KEYNOTE
BIOS

Lucie B. Amundsen
Marketing Chick at Locally Laid Egg Company


Lucie B. Amundsen is a writer, marketer and reluctant farmer. She and her husband co-own Locally Laid Egg Company, a farm that provides pasture-raised eggs in Northern Minnesota. A former contributor to the Minneapolis Star Tribune and an editor for a Reader’s Digest publication, Lucie’s the author of the award-winning nonfiction, Locally Laid, about the family’s pratfall into farming and the stressed economics of Middle Agriculture.
 

 

Tim Merry
Change Leader


Tim has been supporting diverse stakeholders to come together to launch, sustain and grow innovative initiatives for over 16 years. He has extensive experience, ranging from major international businesses and government agencies to local communities and regional collaboratives. All of his work is rooted in the belief that if we create the right conditions people will organize together and solve their own problems. Tim designs, delivers and trains tailor made processes where stakeholder voice is key to creating the systems, structures and services that meet the needs of all involved. He is a popular public speaker, panelist and commentator, appearing in the media and writing a column in the local paper. Tim is one of the co-founders of the Art of Hosting, has been a supporter and board member of the Berkana Institute and is a co-founder of the Hub South Shore. He founded the Split Rock Learning Centre, a youth drop in centre in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, was one of the founders of Engage! InterAct in the Netherlands. He initiated the Art of Hosting Beyond the Basics training and is a core team member of NOW Lunenburg County, a citizen lead change initiative in his local community.
 

Tuesday Ryan-Hart
Strategic Change Strategist


Tuesday is a host/facilitator who left the fields of traditional social service provision and academics to become a new kind of change-maker partnering with community builders around the world. Tuesday’s work in community is featured in the book Walk, Out, Walk On by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze, and she is known internationally for her strategic work with organizations and communities engaged in systemic change.

Trained as a clinical social worker, with a BA in Individual/Family Studies and a Master's in Social Work, Tuesday is an expert in transformational work, specializing in helping individuals, community non-profits, governmental agencies, and organizations of all sizes undergo the changes that will help them transform and become more successful.

With a passion for social justice and expertise in gender & race equality and anti-violence work, Tuesday excels at working with groups to enhance awareness and understanding, build alliances, and share long term work together. Tuesday is a steward of the Art of Hosting global community of practice, former board member of the Berkana Institute, mother of two school age children, and a long-distance runner who recently ran her first ultra-marathon.


 

SPEAKER
BIOS

Maggi Adamek
Founder and Principal, Terra Soma. LLC

Terra Soma’s CEO, Dr. Margaret Adamek, is nationally recognized for her unique, impact-oriented approach to helping people and partnerships create healthy communities. Her longstanding experience with food systems change – from production to consumption – provides clients with clear, strategic counsel and support as they launch initiatives to improve local economies, public health, and agricultural systems. Maggi played a key, collaborative role in the design, management, and execution of the Minnesota Food Charter, a statewide, integrated policy and systems change initiative designed to reduce obesity and diet-related disease across the entire state. She has also conducted numerous assessments, provided coaching and training, and guided implementation of policy and systems change initiatives create healthier food environments at municipal, county, and regional levels. She has developed and executed marketing campaigns for healthy farmer’s markets, strategic planning for many food-focused organizations and initiatives, and research to inform healthy food-related policy change. She frequently serves as a consultant, strategist and trainer for state, federal, and national organizations on how to reduce rates of diet-related chronic disease through innovative policy solutions.

A frequently requested keynote speaker, Adamek’s work has been quoted and featured in the New York Times and Washington Post by Michael Pollan, as a guest on the Thom Hartmann show on Air American Radio, and as a speaker at the national Bioneers Conference. She has also published articles and books for popular and academic audiences, including Alternative Medicine magazine. Maggi holds a BA degree from Carleton College, a PhD from the University of Minnesota, and served as a prestigious Bush Foundation Leadership fellow.

Jamie Adams
Economic Development Planner, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Super Chippewa

Jamie Adams joined the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Super Chippewa in 2013 as the Economic Development Planner. She earned her degrees from the University of Minnesota Duluth in Urban and Regional Studies and Environmental Studies with a minor in Geography. Her primary responsibilities with the Fond du Lac Band include, grant writing, project management, and program development. Jamie has been involved with the Gardening Programs on the Fond du Lac Reservation and is an advocate for teaching community members how to grow and preserve their own food and bringing local foods to the Fond du Lac Community.

