Board of Directors

President Katie Knappenberger

President:
Katie Knappenberger MS, RD, CSSD, ATC
Northwestern University

Katie Knappenberger is the Director of Performance Nutrition for Northwestern University Athletics. She joined the Wildcats in June of 2014. Her mission is to empower athletes to use food to fuel athletic and academic success and build a foundation for lifetime of health. Before joining the Wildcats, Knappenberger was an assistant professor and athletic trainer at Daytona State College in Daytona Beach, FL. She earned her bachelor's degree in athletic training from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and her master's degree in nutrition with emphasis in sports dietetics from the University of Utah.

Knappenberger is a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, a Registered Dietitian and a Certified Athletic Trainer who has presented regionally and nationally for the following organizations: American Sports and Performance Dietitians Association (ASPDA), the Sports Cardiovascular and Wellness Dietetic Practice Group (SCAN), National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA), Great Lakes Athletic Trainers’ Association (GLATA), Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA), Big Ten Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, and Drug Free Sport. She currently represents the Big Ten Conference on ASPDA’s Power 5 Committee and was elected by her peers to join ASPDA’s Board of Directors.

Knappenberger resides in Evanston with her husband Ryan and daughter Riley. The two enjoy family fun, running, biking, farmers' markets and 90's alternative rock.


Vice President Lauren Link

Vice President:
Lauren Link, MS, RD, CSSD
Purdue University

Lauren Link is currently the Director of Sports Nutrition at Purdue University. Prior to her position at Purdue she worked as a clinical dietitian with Touchpoint Support Services and St. Vincent Health. In January 2014, she returned to her alma matter by stepping into a part-time position with Purdue Athletics, and by July was able to transition the position into Purdue's first full-time sports dietitian.

In addition to promoting optimal performance during their athletic career, she also is passionate about helping her athletes successfully navigate the transition into the real world. She has led multiple initiatives to this end, founding a student-athlete community garden, spearheading a transitional program called BLAST (Boiler Life After SporT), and most recently publishing her first book on the subject, “The Healthy Former Athlete.”

Lauren earned her bachelor's degree in dietetics and in nutrition, fitness and health from Purdue, where she played soccer and was a member of the 2007 Big Ten Tournament championship team. She is a Registered Dietitian (RD) and Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD). She is active within the American Sports and Performance Dietitians Association (ASPDA) as well as a member of Sports and Cardiovascular Nutrition (SCAN) practice group.

 

Secretary and Membership Kelsee Gomes

Secretary and Membership:
Kelsee Gomes, MS, RD, CSSD, LD/N, CLT
New York Yankees

Kelsee Gomes is in her first season as the minor league nutrition coordinator for the NY Yankees. She has previously served director roles at Power 5 institutions as the Director of Sports Nutrition for Football at the University of Florida and the Director of Sports Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


In both roles, she worked closely with numerous varsity athletic teams providing sports nutrition education, nutrition counseling, nutrition programming, body composition assessments, and mentored numerous sports nutrition staff members. Earlier on in her career, she has also worked in private practice and as a clinical dietitian in the Traumatic Brain Injury and Rehab unit in Orlando, FL.


Treasurer Jon TanguayTreasurer:
Jon Tanguay, MS, RD, CSSD, LD
North Carolina State University 

Jonathan Tanguay joined NC State University in November 2022. Prior to NC State, he was the Director of Performance Nutrition at Texas A&M since July 2010.  He joined the Texas A&M Sports Medicine team as the Assistant Director of Performance Nutrition in 2008.  A registered dietitian with the American Dietetic Association (ADA), member of the practice group Sports and Cardiovascular Nutritionists (SCAN), and member and listserv chair for the American Sports and Performance Dietitians Association (ASPDA), Tanguay is the expert nutrition resource for all the 20 Aggie athletic teams.

Tanguay takes a food first approach to sports nutrition and works with the Texas A&M student athletes to develop individualized nutrition plans and educate athletes through one-on-one counseling sessions, team presentations, grocery shopping tours, and cooking demonstrations.  In addition to his role as a nutrition educator, Jonathan is responsible for body composition testing and analysis and has been designated as the Texas A&M athletic department resource for questions related to NCAA banned drugs and the use of nutritional supplements.

Born in Worcester, MA, Tanguay received his bachelor's degree from Connecticut College in 2002 and Master's degree in Nutritional Sciences from the University of New Hampshire in 2007.  He completed his dietetic internship with the University of Houston. Jonathan is a board certified specialists in sports dietetic (CSSD) and is a licensed dietitian (LD) in the state of Texas.


 
Student Programming Liz Wluka Student Programming:
Liz Wluka, MS, RD, CSSD, LS
Boston College

Liz Wluka is currently the Director of Athletic Nutrition at Boston College. In this role, she is responsible for planning, developing and implementing performance nutrition services provided to 30+ teams. Prior to BC, Wluka was the first full-time Director of Sports Nutrition at the University of Connecticut from 2017-2022. While working at UConn, she completed her Masters degree in Applied Nutrition and Fitness from Northeastern University in 2020.

Liz completed the Sports Nutrition Immersion Program (SNIP) at UNC-Chapel Hill from 2016-2017. Prior to SNIP, Liz completed her dietetic internship at Pepperdine University and interned at UCLA in their sports nutrition department in 2016. Liz graduated from Syracuse University in 2015 majoring in Nutrition & Dietetics.

Liz is originally from Sharon, MA and is now working her dream job! Liz is also the host of the “Sports RD Snippets” podcast. She started the podcast in 2020 to help guide and inspire future sports dietitians. Liz recently launched Sports RD Snippets LLC, a sports dietitian career coaching company where she helps dietitians break into the field, find their niche, and start their career with confidence. Liz has a passion for mentoring up-and-coming sports dietitians and helping them on their sports RD journey.

