Anneliese Tanner 

Title: 学校食品计划管理员
Job site: Diamond Head Annex
Years in the HIDOE: < 1 year
Years in the position: < 1 year

Anneliese Tanner joined the Department last fall as School Food Services Administrator, overseeing statewide operations that provide over 100,000 student meals daily. A seasoned leader in K-12 food systems, she previously served as executive director of Food & Nutrition Services for Boston Public Schools and led school food operations for the Chef Ann Foundation and Austin Independent School District. Her experience spans large-scale operations, scratch cooking, local food sourcing, and innovative nutrition programs — all of which support our ongoing efforts to bring more locally grown ingredients to Hawai‘i school menus.

Q: Briefly describe your career path.
A: I started my career in finance and found that I wanted to have a different kind of legacy. So, I got my master’s in food systems with the goal of becoming a food service director in a large urban school district so that I would have education and volume to make change. Since then I have led Austin Independent School District and Boston Public Schools food service programs and worked with districts across the country to bring my scratch cooking and local procurement to schools. 

Q: What are your primary duties?
A: My primary duties are to provide vision, direction and expertise to the School Food Services Branch, to set expectations and hold our team responsible for providing our students healthy, fresh meals that reflect the ‘āina.

Q: Favorite part about the job?
A: Hearing from students about what they like and what they would like at lunch. 

Q: Most challenging part about your position?
A: We have so many competing priorities. Balancing those priorities and helping all our stakeholders understand that balancing act is a challenge. 

Q: What advice do you have for people considering this position?
A: Everyone loves food, so this job can make you popular! On a more serious note, it’s important to look at our decision making from multiple perspectives and use data to inform those decisions so that we make solid decisions that lead to good meals for our keiki. 

Q: How does your job support students?
A: When we serve high quality meals to our students, in addition to providing the nutrition they need, we are communicating that they are welcome at school, that they belong and that they matter. 

Q: Fun fact about yourself?
A: To keep up my German language skills I usually take my peloton classes in German!