Ellen Kassoff: A consummate manager and marketing professional, Kassoff has achieved top-tier status among Washington, D.C.’s hospitality movers, and shakers. Groomed for success via years of experience in gourmet food sales, economics, and program management, Kassoff manages operations and ...more

Ellen Kassoff: A consummate manager and marketing professional, Kassoff has achieved top-tier status among Washington, D.C.’s hospitality movers, and shakers. Groomed for success via years of experience in gourmet food sales, economics, and program management, Kassoff manages operations and community involvement for all the Harvest Moon Hospitality Group enterprises. A native of D.C., Kassoff began her ascent in the food business after earning an economics degree from the University of Maryland in 1986 and studying abroad at the University of London. After working on Wall Street for several years, she moved back to the nation’s capital and took a job with Sysco Food Service, the largest food purveyor in the U.S., combining her business background and fascination with food. The most productive sales call she ever made was to a young chef named Todd Gray. Balancing work and activism, she has served on several boards in Washington, DC including the Humane Society, Les Dames d' Esscoiifer, and the Washington Jewish Community Center. As the creator of the annual Sugar and Champagne charity event, she combined her concern for animal welfare and culinary inclinations, bringing D.C.’s finest pastry chefs and wine purveyors together to benefit the Washington Humane Society. To date, the popular and fashionable event has raised more than $800,000. Always a community advocate, Kassoff opened D.C.’s Capitol Harvest on the Plaza (CHOP) Farmer’s Market, a showcase for local eco-friendly farmers and the city’s best chefs. She also assisted in organizing the Certified Humane Program, which she is helping to gain national attention. She is also a board member of Les Dames d’Escoffier International.less