Sig Hansen
Star of Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch

Sigurd J. Hansen, captain of the Northwestern of the Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel was  born in Seattle, Washington is the first generation of his family born in the United States. and raised in a small community just outside of Seattle. Sig is the oldest child and has two brothers Norman and Edgar. Their father Norweigan-born Sverre Hansen pioneered the Opilio crab fishery in Alaska and along the way taught all his boys to respect the sea, how to find the fish and most of all instilled a limitless work ethic.

Sig began fishing at age 14. Sig often left school early for the summer to fish salmon in Bristol Bay, Alaska on a salmon gillnetter. Once salmon season ended he would join the Northwestern to fish Blue and Red king crab in Saint Matthews Island and Nome. Occasionally, Sig had the opportunity to fish Mackerel and Cod in Norway during the summer.

After Sig graduated from high school, he began fishing year-round, spending on average 10 months per year in Alaska. At 22, Sig began relieving captains on the Northwestern. This job is known as a “relief skipper.” As one of the youngest captains in the fleet he knew he had to either show results or get replaced. Sig opted for results. By 24, Sig began running the Northwester full time. Over the years, the Northwestern has been a top producer repeatedly under Sig’s guidance. Sig doesn’t consider this his greatest accomplishment though. The fact that there have not been any major accidents onboard the Northwestern is by far his greatest accomplishment according to Sig.

Sig lives in Seattle with his wife, June and their two children.

Chef John Folse
Louisiana Culinary Ambassador

Chef John Folse,  CEC, AAC Chef and Author, is the owner and executive chef of his Louisiana-based corporations. Lafitte's Landing Restaurant in Donaldsonville is recognized as one of the finest restaurants in and around New Orleans. White Oak Plantation in Baton Rouge houses his catering and events management company. Chef John Folse & Company Manufacturing, the only chef-owned and -operated manufacturing company, produces soups, sauces, entrees and specialty items for chain restaurants, foodservice and retail establishments across the country. Folse has authored numerous books available in bookstores nationally. He hosts his own National television cooking show, "A Taste of Louisiana" on PBS, and his syndicated radio show, "Stirrin’ It Up!" can be heard worldwide.

Chef Michel Richard
Citronelle Restaurant, Washington D.C.

Chosen by the James Beard Foundation as Outstanding Chef 2007, Outstanding Wine Service 2007 for Citronelle, and Best New Restaurant 2008 for Central, Michel Richard exemplifies the art of cuisine and a love of his profession.

His style is light, fresh and intelligent, with witty presentations and texture. Michel was a pioneer in French/California cuisine, before moving to Washington, DC, where Michel Richard Citronelle became his flagship restaurant.

Richard knew he wanted to be a chef when he first glimpsed a restaurant kitchen at the age of eight. “The white hats, aprons, and all of the food – I fell in love.” His fate was decided.

Michel's creativity can be seen in prestigious culinary publications such as Gourmet, Food & Wine, Food Arts, Bon Appetit, and has been featured in the Washington Post, Washingtonian, The New York Times, and Los Angeles Times, among many others. Michel released his second book, Happy in the Kitchen published by Artisan, in 2006. earning a James Beard nomination for Cooking from a Professional Point of View. To rave reviews, and the 2008 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant, he opened Central Michel Richard, in downtown Washington, DC, and followed that success with two new restaurants in California, Citronelle at Carmel Valley Ranch, and Citrus at Social, in Los Angeles.

Carol Mighton Haddix
Chicago Tribute, Food Editor

Carol Haddix is editor of the weekly Good Eating section of the Chicago Tribune. She is responsible for the planning and production of the Wednesday section and supervision of the Tribune’s test kitchen and the food staff.

Under her direction, the food section has won numerous best-section awards from the Association of Food Journalists and writing awards from the James Beard Foundation. She also won a 1993 First Place National Food Writing Award from the Brock Center for Agricultural Communication.

Haddix is a board member and past president of Les Dames d’Escoffier Chicago, a professional food society. She is a member of the The Culinary Historians of Chicago and is a board member and past chairman of the James Beard Foundation’s Book Awards committee. She is co-author of “Cook’s Marketplace Chicago,” and food editor of “The Chicago Tribune Cookbook,” “Desserts,” “Grilling,” “Holidays,” “Ethnic Chicago Cookbook,” the “Chicago Tribune Good Eating Cookbook,” and editor of “Chicago Cooks: 25 Years of Food History with Menus, Recipes, and Tips from Les Dames d’Escoffier.”

