W.K. Kellogg Foundation: Speakers

A - E | F - J | K - R | S - Z

Katherine Alaimo
Katherine Alaimo is a W.K. Kellogg Community Health Scholar at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her research interests are: U.S. hunger, community food security, and the benefits of community gardens for urban neighborhoods. She is currently working with community gardeners in Flint, MI on a community-based participatory research project, "The Community Garden Storytelling Project of Flint."

Katherine holds a Ph.D. in Community Nutrition from Cornell University. While in Ithaca, NY, she was the founder and coordinator of The Cornell Food Project, a student organization that worked with Cornell Dining to increase the use of local foods in the dining halls, and educated about the importance of a local and sustainable food system. Prior to attending graduate school, she worked as a Nutritionist for the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Karen Anderson
Karen is Executive Director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey based in Pennington. She spends most of her time working on agricultural issues ranging from biotechnology to the woman's role in agriculture. Karen is a member of the Natural Resources Conservation Service Program State Technical Committee, NJ Environmental Federation Board of Directors, the Cook College/NJ Agriculture Experiment Station Board of Managers and is a NJ State Agriculture Convention delegate. She was a member of the NJ Agricultural Leadership Development Program's class of 1999.

Brother David Andrews, CSC
Brother David Andrews, CSC is a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross (CSC). He is the Executive Director of the 78-year-old National Catholic Rural Life Conference based in Des Moines, Iowa. Brother David has his law degree from Loyola University New Orleans. He serves as a consultant with the Domestic Policy Committee of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, was on the Governor of Iowa Agricultural Task Force, was an accredited NGO representative at the Seattle WTO ministerial meetings and has been a consultant for the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. and at the Vatican on globalization and agriculture.

Dave is a longtime member of the Ecumenical Rural Church Network, organizes its annual public policy meeting in Washington D.C. Dave serves as a Board Director for the Organization for Competitive Markets, on the Coordinating Council for the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, the Board of Directors of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, the Board of Agricultural Missions of the National Council of Churches, Chair of the Board of Directors for SHAUN (a counseling service for disabled farm families). NCRLC has been a board member of The Heifer Project for 50 years.

The National Catholic Rural Life Conference is a recognized international leader on rural life, food systems, farm policy and the environment. Brother David has many published articles, given hundreds of workshops and edited two books on rural ministry (Agenda for the Small Church, published by NCRLC and Ministry in the Small Church, published by Sheed and Ward). He was a consultant on a video on the rural parish for the University of Notre Dame: "The Rural Parish: Retrieving Our Future."

William Aponte
William Aponte is the Youth Program Director for Nuestras Raices, a grass-roots organization that promotes sustainable development in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He has experience teaching youth arts and crafts and sports as staff of the Holyoke Boys and Girls Club and experience with landscaping and horticulture with G & H Landscaping Company. William oversees the Protectores de la Tierra youth gardening and leadership program. His hobbies include breakdancing and drawing.

Kari Bachman
Kari has worked as the coordinator for New Mexico's Ideas for Cooking and Nutrition (I CAN) program. The program employs paraprofessional educators in urban and rural counties to teach a series of hands-on nutrition classes to limited-resource adults and youth. Katherine also has a background in agricultural, extension and health education. Her projects include culturally relevant videos, CD-ROMS and curricula. Most of her materials are available in Spanish and several have been translated into Navajo.

Mark Bailey
Mark Bailey is the Director of Integrated Programs, Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dr. Bailey is responsible for the oversight of a number of programs. The Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems Competitive Grants Program (I FAFS) has 17 topic areas (4 genomics, 3 biotechnology, 2 human nutrition, other uses from agricultural products, 4 natural resources and the environment, farm efficiency and profitability, critical and emerging issues, and graduate traineeship programs) and the Integrated Research, Education and Extension Competitive Grants Program (IREECGP) has three major programs: (pest management; food safety, and water quality). Two other programs fall within the integrated programs and they are Farm Risk Education Program and the Community Food Projects Program.

Dr. Bailey has served as a research scientist (Economic Research Service, USDA); was the Executive Director of the Joint Council on Food and. Agricultural Sciences, a former advisory body to the Secretary of Agriculture; Program Director for the Small Business Innovative Research Program, USDA; Program Director for the social science programs of the National Research Initiative, Co-Program Director of the Community Food Projects Program prior to being appointed as the Director of Integrated Programs, CSREES. He is fully familiar with the content of these funding opportunities and has also made numerous presentations and conducted many workshops on successful grant proposal preparation.

Christine Bergmark
Christine Bergmark is currently the Director of Agricultural Development for the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland. She administers the Tobacco Buyout Program for the State of Maryland as well as an agricultural development program for the five county region of Southern Maryland. Christine has over 25 years of experience in international agriculture research and development. She also owns and co-operates a 104-acre organic farm in Southern Maryland.

George Boody
George Boody has served as Executive Director of the Land Stewardship Project since 1993. In addition to management and leadership responsibilities for the organization, he has directed two interdisciplinary and collaborative research and education projects, the Monitoring Project and the Multiple Benefits of Agriculture Project. George previously worked for the Minnesota Project, the State of Minnesota and as a private consultant. During the past 25 years he has worked with farmers, government leaders, other professionals and citizens to advance an environmentally sound and socially just agriculture, sustainable community development and energy conservation. George's background includes a master's degree in agriculture and nutrition from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor's in biology from the University of Minnesota. He and his wife and two teenagers live in Minneapolis in a house they built.

Timothy Bowser
Timothy Bowser is Executive Director of Food Routes Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to the support and promotion of community-based, local food systems that are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially just through the development of strategic communications tools and models.

In 1991 he founded the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) and directed that organization until 2000. Prior to PASA, Bowser served as Small Farms Coordinator for Penn State Cooperative Extension for 10 years. He is currently Co-Chair of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture and serves on board of the White Dog Cafe Foundation. start in agriculture on his family's farm in Erie Co. PA.

William Buchanan
William "Bill" Buchanan is the Director of The Risk Management Agency's Civil Rights and Community Outreach Staff. The mission of this staff is to ensure the small and limited resource farmers and ranchers and other underserved entities have opportunities to fully participate in ALL RMA's programs and benefit from its services. The Agency's Outreach program is implemented through several cooperative agreements with community based organizations, colleges and universities, state departments of agriculture and other partners that share our mission to provide outreach and technical assistant to small and limited resource farmers and ranchers.

