Addell Austin Anderson - FoodCorps

Dr. Addell Austin Anderson is the FoodCorps Michigan Program Director with over 30 years of experience as an administrator and project manager. She has a long history working with non-profit organizations, academic institutions and in community service capacities. Among these positions, she served as Director of the University of Michigan Detroit Center, AmeriCorps Director for University of Michigan’s Ginsberg Center, Executive Director of the Woodward Heritage Organization-Wayne, and Program Manager for Detroit 300 events for the city’s tercentennial. She currently enjoys an appointment with the Humanities Department for Wayne County College Community District; and serves on the Board of Trustees for Detroit Public Television.

Hanifa Adjuman - Detroit Black Community Food Security Network

Hanifa Adjuman is a seasoned community activist, urban farmer, educator, and community elder. She is a founding member of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and currently serves as the organization’s Education and Outreach Director. Her work with the network involves engaging with the community around issues of food justice and food insecurity, recruitment of new members to the organization, and working with youth. As the coordinator of the DBCFSN’s Food Warriors Youth Development Program she teaches young people not only how to grow food, but also how to prepare the foods that they grow, and the relationship between food, nutrition, physical activity and optimal health. For Mama Hanifa—as she is fondly referred to in her community—Food Warriors is also about children of African descent reconnecting to their agricultural heritage so that they become re-centered in their awareness of their deeply rooted relationship to agriculture and to nature as a whole. Her work with youth is grounded in the African traditional values embedded in the Nguzo Saba or “Seven Principals” of Kwanzaa.

In addition to her work with the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Hanifa is also a fellow with the Detroit Equity Action Lab, an initiative of the Damon J. Keith Law Center at Wayne State University. The primary work of DEAL is to raise the profile of racial justice issues, connect community experts to build collective power and amplify the voices of Detroiters. Mama Hanifa is the parenting grandmother of fifteen-year old Na’Kyah, and in her rare spare time she enjoys reading, long walks in nature, writing poetry, and canning.

Rachel Bair - Kalamazoo Valley Community College

Rachel Chadderdon Bair, Director for Sustainable Food Systems, has been with Kalamazoo Valley Community College since the opening of the Bronson Healthy Living Campus in 2015. She has led the development of programming that focuses on sustainability and community economic development in the food system, including the launch of the ValleyHUB food hub at the KVCC Food Innovation Center. Prior to her role at KVCC, Rachel worked in the nonprofit sector as the director of the statewide Double Up Food Bucks program, which matches SNAP benefits spent on healthy Michigan-grown foods. Born and raised in Kalamazoo, Rachel earned a BA from Northwestern University and Master of Public Health and Master of Science in Natural Resources degrees from the University of Michigan.

Chris Bardenhagen - Chris Bardenhagen Law

Having a farming background working with a variety of marketing channels (direct, local wholesale, regional wholesale, and commodity markets,) Chris went to law school, focused on business organization and cooperative entities. He is currently finishing a PhD on agricultural organization and development, having specifically researched the structure of collective branding businesses in France. Chris provides legal services to farmer businesses under his PLC, and engages in research and outreach projects through MSU.

Christina Barkel - Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities

Christina works as a Food Equity Specialist with Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities. She supports several key parts of the Food & Farming program. Most of her time is spent working with farmers and food pantries to create systems that increase the amount of healthy, locally grown food available to people who use food pantries. Christina began her work with the food coalition as the Purchasing Coordinator of the Farm2Neighbor program through the Helping You Heal grant. Her role has been expanded to encompass purchasing through other funds for the coalition, such as the Local Food Relief Fund. Previous experience includes working with community gardening, urban food access work and farm to school Initiatives in both Ypsilanti and Detroit, as well as five years managing a diverse vegetable CSA farm in Leelanau County. Christina loves to be outside as much as possible, and can be found in the garden, at the beach or on the trails in the summer and on skis or skates in the winter.

