team

Belinda Di Giambattista, CEO & President, Co-founder

Inspired by her grandparent’s farm and selling vegetables at the Farmer’s Market since she was a small child, Belinda joined Felicia to pursue her passion of feeding children healthy food. Prior to founding Butter Beans, Belinda worked in the financial services industry for over 10 years. Belinda holds an MBA from the Executive MBA program at NYU’s Stern School of Business and a BS in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives with her husband Jon, their five year old son Sam, and their one year old daughter Claudia.

Felicia Desrosiers, VP, Co-founder

Felicia has been an avid student of nutrition and health earning degrees and certifications from the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She also holds a BA in Education from The New School. In addition to founding Butter Beans, Felicia manages a Holistic Health & Nutrition Counseling practice that she started over 7 years ago. Felicia lives with her husband JoseLo, their seven year old daughter Nina and their two year old son MarceLo.

Michael Sherman, Executive Chef

Michael brings an entrepreneurial spirit and plethora of culinary experiences to Butter Beans having owned his own restaurant, worked at a few of New York’s best hotels including the St. Regis Hotel, Soho Grand and the Crosby Street Hotel, and most recently being the Executive Chef for Cloud Catering, the exclusive caterer for the NASDAQ Marketsite.

Having worked with some of the great chefs, including Charlie Palmer at Aureole, David Bouley at his original namesake, Gray Kunz at Lespinasse in the St. Regis Hotel and Wayne Nich at March, Chef Michael brings twenty years of culinary experience to Butter Beans and an appreciation for delicious food that he incorporates into healthy school lunch menus for our schools. Chef Michael has a focus on farm-to-table ingredients and is excited about bringing his food knowledge and and passion to Butter Beans. Butter Beans students across New York City get to enjoy delicious lunch as much as his own daughter has for the past fifteen years.

Michael earned his A.O.S. in Culinary Arts at the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY.

Nicholas Littell, Partner

As a partner of the company, chef Nicholas brings over twenty years experience of some of the most progressive culinary environments in the country and a passion for the betterment of school lunches.

Nicholas has had a diverse career running the gamut from prestigious Michelin starred restaurants and chefs such as Joel Robuchon, Michael Mina, George Germon, and Johanne Kileen, to some of the largest culinary facilities in the world, Bellagio and MGM Grand hotels. Through this diversity he brings real world solutions to everyday problems. 

Nicholas earned his BS in food service management and AAS in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI.