Skip to content

Regenerative Food Systems Investment

Home
About
RFSI Forum
RFSI Europe
RFSI Canada
Women’s Events
- 2024 Meet-Ups
- 2023 Women Transforming Food & Finance
News
- RFSI News
- Sign Up for Updates
Resources
More

November 27, 2018September 16, 2020 by sdaylevesque

Speakers

National Young Farmers Coalition

Sanaz ArjomandNational Young Farmers Coalition

Caesaré Assad leads the work at Food System 6, a non-profit that is building a more equitable and sustainable food and agriculture system by supporting entrepreneurs focused on health, sustainability, and justice. Over the last 20 years, Caesaré has developed and led several food business innovations to address social and environmental challenges. Her expertise spans the private, non-profit, and corporate sectors, with a range of hands on, operational leadership roles as a chef, entrepreneur and business executive. Her experience includes launching back-to-back start-up concepts for Whole Foods Market, co-founding The Cleaver Group - a food environment design consultancy, developing culinary career programs for youth, groups, and launching nutrition-based wellness and foodservice concepts around the US for private and corporate clients. As a native to rural Oklahoma, she is especially passionate about surfacing and supporting issues that impact agricultural communities.

Caesaré AssadFood System 6 (FS6)

Co-founder and CTO of Sound Agriculture

Travis BayerSound Agriculture

Zach Ducheneaux, Executive Director of the Intertribal Agriculture Council, is part of the third generation to operate the family ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in north central South Dakota. That generation is now working with the fourth generation on the same ranch. Zach served as a tribal council representative for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe from 2000 to 2004 and became the Tribe’s delegate to the IAC, and secretary of the board, a role he is honored to have filled. However, Zach’s connection to the IAC spans nearly 25 years, as his first professional employment was with the organization as a Farm Advocate from 1994-1997; in this role, he assisted producers who found themselves victim to the circumstances of the Keepseagle lawsuit following the fallout of the Farm Crisis. “During that time I learned about the passion that drove those within the IAC for agriculture as an economic development tool, and that there were folks out there trying to improve Reservation economies through Agriculture.” Zach goes on, “I learned that there was a bigger picture behind what I had the good fortune of growing up doing, and that it was possible to have an impact on those matters for the benefit of all of Indian Country.” This bigger picture approach has focused a significant amount of Zach’s current work around a reinvention of Ag Finance to better serve Indian Country; shedding light on the investment potential that is offered through more thoughtfully structured Sustainability Finance. Since 2010, Zach has been working full-time for the IAC, and along with his work on the TA Network, and ag policy initiatives, He works to further educate himself, and others about the critical role of improved food systems, value-added agriculture, and foreign exports in any successful economic development model in Indian Country.

Zach DucheneauxIntertribal Agriculture Council

Tim Crosby is Principal of the Thread Fund, which focuses on investing multiple forms of capital to generate social and environmental returns alongside financial returns. Additionally Tim is Coordinator of the Cascadia Foodshed Financing Project, Steering Committee Member of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, Partner of Seattle Impact Investing Group, Partner of Social Venture Partners, and Board Member of Center for Inclusive Entrepreneurship. Tim's previous work includes Co-Chair for the Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders, Director of Slow Money Northwest, and fifteen years as a professional photographer and graphic designer. Tim holds an MBA in Sustainable Business from Presidio University and a BA in Anthropology from Kenyon College.