Teresa Ambroz, MPH, RD, LD
State Nutrition Coordinator, Office of Statewide Health Improvement

Teresa’s career began as a clinical dietitian at Hennepin County Medical Center where she saw the striking toll social factors took on people’s health. Over the course of her thirty-year career in healthcare, local public health and research, she has moved up stream to address root causes of chronic disease and create a culture that makes it possible for everyone to live a life free of preventable disease and suffering and enjoy wholesome foods. As the State Nutrition Coordinator, she collaborates with a diverse set of stakeholders to identify, develop, implement and evaluate innovative, effective, sustainable approaches to ensure healthy options are available, affordable, accessible, and appealing. She has strong interest and experience in childhood obesity prevention and policy, systems, environmental and social marketing strategies to influence food choices, food preferences and social norms.

Saba Andualem
Cook Fresh Coordinator - Urban Roots, Food Skills Assessment Work Group member

Saba Andualem is a University of Minnesota Duluth graduate whose focus and experience has primarily been on food systems, including helping to start a CSA farm in Duluth. While working as the gardener at Common Roots café in Minneapolis, she joined the Minneapolis Food Council. As the Cook Fresh Coordinator with Urban Roots, she teaches youth from St. Paul’s Eastside food skills, cooking, food policy and community engagement around food access issues. She is also a participant in The Eastside Table Program as well as a member of the Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute’s Food Skills Assessment Work.

Nicole Bailey
AmeriCorps VISTA and SNAP Outreach Coordinator for Hunger Solutions Minnesota

Nicole joined Hunger Solutions in November 2016. She is a passionate public health advocate, with a focus on addressing issues of food insecurity and other health disparities in communities throughout Minnesota. Nicole previously served as an abuse prevention specialist for a large school district in southeastern Wisconsin and has worked closely with several community-based coalitions. She received a bachelor’s degree in Community Health Studies from Portland State University and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

Jamie Bain
Extension Educator, University of Minnesota Extension

Jamie Bain works for the University of Minnesota Extension as a Health and Nutrition Extension educator. She seeks to advance equitable access to healthy foods for all through leadership, coordination, and technical assistance for food networks in Minnesota.

Alicia Bauman, MBA
Alicia Bauman leads the Community Health initiatives for Lakewood Health System in Staples, MN. Alicia has vast experience in community engagement, public policy and the integration of community and clinical strategies. Alicia received an MBA in Rural Healthcare from The College of St. Scholastica.

Jeanette Behr
Research Manager, League of Minnesota Cities

Jeanette Behr is an attorney at the League of Minnesota Cities and manager of the research department. Her responsibilities include researching, writing and responding to specific questions from city staff, elected officials and city attorneys on a variety of municipal law topics. Jeanette earned her B.A. from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and her J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law.


Andy Berndtv
Community Blueprint

At a young age Andy realized his passion for marrying grassroots activism, communications, and advocacy. He was first involved in high school in the fight against the tobacco industry with Minnesota’s Target Market. He then began to travel the country and the globe speaking and consulting with behavior change programs that brought him to 35 states, and 8 countries. He took his passion for activism and youth advocacy and used his expertise in graphic design and video production to help programs deliver relevant impactful messages.

Nadja Berneche
Healthy Comprehensive Planning Director, Terra Soma, LLC

Nadja is the Healthy Comprehensive Planning Director with Terra Soma, a strategic services firm with a specialty in food systems. In this role, a big part of her work is to build relationships and provide technical assistance to city and county planners, health advocates, and community members working to increase healthy food access. To create long-range visions, she uses local community planning as tool to strategically identify and implement initiatives to increase access to healthy food and physical activity and to promote health equity. Nadja earned her Masters of Social Work and Masters of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota. She enjoys chasing her 4-year old son, two dogs, and chickens around the garden, rooting for University of Michigan football, and making carrot pickles.

Susan Bishop
Susan Bishop brings over 18 years of experience planning, and implementing programs to improve health to her position leading the Healthy Communities Team at the Minnesota Department of Health. The team supports communities throughout Minnesota to implement the policies, systems and environmental change initiatives that support healthy eating and active living. In previous roles, she has developed successful workplace strategies for the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP), as well as initiatives in school and childcare settings to improve consumption of healthy foods through comprehensive strategies impacting systems from procurement to classroom support.

