Renata Brillinger has more than two decades of experience in sustainable agriculture policy and food systems projects and 30 years of experience in nonprofit administration. Areas of expertise include sustainable farming practices, agricultural solutions to climate change, including California’s one-of-a-kind Climate Smart Agriculture programs, the Healthy Soils Program, Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP), Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALCP), and the California State Water Efficiency & Enhancement Program (SWEEP).
See also: Energy and Climate
Jen Franco’s passion for nourishing people led her to become a certified natural chef at Bauman College, followed by eight years as an executive chef teaching holistic cooking and nutrition. At Food Shift, Jen directs all aspects of the culinary program: guiding apprentices, planning food recovery operations, food waste prevention, creating menus, and more.
See also: Environmental Justice
With more than 20 years of experience as a senior executive, Yuka Nagashima possesses skills in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); nonprofit leadership; and policy/government. Recent work includes DEI executive consulting, leadership at global nonprofit Astia, and developing an inclusive leadership curriculum for Stanford University. Yuka was raised in Japan and educated in Canada and the United States.
See also: Environmental Justice
Darian Rodriguez Heyman is an accomplished facilitator, fundraiser, social entrepreneur, and author. After co-founding and selling Beyond Interactive, one of the first digital advertising agencies, he began his life’s work of “helping people help.” This began during his tenure as executive director of the Craigslist Foundation, after which he was appointed commissioner for the environment in San Francisco and authored Nonprofit Fundraising 101 and Nonprofit Management 101. In addition to his active consulting, facilitation, and public-speaking work, Heyman currently serves as the part-time executive director of the Numi Foundation, editor-in-chief of Blue Avocado, and co-producer of the GenderSmart Investing Summit.
Jovida Ross, executive director of Real Food Real Stories, brings an intersectional perspective to the conversation of food and agriculture with more than 25 years of experience working to generate community-based solutions to violence, queer liberation, reproductive justice, and ecologically-responsive and just economies. Jovida recognizes food as a powerful organizing force in our world and celebrates the role we all have to play in shaping a food culture rooted in care for the lands, water, and people to which we belong. Her essays have appeared in Listening to the Movement: Essays on New Growth and New Challenges in Restorative Justice and Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning: A Framework.
Patricia (Patty) Martin is the executive director of Save Our Soil. Patty is a former mayor of Quincy, Washington, a low-income, minority agricultural community in Central Washington. She was integral in exposing the illegal use of hazardous and other industrial wastes in fertilizer, soil amendments, and animal feed. Her plight and that of local farmers standing against the agrichemical industry was first chronicled in a Seattle Times investigative series “Fear in the Fields: How Hazardous Waste Becomes Fertilizer” (1997) and then in Fateful Harvest: The True Story of a Small Town, a Global Industry, and a Toxic Secret (Harper Collins, 2001). Patty is also an expert on environmental justice issues, including federal agencies’ responsibility under Executive Order 12898 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the responsibilities of state or local government receiving federal funds under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Additionally, she can speak to solid waste and waste disposal requirements, air quality issues, and electrical usage of data centers (i.e., the cloud).
See also: Environmental Justice, Pollution and Plastic