Alan Lewis navigates government affairs and food and agriculture policy for Natural Grocers, a Colorado based health food chain founded in 1955 with over 160 stores in 21 states.  At the federal, state and local level, Alan engages on food, agriculture, nutrition, rural economic development, technology, biotech, cannabis, trade and health issues. He is active in several trade and advocacy organizations and is a fearless writer and speaker. Permanently banned by LinkedIn for exposing their corporate propaganda.

Allan Reetz is the Director of Public and Government Affairs at the Hanover Co-op Food Stores—a four-store grocery cooperative founded in 1936, that today serves 25,000 member-owners in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Allan’s food systems work includes board and advisory team support for New Hampshire Food Alliance, Vermont First (Sodexo’s local purchasing program), National Organic Coalition, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Meat Processing Task Force, Vermont Farm to Plate’s Food Security Strategy Action Plan, New Hampshire’s Agriculture Advisory Board, and New Hampshire Community Seafood Cooperative.

He also advocates for affordable workforce housing and equitable community transportation.

Bob Lodder — rhymes with slaughter — founded Friesla to make the meat processing world a better place for independent farmers, ranchers, and meat eaters. He draws on decades of experience starting and scaling companies in the agriculture and manufacturing industries. Bob’s work at Friesla focuses on delighting our clients and encouraging and empowering our team.

Chris has worked in food for over 20 years.  He believes that the meat industry is where culinary, community, and environment truly connect.  Chris has been working on the processing side of the meat industry for the majority of his career, bringing values of humane handling and quality cutting to a market of consumers who are demanding high integrity and high quality meat products.

Chris is grateful to work with livestock producers who raise their animals in a responsible way and consumers who are prioritizing their shopping by source and values, all while maintaining an ethic of stewardship for our farmland. A lifelong student, Chris is a member of the Butcher’s Guild and dedicates time to becoming a better butcher and meat advocate.

Chris lives in Southern California and focuses his consulting on meat processing operations and business development. Chris has worked with clients on everything from mobile slaughter units to business and marketing plans and HACCP consultation.

Cliff Pollard’s 15+ year career building sustainable food systems began with childhood visits to the family farm outside of Kansas City, Missouri. Multi-species rotational grazing, no-till farming, and cover crops weren’t “regenerative” to the Pollards — they were just good farming sense. The best way to ensure fertile soil and food on the table with enough left to sell at market, season after season. These trips also exposed Cliff to the unfailing entrepreneurial spirit of sustenance farmers, which is his heritage on both the sides of the family.

After five years building supply chains across the West, he departed Prather to document our rapidly evolving global food systems and food culture. He traveled for two years, to over 30 countries, including a short stint as a CNN International Food Guide in Lebanon. Returning stateside, Cliff continued to advocate for a more sustainable meat industry as COO & Partner for America’s first Non-GMO Project Verified beef company. In 2016 he founded Cream Co. Meats, focused on building a full service end-to-end platform for scaled B2B and B2C conversion towards a more regenerative future. Today, Cream Co. is the largest distributor of sustainable and regenerative meats on the West Coast, and the only all-natural USDA butchery in the inner Bay Area.

Craig Sewell is the Marketing & Livestock Project Manager for the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission (SMADC).. The Southern Maryland Meats (SMM) program is under his watch as is building the infrastructure to create a seamless farm to kitchen supply chain for the region. A successful business owner, professional chef and restaurateur, Sewell brought a wealth of experience and entrepreneurship to SMADC. He is currently constructing a Regional Agricultural Center in Southern Maryland anchored by a whole animal butcher shop and finer meats processing, an instructional kitchen, a certified kitchen for regulatory instruction, and cold storage.

Danielle Nierenberg is a world-renowned researcher, speaker, and advocate on all issues relating to our food system and agriculture. In 2013, Danielle Nierenberg co-founded Food Tank (foodtank.com) with Bernard Pollack, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. Food Tank is a global convener, thought leadership organization, and unbiased creator of original research impacting the food system.