Born in Georgia, Bill received degrees in Agriculture from The Fort Valley State University and the University of Georgia. He also studied weed science at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. His career in USDA includes, a soil scientist for Natural Resource and Conservation Service in West Virginia, an Agricultural Extension Agent in North Carolina, a Crop Insurance Underwriter, a Program Manager and a Hearing Officer. He has been employed by USDA for 24 years.

Eva Clayton
Congresswoman Eva M. Clayton, (D-N.C.), 1 st Congressional District Representative for the state of North Carolina returns to the 107th Congress for her fifth term serving as a member of the Agriculture and Budget Committees. She also serves as the ranking democrat on the Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry subcommittee. She presently serves as Co-Chair of the Congressional Rural Caucus, and is a member of the Women's Caucus, Human Rights Caucus, and Biotechnology Caucus. Congresswoman Clayton is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and the immediate past Chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Clayton has received numerous awards for legislation she has introduced and supported in the areas of Agriculture and Rural Economic Development, including awards from the Housing Assistance Council and the Food Research Action Committee. She championed legislation giving relief to Black farmers faced with discrimination of farm resources from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During the 107th Congress, she is actively involved in re-writing the Farm Bill for 2002, which is a five-year plan for Agriculture and Rural Development. She has originally co-sponsored and introduced Farmers to Africa and the Caribbean Basin Act, Rural Teachers Recruitment, and she is a co-sponsor of the Gaske and Dingell Bipartisan Patient's Bill of Rights legislation. Clayton is a strong advocate for education and vocational training, economic development, rural health and minimum wage. Clayton was appointed to the Presidential Entitlement Commission, and was also named the "Most Influential Newcomer" to the 103rd Congress by Congressional staff members.

Before coming to Congress, Clayton was a member of the Warren County Board of Commissioners, serving as Chairperson from 1982-1990. During her tenure, she was named "Outstanding North Carolina County Commissioner' by her fellow North Carolina Commissioners. In addition, she owned and operated a management-consulting firm, Technical Resources International, from 1981 to 1992.

She is an active member of her local Presbyterian Church where she serves as an Elder. Clayton holds a B.S. degree from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, and an M.S. degree from North Carolina Central University in Durham and attended law school. She is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Clayton, a native of Savannah, Georgia is the mother of four children, Joanne, Theaoseus, Jr., Martin and Reuben. She has been married to Attorney Theaoseus T. Clayton, Sr. for more than 40 years and they are the proud grandparents of five grandchildren.

Craig Cox
Craig began his career in natural resources in 1977 with a B.S. degree in wildlife management from the University of Minnesota. He joined the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as a field biologist in 1977 and eventually directed a program of land and water resource management in the Minnesota State Park System. In 1987, Craig accepted a fellowship from the University of Minnesota to complete an M.S. degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics, specializing in natural resource and environmental policy. He graduated in 1989 and moved to Washington D.C. to accept a position as Senior Staff Officer with the Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences. He directed three major studies, including Soil and Water Quality: An Agenda for Agriculture and Rangeland Health: New Methods of Classifying, Inventorying, and Monitoring Rangelands.

In 1994, Craig left the Board on Agriculture to join the staff of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. On the committee, Craig was the lead staffer for natural resource and environmental issues and helped develop much of the conservation title of the farm bill that was passed in March 1996. In March of 1996, Craig joined the Natural Resources Conservation Service as a Special Assistant to the Chief where he was responsible for policy development and a number of special projects. In 1998 Craig served as Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the Department of Agriculture. He is currently Executive Vice President of the Soil and Water Conservation Society -- a professional Society dedicated to promoting the art and science of natural resource conservation.

Claire Hope Cummings
Claire, of California, has worked as an attorney and journalist. Once a week, she hosts a thirty-minute radio segment called "Eater's Digest" that covers food and farming topics. She independently writes news on food and farming issues for print and broadcast media. For three years, Claire served on the Board of Directors and was General Counsel for Food First: The Institute for Food and Development Policy. She started her career as a USDA attorney working on conservation and natural resource issues.

Ann Evans
Ann Evans is a part-time Nutrition Education Consultant with the Department of Education. She assists school districts in developing a hands-on, "full-circle" environmental learning experience for children from the garden, to the classroom and the cafeteria and back. This special project, under the guidance of Delaine Eastin, California's Superintendent of Public Instruction is modeled on the work of Alice Waters, Chef-Owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, and the faculty and staff of "The Edible Schoolyard" a project of King Middle School, Berkeley Unified School District.

Evans writes a biweekly column on food and agriculture, "Fork in the Road," for the Davis Enterprise in Yolo County, California and is a "Bioregional Writer in Residence" with the University of California at Davis for 2001-02.

Long interested in issues related to sustainable agriculture, whole foods and democratic economics, Evans co-founded the Davis Food Co-op, a $11 M natural foods store, and the Davis Farmers Market which weekly receives about 5,000 visitors. While with the State of.California, Department of Consumer Affairs, she helped establish the legal framework for California's system of Certified Farmers Markets and food cooperatives in the 1970's. She trained personnel in California's 58 County Cooperative Extension Offices on how to set up community canneries, farmers markets and food cooperatives.

Evans holds a degree in Consumer Food Science and Technology from the University of California at Davis. A former Mayor of Davis, she resides in Davis with her husband who devotedly eats anything she cooks and her daughter who changes her food preferences daily.

Gail Feenstra
Gail Feenstra is the food systems analyst at the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP). She coordinates SAREP's Community Development and Public Policy program and does research, outreach and education with academic and community-based groups to enhance their capacity and leadership skills in developing community food systems. For the past 6 years, she has worked with the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) to develop and implement their training and technical assistance program and the new emphasis on evaluation. She has provided the evaluation for several USDA Community Food Project grants. She also serves on the advisory team for the CFSC Policy project in California.

Gail's research includes studies on: farmers' markets as entrepreneurial and community development strategies; community food systems as opportunities for public scholarship; local, place-based food systems or foodsheds; entrepreneurial community gardens and community development; and the evaluation of farm-to-school projects. She is the immediate past president of the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society (2000-2001) where she has learned much from many fine colleagues.

Gail has a background in dietetics (from LIC Davis), community nutrition and nutrition education. She was a WIC nutritionist in a low-income neighborhood in Boston for several years and then went on to graduate school in New York City. She received her doctorate in nutrition education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1986. Now back on the west coast, aside from time at work which she loves, she gardens, cooks fresh local foods for family and friends, and has discovered the art of quilting.