Kibibi Blount-Dorn - Detroit Food Policy Council

Kibibi Blount-Dorn is the Education and Engagement Program Manager for the Detroit Food Policy Council. She has a bachelors’ in Urban and Regional Planning from Michigan State University, and a Masters of Urban Planning from Wayne State University. She is a lifelong Detroit resident, and has been a community development advocate and community gardener since she was a teenager. She has worked with several community organizations in the city of Detroit before coming to Detroit Food Policy Council. Kibibi lives in the Cass Corridor with her wife and two children.

Bree Bode - Wayne State University

Bree Bode, MPH, CHES is a PhD Candidate in the dissertation phase of her Community Health program at Wayne State University. Bree advances health equity by conducting research activities to find community-based solutions to public health problems related to the food insecurity-obesity paradox. She has a special interest in variables that influence food choices. Some of Bree's recent activities in research, practice, and service include co-presenting at APHA in 2019, teaching health education to undergraduate students, being awarded with the 21st Century Scholar honor by the Society of Public Health Education (SOPHE) and recognized as one of their, "Faces of Health," and completing her role as CO-VP to GLC-SOPHE. Bree enjoys action-oriented collaborative approaches to public and community health work, and looks forward to serving in the Co-Lead role for the Professional Development Committee of the Health Equity Initiative to advance the organization's mission.

Ryan Bolhuis - Downtown Market Grand Rapids

Ryan Bolhuis, an alumnus of the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan, NY, is a 16 year Executive Chef. After working in the kitchens of Nobu 57, The Modern NYC and BLT Fish. As a native of Hudsonville, MI, his goal has always been to highlight the food industry and farming communities of Michigan. Ryan now works as the Culinary Operations/Incubator Kitchen and Program Manager for the Downtown Market Grand Rapids. There, he utilizes his culinary experience and food knowledge to mentor food entrepreneurs throughout all aspects of their business journey!

Mariel Borgman - Michigan State University Extension

Mariel Borgman (she/her/hers) is a Community Food Systems Educator with Michigan State University Extension. In this role, Mariel serves on the Michigan Farm to Institution Network Management Team and Tech Ed Subcommittee. Mariel also provides farm food safety training and technical assistance to growers as a member of the Michigan On-Farm Produce Safety Team which provides training to growers on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Rule and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). Mariel is also part of the Michigan GroupGAP Network and the national GroupGAP Community of Practice.

Katie Brandt - MSU Student Organic Farm

Katie Brandt teaches the MSU Organic Farmer Training Program, a 50/50 mix of field and classroom experience for aspiring and beginning farmers who each write a farm business plan. She also organizes Farmer Field School, "Workshops on farms, taught by farmers". Katie teaches MSU students about organic farming in the classroom and at the Student Organic Farm. She spent years as a farmworker before co-founding and managing Groundswell Community Farm for a dozen years. She enjoys mountain biking, kayaking and hanging out with her 8-year-old son, Leland.

Phil Britton - Fresh Systems, LLC

Phil is the Chief Ruckus Maker at Fresh Systems, LLC, and the director of the MI GroupGAP Network. After working for several years in medical device quality management systems, he transitioned into food systems and became involved in the USDA GroupGAP program in 2013. Through Fresh Systems, Phil takes on food safety and quality system consulting projects.

Julie Brunson - H.O.P.E. Gardens

Julie Brunson is the Executive Director and lead curriculum developer at Hope Gardens--a nonprofit organization she co-founded. Her vision for H.O.P.E. Gardens began when she and her family suffered through their own food insecurity and realized their garden could be a source of solace and self-sufficiency. Hope Gardens draws on the talents of educators, volunteers, and small businesses to partner with schools, families, local organizations, and community leaders to reduce hunger and nutritional poverty using school gardens and nature as a classroom. She has extensive experience constructing school and community gardens within West Michigan and became a master gardener in 2018. Julie and her family reside in Byron Center, Michigan with two cats, one dog, twelve chickens and a duck named Costco.