Kristine Bjerkaas Friesen
Refugee Assistance Programs Specialist, Resettlement Programs Office, MN Dept. of Human Services

Kristine is the Refugee Assistance Programs Specialist for the Resettlement Programs Office (RPO), Economic Assistance and Employment Supports Division. Her responsibilities include coordinating the Refugee Cash Assistance program and its policies; collaborating with other assistance programs and policy staff to work on service access for refugees; and developing and providing training for counties and partners around refugees, Refugee Cash Assistance and cross-cultural work skills. Prior to joining the RPO in February 2016, she has worked in refugee resettlement since 1998, implementing a range of services to newly arrived refugees, including case management, employment, housing, and education. A favorite highlight from those years is a successful refugee-run community garden project at an apartment complex in St Paul. Kristine graduated from Bethel University, St. Paul, with a Bachelor in Arts, Cultural Studies, and from Webster University, Geneva, Switzerland, with a Refugees Studies Practicum Certificate. She also completed an Urban Farming Certification and Advanced Permaculture Design course through the Permaculture Research Institute Cold Climate in Minneapolis, MN, and is passionate about local food systems.

Gretchen Bohl
Community Health Specialist, Blue Earth County Public Health

Gretchen Bohl is a community health specialist and has worked on healthy eating and healthy school initiatives for the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) in Blue Earth County since 2014. Her professional interests involve health equity, food equity, and creating a healthy food system.

Brian Bluhm
Rutabaga Project Coordinator

Brian Bluhm is the Rutabaga Project Coordinator, with the goal to increase local and nutritious food access in NE MN's Iron Range, based at the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency. Brian has a B.A. in Anthropology and a M.Ed. in Environmental Education from the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Kathy Brandt
Extension Educator, Food Safety

Kathy Brandt is an Extension Educator in Food Safety with University of Minnesota Extension at the Regional Office, Marshall. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Education degree from the University of Minnesota, Duluth. She is a member of the National Environmental Health Association, National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences – MN Affiliate, and Epsilon Sigma Phi. Kathy develops and provides educational programs in food safety for many audiences including the food service industry, entrepreneurs and consumers.

Fernando Burga
Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs

H. Fernando Burga is an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs with a dual appointment at University of Minnesota’s Extension. His research, teaching and service focus on equity in urban planning with an emphasis on immigrant incorporation and urban food systems.

Marna Canterbury, MS, RD
Marna brings more than 30 years of experience in community health leadership, nutrition programs and health message design to her leadership role as Director of Community Health, HealthPartners and Lakeview Health. Marna leads the development, implementation and evaluation of PowerUp and developed a strategic framework for community collaboration and partnerships to improve access to healthy foods and physical activity for children in 7 targeted communities. She also provides leadership for other HealthPartners community health initiatives.

Evalyn Carbrey
SNAP-Ed Coordinator, University of Minnesota Extension

Evalyn Carbrey is a SNAP-Ed Regional Coordinator for the Metro Region. Prior to joining the SNAP-Ed team in 2016, Evalyn worked with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) at both the state and local level. She has worked as a clinical dietitian in both inpatient and outpatient programs at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, as well as with international nutrition programs. Evalyn earned a Master's Degree in Nutrition with a focus on Food Policy and Applied Nutrition at Tufts University and is a Registered Dietitian.

Jenna Carter
Senior Program Manager, Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield MN

Jenna Carter began her career with a passion for food systems change and health improvement. She quickly broadened her perspective and scope of work as she saw the pervasive inequities that exist across systems, sectors, and policies that ultimately impact health. She also recognized the need for inclusive and community driven approaches to make meaningful, equitable, and sustainable changes. As the Senior Program Manager for Policy and Advocacy in the Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Jenna develops and leads statewide public health policy and advocacy strategies to reach the Center’s goals around health equity, healthy eating, and active living. She advocates for a Health Equity in All Policies approach where coalitions and alliances are cross cultural, interdisciplinary and multi-sector; communities and community members who experience health inequities are in decision making positions; and health equity criteria are integrated in key decision making processes. Jenna has a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Minnesota and Bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Science from Iowa State University.

Bonnie Christiansen
Regional Coordinator, Health & Nutrition Programs at the University of Minnesota Extension

Bonnie Christiansen coordinates the University of Minnesota Extension SNAP-Ed program in southwest Minnesota. She has a passion for healthy living and when she's not working, she enjoys walking her Irish Setter and riding her tandem bike with her husband.

JoDee Christianson
SNAP-Ed Coordinator, University of Minnesota Extension

JoDee Christianson is a SNAP-ED Educator working in a 3-county area in Central Minnesota. She has worked with the University of Minnesota Extension Youth Development Program and SNAP-ED Program collectively for 13 years. Her work within Youth Development included county based 4-H program coordination, volunteer management, and youth and volunteer training development and delivery. Her five years of experience in the SNAP-ED program includes early childhood parent education, multi-level school district nutrition education and health initiatives, and food access community networking.

