Chef Christopher Koetke was the executive chef at Les Nomades in Chicago for five years and also worked at the famed Le Francais restaurant in Wheeling, IL. He formerly served as the executive director of the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts in Chicago, and vice president of culinary arts for Laureate International Universities, where he was responsible for strategic leadership of culinary arts programs at 48 campuses in 12 countries. Koetke is a well-known expert on culinary matters, especially given his travels experimenting with ingredients and flavours worldwide and his knowledge of amino acids as flavour elements. In 2010, he was given the inaugural Chefs Collaborative Pathfinder Award for his work in making sustainability mainstream both within foodservice operations and education and serves as the Chair of the Feed the Planet Committee of Worldchefs.

Chef Koetke has an MBA from Dominican University and a BA in French literature from Valparaiso University. He has been honoured with the Outstanding Alum from the Brennan School of Business at Dominican University, alumni achievement award from Valparaiso University, and Worldchefs Educator award. He has hosted his own national TV cooking show on the LiveWell network for almost 5 years, written for prominent newspapers and trade publications, and authored a well-known culinary textbook - The Culinary Professional.