Winona Bynum - Detroit Food Policy Council

Winona Bynum is the executive director of the Detroit Food Policy Council (DFPC), an education, advocacy and policy organization led by Detroiters. Prior to joining DFPC, her work experience includes roles at Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan, and Fair Food Network. She is the immediate-past president of the Southeastern Michigan Dietetic Association and the current Chair-Elect of the National Organization of Blacks in Dietetics and Nutrition (NOBIDAN). Winona is dedicated to helping to create and maintain a fair, equitable, and sustainably-operating food system in Detroit, in which doing the healthy thing is the easy thing.

Dilli Chapagai - Greater Lansing Food Bank Garden Project

After experiencing first hand the challenges faced as an immigrant and refugee, Dilli Chapagai has dedicated himself to finding ways for New Americans to access culturally important food. As the immigrant and refugee liaison for Greater Lansing Food Bank’s garden project, he helps gardeners overcome potential barriers such as language, growing techniques and education.

Jean Chorazyczewski - Fair Food Network

Jean Chorazyczewski is a Program Director managing the Michigan Good Food Fund and Fair Food Fund expansion at Fair Food Network. In this role, Jean manages statewide & national outreach, strategic partnership development, community cultivation, and business assistance design, which includes broad-reach and one-on-one, tailored assistance geared toward preparing ‘good food’ enterprises for financing. She brings more than a decade of experience managing Fair Food Network as Director of Operations and all aspects of its daily operations, grants management, and reporting. She also brings a depth of experience working at a national creative digital agency bringing on-trend digital strategies, large-scale project management, stakeholder and team management, and process design to inform food systems work.

Darraugh Collins - Food Rescue US

Darraugh is the Site Director for Food Rescue US – Detroit. Since June 2019, Darraugh has worked to build the Detroit chapter of Food Rescue US, a national non-profit using app-based technology to connect excess food to agencies in need. Despite having to adapt how they meet the need for food during COVID-19, Darraugh and her volunteers have diverted close to half a million pounds of food from the landfill out to agencies in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties, as well as Flint, Saginaw, Midland, and places in between. Darraugh has an Executive MBA in International Business from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and a culinary degree in Pastry Arts from the French Culinary Institute in New York City.

DONNY COMER - GREATER LANSING FOOD BANK

Don serves as the Program & Education Coordinator for the Garden Project of the Greater Lansing Food Bank.

Antonio cosme - national wildlife federation

Antonio Cosme is an internationally renowned indigenous Xicana Boricua public intellectual and ecologist. His media, interviews, viral street art, blogs, articles have been featured in movies, documentaries magazines, newspapers. He works as a public speaker, strategist, facilitator, artist, beekeeper, farmer, writer, entrepreneur, educator and organizer from Southwest, Detroit.

James DeDecker - MSU Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center

James DeDecker has worked with MSU Extension since 2012 as a field crops educator and point of contact for 11 counties in northeastern Michigan. In his role, he has conducted collaborative on-farm research projects, secured significant funding through partnerships, and delivered and evaluated educational programming.

Rabbi Nate DeGroot - Hazon Detroit

Rabbi Nate DeGroot is the Associate Director, Spiritual & Program Director at Hazon Detroit, the Jewish lab for sustainability. In this role, he is helping the metro Detroit Jewish community reconnect with their own earth-based Jewish roots, while reinvesting in their historic relationship with the Detroit community through its transformative, Black and Native-led food and environmental justice work. Rabbi DeGroot and his wife, Rebecca, live in Detroit and are excited to be putting down roots in the city.

Mary Donnell - Capital Impact Partners

Mary Donnell is with Capital Impact Partners, a national Community Development Financial Institution. Mary is the Program Manager of the Michigan Good Food Fund, which is a $30 million fund providing financing and technical assistance to Michigan good food enterprises. Mary has extensive experience in the value-added produce and hydroponic greenhouse industries as well as in economic development building communities of opportunity.