Charles Fluharty
Charles (Chuck) Fluharty is Director of the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI), the only policy institute in the U.S. solely dedicated to assessing the rural impacts of public policies. This comprehensive approach to rural policy analysis involves scientists from member institutions at Iowa State University, the University of Missouri, and the University of Nebraska, as well as numerous researchers, policy analysts and policy practitioners from other universities, research institutions, governments, and non-governmental organizations. To date, over 200 scholars representing 16 different disciplines in 80 universities, 40 states, and seven countries have participated in RUPRI projects.

A Research Professor and Associate Director for Rural Policy Programs in the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri-Columbia, he also holds an Adjunct Faculty appointment in the UMC Department of Rural Sociology. He is a recent recipient of the 2001 Friend of Rural Counties Award from the National Association of Counties, the 1999 National Rural Development Partnership Recognition Award, the 1998 Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Counties, and the 1998 Recognition Award from the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health. Chuck was born and raised on a fifth generation family farm in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Ohio, and is a graduate of Yale Divinity School. His career has centered upon service to rural people, primarily within the public policy arena.

Rick Foster
Rick Foster is Vice President for programs at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan. His programming duties include guiding Foundation efforts in food systems, rural development and leadership. Dr. Foster also serves on the Executive Team that provides overall direction and leadership for the Foundation. Specific programming initiatives for which he is responsible include: Integrated Farming Systems, Food Systems Professions Education, Managing Information with Rural America, Mid South Delta Initiative, People and Land, and the Kellogg National Leadership Program.

Dr. Foster joined the Foundation in 1'991 as a visiting professional while on sabbatical leave from the University of Nebraska, where he served as a professor of agricultural education. Prior to joining the Foundation as a visiting professional, he worked in international development activities at the School of Agriculture for the Humid Tropics (E.A.R.T.H.) in Costa Rica. Dr. Foster was selected for a staff position as a program director in 1992 and appointed vice president in 1995. Previously, Dr. Foster taught at Iowa State University, the University of Idaho, and the University of Nebraska in Lincoln between 1976-1992. He also was a Group Vill Kellogg National Fellow from 1987 to 1990.

Dr. Foster received his bachelor's, masters and doctoral degrees in agricultural education from Iowa State University in Ames. He has received many awards and honors, including the E.B. Knight Award from the National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture for outstanding scholarly publication (1990-91). He was recognized with the Distinguished Teaching Award (1987) and the Outstanding Young Professor (1990) at the University of Nebraska. He was cited as the Outstanding Student Advisor at the University of Idaho (1983). He has received distinguished service recognition from the National FFA organization, the Iowa State University Alumni Association, the National Board on Agriculture and the College of Education.

Lou Gallegos
Lou Gallegos was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary for Administration by Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman on May 25, 2001. He has served in a variety of positions in Federal and State government, as well as the private sector. In his home State of New Mex ' ico, he served as Chief of Staff to the Governor of New Mexico, Chief of Protocol for the State of New Mexico, and Cabinet Secretary for New Mexico's Human Services Department. His Washington experience includes service as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management & Budget and Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Pete V. Domenici. He has also held positions at USDA, including [New Mexico] State Director of the Farmers Home Administration and Regional Program Director for the Food Stamp Program. While at USDA, he earned the Distinguished Public Service Award and the Certificate of Merit.

A veteran of the United States Air Force, he also served in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He graduated from the Institute of Applied Science and attended the University of Maryland and New Mexico Highlands University.

LaVon Griffieon
LaVon is an Iowa farmwife and co-founder and president of 1000 Friends of Iowa, a non-profit that educates state residents about preserving farmland, protecting natural areas and revitalizing communities. In addition to helping operate a crop and livestock farm, LaVon has received numerous awards and recognition for her contributions in community service and the agriculture industry. Approximately 12,000 urban children and adults have toured the Griffieon family farm since 1987. The tours educate urban citizens about different aspects of agriculture.

Seth Goldman
Seth Goldman is President and TeaEO of Honest Tea, a company he founded together with Professor Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management. Honest Tea first hit the shelves of Whole Foods in June of 1998 and is now carried in all 50 states in stores such as Safeway, Giant, Albertsons, Kroger, Trader Joe's, Wild Oats, Harris Teeter and Food Emporium. The line of lightly sweetened iced tea recently became the top-selling brand in the natural foods industry.

Within Honest Tea's first year of being on the market, the company took steps to make good on its commitment to social responsibility. Honest Tea was the first company to introduce fully organic bottled teas. In 1999 the company initiated an innovative partnership with the Crow Nation of Montana, a Native American community with an unemployment rate of 67 percent. In the Spring of 2001 Honest Tea introduced Community Green, a fully organic green tea marketed in partnership with City Year, the national youth service program dedicated to building community in America's cities. And in 2002 Honest Tea introduced Haarlem Honeybush, an unsweetened organic tea made in partnership with a subsistence farming community in South Africa.

In March of 2000 Honest Tea introduced a line of fully biodegradable whole leaf tea bags which was recognized by the Specialty Coffee Association of America, winning the SCAA's first ever Best Sustainable Practices/Product Award. Honest Tea has also received the Natural Product Industry's Socially Responsible Business Award. Seth is an advisory board member of First Peoples Worldwide, a non-profit network that promotes the rights of indigenous peoples. He also serves on the board of Net Impact, the national network of MBA students committed to socially responsible business. Before launching Honest Tea, Seth was Vice President of Calvert Social Investment Fund, managing the marketing and sales efforts for the nation's largest family of socially responsible mutual funds.

Robert Gottlieb
Robert Gottlieb is the Director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute and the Henry R. Luce Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy at Occidental College. He has written extensively on environmental and food system issues, including his latest book, Environmentalism Unbound. Exploring New Pathways for Change (MIT Press, 2001). He is the author of nine books, and numerous newspaper and journal articles and is the Editor of the MIT Press series, "Urban and Industrial Environments". Through the work of the Center for Food and Justice (an affiliated Center in the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute), he, has helped establish and evaluate a number of innovative community food programs and organizing initiatives, such as the farm to school program and the development of the Los Angeles Food Network. He was also a co-founder of the national Community Food Security Coalition, a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, and delivered a 1996 University of California Distinguished Wellness Lecture on the topic of community food security.

Suzie Greenhalgh
Suzie Greenhalgh is a senior associate in the Economics Program. Her current research involves US agricultural policy as it relates to climate change and water quality. This work focuses on the 'dead zone' in the Gulf of Mexico, the use of nutrient trading as a mechanism for improving water quality in the US and the impact of the Kyoto Protocol on US agriculture. She is also working on the economic and environmental benefits/costs of biofuels and bioenergy for US agriculture as well as the development of accounting and reporting guidance for greenhouse gas reduction projects for companies and project developers.