Tim CrosbyThread Fund

Elizabeth Frame Ellison currently serves as President and CEO of the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation (LTFF). Ellison has dedicated her professional career to ensuring Tulsa has an innovative, diverse landscape that encourages small business. Ellison is a lifelong Oklahoman, earning her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Oklahoma. Prior to law school, Ellison worked in Washington, D.C. as a Legislative Assistant for Congressman Dan Boren, handling a variety of issues including women’s rights, education, small business issues, healthcare, and education.Today, Ellison’s main focus is leading the generous community support provided through the LTFF’s owned and operated programs and numerous grants. Under her leadership, LTFF has committed over 11 million dollars to back critical issues ranging from entrepreneurship, to education, to health. In 2013, Ellison, along with Kathy Taylor, Amy Santee, Mimi Taransch and Janet Levit, founded the Lobeck Taylor Family Advocacy clinic within the University of Tulsa College of Law to assist women seeking legal help with civil issues. Ellison and Taylor also founded Women Count OK, a bi-partisan, statewide program designed to inform women about important issues, and encourage financial support and voter turnout among and between women. Ellison is well known as one of the driving forces of Tulsa’s entrepreneurial scene. Her personal passion for this area led to LTFF’s cornerstone support of the innovative efforts of 36°North, The Mine, Tulsa Startup Series Powered by LTFF, Startup Weekend and more. Ellison also established Cultivate918, a group that creates a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem for Tulsans, as well as Kitchen 66, Tulsa’s first-ever kick-start kitchen for food entrepreneurs.

Elizabeth Frame EllisonLobeck Taylor Family Foundation

Bert Glover is co-founder and Managing Director of Impact Ag Partners, an asset management firm that scales-up and demonstrates regenerative agriculture. Impact Ag Partners identifies opportunities, conducts due diligence, purchases and manages real assets through separate managed accounts (SMA) on behalf of international and domestic investors. The firm is a bespoke full-service agribusiness management company with $160m(AUD) in assets under regenerative management. A particular focus is on generating, measuring and monetising natural capital that rewards quality management and to meet the growing demand for ecosystem services. Bert is passionate about performance data and developing metrics that demonstrate impact, as a result, he was co-founder and CEO of Maia Technology which develops decision support and data capture tools for the agriculture sector. Bert studied agricultural economics at university, sustainable agriculture and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Bert GloverImpact Ag Partners

Anna Hammond has over 25 years experience as a nonprofit leader successfully scaling - programs and teams into dynamic, stable, and endowed organizations. From 2010-20017, collaborating with farmers, institutions, funders, and foundations committed to solving food insecurity through education and reimagined food systems, she conceived of and implemented a healthy eating program in public housing community centers in all 5 boroughs of New York City and in the 6 school districts of Columbia County. Combining her financial acumen, activism, and her commitment to developing sustainable, effective systems for the benefit of people, she founded Matriark Foods in 2018.

Anna HammondMatriark Foods

Meyer Family Enterprises

Stephen HohenriederMeyer Family Enterprises

Eric started his career at The Pillsbury Company where he received his classic commodity merchandising training and became the Manager of Market Development for their Specialty Commodities Group. In 1988, he became Vice President of Commodity Operations at publicly-traded International Proteins Corporation (IPC). IPC was delisted when the executive team determined that the portfolio of operations was more valuable as independent companies than was being realized as a single entity. Along with the former Chairman of IPC, Eric purchased the trading book, physical assets and the IPC name and recapitalized the business as a privately held entity in 1990. In 1998, Eric architected the sale of IPC to The Scoular Company where he joined their BoD and formed their Industrial Markets Division where he was General Manager. In 2007 Eric formed a new venture under the Chicago Climate Exchange to develop carbon sequestration programs for farmers and landowners. This led to the formation of Conservis Corp. in 2009 to develop a management software platform for large scale farming enterprises. Eric left Conservis at the end of 2016 to lead Pipeline Foods. Eric is a native of Urbana, IL where he received his B.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois before moving to his new home state of Minnesota. He has continued to serve his alma mater in a variety of roles throughout his professional career.