Naim Edwards - MSU Extension MSU-Detroit Partnership for Food, Learning and Innovation

Naim Edwards is an advocate for food sovereignty and strong local food systems. He studied how to manage urban gardens to support biodiversity, specifically ants and other insects. Edwards is the director of the Michigan State University (MSU) Detroit Partnership in Food, Learning and Innovation, more commonly referred to as the MSU Detroit Urban Food Site. Edwards serves the Wayne County community in his role with MSU Extension.

Vanessa Garcia Polanco - National Young Farmers Coalition

An experienced leader, researcher, speaker, writer and organizer working with food, agriculture and sustainability stakeholders to create and strengthen sustainable and just food systems and communities

Taylor Hartson - Calvin University Center for Social Research

Taylor graduated from Calvin University in May 2019 with honors in sociology. She first joined the Center for Social Research team in June 2017 as a research assistant and now works as a research specialist, where she's putting her skills in data, design, and storytelling to good use. Her research interests include food systems, social networks, and urban design.

Minister Antonio Hill - Prayers on Plates

Antonio Hill is a minister of the gospel committed to the service of God. He is a native Detroiter who has witnessed the change in his community. He is dedicated to bringing about a positive change in his community by showing the kindness of God to as many that seek him. To elevate his people in their consciousness with the power of Love. To lead by example, to follow in obedience, and to move in spirit. Minister Hill is the Founder of Prayers on Plates, a non-profit organization that provides meals and groceries to hundred of neighbors in need.

Angela Hojnacki - Fair Food Network

As the Community Engagement Manager with Fair Food Network, Angela partners with organizations to increase awareness of Double Up Food Bucks and SNAP incentive programs across Michigan. After graduating with a bachelor’s of science in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Angela returned to Detroit to reconnect with food, health, and roots. Having grown up on food assistance, it has been her honor to work with and advocate for SNAP recipients and share information on incentive programs and healthy eating. In addition to food systems, Angela is passionate about sustainable living, and she is renovating a home for her son in Detroit's North End.

Ayanfe Jamison - New City Neighbors

Ayanfe is the Farm-to-Table Educator at New City Farm. The farm is a 3 acre vegetable farm social enterprise that employs high school youth and runs an outdoor pop up cafe. The farm also teaches gardening clubs for elementary and middle school youth. Ayanfe has been deeply involved in the community and the food system for over 30 years. She has experience in community organizing, urban farming, permaculture, natural healing lifestyle, cooperativism, food sovereignty and food justice.

Alita Kelly - South East Market

A Grand Rapids native, Alita recently graduated from the University of Michigan in Environmental Science and Sustainable Business. She’s managed multiple nutrition programs in the nonprofit sector, ran a sustainable catering business, Royal Jelly, and provides individual wellness coaching. She has been a local advocate for food justice, food sovereignty and urban agriculture through her work with the urban farm and education center, Urban Roots, and as a member of the City of Grand Rapids’ Urban Agriculture Committee. Alita enjoys taking potential waste and turning it into something useful and/or beautiful in addition to radical sharing and causing good trouble.

Carolyn Koch - Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

Carolyn Koch is the community engagement coordinator for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ statewide Eat Safe Fish program. She works with local, state, and federal agencies to expand the health education and outreach to increase awareness among residents regarding contaminants in fish. Carolyn has a Master’s in Public Health from SUNY Downstate School of Public Health concentrating in Community Health Sciences. She has a background that spans coordinating public health programming to support urban food security and the seafood industry, developing and managing community-supported fisheries (CSFs) throughout the New York metropolitan area.

