Alexei Rudolf is a food guy first, and storyteller second. A reluctant entrepreneur, he founded the Foodservice Marketing and Public Relations Consultancy Foodservice Connections in 2009 after 11 years at global PR and marketing agencies Ketchum and Edelman. In 2016, he co-founded the MISE Conference as a passion project to bring top-shelf education and networking to the hotel chef. Alexei specializes in channel-specific marketing communications in foodservice, from chain foodservice to lodging, to K-12 and College/University dining. Alexei’s work with chain foodservice includes successful supplier-operator partnerships and menu development projects with many of the top 200 chains in the US. Alexei was a panel moderator at the 2008 National Restaurant Association show, a featured speaker at Beef Australia 2015 and served two three-year terms on the executive board of IFEC, the International Foodservice Editorial Council. His tenure included a year as president, vice president, and treasurer, and he was awarded the organization's highest honor, the "Betty" award, in 2015. Specialties: B2B foodservice marketing, promotional partnership development, collateral development, speechwriting, public relations, crisis communications, special events, school foodservice marketing, C&U foodservice marketing, media training, strategic planning, national account marketing, trend research, menu development