Eric JacksonPipeline Foods

Anna and her husband Doug own and manage Vilicus Farms, a first generation, organic, 9,600 acre dryland crop farm in Northern Hill County, Montana growing a diverse array of organic heirloom and specialty grain, pulse, oilseed and broadleaf crops under five and seven-year rotations. In eleven seasons, Vilicus Farms grew from 1,280 acres to a 9,600 acre nationally recognized farm by using USDA’s beginning farmer programs, employing extensive conservation practices, and fostering unique risk sharing relationships with food companies and land investment firms. With over 26% of their land in non-crop conservation and 400 acres seeded to native pollinator habitat Vilicus Farms became Bee Better certified in 2019. Vilicus Training Institute (VTI) launched in 2013 to bring a new generation of land stewards to the Northern Great Plains. Since then, VTI has supported the farm in hosting over 11 apprentices, numerous interns and too many farm campers to count. Anna is a Donella Meadows Leadership Fellow and a recipient of the White House Greening Government Sustainability Hero Award. She holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a minor in Sustainable Systems from Georgia Institute of Technology. Anna served on the USDA Secretary’s Advisory Council on Beginning Farmers & Ranchers. She currently serves on the Xerces Society Bee Better Advisory Board. Given the realities of farming Anna still has an off-farm job with the USDA Forest Service. After several decades fostering more sustainable operations she is now currently serving as the Director for Data Governance for the Northern Region. Anna, Doug, and their three Jack Russell Terriers, are avid members of the Lentil Underground

Anna Jones-CrabtreeVilicus Farms

For 2 decades, Mark has been dedicated to developing various aspects of a regenerative food chain that focused on honoring the animal, respecting the land and nourishing people. His first hand experience extends from humane animal & poultry production, harvest, fabrication, retail and value added processing, distribution, logistics, wholesale, retail and e commerce sales. Mark has a degree from Cal Poly SLO in Animal Science and Holistic Land Management, Magna cum Laude.

Mark KellerKeller Crafted Meats

Associate Scientist, Sound Agriculture

Aden KinneSound Agriculture

Technical Product Specialist, Sound Agriculture

Megan KavanaughSound Agriculture

Matt Kreutz is the CEO and Founder of Firebrand Artisan Breads. Matt turned his lifelong passion for baking and working in the food service industry into Firebrand in 2007. Matt grew up in the kitchen, spending hours helping his mom make meals for the family. At 14 he got his first job in a bakery and has never worked outside the baking industry since. Matt has a passion to create a great workplace culture of inclusion, hard work and service. Matt believes that a company has the responsibility to it’s employees as well as the community it serves. Being raised in a house where his mother went to jail as a teenager and having experienced homelessness himself, Matt aims to make Firebrand a place where people can create a better life for themselves, their families and their community.

Matt KreutzFirebrand Artisan Breads

David LeZaks, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, is an environmental scientist and financial activist whose work is centered around developing innovative mechanisms for financing the transition to agroecological farming and food systems. Before joining Croatan Institute, Dr. LeZaks led the Regenerative Food Systems initiative at Delta Institute in Chicago, where he managed a portfolio of projects that focused on the design and deployment of disruptive mechanisms to unlock substantial capital flows into regenerative agriculture. Previously, he served as an RSF Social Finance Integrated Capital Institute fellow. Earlier in his career, David was a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he completed his Ph.D. in Environment and Resources and an M.S. in Land Resources. Afterward, he served as Managing Scientist of the Knowledge Systems for Sustainability Consortium and Program Director of the university’s Agricultural Innovation Prize. Currently, he serves in advisory roles to Mad Agriculture, the Savanna Institute, Nourishn, Council of Development Finance Agencies’ Food Systems Finance Advisory Council, and the Transformational Investing in Food Systems initiative, an allied initiative of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food. He is based in Madison, Wisconsin, where he is active in a number of community organizations and spends his spare time gardening and participating in a variety of silent sports.

David LeZaksCroatan Institute

Renske Lynde has been an advocate for a healthier & more sustainable food system for 20+ years. She is a General Partner of 1st Course Capital, an early stage venture fund in food & agriculture. Renske is also a co-founder of Food System 6 which is a non-profit accelerator based in the SF Bay Area that supports mission-driven entrepreneurs from around the world transforming how we grow, produce and distribute food. Renske began her career in the food system advocating for sustainable agriculture in global trade policy agreements and went on to build direct markets for growers and producers in Philadelphia. She subsequently directed efforts to improve the food stamp and school meal programs for the San Francisco Food Bank. She holds BA degrees from Boston University in Political Science and Psychology and an MPP from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.

