The Judges

Chef of the Year

Sponsored by: Bertazzoni

Chair of the Judging Panel: Mark Baumann

British Master Chef, Baumanns Brasserie, Coggeshall, Essex
Website: www.baumannsbrasserie.co.uk

Restaurateur and author, Mark recently received global acclaim with an inclusion in The International Who's Who of Chefs. He is among just under 3,000 chefs from 70 countries to make the list, sharing the limelight with notables including Michel Roux, Raymond Blanc and John Williams, executive chef at Claridges.

A British Master Chef, Mark recently starred in his own ITV series 'Baumann goes to Market' and is a guest presenter of UKTV Food's flagship programme Great Food Live.

Paolo Bertazzoni, Bertazzoni

Paolo Bertazzoni is the fifth generation president of the family owned Bertazzoni SpA company, the leading Italian manufacturer of precision engineered range cooking products.

He was born in Parma, Italy, and began his professional career in a manufacturing business after studying Economics and Business Studies at Parma University. Upon graduation he entered the Bertazzoni family business and learned about its operations under the tutelage of his father, Francesco Bertazzoni.

Paolo became the fifth generation President and CEO in 1999 and has been charged with maintaining the 127 year old manufacturer's original focus of design, performance, quality and value. He has given a fresh impetus to the company's competitive edge by using top designers from Milan to merge Italian style and finesse with authentic engineering and craftsmanship.

Paolo Bertazzoni resides in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. He is married with three children, and has a passion for fine cuisine, true Italian taste and tradition.

Paul Boorman, Head Chef, Juniper Restaurant at Clarice House
Winner of the Essex Chef of the Year 2008

Essex Chef of the Year, what a title! The best chef in Essex! It was an honour to receive the award and made more so as it was from industry peers. Chefs are professionals in a craft as old as history itself, with lessons to be learned, apprenticeships to complete and secrets to pass on only to other members of the craft. It is a craft that requires us to work ridiculous hours in a place as claustrophobic as a box and hotter than Dante's hell, and to do what we do and make it seem so easy and simple requires untold hours of practice. And it is more than a craft; it is a life, a vocation. We don't do cheffing, we are Chefs. And we are not normal. But in this day and age we are presented as normal, and we may even present ourselves as such, and the public begins to see chefs as just that. Until one day they find themselves at a table, in a restaurant, at the end of one gastronomical delight after another, and they know that whoever created it is not like anyone else. Not normal either and it is a privilege to be recognised for it."

Neil Rippington, Head of Hospitality, Colchester Institute

Neil Rippington grew up in Bournemouth where working in hotels, whilst at school and college, gave him a taste for the catering industry at an early age. Following a chefs' programme at The Bournemouth and Poole College, Neil went on to work in a Michelin starred restaurant in France and in London's Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge. He then went to work in the USA for two years before returning to the UK to take up the position of head chef in a country house hotel in the New Forest.

In 1994, Neil was presented with the opportunity to return to education as a chef lecturer at South East Essex College. After five years, he moved on to Redbridge College as a Programme Manager for Hospitality and Catering, later taking up the post as Quality Manager for the College.

In 2003, Neil took the position of Head of Centre for Hospitality and Food Studies at Colchester Institute. In November 2006, the Centre was awarded Grade 1, by Ofsted, for outstanding provision. In 2008, the Balkerne Restaurant at Colchester Institute was crowned as the UK College Restaurant of the Year by Restaurant Magazine.

Alan Geere, Editor in Chief, Essex Chronicle Media Group Ltd

Alan is back at his home-town newspaper after a career that has taken him around the world from Hong Kong to Canada via the United States and Afghanistan.

He started at the Essex Chronicle as a trainee fresh out of school and worked on regional newspapers in Cambridge and Norwich before joining Eddy Shah's ground-breaking colour newspaper, Today.

After spells editing newspapers in Canada and the USA Alan helped journalists in Romania, China and Vietnam cope with the demands of a changing world and led a project in Afghanistan to introduce civil society journalism to a country ravaged by war.

Latterly, as editor of the Trinidad Express, the largest newspaper on the Caribbean island, he worked with a newsroom of 100 journalists to tackle convergence of print, online and broadcast.

Alan was head of undergraduate journalism at the University of Westminster and still lectures widely to industry and academic audiences, specialising in journalism training and newsroom management, especially in the developing world.