# Joe Girard

> Joe Girard is the co-founder and former CEO of Rouxbe Online Culinary School and a co-founder of Swich. A former professional cook and film caterer, he helped move culinary instruction from a proposed kitchen touchscreen device to an online school. His work spans home cooking, hospitality training and free plant-forward cooking education.

- **Role:** Co-Founder (former CEO) at Rouxbe Online Culinary School; Co-Founder at Swich
- **Organizations:** Rouxbe Online Culinary School, Swich, Freaky Beats & Eats, Fairmont Hotels
- **Education:** The University of British Columbia
- **Known for:** Co-founded Rouxbe in 2005; the school now reports more than one million students in 180 countries., Helped redirect Rouxbe from a physical touchscreen concept to online culinary education., Co-built a film-catering operation that Rouxbe reports served more than 250,000 cast and crew.

## Career timeline

- **—** — Worked as a Chef de Partie at Fairmont Hotels.
- **Before 2005** — Co-owned film-catering company Freaky Beats & Eats with Dawn Thomas.
- **2005** — Co-founded Rouxbe with Dawn Thomas; the project moved from a touchscreen device concept to online culinary instruction.
- **2006** — Burnkit helped establish Rouxbe’s online presence and supplied a Flash media player.
- **2009** — Personally shared product updates with food blogs and authorized a blogger to publish a paid scrambled-egg lesson.
- **2014** — As CEO, announced Rouxbe’s JetBlue Fly-Fi Hub partnership.
- **2015** — As co-founder and CEO, represented Rouxbe’s Chartwells training partnership and Forks Over Knives cooking-course partnership.
- **—** — Co-founded Swich with Dawn Thomas and moved from Vancouver to a farm on Pender Island.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Rouxbe in 2005; the school now reports more than one million students in 180 countries.
- Helped redirect Rouxbe from a physical touchscreen concept to online culinary education.
- Co-built a film-catering operation that Rouxbe reports served more than 250,000 cast and crew.
- Co-founded Swich, offering free plant-forward cooking education.

## Latest updates

- **—** — Rouxbe’s current team page identifies Gary Apito as CEO and lists Girard among the founders.
- **—** — Rouxbe’s founder page describes Girard and Thomas’s move to a 34-acre Pender Island farm and their co-founding of Swich.

## Links

- Website: https://rouxbe.com/founders
- LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jgirard

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/joe-girard
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11