Rollie Wesen, Ed.D. is the co-founder and executive director of the Jacques Pépin Foundation, a culinary instructor and Associate Professor at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI and the husband of Claudine Pépin. Rollie cooked at the Rainbow Room, Gramercy Tavern and many other notable restaurants. In 2016, Rollie, Claudine and Jacques created the Jacques Pépin Foundation (JPF) whose mission is to improve lives through culinary training. The JPF supports community kitchens across the USA that provide free life skills and culinary training to adults with barriers to employment such as homelessness, issues with substance abuse, and previous incarceration. Rollie and family live in Rhode Island and continue to travel, explore, teach and learn.