David Koetje - Calvin University

David Koetje is a professor of biology at Calvin University, where he teaches courses that explore sustainability challenges involving food systems and dietary choices. Over the past couple of years he has taught a biology course to incarcerated students in the Calvin Prison Initiative. In his presentation, David will give voice to these student's insights on the MI Good Food Charter and to their suggestions for food-based initiatives that could support restorative justice within Michigan's prison system and at-risk communities.

Lance Krai - New City Neighbors

Lance founded New City Farm in 2012 and is passionate about providing good work while also growing good food.

Jeannine La Prad - Corporation for a Skilled Workforce

Jeannine has spent the last 22 years leading initiative and program design, implementation and evaluation work focused on reshaping postsecondary education and workforce development to make it more accessible for non-traditional students as well as reinventing employment and training policies, systems, and practices that create more equitable outcomes for low-income workers and communities. She has led the research and evaluation of different workforce development strategies and programs within the state of Michigan, with a focus in Detroit, as well as in other states and communities around the country. Currently she’s working on projects that center worker voice and experience, the need for better jobs, and a commitment to racial equity and inclusion. Prior to becoming a senior fellow in 2018, Jeannine served as President and CEO from 2006 to 2017. Jeannine has a bachelor’s degree in organizational psychology and communications and a master’s degree in higher education policy from the University of Michigan. She has also authored numerous reports on effective policies, programs, and practice in workforce development and postsecondary education.

Julie Lehman - Greater Lansing Food Bank Garden Project

Julie Lehman serves as Garden Project Manager for the Greater Lansing Food Bank. After being raised on her family’s apple orchard, she received dual degrees in communication and education from Michigan State University. She worked for eight years as a teacher and school garden coordinator in northern California before joining the Garden Project, a program based in community empowerment and self-sufficiency.

Shiloh Maples - Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance

Shiloh Maples is an Anishinaabe community organizer who has spent almost a decade working towards a more equitable food system. She recently joined the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance as the Upper Midwest ISKN Regional Seed Coordinator. Shiloh works in partnership with community leaders across Detroit and the Great Lakes region to collaboratively design and implement action plans which aim to build our collective capacity for a healthy, sustainable, and just food system. Locally, she is an active member of the steering committee for the Michigan Good Food Charter and a council member on the Detroit Food Policy Council. Shiloh is also a part-time lecturer at Eastern Michigan University School of Social Work, teaching courses on social work practice with communities of color and culturally-based approaches to practice.

Meghan McDermott - Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities

Meghan McDermott, director of programs, oversees all of Groundwork’s pillar program areas: food & farming, clean energy, strong cities and towns. Meghan sees herself as a connector and a translator, skills that evolved as she grew up in a mix of places and cultures—on a farm, in a city, in a suburb. Bachelor's of Arts from Vassar College, in Food and Sustainability Studies (an independent major featuring courses in sociology, anthropology, environmental studies, chemistry, geography and more) as well as a second major in Psychology, specializing in Consumer Psychology. In her spare time, Meghan enjoys cooking meals for family and friends, gardening, reading, traveling, hiking, biking, kayaking, and horseback riding—anything that gets her outside, experiencing new things, and eating delicious food!

Stephanie Osborn - Wayne State University

Stephanie Osborn is a fellow in the Transformational Research in Urban Sustainability Training (T-RUST) program and a Master's student of Urban Planning at Wayne State University. She also has a MPH from Wayne State, and dual BS degrees from Aquinas College in Sustainable Business and Biology. She worked previously for the Community Health Pipeline, a program that worked to introduce Detroit high school students to careers in community health related to food and nutrition. She will be presenting on behalf of her T-RUST team, which includes David Criss (PhD student in Economics), Brenna Friday (PhD student in Biology), and Khurram Imam (PhD student in Economics).

RICH PIROG - MSU CENTER FOR REGIONAL FOOD SYSTEMS

Rich Pirog is director at the Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS) at Michigan State University. He is responsible for the strategic direction, management, and achievement of mission for the Center. From 2011 through 2015 he was senior associate director at CRFS. His programmatic work includes the Michigan Food Hub Network, the Michigan Good Food Fund as well as the Michigan Good Food Charter.