 

Research Peter RitzResearch:
Peter Ritz, MS, RD, CSSD
Northwestern University

Peter Ritz has served as the Advanced Clinical Dietitian for Northwestern University Football since March 2020. He has spent the last 10 years working in various capacities in college football, including time with Texas A&M, EXOS, University of Florida and Virginia Tech.

Ritz is a Registered Dietitian and Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD). Ritz earned Bachelor’s degrees in both Nutritional Science and Kinesiology at Texas A&M in 2015 and a master’s degree concentrated in Applied Nutrition and Physical Activity at Virginia Tech in 2019. He completed his dietetic internship at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX in 2017. Ritz has been an active member of ASPDA for the last decade serving as a Student Co-Chair, Conference Planning Committee Member, Research Committee Member and the 2018-2019 Research Award Winner for his work entitled "Omega-3 Status of Collgiate Athletes".

In his current role, he oversees sports nutrition services for the football program supporting the health and performance of student-athletes through nutrition coaching and counseling, team education and coordination of feeding strategies. Ritz is also highly involved with Northwestern Athletics' sports science initiatives, coordinating the sports nutrition department's research efforts and helping oversee Northwestern's athlete management system. He resides in Chicago, IL with his wife Kat.

 

Career Development Beth McCall

Career Development:
Beth McCall, MS, RD, LD, CSSD
Teamworks Nutrition

Beth McCall (formerly Miller) is a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics located in Durham, NC. Her mission as a sports dietitian is to provide athletes with accurate, scientific-based nutrition knowledge and care to fuel them for top performance, both is sports and in life.

After spending 8 years within the realm of college athletics, Beth has recently stepped into the private sector as the owner of Purposeful Fueling Performance Nutrition and Yoga. She has also started a new full time role as the Director of Nutrition Operations and Customer Success for Notemeal Performance Nutrition Platform. Previously, Beth served as the Director of Sports Nutrition for Duke University, where she began the first-ever sports nutrition department in May 2017. In this role, she was responsible for planning, developing, implementing and managing all performance and clinical nutrition services provided to student-athletes representing all Varsity athletic teams. Beth served as a founding member of the Duke Integrative Performance Excellence Group, through which she coordinated with a multidisciplinary team to service all of the health, wellness and performance needs of all student-athletes through a well-rounded approach.

Beth came to Durham following two years at UCLA where she served as the Director of Sports Nutrition with the Bruins. Prior to UCLA, she served as a Graduate Student Intern for the Sports Nutrition Department at Florida State University.

Outside of the day to day, Beth volunteers her time with a local paralysis recovery center, providing them with nutrition education workshops. She is also a certified yoga instructor focusing on yoga for athletic performance and injury prevention as well as eating disorder treatment and prevention. She has been actively involved in the ASPDA organization for 10 years, serving in various volunteer roles and is looking forward to serving at a higher capacity on the Board of Directors.

A native of Watertown, WI, Beth graduated from Tennessee Tech University with a Bachelor’s degree in Food, Nutrition, and Dietetics. While at Tennessee Tech, she was a multi-sport student-athlete, participating in cross country, softball and track and field. Miller later earned a master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Florida State University. She lives in Durham, NC with her husband Timmy and their two dogs, Thor and Mya.



Annual Conference Brett SingerAnnual Conference:
Brett Singer, MS, RD, CSSD, LD
Memorial Hermann Rockets Sports Medicine Institute

Brett Singer began his career in clinical nutrition at Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center. Over time he transitioned into his role with Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Sports Medicine Institute where he has served as a sports dietitian for over six years.

Brett has several roles including one-on-one consulting with athletes ranging from high school, collegiate, professional to age group endurance athletes. Through his role with Memorial Hermann, Brett also serves as the dietitian for the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer, as a consultant to Gatorade Sports Science Institute and the NBA G-League, and Houston Baptist University.

In addition to his role as a sports dietitian, Brett has also taught "Nutrition for Sports Performance" for several years at University of Houston within their Master of Athletic Training Program and remains active in the program to this day. He has also been active within ASPDA, volunteering on the conference committee, serving as one of ten mentors nationally for the Gatorade Sports Nutrition Immersion Program (SNIP) in 2017 and 2019. In 2019 Brett was awarded with the ASPDA Excellence Award. Brett earned his Bachelor's degree from Texas Christian University, and his Master's degree in Nutrition from Texas Woman's University.



Education Amber Yudell
Education:
Amber Yudell, MS, RD, CSSD
Arizona State University


Amber Yudell is the Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Nutrition at Arizona State University and has been with the Sun Devils since 2014. Her prior work as a sports dietitian includes time with the University of Florida and University of Georgia Athletic Associations. Amber received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in kinesiology with a focus in exercise physiology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. During her graduate work she also completed her dietetics study, and thereafter completed her dietetic internship through the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Amber is a Registered Dietitian and a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics.



Qualifications and Elections of Directors
To be eligible to be able to serve as a director an individual must be a Sports Dietitian Member of the Corporation for at least the past 3 years and an Experienced or Veteran member. The Nominating Committee shall confirm with each such nominated member that he or she is willing to serve as a director. The Nominating Committee will then compile a list of those individuals who have been nominated, screened, evaluated, and indicated a willingness to serve and such list will presented for vote by the voting members through an electronic election process as directed by the Board of Directors. The nominated members receiving the highest vote totals in relation to the number of open director positions shall be elected to the Board of Directors and announced as same at the next annual meeting of the members. 


Terms of Directors
Directors shall be elected for terms of two (2) years by voting members of the Corporation. Directors may be elected to succeeding terms.