Before joining WRI, Suzie completed her PhD in resource economics at The Ohio State University. This research addressed conservation policy and how it influences land-use patterns in ecologically sensitive areas that are threatened by urban development. She has also worked for the New South Wales Department of Agriculture in Australia as a soil researcher and on environmental benefits and costs associated with hydropower development in Laos. Suzie holds an undergraduate degree in Agricultural Science (Natural Resource Management) from the University of Queensland, Australia; and graduate degrees in Rural Science and Economics from the University of New England, Australia and The Ohio State University.

John-Mark Hack
John-Mark Hack is a fifth generation Kentuckian, raised outside of Louisville. He graduated from Transylvania University in Lexington with a Bachelor's degree in 1988, and completed a Masters degree in Agricultural Anthropology at the University of Kentucky in 1992. He and his wife served as U.S. Peace Corps volunteers in Costa Rica from 1992 to 1994, after which he accepted employment as a County Extension Agent in Nicholas County with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. After three years as an Extension Agent, John-Mark joined Kentucky Governor Paul Patton's staff in September 1997 as Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Agriculture Liaison. In July 1998, Governor Patton named John-Mark as the first Director of the newly formed Office of Agricultural Policy within the Office of the Governor. In July 1999, John-Mark was elected as the President of the Kentucky Tobacco Settlement Trust Corporation by that body's board of directors, and oversees the administration of the National Tobacco Growers Settlement Trust, or Phase 11, in Kentucky. In July 2000, the Agricultural Development Board, created in the 2000 session of the Kentucky General Assembly to oversee the use of tobacco settlement funds in agricultural development initiatives, elected him as its Chief Executive Officer.

Keecha Harris
Keecha, a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, is committed to activities that address food sustainability among low-income women and children. Keecha serves as a consultant to the Head Start Region IV Program and Technical Assistance Service. She has also worked with pregnant women, infants and children as a Head Start nutrition coordinator and has experience as a clinical dietitian. This year, she was recognized as Young Dietitian of the Year for the Birmingham district and as the Outstanding Masters Student of the Year for the UAB School of Public Health.

Richard Harwood
Richard Harwood has held the Mott Chair for Sustainable Agriculture position at Michigan State University since 1990. The Chair provides leadership in research, teaching and extension of sustainable agricultural systems for Michigan's agriculture. He brings national and international perspectives to Michigan from his many years of farming systems and agricultural development work in Asia and from his current membership on the InterimZcience Council of the International Agricultural Development Centers.

Richard is an agronomist with a personal research interest in the management of soil biological activity for enhancement of nutrient flow. Ongoing research includes the contribution of cover crops to soil biological activity and to nutrient flow. He was director (Research Center) at Rodale and subsequently director (Asian Program) at Winrock International prior to his arrival at Michigan State University.

Hazel Henderson
Hazel Henderson is a world renowned futurist, evolutionary economist, consultant on sustainable development and author of Beyond Globalization and seven other books. Her editorials are syndicated by InterPress Service to some 400 newspapers in 27 languages. She has published articles in over 250 journals, including The Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Challenge (USA), Mainichi (Japan), El Diado (Venezuela), Australian Financial Review, World Economic Herald (China). She is a board member of Worldwatch Institute and serves on the advisory boards of Calvert Social Investment Fund, WETV, Ottawa, Canada, Cousteau Society, New Economics Foundation (London, UK), and on editorial boards including WorldPaper (an insert in 25 newspapers in Asia, Latin America, China, Japan, Russia, Africa, and the Mid East), Futures Research Quarterly, World Business Academy Perspectives (USA), E. The Environmental Magazine (USA), Resurgence (UK), and Futures (UK). She is a Fellow of the World Business Academy, and co-edited (with Harlan Cleveland and Inge Kaul) the report of the Global Commission to Fund the United Nations The UN: Policy and Financing Alternatives (1995).

She has been Regent's Lecturer at University of California (Santa Barbara), held the Horace Albright Chair in Conservation at University of California (Berkeley), and advised the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment and the National Science Foundation from 1974-1980. She is an active member of the National Press Club (Washington, DC), Social Venture Network, World Future Society (USA), and a Fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation (Philippines). Henderson shared the 1996 Global Citizen Award with Nobelist A. Perez Esquivel of Argentina.

Oran Hesterman
Oran Hesterman is program director for Food Systems and Rural Development programming at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan. In this role, he provides primary leadership to the Food and Society Initiative. His key responsibilities include domestic planning and development, reviewing and assessing new proposals, and managing active projects.

Previously, Dr. Hesterman researched and taught forage and cropping systems management, sustainable agriculture, and leadership development in the Crop and Soil Sciences department at Michigan State University in East Lansing. From 1987-1990, he was a fellow in the Kellogg National Fellowship Program (KNFP). Dr. Hesterman was a fellow at the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy in Washington, D.C. In the area of sustainable agriculture, Hesterman has authored or co-authored more than 400 reports and journal publications.

Hesterman earned his bachelors and master's degrees at the University of California-Davis in plant science/vegetable crops and agronomy, respectively. He received his doctorate in agronomy and business administration from the University of Minnesota, in St. Paul.

Gail Imig
Gail Imig is program director for Food Systems and Rural Development at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. In this capacity, Gail develops and reviews programming priorities and initiatives related to food systems professions education and leadership development for institutional change in higher education, evaluates and recommends funding proposals, and administers projects. In addition, she provides leadership for initiatives, conducts on-site evaluations of proposed projects, and maintains her professional contacts in the areas of higher education, human development and family studies and rural and community development.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Gail was Associate Vice Provost at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Earlier she was Director of Michigan State University Extension. In these roles, she chaired the National Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP), served on the National Association of State Universities and the Land-Grant College Commission on Outreach and Technology Transfer, and contributed to a Michigan State University, Interdisciplinary Rural Family Poverty Research Team and Social Capital Interest Group.

She earned her doctorate degree from Michigan State University with a major in family ecology and a minor in higher education and administration. From the same university, she earned a master's degree in family studies and sociology and a bachelor's degree in home economics and biology education. Among her professional affiliations are the American Home Economics Association, Epsilon Sigma Phi, Gamma Sigma Delta, and the National and Michigan Councils on Family Relations. Gail has been awarded numerous grants in support of her work with youth and families, university outreach, and community development, and is the author of many professional papers and publications.

Hugh Joseph
Hugh Joseph has over 20 years experience developing community food, agriculture, and nutrition programs at the local, regional and national levels. He is a founder and active member of several food system and food security coalitions. He provides training and technical assistance and authors guidance materials on community food security, evaluation, grantsmanship, and community food assessment. He holds a Masters and Ph.D. in nutrition from Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy where, within his current position in the Agriculture, Food and Environment program, he directs the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project that assists immigrants to re-enter farming in Massachusetts and other New England states.

Marion Kalb
Marion Kalb presently works for the Community Food Security Coalition as the National Farm to School Program Director. Through this position, she is helping to create a network of farmers, school food service staff, and community organizations, to foster the direct purchase of farm products for inclusion in the National School Lunch Program. Previous to coming to the Coalition, she was the Executive Director of Southland Farmers' Market Association, a regional trade group for markets in Southern California. Marion Kalb has been a leading figure in the agricultural direct marketing industry over the past fifteen years. She has assisted in writing the legislation and regulations governing certified farmers' markets in California, and was appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to the state-wide Certified Farmers' Market Advisory Committee. Marion's involvement in agriculture began as a Peace Corps Volunteer, in Gabon, Central Africa, where she was an agricultural extension agent with a United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization project. She has a Masters degree in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelors degree in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kathy Lawrence
Kathy Lawrence is Executive Director of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, where she provides overall leadership, management and vision for the broad network of diverse groups whose mission is to shape national policies to foster a sustainable food and agricultural system -one that is economically viable, environmentally sound, socially just and humane. Before joining the National Campaign in October 2000, Kathy was Executive Director of Just Food, which she founded in 1995. Prior to founding Just Food, Kathy coordinated public information, education and outreach for both the New York and Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Groups (SAWGs) and gathered considerable experience in citizen advocacy at the United Nations on sustainable agriculture and food security issues. Kathy's first career was in trade with the People's Republic of China. Kathy has a Bachelor's Degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Kansas, and a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University, where she majored in Economic and Political Development.

Billie Lee
Lee has been involved with Community Development Projects in Lake County since 1992, responsible for developing and managing several housing, infrastructure and economic development projects throughout the area. As a board member of Montana Economic Development Association and chair of the Advisory Council for the Montana State Microbusiness program, she has been actively involved with local and State community development organizations helping to design public policy regarding community development issues, working regularly with funding agencies, engineers, municipalities and peer groups. As Executive Director of Lake County Community Development Corporation and a County-wide Housing Organization, she has been the primary project administrator overseeing the development of the Mission Mountain Market Project, the regional food business incubator, as well as such programs as a $1 million dollar communitybased revolving loan fund; a business assistance center providing entrepreneurial training and mentoring for area new and expanding small businesses; a visitor's center and outdoor performing arts theater; construction and management of 89 units of affordable rental housing; first-time home buyer and home-owner housing rehabilitation projects; urban revitalization project plans and infrastructure programs in five communities. Prior to returning to her Montana roots, she had acquired a broad background in corporate and non-profit companies which includes responsibilities spanning division management, fiscal administration, project management, marketing and strategic planning, job-site and construction supervision; small business consulting; personnel management and team development.

Dorris Jean Lucas-Elam
Dorris Jean Lucas-Elam is a community leader, organizer and community gardener. In 1995, she founded the Lakewood Village Block Club, an association of residents in her neighborhood in Flint, Mi. The Block Club has received numerous grants, has organized a crime watch, youth programs, neighborhood beautification and a community garden, and has dramatically decreased the crime in their neighborhood. She is married to Edward Elam and has four children and two grandchildren. Since starting the Block Club, her and her husband have also become the "grandparents" of all the children in their neighborhood.

Mrs. Elam grew up on a farm in Prentiss, Mississippi and has worked in clerical positions, for General Motors, and as a school crossing guard. She is currently employed with the Flint Community Schools in the Readiness-Four Program.

Thomas Lyson
Thomas Lyson is the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Rural Sociology at Cornell University and Director of the Community, Food and Agriculture Program. His research and teaching have focused on understanding how the civic structure of local communities contributes to problem solving. He coined the term 'civic agriculture' to reference the reemergence of local food and agricultural systems throughout the United States. This work is part of a larger effort to examine the linkages among agriculture, food, nutrition, community and health. Perhaps one of the most fundamental questions that can be asked in any society is "Does the society have access to an agricultural and food system that leads to healthy outcomes for its citizens?" Lyson's recent books include Under the Blade: The Conversion of Agricultural Landscapes with R. Olsen and Rural Sociology and Development. Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Communities with H.K. Schwarzweller. His research has been published in Rural Sociology, Social Forces, Social Science Quarterly, Agriculture and Human Values, Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, and Environment and Planning-A.

He is a past editor of the journal Rural Sociology and is currently serving as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture. He has been a member of the Northeast SARE Technical Committee. In April, 2000 Lyson was elected Mayor of the Village of Freeville in upstate New York.

Juan Marinez
Juan Marinez is the Assistant Director for Outreach with the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University and Regional Director of Michigan State University Extension. Juan was invited to serve as Secretary of Agriculture Glickman's, National Program Coordinator on Farm Workers between 1999-2001. In that role he assisted in obtaining 20 million dollars to assist-farm workers who had been negatively affected by natural disasters.

Juan continues to provide leadership for agricultural constituents in Michigan. He has developed an eight-week Latino Leadership Program for Northwestern Michigan, in partnership with Michigan State University Extension and local Chicano/Latino leaders. The program will be replicated in other regions of the state. He has served as the Director of Oral History Project documenting Chicano/Latinos in the economic development of Michigan since 1994. Materials developed from this project are used for education purposes, special recognition programs and courses for seniors.

Juan has been a consultant to the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's Rural Initiatives and their National Leadership Program. He has been an advisor to the National Kellogg Leadership Program involved in mentoring a twenty-th ree-fel lows h i p program throughout the United States. He continues to work with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation as an advisor to the Kellogg Leadership Program to bring a "diversity focus" to the next generation of leaders.

Jamaica Maxwell
Jamaica Maxwell is Coordinator of the Funders Agriculture Working Group (FAWG). FAWG is a California-based group of public and private grant makers whose mission is to promote a sustainable agriculture and food system in California that: 1) Protects the environment, human health and the welfare of farm animals, 2) Supports all parts of an economically viable agriculture sector and provides just conditions and fair compensation for farmers and workers, 3) Provides all people with locally-produced, affordable and healthy food, and 4) Contributes to the vitality of rural and urban communities and the links between them.

