State of the Association 2026

A farewell from Steve Spittle, CFSP

Steve Spittle, CFSP, CCO, Middleby Corporation, 2024-2025 NAFEM president hands over the reigns to Eva-Marie Fox, CFSP, President & CEO, T & S Brass & Bronze Works during the NAFEM Annual Business Meeting during the recent Executive Summit. Here’s his farewell speech.

I want to extend a warm welcome to our Executive Summit and, in particular, to our annual business meeting. It’s exciting to be back in New Orleans—a city with a rich, vibrant foodservice culture and a place that has hosted many NAFEM events over the years, including this meeting and the NAFEM Show. I truly appreciate everyone taking the time to be here this week. I hope you’ve found the sessions valuable and are looking forward to tomorrow’s focus on our industry, culminating in our time with Chef José Andrés.

I am sure like many of you, I start each new year by pulling up the industry calendar and adding events to my own. As I did that this year, something struck me more than ever before: we sure do have a lot of industry events. Trade association conferences, buying group meetings, national and regional trade shows—the list goes on and on. If you added up the days for all of these events, not including chain conferences or anything international, they would total to roughly 125 days in 2026.

It made me pause and ask: Why do we have so many individual events? In my opinion, it’s largely because we always have. But what if there were fewer? What would you do with the time and resources you’d get back? Would it give you more meaningful time in your own business? And would it make the select events where we do come together even more impactful?

I recognize the irony of raising these questions from the podium of one of those very conferences, and I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But I do know that as we move into the back half of this decade, it’s clear we need to think and act differently. It’s healthy to step outside our comfort zones. The world—and our industry—is changing too quickly for any of us to operate in silos. No single person or organization has the experience, capital, or global reach to navigate these changes alone. We must be more strategic and more collaborative than ever before. With that in mind, I’m especially pleased and honored to have our dealer partners with us this week—to learn together, eat together, and collaborate together. Welcome again.

Turning to the state of the association, I’m incredibly proud of what the NAFEM team and board have accomplished over the past two years. It’s hard not to begin with the 2025 NAFEM Show as a key highlight. Our goal every two years is to deliver the “best show ever,” and last year’s show in Atlanta lived up to that standard. We welcomed just over 10,000 non-exhibitor attendees, including a 10% increase in operator attendance compared to 2023. What’s Hot, What’s Cool made a successful return, showcasing more than 42 innovative new products. For the first time ever, the NAFEM Show floor hosted the U.S. Culinary Open, featuring some of the best chefs from around the world. And we capped off three incredible days with a sold-out NAFEM Party at Mercedes-Benz Stadium featuring One Republic. It was an unforgettable way to start the year.

Beyond the show, I continue to be extremely proud of NAFEM’s social purpose campaign and our partnership with Feeding America, which Rich just highlighted.  One of the most meaningful aspects of this campaign is how it brings all our members together—combining national-level support with matching donations and volunteer hours contributed locally by our member companies. Since the campaign’s inception, more than 70 member companies have participated, contributing over $5 million to Feeding America. To put that into perspective, that’s the equivalent of approximately 50 million meals provided to local communities. We should all be proud of the impact NAFEM and our members have had on families, children, and seniors across the country.

Two years ago, at this meeting, I said that Charlie Souhrada and Felicia Jaeger were the two busiest people in the world of NAFEM, leading our advocacy initiatives. Two years later, that’s still true. In addition to their work on energy and environmental standards, regulations, taxes, and trade at both the national and state levels, their plates soon filled with another “T” word: tariffs. We all saw how quickly tariff news changed—sometimes daily, sometimes hourly. But as always, Charlie and Felicia stayed on top of it, continually educating our membership and providing resources to help everyone navigate the shifting landscape. I also encourage you to visit the “What We’re Watching” section of the NAFEM website to see the broad range of issues we continue to track on behalf of our members. Charlie and Felicia, thank you again for everything you do.