From 1990-2011 he was associate director and program leader for marketing and food systems at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Iowa. Pirog's work in local foods, food hubs, food system networks, economic impact of local foods, and food value chains has been publicized and cited widely across the U.S. His recent writings and research include impact of local foods, evolution of the local food movement, structural racism present in the U.S. food system, and building networks to address social, health and economic challenges in the food system. He has a B.A. in Earth Science from Kean University and an M.S. in Agricultural Meteorology from the University of Missouri.

Abbey Palmer - Michigan State University Extension

Abbey Palmer is an MSU Extension educator based at the Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center in Chatham, Michigan. "Eating is an agricultural act," says Wendell Berry. Abbey has been teaching people about the connections between food, health, and local economies for the past six years. As education coordinator at the North Farm, she works with people of all ages who are curious about where their food comes from and want to learn more about how it is produced. She is a curator for the Lexicon of Sustainability and a seed saver in the Community Seed Resource Program for Seed Savers Exchange. Abbey returned to the U.P. in 2010 after the Iowa Writers' Workshop and started farming with friends in order to put down money on land of her own. She lives in Marquette, where's she's trying out urban agriculture, likes to read and write, and loves to eat good food in good company.

Alex Palzewicz - UP Food Exchange

Alex Palzewicz is the Market Manager for the U.P. Food Exchange Online Marketplace, allowing her to help aggregate local product to regional purchasers. She has also been in a Taste the Local Difference role of Local Food Coordinator for the Upper Peninsula for over two years, now in recent months pivoting to overseeing and assisting in the creation of online sales websites for local food producers statewide.

The Rev. Nurya Love Parish - Plainsong Farm

The Rev. Nurya Love Parish is an Episcopal priest, Founding Executive Director of Plainsong Farm, and a longtime food and faith practitioner. She imagined the farm's Good News Gardens program into being in March of 2020 in response to the pandemic, seeing it as aligned with the ChurchLands program which helps churches tend land as disciples to promote ecology, justice and health.

Rachael Pressley - Western Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Region

Rachael Pressley (she/they) serves as the Assistant Regional Planner for the Western U.P. Planning and Development Region (WUPPDR). She helps the Western U.P. Food Systems Council through grant writing, website development, integration into public policy, and program development. They find community-based food systems work deeply personal, radical, and inspiring. In 2020, Rachael hopes to expand her garden at home, build a composting system, and to honorably forage for wild foods in season.

Rosie Quasarano - Littlefoot Coffee Roasters

In the midst of helping launch Littlefoot, Rosie owned and operated Cup & Spoon, a community-driven coffee shop in Chicago’s Humboldt park neighborhood. Combining her love of coffee, years of barista experience, and a decade of advertising knowledge, Rosie tirelessly works to perfect our product and service. She also brings a unique perspective to our wholesale partners as a fellow entrepreneur.

Lindsey Scalera - MSU Center for Regional Food Systems

Lindsey brings over a decade of facilitation and community organizing experience to her work as a Community Food Systems Collaboration Specialist at MSU Center for Regional Food Systems. She is collaborating with partners throughout Michigan to ensure the future of the Michigan Good Food movement is sustainable, inclusive and democratic. Lindsey got her start in food systems as co-founder of the Giving Garden and the Michigan Young Farmer Coalition while earning her Master's Degree in Social Foundations of Education, specializing in EcoJustice Education from Eastern Michigan University.

Don Schils - Operation Fit

As a Program Lead, Don has the responsibility to support the Operation Fit Program through grant writing, staff training and implementation support. Don coordinates and facilitates trainings and/or presentations of Operation Fit. Don has a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Central Michigan University where he also played tennis for the Chippewas. He continued his deep passion for teaching by earning a Master Degree in the Art of Teaching from Marygrove College. Don retired 5 years ago from the Hastings Area School System after 32 years where he worked as a teacher for 29 years and as an elementary Principal for three years. He also was the Varsity Basketball Coach Hastings High School for 23 years.