Since 1999, FAWG has worked to raise awareness within the funding community about the benefits of sustainable agriculture and food systems. In Spring 2001, FAWG released Roots of Change, a landmark report on the current state of agriculture in California and the multiple sustainable solutions in use in the state. FAWG convened stakeholders across food system sectors to discuss the report and the potential for action. Based on these multiple discussions, FAWG is currently building the Roots of Change Fund - a four part initiative to strengthen and support the sustainable agriculture leadership in California, develop a "food literacy" public education campaign, and establish a public policy presence to represent the interests of the sustainable agriculture community.

Jamaica manages the day-to-day activities of FAWG, including planning statewide meetings and the development of the Roots of Change Fund. She is also an associate at California Environmental Associates, an environmental consulting firm dedicated to creating long-term environmental solutions. She has experience in environmental planning, non-profit strategy, and sustainable business practices.

Gloria McCutcheon
Gloria is an associate professor in the Department of Entomology at Clemson University in South Carolina. Through her research projects, she has studied biological control of insect pests of vegetable and agronomic crops. She has also been involved with outreach projects promoting the awareness of agricultural sciences among youth and educators. Gloria has served on committees for the Entomological Society of America, the American Association of University Women and is the current president for the South Carolina Entomological Society. She has often been featured in the media for her leadership in science education for youth.

Anne Mosness
Anne is a commercial fisher from Washington. Her role in the salmon industry has given her an appreciation for restoring and maintaining the balance of nature and the importance of access to affordable, nutritious and safe foods. Anne is also involved in an educational project, the Go Wild Consumer Awareness Campaign. The project was built to help consumers make sound seafood selection decisions based on reliable and accurate information. She is a past president for the Women's Maritime Association and currently sits on the Board of Directors.

John Piotti
John Piotti is Director of the Maine Farms Project (MFP), a program of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), Maine's premiere community development corporation. MFP supports farmers with market development, business assistance, policy work, and loan and grant funding. John serves on the Maine Commission on Hunger and Food Security and as Vice-President of Maine Farmland Trust. He is also the past Chair of the Northeastern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) and a board member of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture. He holds three degrees from MIT: in engineering, public policy, and management.

Anne C. Petersen
Anne Petersen is the senior vice president for programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan. As a senior member of the executive staff, she provides overall leadership for programming, including the development of effective programming strategies, teamwork, policies, philosophies, and organization wide systems to accomplish the programmatic mission of the Foundation. She also is responsible for human and financial resources as well as planning and reviewing all program areas.

Previously, Dr. Petersen was the deputy director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), a $3.6 billion federal research agency with 1,300 employees, based in Washington, D.C. She worked closely with the National Science Board, the National Science and Technology Council, White House officials, and senior NSF management on national science policy. NSF is the only federal agency responsible for supporting nonmedical research in all fields of science and engineering, through grants to more than 2,000 institutions nationwide.

Before joining NSF, Petersen served as the vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Minnesota, where she oversaw the University's research policies and practices for all campuses, including academic integrity, university wide research centers, and university-industry collaborations. As dean of the Graduate School, she oversaw 175 university wide graduate programs, including allocation of internal funds for research, graduate fellowships, and graduate programs. She was professor of adolescent development and pediatrics.

Throughout her career, Petersen has served as a consultant to a number of foundations, including The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, New Jersey; the Carnegie Corporation of New York, New York City; and the Lilly Endowment Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana. 22 She has authored more than a dozen books and 175 articles on adolescent and gender issues, including evaluation, health, adolescent development, and higher education issues.

Among her roles in service to science, Petersen chairs a Board of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and serves on a NAS/Institute of Medicine Forum. She is a founding member of the Society for Research on Adolescence, was president and a council member. She is the past president of Developmental Psychology/American Psychological Association, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychological Society.

Petersen holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in statistics from the University of Chicago in Illinois. There she also earned her doctorate in measurement, evaluation, and statistical analysis. She is a native of Little Falls, Minnesota.

Moura Quayle
Moura Quayle was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences on July 1, 1997. Formerly Director of the U.B.C. Landscape Architecture Program, she is a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and held a joint appointment between the Program and the School of Architecture from 1983-1996. Her teaching, research, practice and advocacy center on the urban landscape, especially the public realm, urban ecology, greenways, public ways and streets. In 1998, she conducted a stakeholder consultation process for the Minister of Agriculture and Food on the terms "provincial interest" in the Agricultural Land Commission Act. As Dean, her research interests are focusing on sustainable agriculture, especially as related to planning and design concerns at the urban/rural interface.

Dean Quayle chaired the City of Vancouver's Urban Landscape Task Force and in 1993 was named a YWCA Woman of Distinction in the category of communication and public affairs. She continues her interest in planning and design at level of landscape and curriculum. She has been involved in the design of an integrated land, food & community curriculum in the Faculty using diverse delivery methods such as problem-based learning and WEB-based courses. Interested in pan-university issues, Dean Quayle is committed to a strong connection between university and community, locally and globally.

Mark Ritchie
President of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Ritchie has more than 30 years of experience in the global policymaking arena, primarily in the areas of food, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, natural resources, environment and public health.

Mark Ritchie started his career working on chlildren's health and hunger issues, helping to create and manage the world's largest consumer campaign, the Infant Formula Action Campaign. He has worked for Iowa State University Extension Service, raised organic eggs on a farm near San Jose California, organized youth in western Alaska, directed agriculture trade policy for the State of Minnesota, served as the research manager for one of the world's largest farm and food-oriented advertising agencies, advised foundations, and he co-founded a vertica I ly-i nteg rated system of cooperatively-owned food processors, wholesalers, and retail stores in San Francisco.

Ritchie serves on the U.S. Trade Representatives' Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee, on the board of the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, and as a member of the Commission on Globalization of the State of the World Forum. His most recent book, Renewing the Countryside, honors a number of the most creative individuals and families who have found ways to live sustainably in rural America. This book, co-edited with Jan Joannides and Sara Bergen, was first published in 2001. He is a frequent source for national and international news media including the New York Times Financial Times, ABC News, among others.

Ritchie was born in Georgia, grew up in central Iowa, and graduated with honors from Iowa State University in 1971. He has a Masters Degree in International Public Law from the University of Amsterdam. He is a recipient of the Twin Cities International Citizen Award and was recently honored by the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center for his contribution to children's health and well being. Mark Ritchie lives with his family in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Bob Rose
Bob Rose has been the Executive Director for Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland since 1995. He served as Special Assistant to the Washington Commissioner of Public Lands from 1983-1992. His responsibilities included a number of large-scale community-based resource conservation plans. From 1993-1998, he owned and operated Skagit Rose Farms. He holds an M.U.P (with honors) from the University of Washington and a B.A. from Tufts University.

