The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation has named Dr. Monica Parrish Trent as its next executive director, the Washington-based nonprofit announced Aug. 27. Trent brings more than 25 years of experience spanning higher education, workforce development, and national nonprofit leadership — a profile the Foundation said aligns with its mandate to build career pipelines into the restaurant and foodservice industry.
Her Background
Trent most recently served as Chief Program and Network Officer at Achieving the Dream, where she oversaw national program and workforce strategy across a network of more than 300 community colleges. Before that, she held faculty and executive roles at multi-campus community colleges before moving into the national nonprofit sector. Her career has centered on connecting education and training to employer needs at scale — brokering partnerships among educators, funders, and community organizations to move people from credentialing into careers.
She is personally familiar with the industry she is now charged with serving. "Having worked in restaurants while I was a student, I saw firsthand how the industry opens doors for people from a wide spectrum of life experiences and how a job can grow into a lifelong career that supports a family and strengthens a community," Trent said.
Why It Matters for Foodservice Operators
The NRAEF's programs have direct relevance for foodservice operators — including convenience retailers running full foodservice programs — who compete for the same hourly and entry-level labor pool. The Foundation's ProStart initiative places career and technical education in high schools, while its Restaurant Ready/HOPES program partners with community-based organizations to funnel job-ready candidates to operators. Its accredited apprenticeship arm, the Restaurant & Hospitality Leadership Center, is designed to advance service professionals into supervisory tracks.
Restaurants and foodservice operations collectively represent the second-largest private employer in the United States, according to the NRAEF, and workforce availability remains a persistent pressure point across the channel. Convenience retailers with robust back-of-house and made-to-order programs face many of the same hiring and retention challenges as quick-service and fast-casual concepts.
Michelle Korsmo, CEO of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, pointed to Trent's ability to build partnerships as central to her selection. "Her ability to tell a powerful story around an organization's mission and developing partnerships and programs to bring it to life will benefit the Foundation as it provides experienced career exploration and workforce readiness in the restaurant industry to young people seeking these workplace entry roles," Korsmo said.
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.
