Ammaccapane farewell event draws senior administrators, community

Sporting her "favorite orientation jacket," Ammaccapane, center, mingles with student and resident advisor Abdirashid Dahir, left, and President Merten's chief of staff Tom Hennessey, right. (Jake McLernon)

A mixed group of Sodexo executives and staff, senior administrators, faculty and students — and at least one person in a life-sized ducky costume — gathered Monday afternoon for a farewell event for Denise Ammaccapane, outgoing resident district manager for Sodexo operations at George Mason University. The public face of Mason Dining, the woman behind the Spunk Buggy cookie-mobile and the rubber duckies, and a leader through both company growth and employee conflict starts her new job next week as the corporation’s new director of diversity and inclusion.

“When you think of dining, you think of Denise,” said Senior Vice President Morrie Scherrens, who, along with other Mason and Sodexo staff, gave remarks at the event. “When you think about Otis Spunkmeyer, you think about Denise . . . When you think about snow, you think about Denise.”

Ammaccapane took the position at the head of Mason Dining three and a half years ago. In her time at Mason, 12 new dining locations have opened on campus. Two years ago, an Educational Benchmarking, Inc. survey for student satisfaction marked Mason 35th in the mid-Atlantic region for dining. This past year, it ranked 12th.

“When we first started, [dining] was seen as . . . adversarial,” said Mark Kraner, executive director of campus retail operations and auxiliary enterprises, who came to Mason only a few months before Ammaccapane, in the time of Ciao Hall. “She’s taken an ugly duckling and turned [it] into something.”

Kraner, who says he’s gotten to know Ammaccapane over early morning breakfast meetings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the past three years, attributes the success to the tone she set for her managers and staff, as well as her open-door policy for students.

"She listens, and she does something about it," said Kraner. To make a point about her openness to listen to complaints, Ammaccapane has written her cell phone number out for parents who attend orientation sessions. At least two have called her two or three years later, and she's helped them. The number on the Mason Dining website also goes directly to her desk.

Another part of the success, Kraner says, have been the many “unique” promotional ideas, also attributed to Ammaccapane, including the increasingly popular Mason Dining Duckies. The costumed and themed duckies of the past year came as a result of a random comment Denise made during a meeting, but  was then pursued and brought to completion, according to Kraner. (Adding to the brood of Chinese New Year, shamrock and “lucky duckies,” a Patriot Duckie is on its way before the end of the spring semester.)

Tom Post, president of the hiring division at Sodexo, gave a few remarks on behalf of the corporation. Post said he has no doubts that Ammaccapane will “influence and help more people” in her promoted position, a position that includes development of employees, retaining key talent, “recruiting . . . and [overseeing both live and virtual] training classes.” While on the road, Ammaccapane will relocate to Naples, Fla., her home before coming to Mason.

Members of the men’s a capella group GMUnit took the center stage of the event following a slideshow of photos of Ammaccapane and Mason Dining taken over her time at the university. As a throwback to one of the “many highlights” of her experience at Mason when the men surprised her last fall, the group once again serenaded Ammaccapane with their rendition of “Brown Eyed Girl.”

Ammaccapane told C2M she was “totally overwhelmed” at the event, which drew approximately 50 administrators, staff and students to the Center for the Arts lobby. The Spunk Buggy was on site, and a life-sized rubber ducky handed out Dining’s Mason-themed cookie, the “Mason Munchies,” to all who attended.

Ammaccapane’s last day is Friday, March 25. Her replacement Ram Nabar, who has been at Mason learning the ins and outs of the job, assumes the full position Monday.