Danielle has an M.S. in Agriculture, Food, and Environment from the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and spent two years volunteering for the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. Danielle is the recipient of the 2020 Julia Child Award.

Derek Wagner opened Nicks on Broadway in 2002, at the age of 24, in an old neighborhood diner space with only 18 seats, changing menus weekly, featuring fresh, seasonal, passionately crafted food for breakfast, lunch & dinner. Several years later, quickly out growing the space, and the city’s demand for farm to table dinner, Derek moved to where he currently is at 500 Broadway, Providence. From 18 seats to over 75, Nicks has been a classic of the city of Providence while still growing and evolving to keep a fresh take on local foods. The core of nicks has always focused on seasonally inspired, locally supported, integrity and soulfully driven food and sincere service. With a concentration on attention to detail, passionate cooking and uncompromising standards, Derek focuses on bringing the highest level of cooking and attentive service to his customers in the most unpretentious, upbeat and heartfelt atmosphere possible.

Duskie Estes is a chef, farmer, and rancher. With her husband John Stewart, they operated ZAZU Kitchen+Farm for nearly 2 decades until the flooding of the Russian River in 2019. They are co-owners of Black Pig Meat Co., dedicated to ethical sourcing and advocacy for small farmers. Black Pig Meat Co. specializes in ethically-raised pigs sourced directly from small farms and uses the entire animal ‘snout to tail’ and is most know for their award winning brown sugar dry cured and applewood smoked bacon. Black Pig coppa and prosciutto won Good Food Awards in 2017 and 2019. Their food truck, The Black Piglet, is a hit at wineries, weddings, and music festivals and won the Burger Truck Brawl on Discovery+.

Currently Duskie is the Executive Director of Farm to Pantry, a gleaning non-profit in Sonoma County, rescuing produce from over 400 farms and backyards with 500+ volunteers and sharing with families fighting food injustice.

Dylan Boeken is a practitioner of regenerative land management working as a shepherd and purveyor of righteous meat through his company, Boek House Hearth and Husbandry. He both runs his sheep and works as Head Shepherd and Project Manager at the contract grazing outfit, Shepherdess Land and Livestock Co. He is passionate about local protein production as a by-product of proper land management and purveyance of whole animals to more fully honor the life of those animals, as well as the true bounty they offer. He is a craft butcher for all of his custom meat clients as well as a consultant in regenerative land systems design and ecological verification monitoring.

From obtaining his degree in Natural Resource Management and Evolutionary Biology with focus in Conservation he has accumulated practical experience in implementing broad scale land regeneration through agricultural practices including prescribed grazing with ruminants, Permaculture Design, and Holistic Management.

Emily Moose has supported the growth and development of A Greener World programs and initiatives for over thirteen years, helping to establish Certified Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) by AGW as the leading label for sustainable livestock production as recognized by Consumer Reports. With over 20 years working in food, agriculture and communications, Emily has extensive experience at all points in the supply chain from farm to market.

Erik Oberholtzer is the co-founder of Tender Greens, a pioneering fine casual brand founded in Los Angeles, CA in 2006 with a mission to democratize good food. A vision of the future he continues to drive as a Food Forever Champion on global biodiversity for the Crop Trust with whom he cooks globally alongside the world’s leading chefs. He joined the Rodale Institute’s board in 2019 to help drive awareness around soil health, regenerative organic agriculture and food as medicine. In 2009, he founded The Sustainable Life Program, a six month paid culinary internship program with a mission to provide a path forward for foster youth. In 2019, Erik joined Cohere as an advisor to founders of conscious brands as they navigate the headwinds of scale. With the success of Tender Greens, he provides a founder-centered roadmap to growth with emphasis on culture, supply chain integrity and long term strategic planning.

Hamzah Abu-Ragheb is the Director of Sustainable Sourcing at Aramark and Avendra Group. He is responsible for the development and implementation of the sustainable sourcing strategy across the enterprise. Hamzah’s role includes facilitating conversations between various stakeholders including customers, suppliers and the company’s internal sourcing team to help drive sustainability within our supply chain. Prior to his role at Aramark/Avendra, Hamzah held various sustainability related positions, from waste management and composting to research on sustainable agriculture. He earned a BS in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Maryland and an MS in Sustainability Management from the Kogod School of Business at American University, in Washington, DC.

