Blue Ribbon is directed by Virginia & Mike Duppenthaler, and Vanessa Volkman.

Virginia has studied at Cordon Bleu, Paris; Gastronomic Institute, Vienna; University of Science & Technology, Ames, Iowa. A cookbook author and former television video cooking show host, she founded her first cooking school in 1977 in Vancouver, Canada.

Mike is a former businessman, who, in his spare time, has been throwing large, fabulous parties and dinners since his college days. An avid cookbook collector, he also is a knife skills and barbeque expert. He has been teaching at Blue Ribbon since 1998.

Vanessa Volkman joined Blue Ribbon's team as a full time chef instructor in 2000. Over her years at Blue Ribbon she has shifted gears and now runs the day-to-day operations of the company. As former private chef and culinary consultant, Vanessa uses her experiences in the culinary industry in conjunction with her passion for planning and designing events to ensure the success of each event at Blue Ribbon.