Prior to joining the Chicago Tribune, Haddix worked for the Detroit Free Press and the Midland (Michigan) Daily News. Haddix holds a bachelor’s degree in home economics and communication arts from Michigan State University.

Julia Rutland -
Southern Living Magazine, Food Editor

Julia produces the entertaining feature for each of the 10 issues each year of Coastal Living Magazine along with the Seafood Primer, Dinner in a Breeze, and In the Coastal Kitchen columns. You’ll find Julia happily multi-tasking, whether it’s developing and testing recipes, food styling, prop styling, writing, or checking out the latest seafood restaurant. Often flying from coast to coast to coordinate location photography, Julia has yet to select her favorite beach.

Julia is a 1985 graduate of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa with a degree in communications and minors in English and marketing. While living in Los Angeles, California, Julia discovered a love for cooking and returned to Birmingham for a 3-year culinary apprenticeship. While touring the Southern Living test kitchens and observing studio photography, Julia decided that Southern Progress was where she needed to work. In 1993, Julia landed a job in the Southern Living test kitchens where one of her favorite duties was food styling.

In 1996, Julia moved to Memphis, Tennessee with her husband and started a freelance career focusing on writing, recipe developing, cooking demonstrations, and event speaking. Clients included Cooking Light, Weight Watchers, Canoe & Kayak, Piggly Wiggly, and Pampered Chef. Julia also co-authored a cookbook with Susan Dosier, fomer executive foods editor for Southern Living magazine. Discover Dinnertime focused on the value of family mealtimes and offers quick, simple recipes for busy families.

In 2000, Julia received her designation as a Certified Culinary Professional from the International Association of Culinary Professions. In 2005, Julia was promoted to Senior Editor at Coastal Living Magazine.

Julia and her husband have 7 and 2 year old daughters

Chef Kathy Casey -
Kathy Casey’s Dish Delish

Kathy Casey is a celebrity chef and pioneer in the bar-chef movement. She played a pivotal role in bringing Northwest cuisine and women chefs to national prominence and, as one of the first female executive chefs in the United States, she was named one of Food & Wine’s “hot new American chefs.”

This savvy spotter of what's hot on the culinary and cocktail scene is a frequent TV and radio guest and speaker on trends. She has been featured in numerous national publications, including USA Today, People Magazine, Cheers, Food Arts, the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times. She has appeared on such shows as Good Morning America, TV Food Network's Unwrapped and the Travel Channel's Cooking Across America as well as numerous PBS cooking shows.

An accomplished writer, Kathy has authored nine cookbooks, including her newest, Sips & Apps, and the James Beard Award-nominated Kathy Casey’s Northwest Table.  She also owns Kathy Casey Food Studios and Liquid Kitchen, a food and beverage consulting firm, and Dish D’Lish cafes and its branded specialty food line. Learn more at www.kathycasey.com . 

William B. “Bill” Woolf
Woolfgang Productions, Nordland, WA

Bill Woolf has been a drama coach, a truck driver, and a radio and television personality, and still found time to spend 20 years in Washington, DC as a senior aide for two U.S. Senators from Alaska, whom he represented on fisheries and marine issues, transportation and public works, among other domestic and international issues. While in Washington, he played an important role in international and domestic issues such as high-seas driftnetting, fisheries bycatch and discard, marine mammal management, limited access, fishery enforcement and others. He served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Conference on Straddling and Highly Migratory Species, and drafted the U.S.-proposed United Nations General Assembly resolution on fishery bycatch and discard. He was also instrumental in the creation of an Alaska fishing industry non-profit organization to deliver assistance to Gulf Coast victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Prior to moving to Washington, he was the Deputy Director and acting Director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and spent several years working with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. His broadcasting experience included stations in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. He now lives on an island in northwest Washington State, where he is building a woodworking shop, consults for the fishing and seafood industry, does occasional freelance voice-over work, and rides his motorcycle whenever the sun shines.

Chef Robert Wiedmaier
Marcel’s Restaurant, Washington D.C.

