Executive Team

Robert L.E. Egger
President

Robert Egger is the Founder and President of the DC Central Kitchen, the country’s first “community kitchen”, where food donated by hospitality businesses and farms is used to fuel a nationally recognized culinary arts job training program, where unemployed men and women learn marketable skills while donations are converted into balanced meals. Since opening in 1989, the Kitchen has produced over 23 million meals and helped 800 men and women gain full time employment. The Kitchen operates its own revenue generating business, Fresh Start Catering, as well as the Campus Kitchens Project, which coordinates similar recycling/meal programs in 30 college or high school based kitchens.

In Washington, Robert was the founding Chair of both the Mayor’s Commission on Nutrition and Street Sense,Washington’s “homeless” newspaper. He was also the Co-Convener of the first Nonprofit Congress, held inWashingtonDC in 2006.

Robert’s book on the non-profit sector, Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding For All, was released in 2004 by HarperCollins. It received the 2005 McAdam Prize for “Best Nonprofit Management Book” by theAlliance for Nonprofit Management.

Robert was included in the Non Profit Times list of the “50 Most Powerful and Influential” nonprofit leaders from 2006-2009. He was the recipient of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s 2007 “Lifetime Achievement” award and the 2004 James Beard Foundation “Humanitarian of the Year” award. He has been named an Oprah Angel, a Washingtonian of the Year, a Point of Light and one of the Ten Most Caring People inAmerica, by the Caring Institute. He is also a 14-gallon blood donor to the American Red Cross.

Robert speaks throughout the country and internationally on the subjects of hunger, sustainability, nonprofit political engagement and social enterprise. He writes blogs and editorials to share his ideas about the nonprofit sector and the future of America.  To check out Robert’s most recent speaking schedule, blogs, and editorials, please visit www.robertegger.org.

Mike Curtin
Chief Executive Officer

Mike comes to DCCK after a 20 year career in the hospitality business, most of which has been spent in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. With a focus on organizational design and training, he has focused on redefining DCCK departments and creating new positions that have allowed DCCK to run more efficiently. After graduating from Williams College with a BA in Religion, Mike lived and worked in Osaka, Japan for three years. It was then that Mike decided he wanted to open a restaurant back in the States. After returning to the Washington area, he worked at the Hay-Adams Hotel, the Dixie Grill and McCormick and Schmick’s on K Street before opening his own restaurant, The Broad Street Grill, in Falls Church, VA.

In addition to growing the many programs of the Kitchen, Mike has focused on expanding our social enterprise efforts. In 2008, 50% of the revenue raised by DC Central Kitchen, over $2.2 million, was the result of social enterprise and employment projects. This work is continuing through the DC Central Kitchen Growers’ Co-op, an innovative program where DC Central Kitchen works directly with local growers to purchase unclassified produce, or “seconds,” and turn that product into better food for the Kitchen’s partners while saving money and employing more graduates of the Kitchen’s Culinary Job Training program. This program is now focused on processing and adding that business to the Kitchen’s social enterprise portfolio.

Mike lives in Falls Church with his wife, Maureen, and their three children, Maeve, Michael III and Ciara.

Marianne Ali 
Director of Culinary Job Training and First Helping

Chef Marianne Ali has been with DC Central Kitchen for fourteen years and has recently been promoted to Director of Culinary Job Training and First Helping overseeing the major programs and growth of the organization.  Marianne graduated from L’Academie de Cuisine, a French Culinary Arts School in Gaithersburg, MD, in 1996 and shortly thereafter, she came to DC Central Kitchen as a chef in Fresh Start Catering. During her tenure, Chef Ali developed & implemented a revamped Culinary Job Training Curriculum coordinating training activities with life skills classes, resume development and job placements.  She has also taken on the management of the First Helping Street Outreach program which helps men and women living in shelters and DC streets to access needed services including drug/alcohol rehabilitation, mental health and permanent housing services.  In addition to these specialized programs, Chef Ali manages 20 full time staff who are responsible for the food recovery and meal distribution programs which serve over 5,000 meals every day to DC agencies.  Recently, Marianne was  responsible for the birth of our contract foods program, which is a revenue generating project of DC Central Kitchen.

Brian MacNair
Chief Development Officer

Brian is responsible for public relations and communications; raising over $2 million in annual funds, and is also responsible for organizing the Capital Food Fight, an annual fundraising event. Before coming to DC Central Kitchen, initially as a Development Associate, he worked for nonprofits for more than ten years inNew York City. He then changed careers to become a chef, first with his own catering business inNew York, then as sous chef for various restaurants inVirginia. Brian’s favorite part of DCCK is the 16-week personal transformation that occurs for participants in DCCK’s Culinary Job Training program.