Jeannette is a Senior Program Manager for The Livestock Conservancy. She plans and implements breed conservation programs and conducts field research for the organization. She is an active lecturer, photographer, and writer. She is co-author on the best-selling books An Introduction to Heritage Breeds and Managing Breeds for a Secure Future, now in its third edition. Recently she was named one of Country Women Magazine’s “45 Amazing Country Women” for her work in conserving endangered breeds and as one of the Grow Network’s “Top 14 Women Leading the Natural Food Movement”. At home she practices what she preaches and maintains a heritage breeds farm in North Carolina with a focus on critically endangered Crèvecœur and Sebright chickens.

Jed Greenberg is an aspiring Standardbred poultry farmer, educator, and a notable humane butchery expert. While running an egg farm co-op in his twenties Jed studied humane animal handling and farming methods, eventually meeting and becoming a protege of Frank Reese. Currently, Jed runs the Good Shepherd Conservancy’s operations and is starting a Standardbred poultry farm in Pemberton New Jersey.

Jeff Tripician has 35 years of consumer marketing and branding experience within the food industry and 23 years in the meat business. He started his brand management career at Procter & Gamble, worked in proteins as product manager at Sara Lee and the dairy industry as a director of marketing for Borden Dairy. As the vice president of marketing for the International Dairy Foods Association, Tripician led the development of the Milk Mustache Campaign, still recognized today.

Tripician has also served as chief marketing officer of Frontier Natural Products, president and owner of the brand strategy consulting agency TM Branding (clients included WalMart, Cabot Creamery, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and NutraSweet) and chief marketing officer of Coleman Natural Meats. While at Coleman, he built the first natural multi-protein business platform.

Jeffrey Clark, an nine-year veteran of the National Restaurant Association, engages industry professionals who oversee three separate areas of expertise within restaurant companies: food safety & quality assurance, nutrition, and sustainability.

Mr. Clark develops focused, collaborative gatherings in which these professionals connect and educate each other about industry issues and challenges they’re experiencing, such as food safety policy and education, sustainable foodservice packaging, children’s nutrition policy, menu labeling, and animal rights activism.

In addition, Mr. Clark develops research reports, educational videos, and sustainability case studies highlighting specific best practices such as reducing food waste in restaurants and avoiding seafood fraud.

Jessica Robin is the Community Coordinator at the Good Food Foundation. The Good Food Foundation exists to celebrate, connect, empower and leverage the passionate and engaged, yet often overlooked, players in the food system who are driving towards tasty, authentic and responsible food in order to humanize and reform our American food culture.

Jonathan is the Global Director of Sustainability for Compass Group at Google where he works to leverage the resources and ingenuity of both companies to make food healthier for people and the planet. For more than two decades, Jonathan has advanced successful strategies to change government and corporate policy, align diverse stakeholders, develop sustainability metrics and standards, and encourage more sustainable food production. Jonathan previously directed the Food and Agriculture Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) where he led initiatives to reduce antibiotic use in the livestock industry, curb food waste, promote climate-friendly menus and advocate for alternatives to high risk pesticides. Jonathan held program director positions at San Francisco BayKeeper and California Public Interest Research Group and has served on numerous boards and advisory groups.

Katie Amos, Communications and Outreach Manager, is a Pennsylvania native, currently living in Lancaster County. Katie is passionate about communicating the benefits of high-welfare animal agriculture to consumers and farmers, and enjoys promoting the program at events throughout North America. Katie is responsible for leading AGW’s outreach team, assists with new programs and initiatives within the organization–including AGW’s labeling support program, and is responsible for farmer and consumer services in the North region.