Daniel Ross
Daniel Ross has been the Director of Nuestras Ralces, a grass-roots organization that promotes sustainable development in Holyoke, Massachusetts for the past seven years. With his leadership the organization has developed an extensive network of community gardens, a youth gardening program, a series of educational workshops and fieldtrips, an environmental justice program and constructed the Centro Agricola community agricultural center for community education and business development. Daniel previously worked with community health clinics in New Jersey, Florida and Massachusetts to develop migrant farm worker outreach programs with the East Coast Migrant Health Project. He holds a BA in Political Science from Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH. He was honored with the Do Something Brick Award for Community Leadership in 1999, and the Environmental Recognition from the City of Holyoke Conservation Commission in 2001. Daniel is on the board of directors of the Holyoke Public Library, Chair of the Development Committee of the Holyoke Youth Task Force and a member of the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Advisory Committee.

Timothy D. Searchinger
Timothy D. Searchinger has been a Senior Attorney with Environmental Defense since 1989 specializing in water, wildlife and agricultural issues. He is a graduate, summa cum laude, of Amherst College and holds a J.D. from Yale Law School where he was Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal. Prior to working for Environmental Defense, he served as a law clerk to Judge Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals and as Deputy General Counsel to Governor Robert P. Casey of Pennsylvania. Over the last year and a half, Searchinger has coordinated the 99carrot coalition" of environmental and other groups working to reform the Farm Bill. He is the author of many articles on wetland protection, takings, agriculture and flood policy. He first proposed what has now become the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program to USDA and worked closely with state officials to develop programs now authorized to enroll roughly a million acres of buffer lands and wetlands to protect critical rivers and estuaries in Maryland, Minnesota, Illinois, Oregon and North Carolina. In 1992, he received a National Wetlands Protection Award in 1992 from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Environmental Law Institute for his role in persuading the Bush Administration not to cut back on the definition of protected wetlands. He has authored numerous briefs in the Supreme Court on issues ranging from takings to age discrimination.

Shirley Sherrod
Shirley Sherrod has worked for more than 17 years as Georgia Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund. As Georgia Director, Shirley is responsible for implementation of the USDA sponsored Outreach and Technical Project. Several cooperatives have been organized in the project area, which covers twenty counties. Due to the success of the project, Georgia was among six states to show an increase in the number of African American farmers and farm land ownership in 1997, according to the 1997 Agricultural Census. Shirley is actively involved in projects involving rural women, especially in the area of economic development.

Shirley has received many awards, including a Kellogg National Fellowship and is a much sought after resource for grassroots, land-based organizations throughout the southeast.

Gus Schumacher, Jr.
Gus Schumacher, Jr. is the former Under Secretary, for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Gus was responsible for the domestic commodities, insurance and farm credit operations of USDA. In addition, he was in charge of USDA's international trade and development programs. Prior to his appointment in August 1997, he was the Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service for 3 years. Before coming to USDA, Mr. Schumacher served as the Massachusetts Commissioner of Agriculture and at the World Bank. From a farm family in Lexington, Massachusetts, Mr. Schumacher attended Harvard College and the London School of Economics and was a Research Associate in Agribusiness at the Harvard Business School.

Michael Shuman
Michael Shuman, a Stanford-trained attorney, currently runs three institutions: Community Ventures Consulting Group LLP, which helps cities and companies improve their economic, environmental, and economic performance; the Green Policy Institute, a Tides Center Project which undertakes public policy research and writing related to sustainable communities; and ProgressivePubs.com, which markets directories and publications of interest to the nation's progressive community.

He has written, co-written, or edited six books, including most recently, Going Local: Creating SelfReliant Communities in the Global Age (Routledge, 2000). He has written over a hundred articles for periodicals like The Washington Post, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Foreign Policy, Parade, New York Times, The Nation, Chronicle on Philanthropy, and Foundation News. Shuman also has appeared on numerous television and radio shows, such as the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour and NPR's "Talk of the Nation," and is aperiodic commentator on NPR's "All Things Considered." He has given an average of a talk a week for nearly 20 years, including invited lectures or paid consultancies in eight countries, 20 cities, and at 21 universities.

Woody Tasch
Woody Tasch is currently the Chairman of the Investors' Circle. Since 1993, he has been President of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation's private equity and venture capital portfolio. He has been responsible for all aspects of investing, monitoring and harvesting the $12.5 million portfolio, $3.5 million of which is invested in early stage private companies whose businesses relate to the mission of the foundation. From 1992-1997, he was Treasurer of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, where he was instrumental In the development of a new investment policy and asset allocation for this environmental grantmaker (current assets approximately $95 million), overseeing efforts to integrate asset management and philanthropic purpose. He was founding Chairman of the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance, a non-profit association of small venture funds targeted at economically disadvantaged communities. He has served on the Boards of a number of nonprofit and for-profit corporations, including CERES (the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies), Nantucket Sustainable Development Corporation, National Mentor, Greenway, the Nantucket Education Trust and Chelsea Green Publishing. Woody received a B.A. in English, Magna Cum Laude, from Amherst College.

Rodney Taylor
Rodney Taylor is Director of Food and Nutrition Services for Santa Monica -Malibu Unified School District. He holds a B.S. Degree in Public Administration from California State University at Dominguez Hills, and is currently working toward his M.A. Degree in Public Administration. Rodney has extensive hand-on experience and knowledge in food service after spending 29 years in the industry, beginning as a front line server and promoting through the ranks to his current position as director.

As Director of Food and Nutrition Services he was instrumental in implementing numerous innovative programs. In particular the "Farmers Market Fresh Fruit and Salad Bar" program has been recognized as a national model for school districts. The program provides students access to farm fresh fruits and vegetables during lunch as well as nutrition education in the classroom and participation in nutrition related activities such as gardening, trips to farms and to the local Farmers Market.

As a result of this and other programs the Food and Nutrition Services for Santa Monica -Malibu Unified School District has received numerous grant support and awards. Rodney is frequently invited to speak at workshops,. Participate in panels, and speak directly to governing agencies and officials as well as receiving visits from other districts.

