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Associate Vice President of Auxiliary Services Patricia Bando has been selected as chairman of the board for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, a not-for-profit trade association committed to advancing the Bay State’s food and beverage industry.
As chair of the MRA — whose 1,750 members represent 5,500 eating and drinking establishments, including college-affiliated dining services — Bando will seek to expan the organization’s membership while continuing its mission of providing resources, government advocacy, networking and educational opportunities and cost-saving programs.
Bando, who won the MRA’s Food Service Operator of the Year Award in 2011, said promoting awareness of the MRA among younger food service professionals will be a key task.
“Succession is an important goal in our workplace and it also needs to be considered in the future of this association. We are as much a people business as we are a food business. It is timely and relevant to magnify the communication of our industry’s important role in the state and national economy as employers.”