Jamaica Plain nonprofit Community Servings recently announced the appointment of Kevin Conner as Chief Operating Officer.
Community Servings provides medically tailored meals and nutrition services to individuals and families living with critical and chronic illnesses.
In this newly resurrected and restructured role, Conner oversees the delivery department and all operations, including facilities, IT, and the Teaching Kitchen program that has been on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic and will relaunch with a social entrepreneurial element in 2021. Conner will also oversee COVID-19 safety measures to ensure that all staff, including those in the kitchen and making deliveries, are adequately equipped with PPE and adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Conner joined the Community Servings team in 2012 as kitchen manager and later served as executive chef for five years. Prior to becoming COO, he was the director of food service. As medically tailored meal services continue to be integrated into new patient-centered models of care, Conner will help manage Community Servings’ growth. Since March, the number of clients receiving meals has risen by 30 percent and meal production has steadily increased. This year, due to increasing demand, the agency expects it could prepare & deliver close to 800,000 scratch-made medically-tailored meals, a 40 percent increase from 2019.
“Kevin has been an integral member of our team since he joined Community Servings, and his culinary expertise and passion for our mission are ideal for this new operational leadership role,” said David B. Waters, CEO of Community Servings. “As our organization continues to grow, and as we face uncertainties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Kevin will undoubtedly help us manage that growth and meet the needs of the communities we serve.”
Conner, who lives in Scituate with his spouse and daughter, has been a professional chef for two decades. Prior to joining Community Servings, he was the executive chef at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
“I am thrilled to be able to continue my career with an organization that is improving lives through the power of nutritious, delicious food – one meal at a time,” Conner said. “I am inspired by the warm, positive atmosphere in our kitchens and excited by the health care community’s increasing acceptance of medically tailored meals as an important intervention in treating critical and chronic illnesses.”