Chef Rudy Speckamp

Chef Speckamp was a valued member of the CIA family for more than 11 years, though his beginning with the CIA goes back 15 years to 2002, when he joined the Institute as a visiting instructor and culinary consultant. As a visiting instructor, he taught culinary arts courses both at Hyde Park and at Greystone. In 2005, he sold his Baltimore-area restaurant of 23 years and moved to Hyde Park from Finksburg, Maryland, to become a Senior Culinary Consultant with our Consulting Team. He successfully worked with a variety of CIA Consulting clients for several years including hotels, casinos, cruise lines, airlines, restaurant chains and food manufacturers. He later joined the Education Division as a faculty member to deliver to our students the important and instrumental culinary skills foundational classes. Chef Speckamp was promoted to Assistant Professor – Culinary Arts in June 2012.

Among his many accolades, Chef Speckamp was a Certified Master Chef (CMC) and Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE), as well as a member of the American team of chefs who medaled in the 1988 Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt. To this date, the USA Culinary Teams of the eighties count as the most successful in USA culinary competition history. Chef Speckamp was proud of his German heritage, and as a former U.S. Marine he was tough yet always fair and considerate, and never one to raise his voice in the kitchen. His credentials and awards earned him unsung hero celebrity-chef status, but his gentle spirit and even temper earned him great respect among his colleagues and with the countless CIA students whose lives he so richly touched.