Country, which she launched 10 years ago, and is now in syndication. Prior to NBC, she was a producer on CNN Travel Now, a travel, food and wine show. She was also an editor for Zagat Survey, food and wine editor for the Palo Alto Weekly and a contributor to Travelocity Magazine.

Mary has earned the Certified Sommelier certificate from the Court of Master Sommeliers. She also passed both the Intermediate and Advanced level wine certifications from Wine & Spirits Education Trust. She’s been a wine judge at the Mendocino Crab & Wine Days, the California State Fair, Livermore Valley’s Taste of Terroir and the Santa Cruz Mountains wine competitions.

Advisory Board Member: Cedric Thurman, Senior Vice President, Jones Lang LaSalle

Bio: Cedric D. Thurman is a Senior Vice President with Jones Lang LaSalle, the world’s leading real estate services firm. Mr. Thurman has been with Jones Lang LaSalle since 2000. Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Mr. Thurman was Principal of the Alexander Management Group, a consulting firm providing general management consulting services to small business owners.

Mr. Thurman has also served as President of Beverly Bank-Chicago, part of Beverly National Bank Corporation, a financial services holding company with $650M in assets.

Mr. Thurman’s civic involvement includes the following: President’s Council for the Museum of Science and Industry (Membership Committee Chair); Junior Achievement of Chicago/Chicago Division Board; University of Illinois College of Business Alumni Board; a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow, Leadership Fellows Association Board; Mr. Thurman also serves on the editorial advisory board of Diversity Executive magazine, the advisory board for International High Achievers, a personal and professional development firm and the advisory board for the Tasty Awards, the premier broadcast awards show to celebrate the best in food and fashion programs on TV, in Film, and Online.

Advisory Board Member: Karen Marines, CEO, F.A.B. Public Relations

Bio: Karen Marines is the Founder/CEO of Food & Beverage, Inc (or F.A.B. PR), a PR and event planning company that caters towards talent, companies and events in the food and drink industries. Previously she ran all business and administrative aspects of Zane Lamprey Events, LLC, a company which she helped found. In addition to planning and executing events of varying magnitudes, she was also responsible for finding sponsorship opportunities, as well as creating marketing and PR opportunities and strategies for television host, Zane Lamprey.

For four years prior, Marines worked as the Manager of the Communications Department at the prestigious Endeavor Talent Agency. During the peak of Endeavor’s success, she was in charge of handling public relations for the company as well as the planning of large and small events. In addition, she was solely responsible for finding advertising opportunities in order to position the agency, as well as clients, in appropriate markets.

Marines is a graduate of California State University, Chico, and a currently resides in Venice, California.

Advisory Board Member: Stacey Bolden-Bowers, President, Bison Capital, Edvant Expo

Bio: Coming Soon