Judges
Lisa Burns

Lisa is a Commercial Relationship Manager for KeyBank in Burlington, VT working closely with the Bank’s food and beverage practice. Prior to living in Vermont, Lisa worked with the business offices of several New York based food and restaurant entrepreneurs including the Suarez Restaurant Group, the Kretchmer Group and the Bastianich family of restaurants. She enjoys all of the “farm to table” cuisine that local restaurants have to offer and sharing food from her husband’s garden with friends and neighbors.
Mark Burns
Mark is currently the Chef d’Cuisine of American Flatbread-Middlebury Hearth and has spent almost all of his professional career in the food business. Growing up in the family restaurant, Burns Country Inn, in Clifton, NJ provided Mark with a hands-on approach to all aspects of the food business from an early age. Mark moved on to work in New York at Tony May’s restaurant, Sandro’s, and owned Catherine’s Vine, a retail foodservice and catering operation in New Jersey. After relocating to Vermont, Mark first worked in the wholesale bakery of American Flatbread in Waitsfield and with Cloud 9 Catering. In his current role he has been able to develop deep relationships with farmers to source as many ingredients for the kitchen as possible locally. Mark has also completed the Master Gardener program and when not making food or growing it, he spends his time back-country skiing and hiking.
Cora Stearns
Cora lives in Wolcott with her mother, Heather, who is a potter, her father, Tom, who owns a seed company and her older sister, Ruby. She has always loved to cook. She also enjoys singing and hanging out with her friends.
Dustin Smith

Dustin is a classically trained chef and studied at the Culinary Institute of America. He later went on to complete a BA from Castleton University. Dustin currently works with the State of Vermont’s Agency of Education in Child Nutrition as a Child Nutrition Consultant. He also owns and operates the Morse Block Deli and Smith Catering Company. Dustin loves cooking, being outdoors, mountain biking and going on adventures.
Donnell Collins

Donnell met her first culinary mentor—Kay Rentschler, Chef Owner of the Storm Café—after moving to VT from CA before high school. Teaching her to love food and respect the process and business, Kay started Donnell on the path to where she is today. After attending culinary school at Newbury College she returned to VT and finished her internship at The Basin Harbor Club. A few years and kitchens later she helped open The Starry Night Café in Ferrisburgh. Returning to CA to work in Berkley, known at the time as the “gourmet ghetto”, Donnell honed her farm to table skills working first as a Sous Chef at Bistro Liason and then as a Chef de Cuisine at five-star restaurant La Folie in San Francisco. Ready for a change, Donnell returned to VT to join the team at Leunig’s Bistro where she is Co-owner and Chef today. She loves the process of taking raw ingredients and creating something really special with them, feeding people something delicious, and giving them a real experience with food. She enjoys cooking everything, from a complex 10-course meal to grilled cheeses for her daughters. She gets inspiration from everywhere and likes being able to communicate the feeling of her original inspiration through her dishes. Donnell believes dining should be an experience and, as with any form of art, should make you feel something.
Martha Seagrave

Martha's love of food started with waking to the aroma of her father’s fresh baked bread. While her passion began in the oven, her palate expanded over the years to celebrate all manner of food and food preparation. By day, she is a family medicine physician assistant and the Director of Medical Student Education Programs in Family Medicine at UVM. Her work has addressed health inequities, access to food, understanding individuals’ relationship with food and promoting nutrition education. She fervently believes that there are no “bad” foods, it is a matter of balance. In her down time she loves to cook, explore the local food scene, and taste with her husband! She has been an enthusiastic follower of the Jr Chef VT competition ever since her daughter participated in middle school and is excited to experience what these young chefs have to offer!
Lisa Pendolino

Lisa has a passion for food and loves to cook, especially with ingredients that come from her own garden. Her greatest passion is spending time with her two teenage kids and her husband. Skiing, sailing and traveling are their favorite family pastimes. Lisa is the Managing Director of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation. While she is not directly involved in making ice cream, she has an appreciation of what goes into making something that people enjoy while also giving back to the community. In addition she is thankful to the many farmworkers who pick the good food we put on our table. Lisa serves on the South Hero Land Trust Board of Directors, she co-leads her local school garden committee and is a former school board member. She is thrilled to be a 2016 Jr Iron Chef VT judge!
Julie Rubaud

Julie owns Red Wagon Plants, a plant nursery in Hinesburg, VT that focuses on organic edible gardening, sustainable landscaping, and herb growing. Her background includes lots of time in her father's restaurant kitchen as a teenager, chopping herbs and making salads. From there she went on to grow vegetables in Burlington's Intervale and on a farm in Starksboro, VT. Her plant nursery evolved out of a love of home gardening and cooking, and the desire to share that knowledge with customers. Julie loves Jr Iron Chef VT and the role it plays in getting kids excited about food and farming.
Randy George

Randy founded The Red Hen Baking Company in 1999 with his wife, Eliza Cain. Red Hen is known around Vermont for its line of certified organic, hearth baked breads which are baked and delivered daily throughout the state. Red Hen’s Middlesex café is known not only for their breads, but also for top notch pastries, soups and sandwiches--all made in-house.
Emily Simmons

Emily is the Director for Legal and Policy Services at the Vermont School Boards Association in Montpelier. She is a 2015 graduate of Vermont Law School. Emily is a Southerner by birth who moved to the Northeast for law school, and for skiing. She serves on the Harassment, Hazing and Bulling Prevention Council and the Justice for Children Task Force. Emily enjoys practicing recipes learned from her grandmother in Mississippi and cooking southern meals for her friends at her home in Montpelier.
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