Speaker Bios

(Ordered by Last Name A-Z)

Kathy Bomboy-Casteel

Vice President
Bomboy’s Candy

Kathy Bomboy-Casteel is a second generation candymaker and has been actively involved in confectionery production and R&D for 25  years. Kathy graduated from Salisbury University with a degree in Marketing. After graduation, she began working full time in the production, manufacturing and quality control elements of her family’s business. Kathy attended the RCI Gus Pulakos Candy School in 1998. She has since moderated numerous seminars for RCAP and has been an instructor for RCI’s Mechanics of Moulding and Caramel, Toffee and Brittles courses. Kathy is currently on the board of directors for RCI.

Jessica Burchfield 

R&D Technologist
Barry Callebaut

Jessica has been at Barry Callebaut for over a year. She is responsible for the creation, execution, and evaluation of chocolate, compound, and filling formulas, as well as performing sensory, texture, and quality analysis. She is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America where she holds degrees in Bakery, Pastry, and Culinary Science.

Charles Niedermyer II

Chef Instructor
Pennsylvania College of Technology
One College Avenue
Williamsport, PA 17701
www.pct.edu 

Charles is a baking and confectionery professional with over 25 years’ experience.  He’s a Chef Instructor at Pennsylvania College of Technology, teaching baking and pastry arts since 2005.  Charles’ awards include a 2018 Bake Magazine Twenty-five top educator, a 2017 Top Ten Pastry Chef in America by Dessert Professional Magazine, and he holds several awards from Penn College, including a Distinguished Teaching Award.

Niedermyer’s work extends well beyond the campus classroom.  His industry experience includes bakeries, chocolate factories, restaurants, hotels, and dining clubs.  He is an invited presenter teaching at educational conferences all over the country.  Charles leads production at the Kentucky Derby each year where they cook and bake for tens of thousands of guests.  He is a guest instructor for the Department of Food Science at Penn State, lecturing on baking science and product development each year.

Charles has been featured in numerous industry magazines as both a featured chef and author, including Pastry Arts Magazine, Bake Magazine, Kettle Talk, and Dessert Professional Magazine.

Eric Schmoyer

Eric Schmoyer has been with Barry Callebaut since 2007, when he started as an R&D Manager, managing non-corporate customer projects He also managed the R&D start up for the Mona Lisa decorations facility in Hendersonville, NC and the BC chocolate factory in Robinson, IL. He was also involved in setting up, equipping, staffing and starting up the pilot facility in Pennsauken, NJ..  He is currently the Technical Services manager, where he works with internal and external customers, solving their development and production issues.

Prior to joining Barry Callebaut, Eric was with the R.M. Palmer Company for almost 20 years. Starting in the molding department and moving to tech services, he worked with raw materials,formulation, and processing, as well as standard QA duties. In 1998 he was named R&D Lab Manager, where his duties included ideation and new item prototype development, plant scale-ups, on-line troubleshooting, production of sales samples and managing the QA libraries.

He has attended and taught several PMCA courses.  Eric attended the the NCA Confectionery Residency course in Madison, WI, many, many years ago. A member of PMCA for a very long time, Eric is chair of the PMCA Research Committee and is active on the Long Range Planning, Student Outreach committees, and Beyond the Basics planning. He is also past president of the American Association of Candy Technologists and its Philadelphia Chairperson.

When not traveling, Eric enjoys bourbon, cigars, and spending time with his two smelly old hounds.

Stan Sitton

President
Green Mountain Flavors, Inc.
442 Treasure Drive, Oswego, IL 60543   
p: 630-554-9530

Mr. Sitton has 45+ years of ingredient sales, marketing, and product development experience, with 35+ years of it in the food and beverage industry.  Past employers have included Dow Chemical Company, Tate + Lyle, and Minnesota Corn Processors. He has owned and operated Green Mountain Flavors, Inc. the past 19 years.

Laura Tornichio

Northeast Territory Sales Manager
Guittard Chocolate Company

Laura M. Tornichio is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt who has spent the past 33 years promoting premium ingredients. While serving as Director of Business Development for Event International and Chocolate Show, NY, she developed her process for designing partnerships that build brand equity and financial benefit. 

Solution-oriented and service minded, Laura is skilled at leveraging her extensive professional network to build strategic brand partnerships in a spirit of collaboration. This is the keystone of her success. Fueled by a driving work ethic, Laura is an experienced sales and marketing professional with a demonstrated history of promoting brands throughout the food-service and food manufacturing industries. She is a strong sales professional skilled in building relationships within client organizations, and throughout the confectionery, baking, and dairy markets. This is reinforced by a deep understanding of supply chain. 

Ms. Tornichio currently lives in both Connecticut and Pennsylvania with her husband and five children where she manages the northeast region of the US for Guittard Chocolate Company. 

Estelle Tracy

Founder, Chocolate Sommelier
37 Chocolates
PO Box 715
Kennett Square, PA 19348
e:estelle@37chocolates.com
p: 610-306-2350

Estelle Tracy is an award-winning food writer and chocolate sommelier based in Kennett Square, PA. Originally from France, she discovered the US bean-to-bar movement in 2015 and has since shared her love for chocolate through over 400 tastings worldwide. Some of her clients include Accenture, Deloitte, and Google. She’s the author of a food survival guide for French people in the US and the founder of 37 Chocolates, a chocolate education company. Find out more at 37chocolates.com.