Chulkou Thao
Chukou Thao is the Executive Director of the Hmong American Community in Fresno, California. The Hmong American Community assists Hmong immigrants to navigate living in a new culture and succeed in business and social endeavors. It also represents the community to various state and local agencies and networks the Hmong residents.

Chukou began volunteering with Hmong American Community in 1996 while he was Acting Supervisor for the Water and Utilities Division of the City of Fresno. He is currently working towards a degree in Business Administration from Fresno City College.

Dagmar Thorpe
Dagmar Thorpe, Menominee, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and Sac and Fox, has thirty years of experience in philanthropy, grantsmanship: non-profit organizational planning, management, and development: writing and research: public speaking, activism and community service. Thorpe, granddaughter of the late Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe, was honored to be a Torch Bearer during the Olympic Torch Run in 1996 through the SAC and Fox Nation to the birthplace of her grandfather in Prague, Oklahoma where she lives.

Thorpe founded the LifeWay Project of the Tides Foundation in 1992 which for more than a decade has advanced Native thinking as the element necessary for the healing of Native communities and revitalization of Native traditions through connecting human and financial resources to individuals, organizations, and institutions; and which has served as a resources to foundation and individuals interested in working in partnership with these efforts. The first major project of LifeWay was the book People of the Seventh Fire which documented personal statement of Native traditionals I their efforts to continue their lifeways. The book, published by the Cornell University-based Native American publishing company Akwe:Kon Press, was supported and widely distributed by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The second major project is the forum Native American Millennium co-convened with Akwe:Kon Press and Indian Country Today which emphasizes through its dissemination efforts nation building within the context of indigenous intelligence, LifeWay provides fundraising and technical assistant to Native American projects and organizations seeking to continue Native lifeways and languages.

For more than a decade beginning in 1980, Thorpe worked with the formation of and became founding Executive Director of the Seventh Generation Fund, a national Native American foundation, which under her leadership provided grants, training, and technical assistance to hundreds of grassroots reservation-based community projects. In 1993 while at the Sac and Fox National Public Library she successfully obtained grants for language and cultural programs, served as editor for the Sac and Fox News, and then became founding Executive Director of the Thakiwa Foundation which conducted the Thakiwa Traditional Agriculture Project.

Her applied experiences in the field of philanthropy and fundraising include serving as consultant to Lannan Foundation in the development of a language conference and to the Special and General Grants Programs of the J.D. and C.T. MacArthur Foundation, in the formation and design of a special Native American initiative. She is a recipient of numerous awards for her work in the field of philanthropy including: the Henty A. Rosso Award for Lifetime Achievement in Ethical Fundraising, presented by the Center on Philanthropy, Indiana University; the Louis T Delgado Distinguished GrantmakerAward from Native Americans in Philanthropy, and Recipient National Activist in Philanthropy Award by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. She presently serves on the Board of Directors for First Nations Development Institute. She is adjunct faculty to the College of Education at Oklahoma State University, where she provides instruction on philanthropy, fundraising, and non-profit organization, specializing in Native Americans.

Kyle Vickers
Kyle served as Deputy Director for the Missouri Department of Agriculture from 1992-2000. Kyle was an active leader in the department, helping to develop new programs in sustainable and entrepreneurial agriculture. Kyle is a fifth generation farmer and a strong advocate for family farms. He farmed for a number of years before taking his state leadership position and is now returning to active farming. He is also working on projects developing value-added agriculture opportunities for Missouri farmers.

Jennifer Wilkins
Jennifer Wilkins, Ph.D., R. D. is a Senior Extension Associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. Jennifer graduated in 1978 from Huxley College of Environmental Studies (BS), Western Washington University. She received her Masters of Science (1981) in Nutrition Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned her Ph.D. (1991) from Washington State University, in Nutrition and Consumer Studies. The primary focus of her extension and applied research programs is the relationship between food choice, human health and the long-term sustainability of the food system. She conceptualized and developed The Northeast Regional Food Guide (www.nutrition.cornell.edu/FoodGuide/), a nutrition education tool enables consumers to make food choices that promote health while supporting local agriculture by helping consumers identify locally produced and processed foods and to know when they are likely available. She coordinates the New York portion of a 4-state farm-to-school national project and a New York State farm-to-college project. She initiated and leads a public issues education project on Genetically Engineered Foods (www.geo-pie.cornell.edu)- Jennifer also co-leads Growing Food Security in New York Communities, one of the core cooperative extension initiatives in the Division of Nutritional Sciences and served as a New York State liaison for Community Food Security to further the USDA CFS Initiative.

Wilkins has published papers on the issues related to eating seasonally and regionally, local food systems, consumer education needs and environmental concerns related to food choices in the Journal of Nutrition Education, The Ecology of Food and Nutrition, Agriculture and Human Values Journal, The Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and the Journal of Research in Rural Sociology and Development. She was also co-editor for the USDA resource, Food Security in the United States: A Guidebook for Public Issues Education, which has been used nationally to increase local food security efforts. Jennifer served in the Board of Directors for the Society for Nutrition Education as the Director Northeast (1995-8) and a member of the governing council for the Agriculture and Human Values Society (1997-2000).

John Zippert
John Zippert is the Director of Program Operations for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund at their Rural Training and Research Center in Epes, Alabama. He has thirty-five years experience in community organizing, cooperative and credit union development, community based economic development and rural development in distressed communities. Prior to working for the Federation, he was a fieldworker for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Louisiana. He has a BA degree in history from the City College of New York; and has participated in numerous training sessions and courses to enhance his skills in rural development.

John Zippert serves on the boards of many national, regional, state, and local organizations to support rural development activities. Among these boards are: The Rural Coalition, Association for Community Based Education, Rural Development Leadership Network, Southern Rural Development Initiative, Alabama Council on Human Relations, Alabama Organizing Project, Alabama New South Coalition, Greene County Industrial Board, Greene County Hospital and Nursing Home, and Greene-Sumter Enterprise Community.

Zippert and his wife Carol are co-publishers of the Greene County Democrat, the weekly newspaper in their home rural community. They have published the newspaper since it was acquired in 1984 by a community group in the county. The Zipperts have three children and seven grandchildren.

Jim Zuiches
Jim Zuiches is currently the Dean of the Department of Agriculture and Home Economics at Washington State University. In 1994-5 he took a 15-month leave to W.K. Kellogg Foundation to serve as Program Director in Community and Rural Development. He has also worked on the Foundations Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) and Food Systems Professions Education (FSPE) initiatives. WSU has major grants in both of these areas. Jim is a rural sociologist and has actively built coalitions of those committed to improving the sustainability of the food system.