Renske Lynde1st Course Capital

Alex Mackay is the Director of Business Development and Investor Relations for Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT, an organic farmland investment company with a broad base of support from more than 400 mission-aligned investors across the country. Iroquois Valley offers land access to organic farmers through innovative leases and mortgages that prioritize farmer prosperity and social and environmental impact alongside investor returns. The Company is a Public Benefit Corporation and an award winning B-Corp that has been partnering with farm families since 2007 to build a growing portfolio approaching 15,000 acres across 14 states. Both accredited and non-accredited investors can participate and investment amounts range from $10,000 to $5MM in size.

Alex MackayIroquois Valley Farmland REIT

Malaika Maphalala is a Partner and Wealth Advisor at Natural Investments LLC, a national SEC registered Investment Advisory firm that has specialized in exclusively socially and environmentally responsible investments for over 30 years. A lifelong advocate for social change, Malaika is driven by a passion for finding innovative approaches to bringing people and resources together to address social and environmental complexities. In her role as Wealth Advisor, Malaika provides portfolio management and financial planning for a small group of high-net-worth individuals, families, and institutions across the country that want to use their wealth as a tool to transform society and economic systems using humane, restorative, and ecological principles as the guide. She specializes in Regenerative Investing, which is investment that directly supports the regenerative capacity of communities and ecosystems. From microfinance to sustainable agriculture, worker-owned cooperatives to renewable energy, Malaika loves helping her mission-driven clients connect with investments that align with their deepest values and create positive change in the world. Malaika received her BA from the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands and she holds a Certified Private Wealth Advisor® designation from the Investments and Wealth Institute in conjunction with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She currently lives full time on the island of Hawaii, her home for almost 30 years, where she and her family tend and enjoy their beloved, rural, solar-powered, organic farm and homestead.

Malaika MaphalalaNatural Investments LLC

Paul McMahon is a co-founder and Managing Partner of SLM Partners, an asset management firm that uses investment capital to scale up regenerative farming and forestry systems. The firm manages two existing funds (in Australia and Ireland), and is developing a new investment strategy to scale up organic row crop production in the US. Previously, Paul was Vice-President at Climate Change Capital Ltd, where he led a team developing a strategy for a global farmland fund. Before that, he was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in New York. He has published a book on the global food system (Feeding Frenzy: The New Politics of Food), as well as a white papers on investing in ecological farming and sustainable forestry. Originally from Ireland, Paul holds a PhD from Cambridge University and a BA from University College Dublin. He lives in New York.

Paul McMahonSLM Partners

At Iroquois Valley, Claire’s work centers around communicating the company’s impacts across audiences. She loves telling the stories of Iroquois Valley farmers and creating content that captures how the company works with farmers and investors to create change. She is also the primary contact for new farmer outreach. Claire works within operations getting to know farmers, understanding their needs and practices, and helping them move through the pipeline. She is passionate about creating a more sustainable, just, and empowering food system. Claire completed her bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and French from Loyola University Chicago. Within philosophy, Claire gravitated toward intersections between social and political philosophy alongside environmental and agricultural ethics. After graduation, Claire spent a year in Madison, WI working as an AmeriCorps Farm-to-School educator. Claire lives in southern California where she enjoys spending time outdoors, creating art, and gardening.

Claire MesesanIroquois Valley Farmland REIT

Dan Miller is the Founder and CEO of Steward, the world’s first crowdfarming platform™. Steward enables people to invest directly in regenerative farms. Through Steward, responsible investors can earn returns while transforming agriculture, by equipping sustainable farmers with the capital they need to grow. From 2010 to 2015, Dan was Co-Founder, President and Director of Fundrise, the first and largest US real estate crowdfunding platform, which has raised more than $1 billion to date. Steward combines Dan’s background in investment crowdfunding, real estate and technology with his with a passion for agriculture stemming from his maternal family, which has been farming on the Eastern Shore of Maryland since the 1880s. His dream is to help rejuvenate the Chesapeake Bay through regenerative agriculture and aquaculture.