Michelle Schulte - Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan

Michelle is an educator and project director working in infant maternal child health as well as nutrition overseeing projects such as the Michigan Tribal Food Access Collaborative and the 13 Moons of Anishinaabe Curriculum Pilot Program in partnership with the Michigan Fitness Foundation and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.

Amanda Shreve - Michigan Farmers Market Association

Amanda has been part of the MIFMA team since November 2009. She says, “I am passionate about connecting the public with agriculture and growing awareness of what it takes to produce our food supply in a safe, equitable and environmentally sustainable way. I recognize that farmers markets are a very visible and tangible way to establish, maintain and grow this connection.” Amanda obtained her Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from Michigan State University. She enjoys floral design, gardening, and spending time with her husband and two dogs. Contact Amanda to discuss having MIFMA support an effort you are involved in and to explore partnering with MIFMA (including contracting with us to provide a service, working on a joint grant proposal and/or establishing an in-kind partnership or exchange of services).

Jared Talaga

Jared Talaga has worked supporting regional food systems across Michigan for the last decade. He brings the perspective of a wheelchair user to his food systems work. Some of the organizations he has worked at are: the Ingham County Land Bank, Allen Neighborhood center, Growing Hope & Nifty Hoops. He also farmed personally in Lansing and Ann Arbor. Jared currently resides in Ypsilanti and is completing his Masters of Urban Planning at Wayne State University and consulting on food systems projects in Michigan.

Danielle Todd - Make Food Not Waste

Danielle is the founder and director of Detroit-based Make Food Not Waste. Founded in 2017, Make Food Not Waste helps businesses and individuals gain the skills needed to prevent sending food to landfills. Through partnerships with local and national organizations, Make Food Not Waste also supports a variety of prevention, recovery, and diversion efforts to help build a waste-free future. Danielle holds an MBA from Wayne State University and a BA from the University of Michigan.

Cynthia VanRenterghem - Growing Hope

Cynthia has been the Executive Director of Growing Hope since 2018 with expertise in home gardening, food entrepreneurship, and organizational development. As Executive Director of Growing Hope, Cynthia has the opportunity to combine her love of gardening and growing things with her professional management, operations, and leadership abilities. She comes to Growing Hope after having launched and profitably scaled her own garden products company, through which she gained a tremendous amount of experience successfully managing financials, people, and operations. Cynthia has had a passion for gardening since working as a child on her family’s acre-large vegetable garden in Flint, MI. While she still enjoys vegetable gardening, she is happiest tending her large perennial flower garden when not keeping up with four kids and husband of 25 years.

Jeremy Waechter - Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

Jeremy Waechter is a community outreach coordinator for the Eat Safe Fish Detroit program at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. He graduated with a master’s degree in public administration from Eastern Michigan University. He has spent over ten years conducting community outreach by supervising and building four community health coalitions in the Detroit area. In his role, Jeremy coordinates the Riverwalker program, develops long-term partnerships with community organizations, and educates and shares health information to residents.

Renee V. Wallace - FoodPLUS Detroit

Reneé has the privilege of leading two entrepreneurial entities, Doers Edge and FoodPLUS Detroit. She is a complementary leader to visionaries and she firmly believes that “Disciplined Orderly Execution Results in Success.” Reneé studied business administration (marketing) at Western Michigan University. She is certified in process management, change management, and Strategic Doing. She also practices visual consulting and facilitation, participatory systems modeling, systems thinking; designing for strategic engagement through conversation, engagement, discourse analysis; and food system development.

