James O’Hara joined the culinary staff as a Campus Culinary Demonstrator in 1998. After a year of demonstrations he became the Executive Chef of a 150-foot luxury yacht sailing the Eastern Atlantic and the Caribbean. He then moved to Chicago to start his own Private Chef/Catering business called Chef Du Jour. In 2006 he decided to pursue teaching and moved to Charlotte to rejoin the faculty of Johnson & Wales University. O’Hara currently holds the American Culinary Federation’s newest designation (PCEC), Personal Certified Executive Chef.