Dan MillerSteward

Robyn O’Brien is the Vice President of rePlant Capital, an impact investment firm, deploying integrated capital from soil to shelf in order to reverse climate change. The rePlant team is investing in privately held, deep impact opportunities, while supporting American farmers. Robyn was a founding team member of of AIM/Invesco’s first hedge fund of $100+ million and a team member on their $20 billion Constellation Fund. She was an advisor to Paul Hawken’s “Drawdown”(published in April 2017) and has advised startups, banks and multinationals, while working with global CEOs and management teams in the food industry. Robyn is also the founder of Do Good, a strategic advisory firm, and AllergyKids Foundation, which serves the 1 in 3 children with allergies, asthma, ADHD and autism. Random House published Robyn's book, The Unhealthy Truth, in 2009, and her TEDx talk has been viewed by millions and translated into multiple languages. She received her BA from Washington and Lee University, her MBA from Rice University on a full scholarship and also received a Fulbright fellowship. She is named after a farmer in New Zealand.

Robyn O’BrienrePlant Capital

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Juli ObudzinskiNational Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Tina OwensDanone North America

Borna Poursheikhani is the Chief of Staff at ClimateAi, a Stanford spinout using AI and machine learning to create climate resilience tools for the agriculture sector. In his role, Borna focuses on business development and product discovery. He is also the host of Agriculture Adapts, a podcast discussing the challenges and opportunities at the nexus of climate change and agriculture. Prior to joining ClimateAi, Borna worked in the climate-technology startup/venture capital space. Borna graduated from UC Berkeley with a master's degree in environmental engineering with a focus on climate.

Borna PoursheikhaniClimateAi

Debbie Reed was named Executive Director of the ESMC in May of 2019 upon the establishment of the Consortium and subsequently assumed the same role for the ESMRC upon the creation of the Research Consortium in November of 2019. Reed’s role in leading the ESMC builds on decades of experience in agriculture climate change mitigation and sustainability efforts at the national and international level. Previously, Reed led the Coalition on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (C-AGG), a national multi-stakeholder coalition, supporting the development of tools, support systems, knowledge, and programs to improve quantification of GHG from agriculture. Prior to her work with C-AGG, Reed worked at the White House Council on Environmental Quality as the Director of Legislative Affairs and Agricultural Policy and in the U.S. Senate as a Senior Staff on natural resource and agricultural issues for U.S. Senator Robert Kerrey of Nebraska. She has held numerous leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including special assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics (REE) and special assistant to the Administrator of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). She has graduate and undergraduate degrees in human nutrition/dietetics, chemistry, and communications.

Debbie ReedEcosystem Services Consortium

Brendon is a third generation farmer who raises specialty potatoes and quinoa among fields of manure, all cultivated in a living environment. He chooses to nurture life through diverse, biotic inputs like companion crops, livestock, cover crops, and flowering strips instead of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. His 500-acre, irrigated farming system sustains yields, has greater water efficiency, and supports a flourishing ecosystem, creating a healthy habitat for life in the soil. The end result is healthy plants and insects, livestock, and humans.

Brendon RockeyRockey Farms

Adrian is a Co-Founder and a Managing Director of Provenance Capital Group where he helps develop blended capital structures that catalyze resilient biological systems and businesses. Before Provenance, Adrian worked at Patagonia within its Venture Capital arm Tin Shed Ventures, helping author a standard for Regenerative Organic Agriculture and exploring Regenerative Organic Land Funds. Adrian also spent six years at Morgan Stanley helping long time horizon investors manage their asset allocations and diligence investment opportunities across asset classes and sectors. He has lectured on food innovation at the Berkeley Haas School of Business. Adrian is a graduate of Berkeley Haas’ full-time MBA program. He received a B.A. in English from Williams College, studied English literature at Exeter College, Oxford University, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He’s an avid chef, backyard farmer, and budding yogi.