And last, but certainly not least, I’m excited to share an update on NAFEM’s evolving relationship with Fiera Milano—something we first discussed during the Host show last October. As of last Thursday, I’m proud to announce that our partnership with Host is now formalized in a signed strategic agreement.  I’ve been extremely impressed with the Fiera Milano team—their thoughtfulness, creativity, and genuine desire to build something new that benefits both of our organizations. As part of this agreement, the 2027 NAFEM Show in Orlando will feature a new dedicated section on the show floor called Host America. Within this space, the Host team will market and facilitate new exhibitors from Europe, particularly in product categories that have historically been underrepresented at our show.

It’s fair to ask why we would expand beyond our North American roots. I believe this is an important step in continuing to evolve our show to reflect the increasingly global nature of our industry, while also enhancing the experience for operator attendees—one of our core show goals. And as we continue to drive operator experience, it should, in turn, lead to an additional benefit of better traffic for all of us at the show. 

As we move from our 2027 show to the Host Milano show in October of next year, NAFEM will have a presence there as well, both with space on the floor and through educational programming. More details will be provided as we get closer.  This agreement with Fiera Milano is a milestone for NAFEM, and one I believe will continue to grow and strengthen in the years ahead. My sincere thanks to Deirdre and our team for helping bring this global partnership to life.

Before officially passing the gavel, I want to thank the many individuals who have supported me over the past two years. First, to the broader NAFEM membership—thank you for your engagement and support. At any point during the year, roughly 350 members volunteer their time across committees, task groups, and councils. And if you’re not yet one of the 350, now is a great time to get involved.

To our board and my fellow officers—thank you for your time, dedication, and partnership. It has been an honor to serve alongside you these past two years as President and the past eleven years as a board member.

To the NAFEM team—I’ve said before that I wish every member could see what I’ve seen behind the scenes. I have never met a more dedicated, passionate group of professionals. Thank you for making our industry better every day. And especially to Deirdre Flynn—your leadership is the steady constant as presidents, officers, and boards rotate through. We all owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude for your guidance, your vision, and your friendship. And thank you especially for not choosing to retire during my presidency.

My sincere thanks as well to Tim FitzGerald, CEO of Middleby, for his support and encouragement throughout my term. I feel fortunate every day to be part of Tim’s team at Middleby and to learn from one of the smartest, most thoughtful, and humble leaders I’ve ever known.

And finally, I would not be here without the support of my wife, Jamie, and our three kids—Callie (19), Ella (13), and Jack (9). They’re all in school today back in New Hampshire and Vermont and unfortunately could not be here with me in New Orleans. Like many of you, my role requires frequent travel and time away from home, and I’m deeply grateful for everything Jamie does to take care of our family—on top of being a full-time teacher herself.

It’s remarkable how quickly time passes as it feels like just yesterday we were in Savannah.  Four years ago when Rich Packer became President and I became President-Elect, it was the moment the reality of becoming NAFEM President truly set in. I’ll be honest with all of you—at that time, I strongly considered stepping away. I worried about balancing my responsibilities at NAFEM with my evolving role at Middleby. Being NAFEM President is an honor, but I didn’t want to do it without giving it the time and attention it deserves.  I’m grateful to Deirdre and Eva-Marie for their support during that period, but especially to my friend Rich Packer for his counsel and encouragement to stay the course. Now that my presidency has come and gone, I can say without question—it has been one of the best experiences and honors of my career. Thank you, Rich.

And now, it is my honor to officially pass the gavel to Eva Marie Fox of T&S Brass. Despite her questionable taste in college football teams, I have complete confidence in the impact she will make over the next two years. She is smart, thoughtful, and will be a tremendous servant leader.

I would be remiss not to acknowledge that Eva Marie will be the first female NAFEM President since Carol Wallace nearly 20 years ago. And next year, for the first time in our industry’s history, three of our trade association presidents will be women—Eva Marie at NAFEM, Stephanie Perry at MAFSI, and incoming FEDA President Jamie Arguello. It has taken far too long to reach this milestone, but needless to say, some things change for the better.

And with that being said, please join me in welcoming and congratulating Eva Marie Fox as she becomes the 53rd President of NAFEM.

Thank you.