Professional

Judges – Americas Combined 2026

As part of our commitment to transparency, we publish the names of the judges for each competition. (If judges opt-in for their names to be made public.)

Each competition is judged by a panel of experts, food journalists, sommeliers and pastry chefs, including the names listed below. The competition is overseen by members of our international Grand Jury, who travel to each competition.

We would like to thank our judges for their hard work, including any who chose for their names not to be listed. You can find the full list of winners for this competition in our ‘Rounds & results’ section.


Lauren Adler (United States), Chocolopolis/Pacific Northwest Chocolate Society, Chocolopolis

Eva Aivaliotis (United States), Freelance fundraising, grants and communications professional

Patricia Baker (United States), Property Management

Jocie Bussin (Canada), Retired Restaurant Owner and Chef

Jan Calkins (Canada), Calkins & Burke Ltd., Calkins & Burke Ltd.

Rachad Challah (Panama), Consultant

Martin Christy (United Kingdom), Seventy%, Permanent Grand Jury

Christy Conte (Canada), Chocolate Cherry Berry

Sergio Escolano Martínez (Spain), None, Sergio Escolano

Earnie Glazener (United States), Independent, Instagram reviews

Bob Goldfarb (United States), Cocoazoo

Eliana Gonzalez Real (Panama), Ex-Banker

E.B. Harper (United States), Diplomat

Sally Hildebrandt (Canada), Centennial College Professor of Baking & Pastry Arts Management, http://www.youtube.com/c/BiteandChiu

Kaysee Hill (United States), Kaysee Hill

Michelle Hoang (United States), Chocolopolis

Lauren Hom (United States), Flavor & Form / Level 2 certified chocolate taster

Nadine Kerstan (United States), Barometer Chocolate, Barometer Chocolate

Jim Koper (United States), Aerospace Engineer, JK Chocolate Truffles

Giorgia Martone (Italy), Commercialista

Mary Luz Mejia (Canada), Food Writer, Content Marketer and Level II Chocolate Taster, Online Portfolio

Adrienne Newman (United States), Founder at Flavor Curious Travel

Maricel Presilla (United States), Chef, Restaurateur, Author, Permanent Grand Jury

Alex Rast (United Kingdom), Consultant, Reviewer, Seventy% , Permanent Grand Jury

Karla Schade (United States), Opening Chocolate

Erin Seidemann (United States), Canaccord Genuity / Supervisory Analyst, Vice President, Destination: Chocolate

Shela Usadi (United States), Shela’s Chocolate Diary/ Chocolate Educator & Reviewer, Shela’s Chocolate Diary

Barbie Van Horn (United States), Finding Fine Chocolate, Finding Fine Chocolate

Michelle Zimmerman (United States), Curating Taste