Adrian RodriguesProvenance Capital Group

Dr. William Salas is Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Dagan, Inc. Prior to forming Dagan, he was President of Applied GeoSolutions, LLC, DNDC Application, Research and Training, LLC. He received a Ph.D. Natural resources from University of New Hampshire (UNH). He worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and UNH Complex Systems Research Center. His work and research focuses on the use of geospatial technologies for climate change analyses, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission studies, and environmental applications including remote sensing, geospatial modeling. He is an expert in developing and applying spatial biogeochemical models for assessing agricultural ecosystem services. He is active in the design and development of MRV systems for Ecosystem Service Markets and GHG reporting in the agriculture and forestry sectors. His current work focuses on using geospatial data and soil biogeochemical modeling to build the business case for soil health.

Dr. William SalasDagan Inc.

Revel Meat Co. is a USDA processing facility providing humane slaughter and custom cut + wrap services to ranchers across the Pacific Northwest. They also purchase and sell livestock, wholesale and retail, from a small handful of trusted ranchers to ensure fairness and quality across their supply. Revel’s mission is to support small and midsize ranchers in building financial sustainability, in order to preserve local meat markets. Revel Meat Co. is revitalizing humane animal processing as one of the few remaining USDA meat processors in the state of Oregon.

James SerlinRevel Meat Co

Eric Smith is an Investment Officer for the Grantham Environmental Trust where he manages the Neglected Climate Opportunities venture portfolio. He leads investments in businesses and technology that can abate greenhouse gas emissions at scale. Eric was previously a venture fellow with SJF Ventures and worked for BlackRock in climate finance, in addition to providing advisory and verification for sustainability certification in natural resources and ecosystem markets. He is a graduate of the dual degree program at Duke University, having received his MBA and Master of Forestry, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica.

Eric SmithGrantham Environmental Trust

Jacqueline Smith, founder of Central Grazing Company, has been an Animal Welfare Approved farmer since 2008 (with a previous farm) and is a successful entrepreneur. Jacqueline found her passion for agriculture while serving in the Peace Corps. She co-founded a sheep dairy in Missouri creating one of the best-known dairies and creameries in the Midwest that sold cheese national, farm-to-table. Today, Jacqueline operates Central Grazing Company and is a pioneer in restoring healthy soils and using regenerative agriculture. Through engagement with local and national organizations, she helps sustainable food systems find investment capital and works to support conversation and entrepreneurship. Jacqueline is proud to have a role in paving the way for a global movement of food and fiber that benefits the planet.

Jacqueline SmithCentral Grazing Co

Lindsey is the founder of the Farm Generations Cooperative, a national initiative to expand the market share and viability of small farmers with fair, farmer-owned technology. The cooperative's first project is GrownBy, an online sales platform now in beta. Before Farm Generations, Lindsey co-founded the National Young Farmers Coalition and led the organization in its first decade. Lindsey grew the organization from a few volunteer farmers to a nationwide network with 40 chapters in 28 states and a grassroots base of over 150,000. Lindsey was recognized as a “Champion of Change” by President Barack Obama and is the recipient of the Glynwood’s “Harvest Award.” EatingWell magazine named Lindsey and “American Food Hero” and she was included among “20 Food Leaders Under 40” by Food Tank.

Lindsey Lusher ShuteFarm Generations Cooperative

Ethan is a startup growth expert, turned soil health geek, who is focused on turning ideas into reality. He has helped scale ventures domestically and internationally in industries such as the sharing economy, consumer packaged goods, and B Corp businesses. Ethan holds a B.A. in Social Justice & Sustainability from Miami University, and is a Board Member at the Association for Temperate Agroforestry. He also manages Propagate.org, a curated news hub on the regenerative economy. Having been born on Earth day, he has been passionate about the environment for his entire life and enjoys living at the intersection of regeneration & technology.

