Former resident of Mastic Beach, New York and a graduate of William Floyd High School, class of 1993, Joseph M. Leonardi, CMC, is the Director of Culinary Operations at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Leonardi is 1 of 69 master chefs in the country earning this designation in October 2017. Before joining The Country Club, he was the executive chef at The Somerset Club in Boston, MA. He served as the Department Chair of Culinary Arts and assistant professor at Johnson & Wales University, Providence, R.I. A member of The American Culinary Federation (ACF), he holds a bachelor's degree in culinary arts and a master's in applied teaching from Johnson & Wales University. As an avid competitor, Leonardi has amassed numerous awards at the regional, national and international level. In July 2009, he was named U.S.A.’s Chef of the Year™ at the ACF National Convention in Orlando, Fla. Previously, Leonardi was the manager for the American Culinary Federation Culinary Team USA where he oversaw 2 national culinary teams. These teams represented America in both regional and international culinary competitions. The team was ranked #1 in the world in culinary arts and 4th overall. Previously, Leonardi and his team were ranked #1 in the world in Culinary arts in 2014 at the Culinary World Cup.
Leonardi has also competed on the international stage, Leonardi served as team captain of ACF Culinary National Team USA when it earned a silver medal in the hot-food kitchen and received the second-highest score and a silver medal in the cold-food presentation, placing sixth out of 32 national teams at the 23rd Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA) International Culinary Exhibition, commonly known as the "culinary Olympics,". He was also team captain when the team brought home two gold medals and placed third out of 25 teams overall at the Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup 2010, held in Luxembourg, Nov. 20-24, 2010.
In 2008, Culinary team USA was ranked first overall in the world in the Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA) competition, or “culinary Olympics,” in Erfurt, Germany, competing against 62 regional teams. Team USA led the competition with four gold medals and one silver medal.
Other competitive credits include a gold medal at the American Culinary Classic in 2007, ranking the team as second in the world. He also traveled to Luxembourg for the 2006 Culinary World Cup, where he earned 4 gold medals.
Sessions
State of the Culinary Industry