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Kelly Smith Killian is Editor of Restaurant Business. This role marks a return to the foodservice industry for Kelly who previously was editor-in-chief of Restaurants & Institutions magazine, a former industry publication that won American Business Media’s Jesse H. Neal award for business journalism.

Kelly has extensive experience writing and editing content that is compelling, visual and audience-focused. She’s covered everything from real estate to weddings, having helped launch Four Seasons Weddings as editorial consultant and served as editor of Martha Stewart Weddings for four years. She also brings to Restaurant Business a finance background that she picked up during her seven years with Money Magazine (including three as assistant bureau chief in Washington, D.C.).

Kelly studied English at the University of California, Berkeley. She also completed the Radcliffe Publishing Course at Harvard (now at Columbia University).

Kelly lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband, two sons and dog Sadie.

As an associate editor for Winsight Media, Alaina Lancaster specializes in human resources and labor for the Foodservice and Retail Groups’ print and online products. Prior to joining Winsight in 2015, she interned for the Washington Monthly, The Riveter and The German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Since joining the firm in 1991, Joe Pawlak, Managing Principal, has conducted a wide variety of industry studies involving market planning, customer satisfaction benchmarking, brand equity investigation, new product development, food trends, opportunity analyses, M&A due diligence, concept testing and distribution system evaluations. He has special expertise in the areas of industry market trend analysis, market metric and forecasting modeling and implications development.

Joe has 30 years of extensive food industry experience in both consulting and packaged goods manufacturing. Prior to joining Technomic, Joe held food technology management positions with the Campbell Soup Company.

Joe has been a frequent featured speaker for countless national and global food industry events, including the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA), National Restaurant Association (NRA), Global Restaurant Leadership Conference and other industry conferences. Based on his expertise and experience, he is often cited in business publications, including Business Week, Chicago Tribune, Crain’s, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and U.S. News & World Report. Joe has been interviewed on National Public Radio and CBS Radio and has appeared on CNBC, CBS News, CNN, Bloomberg and Fox News, providing insight on food industry trends and events.

Joe earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology/Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Loyola University of Chicago.

Pat Cobe plans and executes the menu innovation sections of Restaurant Business and FoodService Director, including food and beverage trends, Menu R&D and profiles of chefs and foodservice directors. She also regularly contributes digital content to both magazines’ websites and is editor of the e-newsletter, Recipedia.