Ethan SteinbergPropagate Ventures

I grew up in rural Maryland on farmland at the top of the Chesapeake Bay, raised by a family that taught me stewardship and my place in the world. I've always felt a deep purpose to ensure the beauty and wellbeing of the Earth, which humans are part and parcel of. I am drawn to agriculture because food is at the heart of our existence, and how we eat largely determines how the world is used. Humans are increasingly disconnected from food and the farmers that feed us all, which has driven a dramatic deterioration of global ecosystems, culture and economy. My life work is to create a world where people and ecosystem flourish together. I long to see coastal rivers rife with migrating fish, the prairies abundant with buffalo, the oceans churning with anchovies and whales, the Amazon rainforest left to stand, the bays rich with oysters and blue crabs, the mountains with glaciers and snow, and people living in their rightful place among it all. Seeking this vision of what was and could be requires wild creativity. Radical love must be the root of all action. I am also a fellow at the University of Colorado, where I teach The Future of Food in the Masters of the Environment Food Systems program. I have diverse international experience in both private and public sectors, and I've led research and outreach campaigns throughout Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. From 2013-2014 I co-founded Aethos Energy, an exploratory PE fund for accelerating renewable energy in the global south.

Phil TaylorMad Agriculture

American Heart Association

Cheryl TonerAmerican Heart Association

Wood Turner is a Senior Vice President at Agriculture Capital, focused on integrating and operationalizing the firm’s global regenerative management strategies. Wood brings over 25 years of experience in corporate sustainability, environmental management, and consumer engagement. Most recently, he was on the executive team at organic yogurt pioneer Stonyfield Farm as the company’s VP Sustainability Innovation. Prior to that, he was founding executive director of Climate Counts, an international NGO focused on measuring and scoring the world’s largest consumer companies on their concrete, enterprise-level responses to climate change. Wood has consulted to brands, elected officials, and public agencies on mobilizing the public around ideas that improve the environment and build community, including the start-up of a groundbreaking curbside food waste recovery program, the expansion of carshare program access to underrepresented communities in the Puget Sound area and Los Angeles, development of an early shuttle program for Bay Area biotech workers, and a citizen engagement program that nearly resulted in innovative fixed-rail for Seattle. Early in his career, he worked with the plastics industry in the policy and product stewardship arenas and was later instrumental in developing Urban Ecology’s “Blueprint for a Sustainable Bay Area.” He worked for many years on the alignment of economic and recreation demands with wetland, riparian, and wildlife corridor conservation in the Pacific Northwest. Wood earned his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his graduate degree in urban and environmental planning and design from the University of Washington. He advises several sustainable food startups, was an expert in residence at Presidio Graduate School and advises the UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business’ Sustainable Food Initiative. He previously advised Sustainable Brands and Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment and now sits on boards for the Duke University Campus Farm and the Center for Good Food Purchasing. He began a five-year appointment to the National Organic Standards Board in early 2020.

Wood TurnerAgriculture Capital

Mark Watson serves as Managing Director of the Fair Food Fund, Fair Food Network’s impact investing arm, which provides catalytic capital and business assistance grounded in Fair Food Network’s national network and program expertise. Mark brings 30 years’ experience in finance alongside pioneering leadership in impact investing. He joins Fair Food Network from Boston Impact Initiative (BII), where he built a national reputation for its innovative work marrying financial rigor with a social impact mission supporting entrepreneurs of color in Eastern Massachusetts. He is also the founder of Keel Asset Management LLC, a financial advisory firm that provides socially responsible financial planning and investment advisory services to nonprofits and public and corporation pension plans. Mark has also been a critical partner in the development of the Fair Food Fund, where he has served on its investment committee since 2014. Mark has experience in financial services including roles in banking and on Wall Street. He started his career as a banker at the First National Bank of Chicago, now JP Morgan, in commercial banking, corporate, and public finance. He subsequently joined the investment team and had a 20-year career including managing investment portfolios for foundations, endowments, and institutional pensions funds. He is an advisory board member of MIT/Health Innovation Systems Inc.; chair of the Triskeles Foundation’s Asset Management Committee; board member of Institute of Educational Leadership; board president of Sustainable Cape, Inc.; and a former board member of the Social Venture Network. Mark holds an Bachelor of Science in Finance, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and a Master’s in Business Administration, The Booth School, University of Chicago.

Mark WatsonFair Food Fund

Post navigation

Next Speaker blurb

Advertisement

Information

Contact RFSI Team
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use

Get Updates

Sign Up for our Newsletter

Connect







#—

© RFSI 2022

Proudly powered by WordPress · Theme: Pique by WordPress.com.