Mitchell Davis

Mitchell Davis is the Exeuctive Vice President of the James Beard Foundation, a cookbook author, a journalist, and a scholar with a Ph.D. in Food Studies from NYU. With the Beard Foundation for almost 25 years, Davis has created and overseen many of the organization’s most impactful initiatives, including the annual JBF Food Summit, a national dialogue of thought leaders on sustainability and public health, the JBF Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change, an advocacy training program for culinary professionals, and the JBF Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership program intended to correct the gender imbalance in leadership in the restaurant industry. In 2013, Davis led the team that was selected by the U.S. Department of State to create the USA Pavilion at the World Expo Milano 2015, for which he served as Chief Creative Officer, receiving commendations from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and First Lady Michelle Obama. More than 6 million Expo attendees visited the USA Pavilion’s exhibits on sustainabile agriculture, American food culture, and the future of food innovation and technology.

Davis frequently writes about and reviews restaurants. He holds a chair on the Academy of the London-based World’s 50 Best Restaurants, for which he oversees the region of eastern North America. He has written several cookbooks, including the ground-breaking e-book My Provence (Alta Editions) with Michelin three-star chef Laurent Gras, which won the IACP’s “Judges’ Choice” award in 2013, and the comprehensive guide to good cooking, Kitchen Sense (Clarkson Potter, 2006). Davis is a regular contributor to food and lifestyle publications, including Saveur Magazine and the Art of Eating.

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