The Urban School Food Alliance has selected Jeremy West, MS, SNS, as its next Executive Director, effective January 2027. West, who has served as the organization's Chief of Finance & Operations for the past six years, will succeed founding Executive Director Dr. Katie Wilson following a nationwide search.
The Incoming Leader
West brings more than two decades of child nutrition experience to the role, with prior district-level leadership at three Colorado school districts. He served as Director of Operations for Jeffco Public Schools in the Greater Denver Area, Director of Nutrition in Greeley, and Assistant Director of Food & Nutrition Services with Colorado Springs School District 11. During his tenure at USFA, he has overseen member communications, grant reporting, financials, and committee and systems development.
His teams earned the 2016 K-12 Innovators of the Year award from Food Management Magazine for work preparing meals from fresh, local ingredients — a recognition that tracks with the broader school nutrition segment's ongoing push toward scratch cooking and local sourcing. West is a past president of both the Colorado Dietary Managers Association and the Colorado School Nutrition Association, and has served as a governor-appointed member and chair of the Colorado Farm to School Taskforce.
K-12 Foodservice Context
The USFA represents a critical institutional voice in the K-12 foodservice segment, which collectively serves tens of millions of meals each day across large urban districts. Operators in this channel face persistent pressure on commodity costs, workforce recruitment and retention, and compliance with federal nutrition standards — challenges that have intensified as school nutrition programs navigate post-pandemic participation recovery and ongoing supply chain normalization.
The leadership transition at USFA comes as the broader noncommercial foodservice sector, including K-12 and healthcare segments, continues to prioritize professional development infrastructure and advocacy capacity. For urban districts in particular, shared purchasing leverage and policy coordination — core functions of the Alliance — remain essential tools for managing unit economics under tight per-meal reimbursement rates.
"Jeremy's deep institutional knowledge of the Alliance, combined with his extensive operational expertise and national reputation in school nutrition, makes him the ideal leader to guide USFA into its next chapter," said Dr. Katie Wilson, Executive Director. West called the appointment an opportunity to "be a strong voice for large urban districts and the important role child nutrition programs play."
West holds a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership from Colorado State University-Global Campus, as well as an Associate of Applied Science in Food Management with Culinary Arts certification. His internal promotion from finance and operations chief signals continuity of organizational strategy as USFA heads into its next development phase — an approach that mirrors succession planning trends across noncommercial foodservice operators seeking to preserve institutional knowledge during director-level transitions.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
