OUR TEAM

EMILY (BAAB) FISHER - CO-FOUNDER + EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Contact: Emily.Fisher@culinaryfightscancer.com

A year after Emily’s best friend and brother, Joe Baab was diagnosed with cancer, the pandemic hit - with nowhere to go and nothing to do, they decided to bring the party home and began throwing dinner parties for their families. Emily created the themes, Joe brought the laughs/entertainment, and together they utilized recommended nutrition for cancer treatments to develop menus. Little did they know at the time that these dinner parties were the start of something special in helping the larger public.

Joe lived his life by constantly seeking to help others - with a vision and the core values of the foundation’s mission in tact, they founded the Joe Baab Culinary Fights Cancer Foundation in August of 2021.

Outside of Culinary Fights Cancer, Emily is a wife, mother, and an award-winning coach. Being named the first-ever Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Mount Union, Fisher built the program into a national force in only a few years time. After 11 years, she is etched in NCAA records as one women’s lacrosse’s all-time winningest coaches with a .877 win percentage. In addition, Fisher also served as Assistant Athletic Director at Mount Union. In 2023, Fisher made the decision to step away from coaching to pursue the Foundation full-time.

Emily is passionate about meeting, motivating, and helping others - particularly those who, like her, have experienced trauma and are undergoing traumatic grief - recognize their inner strength, power, and resilience. She is forever grateful for the wonderfully selfless friends and family who helped and continue to help the foundation grow and thrive.

In addition to CFC, Emily enjoys any time spent with family, hiking, dinner party planning, interior design, and travel.

She and her husband, Kenny, and son, Theo (7) reside in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

L to R: Emily, Theo, and Kenny Fisher

L to R: President of the Driftwood Group, Chris Hodgson and Chris “Dome” Johnson

CHRIS “DOME” JOHNSON - CULINARY DIRECTOR

Chris “Dome” Johnson has been a corporate chef most of his career with over 50 years of time spent in the field. He is recently retired after serving as Corporate Chef for the Driftwood Group (Cleveland, Ohio). Dome is a graduate of The Ohio State University and attended the Madeleine Kamman Cooking Academy in France to hone his culinary skills.

Outside of Driftwood and Culinary Fights Cancer, Dome enjoys spending time with his family, starting projects around the house, wood working, bourbon hunting, and working with people that are truly passionate about what they do.

Dome and his wife Anita have two kids - Jessica and Brian - and are proud grandparents with the arrival of Ian.

SARA VARNEY - MARKETING DIRECTOR

Sara grew up with the Baabs and Johnsons as part of the original neighborhood crew. In 2005, she earned her Bachelors in Marketing from Miami University of Ohio, where she and Joe Baab both attended. After years living and working in Chicago, IL, for Starcom Worldwide, she kept feeling the internal nudge to come back to her roots. She transitioned back to Ohio working for Geometry Global where she continued to hone her strategic planning skills, fostering meaningful connections between her advertising clients and their customers.  

Fast forward to meeting her husband, Jeff Varney, and having two children, Jeffrey and Layla, she decided in 2018 to shift her focus. She now helps her husband run their business, Automatic Garage Door Company, so that she can be closer to what matters most to her – her family.

She’s grateful to be back in her home town, where she can impact the community through efforts near and dear to her heart, like the Culinary Fights Cancer Foundation. She is able to put her passion for creating human connection together with her love of marketing to help CFC impact as many patients and their families as possible.

L to R: Jeff and Sara Varney

EMILY TEWKSBURY - REGISTERED DIETITIAN NUTRITIONIST

Read about Emily on our Nutrition Page here!

EMILY SWISHER - DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Emily Swisher is a 2021 Mount Union graduate from Pataskala, Ohio. Currently she works as a Video Production Intern for Disney Parks in Anaheim, California. She enjoys hiking in the mountains, baking cookies, and making short films with her friends. She also enjoys sports videography and photography with basketball, track & field, and football being her favorites. She got involved with Culinary Fights Cancer because of the positive atmosphere and good hearted people involved.