Katie Olthoff is a livestock farmer, writer, and co-founder of ChopLocal, an online farmer’s market where niche meat producers can sell their meat direct-to-consumer. Olthoff is the author of the My Family’s Farm book series and previously worked for the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association. She resides on her family’s turkey and cattle farm in central Iowa.

Kimberly Ratcliff is the owner of Caney Creek Ranch (now Ratcliff Premium Meats), a diversified ranching operation located in East Central Texas, started by her parents Wesley and Marie Ratcliff. Kimberly joined the ranch in 2007 after leaving her job with Bloomberg a New York City financial firm where she was a Branding Specialist.

Kimberly Ratcliff manages and helps operate the family business producing registered Charbray Cattle, from which bulls, replacement heifers, semen and embryos are sold national and international. The ranch also produces commercial cattle and livestock feed resource.

In 2016, Kimberly Ratcliff launched Farm to Freezer Meat Company LLC which purchases finished cattle from Caney Creek Ranch’s with the mission to provide the highest quality ranch-direct beef possible, in a simple, convenient, and responsible manner.

Kourtney Houk serves as a Food Business Manager with Compassion in World Farming USA, working closely with major food businesses to adopt and build upon commitments for animal welfare. She is passionate about transforming food systems and is excited to partner with companies to drive systemic change toward regenerative agriculture and more sustainable farming practices.

Kourtney holds a Master’s in Higher Education Administration and a Bachelor’s in Hospitality Business from Central Michigan University. She lives in Michigan and enjoys spending time on her growing homestead gardening, baking, and raising chickens.

Dr. Manny Encinias, PhD works daily in multiple capacities to protect the traditions and enhance the future of family-owned agriculture enterprises, as well as strengthen local beef producing networks. Dr. Manny Encinias is the founder and President of Trilogy Beef Community, LLC. – a family owned, conception to finish beef supply chain, and also owns and manages the daily operations of the Buffalo Creek Ranch in Central New Mexico. Additionally, Dr. Encinias owns Now We’re Ranching Cattle Management Services.

Since 2002, Dr. Encinias has worked in an advising and mentoring role for numerous ranchers across the mainland United States and Hawaii, and has devoted a significant part of his career working with Native American Ranchers on tribally owned-managed grazing associations and livestock enterprises. Today, Dr. Encinias also works in an consulting capacity to Native American Tribes and individual beef producers in the development of consumer-direct, value-added marketing channels for beef.

Mary Hendrickson is Associate Professor in Rural Sociology at the University of Missouri and serves as Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security. Her research explores the socio-economic structure of agriculture and food, seeking ways farmers, eaters and communities can create more sustainable food systems. Through research and teaching, she seeks to build resilient, food secure communities across Missouri and beyond. In 2020, she was a Fulbright Scholar to Iceland, teaching sustainable agriculture. Early in her career, she spent 15 years working to create local food systems in Missouri as an extension sociologist, gaining valuable experience in transforming food systems.

Meagan Lannan’s passion for ranching can be traced back to chasing cows with her dad in northwestern Montana where she spent hours on the back of his saddle leaning, dodging, and ducking. Presently, she and her husband own Barney Creek Livestock, a regenerative adaptive grazing operation in the Greater Yellowstone. Barney Creek partners with landowners to build soil, energize ecosystems, and learn how to give more back to the land. Meagan’s town job is with Integrity Soils.

She has the great pleasure to serve on Nicole Masters’ international team of agroecological coaches that are training systems-thinking, boots-on-the-ground ecological coaches for ranchers and farmers worldwide. Meagan is an animated, straightforward coach that sparks potential through thoughtful questioning to ignite necessary conversations that open gates to make impactful connections.

Michael is The Global Culinary Strategy and Development Lead for the Google Food Programs engaging in developing strategic organizational elements that bring the Food at Google’s culinary point of view to life. Supporting a culture of food innovation, sustainability, quality, and productivity aligned with the Global Food Team’s objectives.

Prior to Google Michael spent 15 years as The Associate Director of Food & Beverage at Boston College. During his tenure, Michael helped guide the culinary program and production towards the goal of “Ever to Excel”. Year over year positive change was created by focusing on sustainability and culinary techniques.

