Featured Speaker

Fall 2025 Keynote

Kurt Beecher Dammeier
Founder & CEO, Sugar Mountain

A fourth generation Puget Sound native, Kurt Beecher Dammeier (’82) has always felt passionate about authentic, full-flavored foods, free of artificial additives. He is the owner and head chef of Sugar Mountain, a creative food company that is home to extraordinary food brands and restaurants, from the award-winning Beecher’s Handmade Cheese to The Butcher’s Table, a Seattle steakhouse that features Sugar Mountain’s Mishima Reserve American Wagyu. With each operation, Dammeier’s goal is to demonstrate how quality ingredients make for delicious meals, without added food colorings, flavor enhancers, or preservatives. Beyond the retail world, Dammeier influences people’s eating habits through his books, Pure Flavor and Pure Food, and through The Beecher’s Foundation (501c3), an educational program focused on healthy food choices and production. In addition to promoting clean ingredients, Sugar Mountain also significantly invests in plastics and carbon reduction.