Senior Advisor, Strategic Partnerships, Industry Leadership and Impact, The Culinary Institute of America (CIA); Hyde Park, NY

Greg Drescher is senior advisor for strategic partnerships, industry leadership and impact as well as a member of the president’s leadership team at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Previously, and most recently as CIA vice president for strategic initiatives and industry leadership, he designed and oversaw the college’s leadership initiatives, including academic partnerships, conferences, and other global initiatives. Over the course of 30 years with the CIA, he has led the creation of the Worlds of Flavor International Conference & Festival, (now in its 27th year) as well as a portfolio of health and sustainability leadership programs including Menus of Change and Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives, both jointly presented by the Harvard School of Public Health—Department of Nutrition; the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative, co-led by the CIA and Stanford University; and the CIA’s Plant-Forward Kitchen digital media initiatives.  In 2005, Greg was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America and subsequently shared two Beard Awards for the CIA’s World Culinary Arts digital media series.  

In the early 1990’s, before joining the CIA, he jointly spearheaded a multi-year collaboration of some of the world’s leading food and health experts and organizations—including the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the World Health Organization—in researching and authoring The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid: A Cultural Model for Healthy Eating (released in its final form in 1994).  The cumulative results of this initiative’s research were published in a special edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1995), creating a strong platform for much of the global academic, public policy, media, and consumer interest in the Mediterranean Diet that has followed over the past 30 years. He is also the co-author of “Three Decades of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid: A Narrative Review of its History, Evolution and Advances,” recently published (2025) in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.