Press Release

ACF Chefs Earn Certified Master Chef Status

St. Augustine, Fla., January 23, 2002—Thomas Griffiths of Rhinebech, N.Y., Russell Scott of Tivoli, N.Y., Peter Timmins of Lewisburg, W.V., and J. Kevin Walker of Greenville, S.C., have reached the level of Certified Master Chef (CMC) in the American Culinary Federation (ACF). The master chef final exam was given at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, N.Y., Jan. 12.

Certified master chef is the highest and most demanding level of achievement of all ACF certification levels, granted only after the candidate has passed an intensive 10-day test of culinary skills and knowledge.

Chef Griffiths is an associate professor in culinary arts at the CIA. He was a 1980 honors graduate of the college and joined the faculty in 1995. He has held chef positions at T.W. Griffy’s Restaurant, The United Nations, Le Delices Cote Basque, Regine’s, and Le Cirque. Chef Griffiths was a member of the CIA faculty team that won gold medals at the New York Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Show. He has been a gold medal award winner at Gardner Merchant Food Show Expos.

Chef Scott has been a lecturing instructor in culinary arts at the CIA since 1998. He has held executive chef positions at Perspectives and the Hotel Nikko in Los Angeles and the Virginia Country Club in Long Beach, Calif. Chef Scott was captain of CIA Culinary Team 2000, which earned three gold medals at the Hotelympia competition in London in February 2000 and five silver medals at the Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA), commonly referred to as the International Culinary Olympics, in Germany in October 2000. He was captain of the California Culinary Team at the 1996 IKA and a gold medal winner at the 1998 Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg as a member of the U.S. team.

Chef Timmins has been executive chef at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., since January 1999. He was chef de cuisine at The Greenbrier from 1994 to 1997, when he left to become executive chef at The Baltimore Country Club. Chef Timmins began his culinary career at the age of 17 in his native Ireland, where, in 1974, he began an apprenticeship under master chef Roger Nobel at the Royal Hibernian Hotel in Dublin. Chef Timmins attended culinary college at St. Mary’s College, Dublin, and later lectured there. He became a member of The Irish Culinary Team in 1991 and competed at the IKA, Culinary ‘Olympics,’ in Germany in 1992.

Chef Walker is executive chef at the Greenville Country Club in Greenville, S.C. Before taking his present position, he was executive chef at The Lafayette Club, Minnetonka Beach, Minn. He has been a restaurant chef at The Tavern on the Green at The Four Seasons Las Colinas, Las Colinas, Texas, and sous chef at Houston Country Club and The Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix. He graduated first in his class of 64 from the CIA in 1989 and completed a 30-week baking and pastry program at the college in 1991. He was the winner of “best dessert” at the Escoffier Grand Prix in 1996 and won a silver medal at the 2001 Atlanta Seafood Championship.

Lawrence McFadden, CMC, earned ACF master chef status in October. Chef McFadden is executive chef at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Naples, Fla.

The CMC program began in 1981, and in October of that year, five ACF chefs were granted CMC status. The driving force behind the master chef program was Ferdinand Metz, CMC, AAC, past president of CIA. He has served as ACF national president and held several other offices in the organization.

In 1982 the master chef program was presented to the World Association of Chefs Societies congress in Vienna, Austria, and granted official recognition by that body.

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The American Culinary Federation, Inc., a professional, not-for-profit organization for chefs and cooks, was founded in 1929 in New York City by three chefs organizations: the Societe Culinare Philanthropique, the Vatel Club, and the Chefs Association of America. The principal goal of the founding chefs remains true to the ACF today—to promote the professional image of American chefs worldwide through education among culinarians at all levels, from apprentices to the most accomplished Certified Master Chefs.