"Our group has listened to every type of motivational or management speaker on the market. Your service brings a huge breath of fresh air to the training arena... Everyone got it!"
-Howard Hughes
Medical Institute
"Jim's a great motivator, a great speaker... we will certainly use CEO Chef again..."
 
-Southern California Edison

"...I have worked with CEO Chef many times and had great experiences at NBC/Universal...my new team (at Discovery) enjoyed it tremendously...! recommend this highly to anyone doing team building events."

-Discovery Communications

"...in over 30 years in the industry in sales, this the best by far!"

-Blue Shield Insurance

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Exciting Article on CEO Chef's New President,

Renee Gordon

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Media Room

 

  • Meet Our Team
  • The CEO Chef Philosophy
  • Our Program Design
  • Press Room
  • Links


Meet Our Team:


Jim Connolly, CEO & Founder

Chef Jim successfully blended together his hospitality and culinary skills along with his corporate training skills to create CEO Chef, the premier cooking team building and leadership development program in the U.S. Chef Jim has had the good fortune to work with some of America's top companies in the area of team building and leadership development. Chef Jim and his company continue to be recognized as leaders in their industry from fine publications and he continues to stretch his influence in building relationships through food and cooking with his reoccurring appearance on the nationally syndicated Dr. Phil show and "The Doctors." He will also be appearing in his upcoming series on the Bravo Channel, "Troubled Couples" and has authored 2 books, "French Tapas" and "Recipe to Your Team Success."

For a full Bio, click here

 

Renee Gordon, President

Renee Gordon has been a member of the CEO Chef team for almost 10 years starting as their in-house event planner to her current position as President of Operations & Client Relations.

She brings with her years of business, production and events experience especially as owner/operator of Ambrosia Gourmet Gifts and Catering of Beverly Hills, and operations manager and creative director for Donald Trump at one of his Trump International Australian properties. 

For a full Bio, click here

 

 

 

Sara Hoopes - Director/ Cinematographer/Editor

 

CEO Chef has recognized the trend of our clients to have visual media as a anchor to the success that their team’s enjoyed during their culinary team experience. This has prompted CEO Chef to “team-up” with Sara Hoopes of seeLIFEpictures as our in-house production company. Sara’s fresh, introspective approach to every project she embarks on offers you a product that is truly customized, intrinsically unique and exceeding of all expectations. 


Sara’s inspired sense of videography has taken her all over the world, filming projects in more than 30 countries from Europe to Australia, South America to the South Pacific. She is a graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography, where she earned her B.A. in film and video production. Sara’s first feature documentary, Cutting the Lines, a film that follows the story of 11 teenagers who sailed around the world in the 70s. Acclaim for the film earned her the role as producer and director on a series of personal documentaries and films for both private and professional distribution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Lee, IT

 

 

 

 

 

 


The CEO Chef Philosophy

 

Team transformation can only be preceded by group rapport. Nothing builds rapport quicker and more effectively than sharing a meal together! Think of all the celebrations and holidays where food is the main method of bringing families, friends and colleagues together (the original teams!) We believe through the use of food, cooking preparation and food stories, your teams are able to experience a business simulation that achieves your team outcomes in a rapid, effective and fun process.


Our Program Design:

 

CEO Chef is committed that our team building programs are fun, different, engaging and relevant to the message you want your team to take away

Fun!The fun is the first part of a high functioning team. While we take your business seriously, we know the benefit to providing a safe environment for you to bond together and let your hair down (well, maybe not around the food…)

In fact, many times we refer to our programs as “Recess for the hard-working corporate executive”. Meaning that if you think back to when you where a young student, what was your favorite time of the school day? Recess of course! Even though math, spelling, science were all important for knowledge, recess was the time you could “air it out” and recharge those learning batteries. And where do you think most relationships were being built? You got it, right there, during recess!  

Different – We haven't just recently jumped on the bandwagon of cooking team buildings – we've been creating programs and pleasing clients for over 16 years! 

We are the only culinary team building company whose programs and presentations have been designed by a highly experienced celebrity chef (Jim Connolly) with an extensive professional background in corporate training and presentations. So we understand the needs of our corporate clients, and know what does and doesn’t work.

During the actual training process, CEO Chef focus's on you and your people and your training outcomes that have been expressed to us before hand. Your participants in turn, focus on the food, their team project. And boy, does that focus create 4-Star quality food that any top chef would be proud to serve!

Other companies that may occasionally offer cooking team buildings tend to be catering companies, cooking or culinary schools or restaurants who offer cooking team building in name only. Their focus is not your teams development and the Chefs who may run the classes tend to look at this as just another cooking class. So the focus is on the Chef's food and his/her recipes, not the integrity of a true training development program. And you can't blame them, as Chef's, they are trained to focus on the food- its presentation, taste and overall appeal, not the responsibility to the development of leaders and corporate teams!

Engaging – Our programs are designed to create an environment of 100% participation. Because our culinary team experience requires creativity, resourcefulness, and collaboration to succeed, your group is motivated and inspired to participant at the highest level (not to mention hunger has a wonderful way of getting people focused on the goal at hand!)

Relevant – Your all important conference or meeting message and theme will be weaved throughout your program – from orientation through the final take away message. Because we are devoted only to the area of corporate culinary team building, we know what it takes to ensure your team's objectives are achieved!

 

Press Room

Press Kit

Information Package:

   Facts & History

   FAQ

   Testimonials

   Programs Offered

   Quick Reference to Programs

Press Clippings:

   Smart Meetings West

   American West Magazine

   Johnson & Wales Magazine

   MPI Magazine

   San Jose Mercury Magazine

   San Fernando Valley Business Journal 

 

Call now at (888) 673-2216 or Contact Us, for 
your FREE
 training evaluation for your company's next meeting, conference or team building day!