A message from Roy R. Pistone II, RDN, M.Ed., SNS
2025-2026 FSNA PRESIDENT
Dear FSNA Nation,
I am truly honored to have again been chosen as your President for the 2025-2026 SY. To say I am excited for what we have in store for our members and industry partners would be an understatement! Our catch phrase for my Presidency will be “Bringing the WOW!” For those of you who had the opportunity to attend our Leadership Retreat in June, CB Banner, our Executive Director, and her outstanding team gave you a preview of what “Bringing the WOW!” meant. Rave reviews were shared by all who attended. From a beautiful location, the World Equestrian Center, to GREAT speakers, to OUTSTANDING cuisine, attendees left there in awe! Looking towards our year together, I am fortunate to be working alongside an incredible group of School Nutrition professionals who make up our FSNA Board of Directors. We are looking to bring back some of the things we did in the past, while focusing on moving us into the future. As is always the case, communication will be the key to our success! One of our major changes this year will be to have our Annual Conference moved back to May. Although we will have our Annual Conference in October of 2025 in beautiful Daytona Beach, we will have our 2026 Annual Conference in May.
This change is bringing back the past while having the foresight to move us into the future for the overall success of FSNA. The reason for this change is Mother Nature has literally “Rained on our Parade” for a few years, resulting in NO Annual Conference! This lack of an Annual Conference has hurt our association’s financial outlook. After much deliberation, the Board of Directors chose to move the Annual Conference back to May and have mini-Expo event in October, focused on Leadership. This is a shining example of your FSNA Board being responsive to the needs of it’s members. Our 2026 Annual Conference is slated to be held at the exquisite World Equestrian Center in Ocala. For those of you that love horses, you will be awed by grounds, hotels and shops located on site of this 6,000 acre slice of paradise. Did I mention we are “Bringing the WOW!” The Convention Center is enormous and features a Jumbotron. In the Convention Center we will be having a hands-on “Top Chef” competition featuring teams from counties that choose to assemble an All- Star team that wants to put their culinary skills to the test. These teams will utilize their skills to create new recipes to be used in Florida’s school nutrition programs. The winning team’s recipe will receive a grand prize. Did I mention “Bringing the WOW!”
Please know that FSNA will continue to develop opportunities for professional education and networking opportunities, whether online or face to face. In addition to training and networking opportunities, FSNA is looking to highlight the extraordinary things your local association and/or school nutrition program is doing through our NEW Digital Magazine, “Healthy Harvest”. As your FSNA President, I ask that you please share your wonderful accomplishments throughout the year! In closing, I want to thank our outgoing President, Mr. Tony Jenkins, for his outstanding leadership during a challenging year 2024- 2025 SY. Tony’s patience and positive demeanor helped move our association forward, even after our 2024-2025 Annual Conference had to be cancelled. I am forever grateful to Tony for his friendship and kindness and can say without a shadow of a doubt, that I am a better man for having worked alongside Tony Jenkins this year. Thank you, Tony, for all you have done for FSNA, we were blessed to have had you as our President! Well FSNA Nation, as you can see, we are off and running. I want to personally thank each of you in advance for your continued support of our association and wish each of you a wonderfully successful 2025- 2026 school year!
4 | Healthy Harvest September 2025
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