Chef and Proprietor Wiedmaier developed a strong passion for the culinary arts at a young age while growing up in Germany. A family subscription to the French newspaper “Le Monde” provided him with key insights into the lives of famed chefs. Born to a father who is 100% Belgian and a mother who is Californian, Wiedmaier was given a chance to see and experience ingredient-based cuisine with the freshest produce, meat and dairy.

Wiedmaier attended the Culinary School of Horca in the Netherlands. His apprenticeship at the Thermidor Restaurant, a Michelin two-star establishment in Hulst, Holland, brought him to Brussels to work with famed Chef Eddie Van Maele. In 1986, he took the position as Saucier at Le Chardon D’Or in the Morrison House in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, bringing him to the United States for the first time in his culinary career.

In 1988, Wiedmaier joined the team at the renowned Le Pavillion as Chef Poissonnier, which featured the finest nouvelle French cuisine in the city. A year later, the Four Seasons Hotel, the most prominent hotel in Washington, D.C., offered Wiedmaier the Sous Chef position for their Aux Beaux Champs restaurant under the tutorial direction of Chef Douglass McNeill. For over seven years, Wiedmaier’s European experience contributed to the upscale French cuisine of this prestigious restaurant and the hotel’s catered events.

Chef Wiedmaier opened Café on M at The Grand Hotel in 1994. This restaurant gave Wiedmaier a personal venue for utilizing his culinary roots and is where he established his critically acclaimed French Cuisine flavored with a Flemish Flair.

In June of 1996, The Watergate Hotel asked Wiedmaier to oversee and manage the culinary operations for the hotel. He also undertook the re-design of the kitchen and opened their then-new restaurant, Aquarelle. Wiedmaier replaced Executive Chef Jean-Louis Palladin, whose tenure at the hotel had been immensely successful as well as having been a strategic mentor to Wiedmaier.

In March of 1999, Robert Wiedmaier opened Marcel’s restaurant, named after his first-born son who was born in December 1998. Wiedmaier’s fine dining establishment has received significant acclaim for his cuisine; the Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year award by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington in 2004 and in 2009, “Chef of Year”, annually maintains top ratings from Washingtonian magazine and The Washington Post dining guides and is rated in the Top Five Food category by Zagat. Wiedmaier along with his two sons, appeared in his own segment, “Rockfish Round-Up in the Chesapeake Bay” on PBS’s award-winning series, Chef’s a Field, Kids on the Farm, Season Three.

Eight years later, in April of 2007, Wiedmaier opened his second DC restaurant, the instantly successful Brasserie Beck, named after his younger son. Brasserie Beck boasts the region’s most comprehensive Belgian beer list that complements his classical, Belgian casual fare of Mussels & Frites, Carbonnade and Waterzooie in a contemporary, atmosphere. Esquire magazine named Beck’s as one of the Best New Restaurants in America, 2007.

In early 2009, Wiedmaier forged a partnership with San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and opened three distinctive food and wine experiences in Alexandria, Virginia. Designed by acclaimed Vicente Wolf, Brabo by Robert Wiedmaier features a 105-seat dining room, the Brabo Tasting Room with a wood-burning oven and Alexandria’s first gourmet retail shop named, The Butcher’s Block, a Market by RW. Wiedmaier also oversees the hotel’s entire food and beverage operations for meeting and banquet spaces at the adjacent Lorien Hotel & Spa, a Kimpton Hotel.

Wiedmaier characterizes himself as a “full circle chef”, in and out of the kitchen. An avid hunter and fisherman, Wiedmaier first-hand understands the life cycles and harvesting seasons of many animals and fish species, how to breakdown the entire animal/catch and use as many parts possible for cooking to minimize waste, and is dedicated to supporting sustainable farmers and fisheries and vendors that adhere to the same principles. One of Wiedmaier’s most entrusted vendors, and friend, is Joe Henderson of Chapel Hill Farm in Berryville, Virginia. Henderson raises Randall Lineback, America's rarest breed of cattle which is threatened with extinction and without feedlots, antibiotics, and growth hormones. Wiedmaier is also a member of the Wild Alaska Seafood Congress of Conscious Chefs formed by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) to share with the public the benefits of wild and sustainable Alaska seafood from a culinary, health and environmental perspective.

In his free time, Wiedmaier enjoys trolling the Chesapeake Bay and hunting with his two sons and riding his Harley-Davidson. He and his wife Polly live in Kensington, MD with their two sons, Marcel (10) and Beck (6).