Grant Achatz incontestably is one of the top chefs in the country today. His progressive cooking style extends to providing diners with a unique experience that includes every aspect of the meal, from their surroundings to the food itself. In just three years, his Chicago restaurant, Alinea, has found a place among the most sought-after dining destinations in the world.

Gail Simmons, an ICE alumna, is the special projects director at Food & Wine, a judge on Top Chef and Top Chef Masters, and the host of the upcoming Top Chef Just Desserts. As part of her role for Food & Wine, she acts as a spokesperson for the magazine to the media and represents it around the country at different events.

Chef Daniel Humm is the executive chef of Eleven Madison Park, which earned four stars from the New York Times in August 2009. He arrived at the restaurant in 2006, after spending three years as executive chef of Campton Place in San Francisco, where he garnered four stars from the San Francisco Chronicle and was one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs of 2005.

Daniel Boulud is the award-winning chef-owner of Restaurant Daniel, Café Boulud, DB Bistro Moderne, DBGB Kitchen & Bar, Bar Boulud, Bar Pléiades, Boulud Sud, and Épicerie Boulud in New York, as well as five other restaurants in Palm Beach, Miami, London, Beijing, and Singapore, and one slated to open in early 2012 in Montreal. Chef Boulud was born and raised in Lyon, France, arrived in the US in 1981, and opened Daniel in 1993, after six years as executive chef of Le Cirque.

Dana Cowin has been Food & Wine's editor in chief since 1995. She also oversees Food & Wine Books, which include Best of the Best, the Food & Wine Annual Cookbook, and Food & Wine Magazine's Annual Cocktail Book. She sits on the board of directors of City Harvest, where she launched the annual Skip Lunch Fight Hunger campaign.

As chef and co-owner of Blue Hill in New York City and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in nearby Westchester County, Dan Barber has become one of the most visible advocates for sustainable cooking and eating in the US — as well as one of the country's most admired chefs, thanks to the unforgettable dishes he creates with locally grown foods.

Colin and Renée Alevras have enjoyed a cult-like following since they opened their restaurant, the Tasting Room, in 1999. Focusing on local and seasonal foods, the Tasting Room has been named one of New York's Best by Food & Wine and New York City's Zagat Survey and one of the city's Trendsetting Restaurants by Wine Spectator, with matching acclaims for Colin's culinary skills and Renée's managing talents.

Christina Grdovic and Nilou Motamed are at the helm of "Food & Wine" magazine, as publisher and editor, respectively. The two women are taking the magazine into its next phase, with new additions like the millennial food site FWx. They joined us in conversation about their careers and what we can expect to see from them and "Food & Wine" in the future.

From three Michelin stars for Per Se in New York and five Mobil stars for the French Laundry in Yountville to multiple James Beard awards for himself, his restaurants, and his cookbooks, there isn’t an industry award that Chef Thomas Keller hasn’t received. Both restaurants have been named among the ten best in the world and best in America, while his critically acclaimed Bouchon in Yountville and Las Vegas offer a more casual experience with the same standards of excellence.

Chef John Besh has long been an ambassador for the culinary culture of his native Louisiana, but perhaps never more so than since Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005. In addition to his flagship restaurant, August, which opened in 2001, he owns three, soon to be four, restaurants that each uniquely represent the best that the Crescent City has to offer.