Heidi Coe
Produce Strategy Manager, Second Harvest Heartland

Heidi Coe is a Produce Strategy Manager for Second Harvest Heartland. One of her primary responsibilities is to work with growers who have excess produce and channel that into the emergency food system. Heidi also owns and operates a produce farm of her own, called Piney Hill Farm, with her partner Wade. She is also on the board for a local farmers’ coop called Hungry Turtle Farmers’ Coop, located in Amery, WI.

PH Copeland
Equity Organizer, The Good Food Access Campaign

PH was born and raised in her beloved community of North Minneapolis. Her professional background involves youth and community organizing surrounding racial equity and other social justice issues. PH is the Equity Organizer for the Good Food Access Campaign held at the American Heart Association. She believes organizing, advocacy and storytelling are tools for developing a sustainable life, ending cycles of poverty and forms of oppression, creating healing spaces for growth. In her spare time, PH is a contract employee with MN Civic Youth as the Youth on Boards Program Director. Also, Co-Facilitator of Hope Community’s Sustainable Progress through Engaging Active Citizens (S.P.E.A.C.) program. She loves color, all forms of dance, camping and road trips. PH holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Affairs from Wells College in Aurora, NY. Here, she began to connect her understanding of institutionalized oppression and racism to a deeper understanding of how government and politics function, impacting communities.

Kelly Corbin
Physical Activity Coordinator, Office of Statewide Health Improvement Initiatives Minnesota Department of Health

Kelly Corbin is the Physical Activity Coordinator for Minnesota Department of Health. In this role for the past two years she’s supported the efforts of communities to become more walkable and bikable. Prior to MDH, she has feet on the ground experience working at local public health in Greater MN leading Healthy Eating and Active Living efforts in cities as small as 1,500 and big as 115,000 to learn that this work is all about scalability. She holds both a bachelors and masters degrees in Community Health while living in Greater MN.

Nikki Crowe
Extension Coordinator, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

Nikki Crowe is an ethnobotanist-in-training and an Anishinaabe scientist. Nikki is enrolled with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Currently she is the program coordinator for the Thirteen Moons and Bimaaj’idiwin Fond du Lac Tribal College Extension Program located in Northeast Minnesota. Nikki’s work includes promoting the use of the natural resources through Ojibwe cultural and seasonal events using social media networks that include workshops and events, editing the 13 Moons Ashiniswi Giizisoog newspaper page and the 13 Moons Ashi Niswi Giizisoog Facebook page. The Bimaaj’idiwin Garden program promotes food sovereignty, demonstration of gardening, seed saving, and training in agriculture business and marketing.

Donte Curtis
Catch Your Dream Consulting

Donte Curtis is a natural network weaver and leader. He was born in Houston Texas, and is now living in Saint Paul, Minnesota, At 23, Donte lives a life that is dedicated to leadership and social justice. He is probably one of the most energetic people you will ever meet and he channels this energy to fight for racial equity and to cultivate people to be the best version of themselves. Donte is a connector and really works to build powerful and purposeful relationships. He owns Catch Your Dream Consulting/Coaching and believes everyone leads.

Deb Dalebroux, RN, MPH, PHN
Deb is Owner & Principal at Nourish Health Consulting, LLC. After working as a nurse for over a decade, Deb’s experience caring for diverse patients across the U.S. led her to a career in public health. She has contributed her expertise to a variety of public health initiatives, with a particular focus on healthy eating promotion and health systems improvement. Deb’s professional experience includes work with a variety of federal advocacy, government agency, and community-based organizations. As a public health consultant, many of the projects Deb is involved in are at the intersection of healthy eating, food policy and health care, building community-clinic connections, educating health professionals, and enhancing healthy food access in community and institutional settings. Deb has served as a consultant to Hunger Solutions MN on partnership with health care organizations including a SNAP-Rx pilot project with several Health Partners clinics over the last year.

Jesse Davis
Manager of Membership Services, Minnesota Farmers' Market Association

Jesse Davis is the Manager of Membership Services for the Minnesota Farmers' Market Association. He and his husband operate Trout Lake Garlic on their 4th generation family farm on the Iron Range. Jesse has been part of the food access program at the Grand Rapids Farmers' Market since its inception 6 years ago, overseeing the highest SNAP and SNAP-incentive sales of any farmers' market north of the Metro. In addition to his work at the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation, Jesse volunteers with the Itasca Community Garden Program and is principal violist for the Itasca Symphony Orchestra.

Joe Domeier
Minnesota Valley Action Council

Joe Domeier manages the Minnesota Valley Action Council (MVAC) Food Hub in Mankato, MN. Joe has worked in the non-profit sector for 12 years, primarily in the areas of soil & water conservation and local food production and marketing. Previously to MVAC, Joe managed several federal farm land conservation grants and the Mankato Farmers’ Market. Joe also acquired funding to start and manage the Blue Earth County Community Farm, which grows fresh produce for a local food shelf. Joe and his wife, Sarah, also operate Pehling Bay Farm where they have been raising grassfed lamb on pasture for 15 years.

