CHICAGO, March,19, 2026 - Longtime attendees of the annual Gold and Silver Plate Awards ceremony will see some familiar faces accompanying the 2026 winners at this year’s gala. It’s now a tradition for the current honorees to be escorted to the dais by a mentor of their choosing. Three of the nine 2026 plate recipients have chosen past winners to accompany them in the ceremonial procession to their seats.
Clarence Otis, the 2012 winner of the Silver Plate in the Chain Full-Service category, will be the promenade partner of Chip Wade, this year’s honoree in Independent Restaurants/Multi-concept Groups. The two worked together at Darden Restaurants, where Otis served as CFO and then CEO. Otis is now on the board of Union Square Hospitality Group, which Wade leads as CEO.
Antoinette “Toni” Watkins, who won the 2021 Silver Plate in Healthcare for her leadership of the Riverside (Calif.) Health System, will accompany 2026 healthcare winner Leisa Bryant.
Laura Lozano, who won a 2010 Silver Plate in the Business and Industry category as Facilities Manager of Global Dining for Dell, has been named the mentor for this year’s B&I winner, Sally Minier of Jane Street.
And the master of ceremonies for this year’s banquet will be Julia Stewart, winner of the 2005 Silver Plate in the Chain Full-Service competition.
The mentors and mentees will follow a procession of past Plate winners from as far back as 1984.
Here’s a quick look at what some of those honorees, present or not, are doing today.
Starting as a hostess for Hooters, Kat Cole would work her way up to the presidency of Cinnabon by age 32. Four years later, she was named president of North American operations for the bakery chain’s parent, Focus Brands (now GoToFoods), overseeing a diverse portfolio of franchised operations. Among her standout achievements was turning Focus into a leader in licensing branded restaurant products for sale in supermarkets. Her groundbreaking work earned her the 2015 Silver Plate in the Chain Limited-Service category. Today, she’s the CEO of AG1, a daily health supplement aimed at athletes. Ironically, she negotiated a deal in 2024 to offer the retail product in Starbucks outlets.
John Miller won a Gold Plate in 2015 for his leadership of the Denny’s family dining chain, rejuvenating the venerable brand by repositioning it as the diner every American town needed. He would step down as CEO in 2022, but Miller wasn’t ready to leave the food-away-from-home industry just yet. He teamed up with Scott Smith, an alumnus of Del Frisco’s, to buy the Dallas area’s Delucca Gaucho Pizza & Wine chain. Now sporting six locations, the full-service concept sells pizza in the same fashion Fogo de Chao and other Brazilian steakhouses offer their signature. Guests alert employees as to what pies they’d like to sample by the slice, without a limit on how many they can try. There’s also an emphasis on craft cocktails and quality wines.
Gene Lee, winner of the Gold Plate in 2018, is no stranger to the corporate boardroom. During his time as CEO of Darden Restaurants, he served on the casual-dining giant’s board after it was wholly reconstituted by an investor group that didn’t care for the prior line-up. He’ll presumably be stepping into a less charged situation as the newly named chairman of Portillo’s.
If you dined in the Buckhead section of Atlanta during COEX, chances are high you were a guest of Pano Karatassos, winner of the 1993 Silver Plate in the Independent Restaurants category. His Buckhead Life Group is the operator of such acclaimed hotspots as Kyma, Atlanta Fish Market, Chophouse Lobster Bar, and Pricci. He’s been a trailblazer in the market since he and business partner Paul Albrecht opened Pano & Paul’s in 1979. It would remain one of the city’s most celebrated restaurants for nearly 30 years. At age 88, Karatassos is still involved in the business, though he’s apparently turned over much of Buckhead Life’s day-to-day operations to his sons.
Andrew Puzder came to the restaurant industry via an unusual route: He was the personal attorney of Carl Karcher, founder of the Carl’s Jr. burger chain (and the 1978 Silver Plate winner in the Chain Limited Service category). Puzder represented Karcher when the latter was accused of selling stock in his restaurant company on the basis of insider information. The resolution cost Karcher much of his wealth, so Puzder arranged the sale of the chain founder's stake in Carl’s Jr.’s parent company. The buyer, insurance mogul Bill Foley, kept Puzder on as CEO. The lawyer's performance in that role earned him a Silver Plate in 2010, but he opted to leave the business after another sale of Carl’s for a political career. He was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union last year by President Trump.
A commitment to reducing waste and promoting healthful dining helped Michiel Bakker win a 2018 Silver Plate in the Business & Industry/Foodservice Management category while director of Google’s foodservice operations. A key resource for him in those endeavors was the Culinary Institute of America, a leader on both fronts. When the esteemed educational facility needed someone to succeed Tim Ryan as president, it turned to Bakker. The school essentially replaced one Silver Plater with another; Ryan had won the 2009 Silver Plate in the Specialty Foodservices category for overseeing the CIA’s development of on-campus restaurants that doubled as teaching facilities.
Former Compass Group North America CEO Gary Green might need a larger trophy case after receiving one of the top honors bestowed by his home country, the United Kingdom. The winner of the 2002 Silver Plate for Foodservice Management was recently awarded a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) designation by the British Crown in tribute to his longtime leadership of the contract-feeding giant. During the nearly 40 years he spent at Compass, sales for its North American operations rose from $3 billion to $28 billion. Green retired in 2023.
As Managing Editor for IFMA The Food Away from Home Association, Romeo is responsible for generating the group's news and feature content. He brings more than 40 years of experience in covering restaurants to the position.