After getting his associate’s degree in culinary at New England Culinary Institute, Michael went on to complete a Bachelor’s of Liberal Arts at Harvard University, and his MBA at Boston College, Carroll School of Management.

With over a decade of regenerative agriculture, farm-to-table food production and whole-animal butchery experience under her belt, Michelle has focused her energy towards facilitating the growth of processing options for small, sustainably minded producers in America.

With a focus on whole carcass utilization and promoting butchery as a skilled trade, she guides folks through the ins and outs of opening and operating niche processing facilities and butcher shops & trains farmers, ranchers, hunters and other conscious consumers to butcher and cook the meat they consume.

Currently Area Director for Joni & Friends, Pennsylvania, Mike Eby has also covered the following positions:

Executive Director at Organization for Competitive Markets

Board Director at Pennsylvania Farmers Union

Chairman of the Board of Directors at the National Dairy Producers Organization

Farm Owner Operator at Eby Farm Homestead

Former Advertising account executive at WDAC

Former A.I. Technician at GENEX Dairy

Farm 350 acres in Pendleton County, West Virginia currently raising, processing, and manufacturing CBD products from industrial hemp. Retired Special Agent for U.S. Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement and former Natural Resources Police officer for State of West Virginia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division. Currently a Board member for Organization for Competitive Markets and former president of Contract Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias. U.S. Navy veteran.

Philip H. Howard is a professor at Michigan State University (USA) and a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). His visualizations of food system changes, particularly trends of consolidation in food and agricultural industries, have been featured in numerous media outlets and policy forums. His publications include the book Concentration and Power in the Food System: Who Controls What We Eat? (2016 and 2021) and the recent IPES-Food report, The Politics of Protein (2022).

Restoring Local Meat Processing as Head of Sales & Marketing at Friesla. Marine Corps Veteran. University of Washington Foster Executive MBA.

Sandra grew up on a small tulip farm in the Netherlands, and studied Food & Business and International Relations. She worked at the Global Reporting Initiative and Centre for Responsible Business of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, before returning to agriculture. She worked at the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and WWF with a broad range of stakeholders to find solutions for sustainable livestock production. Sandra recently joined the Kipster team to lead the expansion of the Kipster egg farms in the United States.

We built The Honest Bison to be a brand that customers trust. We’ve done this through transparency, standards, partnerships, and customer service. We continue on our journey through direct online sales and customer relationships.

Since our founding in 2012, we’ve reached tens of thousands of customers. We strive to educate and enrich our customers with science-based claims around regenerative agriculture, animal welfare, and human nutrition. We are proud to have been the first Land to Market Verified Bison Meat and GAP 4 Bison Certified. We will continue trailblazing with relationships with indigenous cultures and our mutual connection to food.

Tessa Hale is the Director of Corporate Engagement at the Good Food Institute. Prior to this position, Tessa was the US Head of Food Business for Compassion in World Farming, overseeing the strategy and operations of the Food Business team’s work to improve the welfare of farmed animals and catalyze a shift to a more sustainable food system. She is especially interested in the intersections between animal welfare, sustainability, health equity, and social justice, and believes change is possible through a collaborative approach.

Prior to joining Compassion, Tessa led national workforce development programs, spearheaded innovative policy campaigns increasing access to healthy foods, and developed sustainable and equitable farm-to-institution food systems. Tessa holds a Master of Science in Nutrition Education from American University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado.

Tina Bosch Ladd heads up sustainability at Panera Bread including climate, packaging, supply chain and reporting. She has over a decade of experience in corporate sustainability focused on environmental impact. At Keurig Dr Pepper, she led the company’s environmental sustainability work including water stewardship and product take-back programs. She developed a product sustainability program at MilliporeSigma and consulted for federal agency clients at Industrial Economics, Inc.

She was an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer for a year in Boston-area schools supporting outdoor ed programming. She has an MBA from the Ross School of Business and MS from the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan and a BA from Oberlin College.