Kass named executive director of ‘Let’s Move’
March 08, 2013 | 05:48 PM
Sam Kass, standing, the White House assistant chef who has been named executive director of “Let’s Move,” First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against childhood obesity, emceed a school meal cooking contest Thursday at the Partnership for a Healthier America summit. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass has been named executive director of “Let’s Move,” First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against child obesity, and has also been given the title senior policy adviser for healthy food.
Kass has been the architect of the Let’s Move initiative and has had several other titles as White House food adviser, but has not formally been in charge of Let’s Move until now.
The post has been vacant since December of 2011, when the second of two past executive directors departed after three months in office.
The White House did not formally announce the appointment, but Larry Soler, the president and CEO of the Partnership for a Healthier America, used the title when he introduced Kass at the partnership’s summit in Washington on Thursday.
The first lady’s office later confirmed the new titles to Obama Foodorama, the chronicle of the administration’s food activities.
Kass, a onetime aspiring baseball player who has a degree from the University of Chicago, cooked for the Obamas in Chicago and followed them to the White House, according to a profile in Flavor magazine. He still prepares meals for the first family, in addition to his public policy duties.
