Title Director of Special Projects Company Rachael Ray Bio Andrew “Kappy” Kaplan is the Director of Special Projects for Rachael Ray, and is the Co-Founder and Director of Rachael Ray’s cooking and kids charity, Yum-o! He is also the Founder and CEO of Culinary Advisors LLC, a strategic culinary advisory service. Kappy is a partner of Aisle Ate by Flavour Gallery, a new food-inspired apparel line coming Winter 2015. Prior to working with Ray, Kappy served as a project manager for the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, overseeing the headline events including Kidz Kitchen and Burger Bash, while also managing the celebrity chef cooking demonstrations. Kappy also provided freelance support in production for additional Food and Wine events, such as the Annual Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado. Kappy is a professionally trained chef earning a culinary degree from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA); a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from Florida International University (FIU); and has deepened his background in nonprofit management as an attendee of the Stanford Nonprofit Management Institute. In his spare time, Kappy serves on the board for the City Harvest Leadership Council, as well as the Development Committee for the Academy for Global Citizenship in Chicago, Illinois. He also spends his time as a founding external advisory board member for the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Education and Research through his alma matter, FIU. He has lectured at the CIA/Harvard Healthy Kitchens Healthy Lives conference in Napa, CA, and FIU’s Tianjin University of Commerce in China. More information on Kappy can be found on his personal Twitter or Instagram: @onkappysplate.