McGahey Receives National FAME Silver Star Special Achievement Award

Karen McGahey, food service director for the Johnson City Tennessee Schools and the Coordinating District for NETCO, received the Foodservice Achievement Management Excellence (FAME) Silver Star Special Achievement Award for her exceptional ability to recognize and solve problems unique to small districts. She received her award at the annual Child Industry Nutrition Conference of the School Nutrition Association (SNA) held Jan. 16, 2005, at the Hilton Hotel in Austin, Texas. McGahey has 22 years of experience in school nutrition and is a past president of TSFSA. All 60 of her employees are members of TSFSA and the School Nutrition Association.

Now in its 16th year, the National FAME Awards are a tribute to school foodservice professionals who go above and beyond in foodservice achievement and management excellence. These highly acclaimed honors go exclusively to the most accomplished and innovative industry leaders. Basic American Foods, Campbell’s Foodservice, and Tyson Foods, Inc. sponsor the National FAME Awards.

Karen McGahey’s passion for school foodservice and its mission, her knowledge and experience in the field, her “trail blazer” attitude, her willingness to go the extra mile, her commitment to accept responsibility, her confidence, her daring pursuit of excellence, and her business acumen contribute to her ability to recognize and solve problems unique to small school districts. She constantly searches for opportunities to make the food service department better. The Johnson City Schools had limited purchasing power with 6,800 students until McGahey joined other East Tennessee School Nutrition supervisors in researching the cooperative concept and in developing NETCO (Northeast Tennessee Cooperative). The cooperative united schools in the East Tennessee area that had similar limited buying power. Johnson City Schools’ purchasing power increased by nearly 900% after combining 12 food service systems into one cooperative. The cooperative allows members to take advantage of early pay discounts, negotiating power, food shows, and product testing.