Expert Resource Directory

Rodale Inc. and former executive director of Seed Savers Exchange. He has served on the Lehigh County Agricultural Land Preservation Board, the board of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture and the North American Farmer Direct Marketing Association. An organic farmer since 1984, George and his wife, Melanie, own and operate a diversified vegetable, blueberry, flower and livestock farm near Emmaus, Pennsylvania. He was also a member of the 2002-2004 class of Food and Society Policy Fellows.

Generation, is a national expert on childhood obesity, committed to increasing access to healthy foods and physical activity through sustainable changes in schools and communities across the country. Prior to taking on the role of CEO, Ginny served as the National Schools Director of the Alliance from 2006 through 2008. Ginny led the program from its inception to now supporting schools in all 50 states. Before joining the Alliance, Ginny served as a Project Director to the Rocky Mountain Center for Health Promotion & Education where she directed a national training project and served as a strategic consultant to national organizations and state departments of health and education. In 1999, Ginny founded Oregon's Healthy Kids Learn Better Partnership, a public-private partnership comprised of several state agencies and more than forty non-governmental organizations that now work together to address the physical, social, and emotional health needs of Oregon students. In total, Ginny has spent 20 years as a public health and education professional in a number of capacities ranging from the classroom to national levels. Ginny holds Master Degrees in both Public Health and in Special Education. She is a doctoral candidate in Educational Policy & Leadership at the University of Oregon.

Clemson University, located at Coastal Research and Education Center. Her research focuses on crop production using environmentally sound practices that are potentially profitable. She has made significant contributions to the scientific literature in the area of integrated pest management and biological control of insect pests in soybean, cotton, vegetables and medicinal plants. She was a member of the 2001-2003 class of Food and Society Policy Fellows.

worker-based human rights organization. He works with farmworkers and their student, labor, and religious allies to organize the national Campaign for Fair Food, a breakthrough worker-based approach to corporate accountability in the agricultural industry known for its creativity and effectiveness. He writes and designs the CIW's main communication tool -- the website (www.ciw-online.org). He also coordinates the CIW's negotiating team in talks with food industry leaders, negotiating "Fair Food" agreements with nine multi-billion dollar retail food corporations to date, including McDonald's, Subway, Sodexo, and Whole Foods.

Project, which works to improve the quality of life in low-income communities of color by increasing access to fresh, healthy food; improving education opportunities; catalyzing economic development and celebrating arts and culture. She is currently working to implement a fresh food distribution system, through the Mobile Markets Program, to connect produce grown by small and disadvantaged farmers with low-income residents in New Orleans, Louisiana

implement entrepreneurial methods for addressing the diverse needs of communities. Haile is also the board chair and a founder of the Common Market Philadelphia, a nonprofit distribution program for locally grown food. This collaborative effort of many of the region’s leading food access and local food advocacy agencies has developed distribution infrastructure which connects local farms to Philadelphia’s communities and institutions. The Common Market opened in May of 2008 and is currently supplying Philadelphia area hospitals, universities, public and private schools and eldercare facilities with locally and sustainably grown nutritious foods. The Common Market is “your trusted source for local farm food.” A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Haile has utilized his formal training in entrepreneurial management for social good. Haile is currently the Pennsylvania State Director of the Center for Progressive Leadership (CPL) where he seeks to build on his experience to promote progressive values and improve capacity within diverse communities.

to mainstream sustainability in the global food supply.Hal’s career began as a commercial dairy farmer in Kentucky, and one of his proudest awards was being named Master Conservationist. While in Kentucky he led the development of the first formal alliance among tobacco farmer and public health organizations, an alliance that paved the way for hundreds of millions of dollars of tobacco settlement funds to be invested in rural communities in the upper south. He has founded and directed rural development and leadership organizations, and was the Executive Director of the Sustainability Institute founded by Donella Meadows. Hal is a frequent guest faculty or lecturer at the MIT Sloane School of Management, the Harvard Business School, the Kennedy School, the Society for Organizational Learning, and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Hal has been an advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative for two years and recently moderated a panel that included US Agriculture Secretary Vilsack. At the invitation of the U.S. State Department in 2006 he gave the annual George McGovern address to the FAO at World Food Day. He has been a German Marshall Fellow and was a member of the 2001-2003 Food and Society Fellows. Hal’s education was at Stanford University and the State University of New York, Buffalo. He has written numerous columns and journal articles and three chapters in books on agricultural policy and change. Hal lives in a community in Vermont located on a farm that produces many products including an award winning cheese and maple syrup. His grandchildren are his three greatest delights.

Masachusetts, including Holyoke. Figarella is currently working with the Holyoke Food & Fitness Policy Council as the newly hired project director to implement a community led action plan which aim is to improve Holyoke's food systems, and physical activity of its residents. He previously worked in the emergency food system at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, providing technical assistance to agencies in capacity building.

organizing director for Nuestras Raíces and oversaw community organizing, outreach and leadership development. Colon has developed a gardening program for girls with women gardeners as mentors, developed women’s leadership and entrepreneurship groups, worked on environmental justice campaigns and has served as interim director of the organization. Colon's work contributed to a two-hundred percent rise in voter registration and participation in Holyoke’s Latino community during the 2004 Presidential Election. Colon has served on the Board of Directors of the Valley Opportunity Council for two years.