BIO
George Duran is an international chef and entertainer. Author of Take This Dish and Twist it, known for his Food Network show Ham on the Street and most recently host of TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off. He’s appeared as guests on the Dr. Oz Show, NBC Today Show, CBS This Morning, The Wendy Williams Show, The Nate Berkus Show and many others.
Born and raised by Armenian parents in Caracas, Venezuela, George’s diverse background helped him succeed at NYU as the host of the award winning radio talk show, HYE Time Radio.
Post college, Duran continued to follow his Radio Muse, working as an on-air personality for comedy segments at WPLJ-FM in New York. By 2000, Duran told his Radio Muse he’d like to “take a break” and after hosting on the Latin music television station HTV he moved to Paris, France to study French cuisine at the Ecole Superieure de Cuisine Francaise, Groupe Ferrandi. Six months into his studies created and hosted in French a culinary show called Pop Cuisine on France’s Cuisine TV network. His unpretentious, quirky culinary style was a hit—garnering Pop Cuisine a nomination for a 7 d’Or (French Emmy) for Best Cable Show.
In 2005, Duran returned to New York, taking his career as a TV Chef to the next level—creating and hosting Food Network’s popular Ham on the Street. The program showcased George’s keen interviewing and culinary skills—and determined once and for all that you can’t fry a fudge-cicle.
In February 2007, Duran expanded his presence on Food Network, hosting The Secret Life of…, a light hearted exploration of the history of the foods we love. In October, 2008, George’s first book, Take This Dish and Twist It hit bookstore shelves. As colorful and funny as the chef himself, Duran’s book is packed with highly useful tips revealing his delectably unexpected take on comfort food. During this period, Duran partnered up with the number 1 Hispanic cookware company, IMUSA as its spokesperson and shortly afterwards with Hunt’s Tomatoes. The enormous success of both campaigns resulted in the expansion of George’s role with both companies including all ConAgra products on a national and Hispanic stage. Most recently he has hosted on HSN for kitchenware products by IMUSA and T-fal.
In 2010 George was asked to join TLC’s prime time line-up by hosting Ultimate Cake Off where the nation’s top cake artists compete against each other to build the ultimate cake. Duran’s interests lie in French, Armenian and South American cuisines as well as cinematography and video editing. He currently lives in Long Island City, NY.
WWW.GEORGEDURAN.COM
WWW.HUNTS.COM
DAVID HEJL - GENERAL MANAGER, KOSTA BROWNE
David has been a student of fine wine and food his whole life, and from his perspective, has been training for this role for three decades. Over the years, visiting every major wine region in the world, his adventure was never complete without discovering and enjoying the local food, wines and terroir.
David has long been a strong supporter of Kosta Browne, a dear friend and mentor to founder, Michael Browne, and was approached by the three founding partners, including Dan Kosta and Chris Costello, to join the organization during the 2011 harvest. “I am excited and honored to bring my passion and pursuit of exceptional Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to the great team at Kosta Browne.”
Prior to joining Kosta Browne, David accumulated over 30 years experience in growth-oriented strategy execution within the food and consumer products industry and held executive positions with Nabisco, Berkshire Hathaway, Gourmet Award Foods, Ruiz Food Products, and most recently President & CEO of CPI International. In addition, he has 15 years of private equity investment experience and currently sits on various Boards of Directors.
David received his BS in Accounting and Finance from the University of Nebraska, is a CPA, and holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. David is also a noted speaker and has been on the Marketing and Finance faculties of University of San Francisco McLaren School of Management, Marquette University and University of St. Thomas.
David has lived in Sonoma County for fifteen years and resides in Bennett Valley with his two boys, Andrew and Zachary. David enjoys BBQ, surfing, skiing, winemaking and wine collecting, spending time with family and friends, and learning French.
WWW.KOSTABROWNE.COM
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