Kris Moon
2014 Senior Director, Strategy and Development, James Beard Foundation

Kris Moon is the Senior Director, Strategy and Development for the James Beard Foundation, a national culinary non-profit with the mission to celebrate, nurture, and honor America’s diverse culinary heritage through programs that educate and inspire. Moon first joined the Foundation in 2007 as the Director of House Operations and House Events, a position in which he oversaw the daily operations of the historic James Beard House in Greenwich Village and the execution of the Foundation’s house events with featured chefs. After a year working with amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research as Manager of Special Events, Moon returned to the Foundation in 2011 to assume the position of Director of Charitable Giving and Strategic Partnerships overseeing the Foundation’s various fundraising initiatives.
As Director of Charitable Giving and Strategic Partnership, Moon helped the Foundation to grow its major gifts and foundation funding. Working closely with President Susan Ungaro and Executive Vice President Mitchell Davis, he transformed JBF’s annual dinner and auction into a full-scale fundraising gala in 2012, making it the Foundation’s most successful event to date which has continued to grow year over year. Moon has also been instrumental in launching the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change, which was piloted in summer 2012 and officially launched in spring 2013. This new program teaches established chefs necessary policy and advocacy skills for creating food system change. Under Moon’s leadership, the program is fully funded for its first two years and has educated 51 chefs to date on effective advocacy.
In February 2014, Moon was promoted to Senior Director, Strategy and Development and began managing all fundraising initiatives for the Foundation including; sponsorship sales, grants, and major gifts; and contiuning to craft and develop strategic partnership opportunities to help the Foundation achieve it’s broader strategic goals; as well as managing the programmatic development of the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change program and related programs.
Additional accomplishments at the Foundation include: creating the Young Professionals Development Committee, spearheading JBF’s transition into the online space with integration into the Urbanspoon iphone application, moving onto OpenTable for Beard House dinner reservations, and the activation of ipad check-in at the Beard House, Greens events, Chefs & Champagne®, and the annual gala.
Prior to joining the James Beard Foundation, Moon was a restaurant manager in New York City. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Boston University and is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition where he was certified as a holistic health counselor through AADP.