The second cohort of the Food Leaders Fellowship will learn from one another and collaborate to address challenges across the food system
Washington, DC, April 20, 2023—The Food Leaders Fellowship at the Aspen Institute community grew today as the fellowship welcomed its second cohort of 18 emerging leaders. The 2023 Food Leaders Fellows include entrepreneurs, investors, and civic and nonprofit leaders dedicated to changing the food system to eradicate food and nutrition insecurity, support entrepreneurs and farmers, and push forward sustainable solutions.
Bringing both personal experience with and professional focus on the challenges of the food system, the new fellows will collaborate across the system’s divides to address the issues they are all so passionate about. The fellows, who hail from across the United States, will work both within their cohort and with the larger Food Leaders Fellowship community. Food & Society is particularly excited about the potential for its multiple cohorts to find new ways to make change together.
“This cohort continues our program’s dream to bring emerging food leaders together in one place to challenge and support one another,” says Corby Kummer, executive director of Food & Society. “Our first cohort has really embodied that dream, and I can’t wait for these 18 dynamic leaders to join our fellowship community.”
Launched with an inaugural cohort in 2022, the Food Leaders Fellowship motivates fellows to support and challenge each other to think bigger, increase their individual and group capacity for change, and find new collaborators to work with toward lasting impact. Watch an introduction video of the 2023 Food Leaders Fellows here.
Over 18 months, Food Leaders fellows step back from their day-to-day lives to examine their beliefs and personal missions. They work to identify and hone their abilities to make significant change. At their first seminar on the Institute’s Colorado campus, a space designed for reflection, fellows establish the trust and understanding that form lifelong bonds and fertile ground for collaboration—the hallmarks of all Institute fellowships.
Fellows identify individual action plans that build on the work they are currently doing and the initiatives they most want to start. Along with encouragement and critiques from their new Food Leaders collaborators, fellows receive mentoring from established experts who have paved the way in food sustainability, innovation, policy, human and worker rights, and regenerative agriculture. Fellows stay deeply connected at regular virtual meetings and two additional in-person gatherings during the fellowship.
Food & Society at the Aspen Institute launched the Food Leaders Fellowship with support from Seth Goldman and Julie Farkas, Food at Google, the JIB Fund, Andy and Zelie Pforzheimer, Melony and Adam J. Lewis, and Gary and Meg Hirshberg.
The members of the 2023 cohort of Food Leaders Fellows are:
Greg Bohrer, Director, Corporate Affairs, Walmart Inc.
Marie Bragg, Assistant Professor, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Bridget Carle, Senior Vice President, Guy Carpenter
Dominique Carter, Assistant Director for Agricultural Sciences, Innovation, and Workforce, The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy
Richard Comeau, Chief Program Officer, Hunger Free Oklahoma
Dion Dawson, Chief Dreamer/CEO, Dion’s Chicago Dream
Julian Debenedetti, Chief of Staff, Thrive Market
Connor Dowling, CEO, GenoTwin, Inc.
Amanda Eller, Strategy Director, Waverley Street Foundation
Emily Gee, Marketing Director, AeroFarms
Alexxis Isaac, Director of Operations, Eat the Change
Louise Iverson, Manager, Global Impact Initiatives, General Mills
Ross Iverson, Managing Partner, Manna Tree
Sam Landercasper, Deputy Director of Strategy & Operations, Pitkin County Human Services
Julia Luscombe, VP, Strategic Planning & Portfolio Management, Feeding America
Ashley Schimke, Health & Nutrition Specialist, Arizona Department of Education
David Street, Strategist, Next Gen Leadership & Engagement, Bread for the World
Ebony Woodruff, Land Retention & Advocacy Attorney, Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund
Visit the Food Leaders Fellowship homepage to learn more about the fellows through photos, short biographies, and an introductory video. Join the Food Leaders Fellows community: Food & Society invites you to stay up-to-date on the next application cycle and other Food & Society news and activities here.
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ABOUT THE FOOD LEADERS FELLOWSHIP
The Food Leaders Fellowship was created in 2022 to unite the most promising early-stage food leaders to ignite personal transformation, cross-sector collaboration, and scalable change. Drawing on the Aspen Institute’s history of successful leadership and policy fellowships, the Food Leaders Fellowship is becoming the foremost community of emerging leaders who will work towards sustainability, food justice, and good health. For more information, visit https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/food-and-society-program/food-leaders-fellowship/.
ABOUT FOOD & SOCIETY AT THE ASPEN INSTITUTE
Food & Society at the Aspen Institute brings together leaders and decision-makers in the food and beverage industry and the public health community—scientists, nutritionists, environmentalists, entrepreneurs, chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, and food makers of all kinds—to find solutions to production, health, and communications challenges in the food system. The program’s goal is for people of all income levels to eat better and more healthful diets—and to enjoy them bite by bite. For more information, visit https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/food-and-society-program/ or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
ABOUT THE ASPEN INSTITUTE
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has an Aspen, Colorado campus and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