Connie M. Watson - Bay Mills Indian Community

Connie Watson has worked over 25 years in Indian Country with health promotion and disease prevention; spending the last 15 years working with policy, system, and environmental changes for healthier lifestyles in tribal communities. She is currently the coalition leader of Wiisinidaa Mnomiijim “Let Eat Good Food” and Spirit Stone Trail Project in the Brimley/Bay Mills area. She is a Board of Director with the Michigan Farmers Market Association. Connie is lifelong resident of the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan and a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

DeWayne Wells - Economic Justice Alliance of Michigan

DeWayne has served as Executive Director of the Economic Justice Alliance of Michigan since January 2018. He brings to this role over 25 years’ experience working with Michigan community-based nonprofits as a Board or staff member. As President of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan from 2008-2013, DeWayne led the organization’s operational and programmatic expansion during the Great Recession. As Project Director for the Detroit Food and Fitness Collaborative from 2013-2017, DeWayne coordinated community engagement and advocacy activities supporting improved food access in Detroit and more equitable local, state and Federal agriculture and nutrition policies. He has also held senior management positions at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and Starfish Family Services. DeWayne is a lifelong Detroiter and proud product of Detroit Public Schools. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Western Michigan University and a MBA from Wayne State University. DeWayne is a graduate of Leadership Detroit, Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders Leadership Program and Harvard University’s Strategic Perspective in Nonprofit Management program. DeWayne currently serves as a Board member for Fair Food Network, St. Joseph Oakland Hospital, Detroit Greenways Coalition, Nonprofit Enterprise at Work, Southwest Solutions and the Storehouse of Hope food pantry. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, traveling to new places, and attending jazz concerts.

Chris Wendel - Northern Initiatives

Chris Wendel is a native of western New York. After studying and earning a degree in Economics at the University of Colorado, Wendel settled in Northern Michigan. With a background in retail, entrepreneurship, rural development, and writing, Wendel works for Northern Initiatives, a community development financial institution (CDFI) that provides financing and technical assistance to small businesses throughout Michigan. Wendel has published special interest books, several white papers related to business incubation, and is a longtime contributor to regional business publications.

Erin Wenk - FoodCorps

Erin graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Environmental Economics and Policy. Afterward, she interned with the Michigan Environmental Council in Lansing before beginning her AmeriCorps service in Flint with FoodCorps. Erin has been serving with FoodCorps since August 2018.

Kendra Wills - Michigan State University Extension

Kendra Wills has served as an educator with Michigan State University Extension based in Grand Rapids since 1999. During this time she has worked on a variety of programs including: land use planning, farmland preservation, youth gardening, institutional food purchasing, grant writing, farmers market capacity building and food council development. She joined the MSUE Product Center in May 2018 and provides food business counseling throughout west Michigan.

Michele Worden - Northwest Food Coalition

Michele began with the Northwest Food Coalition in 2016 as the facilitator of the Steering Committee, which was formed to address issues identified in the 2014 Benzie Rotary Food Security Report. She was the team leader for the creation of the System map for the food coalition. Michele spent six years working in various elementary schools as an instructor in school gardens, ‘Food of the Month” nutrition programs, and as a Farm to School instructor. She is a founding board member of The Greenspire School, Traverse City, where she started the STEaM Night program, She is the current president of the Master Gardener Association of Northwest Michigan. Prior to moving to Northern Michigan, Michele worked as a product development consultant for technology-based companies and as an engineer and project manager overseas and domestically. She lives in the woods in Traverse City with her husband and two teenage children; she enjoys hiking the trails and working in her garden.

Garrett Ziegler - Michigan State University Extension

Garrett Ziegler is a Community Food Systems Educator with Michigan State University Extension. He has been involved in the Michigan Farm to Institution Network from the beginning as a member of both the management team and co-lead for the Tech Ed Subcommittee. He also works with many partners around the state to provide on-farm food safety education through FSMA Produce Safety training and food safety verification through the Michigan Group GAP Network. He has experience as an internal Group GAP auditor and working alongside institutional food service directors and staff to build capacity for farm to institution programs.