School Nutrition Association CEO Patti Montague, CAE, was ahead of the curve in recognizing the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion when she began spotting demographic shifts while conducting research early in her career. That initial awareness has informed her proactive approach to implementing DEI at SNA.
“It’s imperative for any CEO to be up on whatever demographic trends are in the country and certainly with the people working in their profession,” Montague said. “Your members are watching.”
As the leader of the professional organization representing school nutrition, Montague knew that many of the people working in school kitchens were immigrants. However, even though she works in the field every day, she was astounded several years ago when she went into a school and observed that the women serving the students in the lunch line all spoke different languages.
“There was someone from Egypt, someone from India, and someone from China, but they communicated and were able to work to feed these kids. It was very meaningful for me to see that,” Montague said.
That eye-opening experience motivated some deeper reflection on SNA leadership and brought into sharp focus the reality that SNA’s board was not representative of the people who work in the school nutrition field. Most board members in 2018 were white women in their 50s. That did not bode well for maintaining SNA’s relevance to its members.
“You don’t want to risk having members who are diverse looking at the leadership and thinking: I don’t see anybody who looks like me. I don’t want to be part of that organization. They don’t want me,” Montague said.
Montague educated the board with updated demographic information and worked on profiling the makeup of committees and the board—including along gender lines. Last year, SNA had its first male board president in 48 years, who is also Black. “We never think of a male being first in anything,” Montague said. SNA’s 18-member board now has several men on it.
