And the educators are:

Kenneth Bourgoin, CEC (Southeastern Region). Bourgoin, a chef-instructor at Valencia Community College, Orlando, Fla., since 1998, has coached the school’s competition team for seven years, leading students to win five state bronze medals, two silver medals and state championship titles in 2008 and 2009. He has been an ACF member since 1990, and is a member of ACF Central Florida Chapter.

Prior to joining the staff at Valencia Community College, he worked as operations manager/executive chef at Visual Cuisines, Altamonte Springs, Fla.; as executive chef at Edibles Etc. Corporate Catering, Altamonte Springs; and as prep chef at Walt Disney World parks and resorts, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Bourgoin earned an associate degree in culinary arts from Southern New Hampshire University.

Jeffrey Brown, Ed.D., CEC, CCE (Western Region). Brown is an associate professor at The Collins College of Hospitality Management at California Polytechnic University, Pomona. With more than 35 years of experience in the foodservice industry, he has worked at culinary schools throughout the country, from Santa Barbara City College to Johnson & Wales University, Charleston, S.C. Career highlights include working as personal chef to King Hussein of Jordan and the royal family and as general and district manager of Velvet Turtle restaurants, Menlo Park, Calif.

A member of ACF Southern California Inland Empire Chefs & Cooks Association, Brown has been an active ACF member since 1979, and has served on numerous boards. He is also a member of Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education, and the National Restaurant Association. He is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and holds a bachelor’s degree in hotel restaurant management from Webber College in Babson Park, Fla., a master’s in higher-education administration from West Virginia University, and a doctorate in education in curriculum theory from Georgia Southern University. In 1995, he was named ACF Pittsburgh Chapter’s Chef Educator of the Year.

Maureen Costello-Garfolo, CEC, CCE (Northeastern Region). Costello-Garfolo is a chef-instructor at Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Pittsburgh (formerly Pennsylvania Culinary Institute). Even after being told by her grandmother that cooking was a fine avocation, but that it was not a vocation, Costello-Garfolo decided to pursue her passion of culinary arts. She was a first-year English student at La Roche College, Pittsburgh, when she requested an application from The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y. (The school began accepting applications from women a year prior.) She graduated with honors with an associate degree from the CIA and later earned a bachelor’s degree from Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh.

Costello-Garfolo was executive chef at Canteen Corp., Pittsburgh, for 13 years. She has been a culinary instructor at Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Pittsburgh for 23 years. Her many career highlights include being named ACF Pittsburgh Chapter’s Educator of the Year in 2008, winning the L’Esprit d’ Excellence Award in 2008 and coaching three Baron H. Galand Culinary Knowledge Bowl teams from Pittsburgh, 2007-2009. She has been an ACF member since 1973 and has served on ACF Pittsburgh Chapter’s board of directors as its first vice president and sergeant-at-arms.

Timothy Meyers, CCC, CCE (Central Region). Meyers is a chef-instructor at the College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Ill. Before joining the College of DuPage, he was program coordinator at the Technology Center of DuPage, Addison, Ill., and Lake County High School Technology Campus, Grayslake, Ill. He is a graduate of The School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College, Chicago, and has a master’s in business administration from Aurora University, Aurora, Ill. Meyers has worked in the hospitality industry for 19 years, including with Hyatt Hotels Corp., the University Club of Chicago and Marshall Fields. He is a member of the International Food Service Executives Association, and is a U.S. Department of Agriculture dairy grader/inspector. He is a member of ACF Windy City Professional Culinarians Inc.

Photo caption: Timothy Bucci, CEC, CCE, CHE, an associate chef-instructor at Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Ill., hosted a lecture and demonstration in competition against three other finalists for the title of 2009 ACF Chef Educator of the Year at the American Culinary Federation’s National Convention in Orlando, Fla., last July.