Mary Kimbrough, RDN, LDN, is an award-winning foodservice and nutrition professional with extensive expertise in operations, program development, implementation and training for food, nutrition and culinary arts. At Wild Hive, Mary oversees foodservice and ingredient marketing and innovation, and is extensively engaged in nutrition strategy. Her focus areas include decision maker and key opinion leader engagement, foodservice and ingredient media relations, content development, cultural foodways, recipe and menu development and nutrition analysis. In addition, she plans and coordinates culinary-focused, farm-to-fork, innovative, out-of-the-box experiences and events at diverse venues across the country.
Mary’s trusted network of professional colleagues across the food, culinary, baking and wine industries, as well as her expertise in cultural foodways, is the culmination of her dedication to efficient problem solving throughout a rich and varied career. She taps this network to design and implement solutions that solve unique business problems and deliver results that matter to the bottom line of Wild Hive’s clients.
Mary’s illustrious career includes 25 years as a healthcare foodservice director, with 17 of those years as director of nutrition and hospitality service for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center University Hospitals, Zale Lipshy and St. Paul in Dallas, Texas.
In addition to her robust career in healthcare foodservice, Mary was the co-owner of Food Roots, a premier Texas Culinary Tourism company focused on creating connections between key audiences and agricultural products to increase value perception and trust.
Mary is a charter member and former chair of the Food & Culinary Professionals Dietetic Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In 2007, Mary presented the Lenna Francis Cooper Memorial Lecture at Academy’s Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo. Mary is also past chair for the Dallas Chapters of Les Dames d` Escoffier, the American Institute for Wine and Food, and a founding member and past board member of Foodways Texas. The International Food Manufacturers Association presented Mary its Silver Plate Award, and Restaurants & Institutions magazine named her an IVY Award winner.