Suzanne Driessen
University of Minnesota Food Safety Extension Educator

Suzanne Driessen, is an Extension food safety educator in her 20th year at the University of Minnesota. Suzanne develops and teaches food safety programs for consumers and the food industry. Her most recent efforts include the Safe Food Product Sampling and Food Safety for Cottage Food Producers courses. Driessen is noted for developing creative and interactive educational tools including the award winning Food Safety Wheel and online interactive courses including Serve It up Safely and Food Allergen Training for Food Service Employees. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Education from Minnesota State – Mankato and a Masters of Arts in Adult Education degree from Saint Mary’s University – Minneapolis. Ms. Driessen is credentialed as a Master Certified Health Education Specialist and a Licensed Practical Nurse.

Susan Draves
Extension's SNAP-Ed program, SE Regional Sustainable Development Partnership Focus

Susan Draves, a Lake City resident and big supporter of local foods, is the SE Regional Coordinator of Extension's SNAP-Ed program and also is the SE Regional Sustainable Development Partnership Focus Area Coordinator. Her local food access experiences include working as a food co-op produce coordinator, farming for a decade in SE MN and more recently, she has been the Farmers Market Manager in Red Wing and currently in Lake City where she implemented both markets’ SNAP EBT/Market Bucks programs. She has been a farmers market vendor and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program manager for ten years, and owned and operated a local foods deli/grocery in Lake City for eight years. She is a past president of the Lake City Chamber of Commerce, currently co-chairs the Friends of the Mississippi Blufflands Trail (a proposed state trail from Lake City to Red Wing) and is a board member of the Minnesota Farmers Market Association.

Jean Duane
Program Coordinator at United Community Action Partnership

Jean Duane is a multi-faceted employee at United Community Action Partnership; working as a Program Coordinator and Case Manager. Duane has managed the Willmar office VITA Tax Program for the past two seasons with great success, this included volunteer recruitment, training and retention. Recently adding the position of SNAP Outreach for seniors along with her work as the SW Regional Program Coordinator for Born to Thrive.

Anne Dybsetter
Extension Educator, University of Minnesota Extension

Anne Dybsetter is a University of Minnesota Extension Educator in Health and Nutrition based in Willmar, Minnesota. Her work includes creating professional development content for community-based health promotion professionals, as well as supporting the development of collaborations and food networks in Southwest Minnesota. She has experience in cultural adaptation of curricula, community engagement, grant-writing, and educational design. Anne earned a Master of Science in Education degree and a Graduate Certificate in Social Science.

Sue Estee
Executive Director,Second Harvest North Central Food Bank

Sue Estee serves as Executive Director of Second Harvest North Central Food Bank, which partners with over 145 hunger relief agencies in, Aitkin, Cass, Crow Wing, Itasca, Koochiching, Kanabec, and Mille Lacs counties. In this role, she is responsible for $4.8 million in food volume per year.

Patricia Fenrick
Refugee Workforce Development and Outreach Specialist, Resettlement Programs Office, MN Dept. of Human Services

Patricia has worked with diverse communities for over 17 years. Most of her career has focused on refugee and immigrant populations. She was the Executive Director for the refugee resettlement agency, World Relief Minnesota, worked in community development with immigrants for the City of Eden Prairie and oversaw the Human Rights and Diversity Commission. Patricia has been involved in refugee gardening programs in multiple communities across the Metro. She is also an adjunct professor for several local universities and teaches about social justice issues. She currently works for the Department of Human Services Refugee Programs Office in education, outreach and refugee workforce development.

Mike Freiberg
State Representative, Minnesota House of Representatives

Mike Freiberg is a State Representative serving in his third term in the Minnesota House of Representatives, representing the cities of Crystal, Golden Valley, New Hope and Robbinsdale. Mike is an Assistant Minority Leader and serves on the Health and Human Services Reform Committee, Government Operations Committee, and three other committees. Prior to being a State Representative, Mike spent nine years on the Golden Valley City Council. When he is not a legislator, Mike works as a public health attorney and occasional adjunct law professor.

Leah Gardner
Good Food Access Campaign Manager, American Heart Association

Leah Gardner is the campaign manager for the Minnesota Good Food Access Campaign. Leah’s career has been grounded in social justice. She led grassroots efforts at the Minnesota Budget Project for economic justice and basic needs advocacy. Leah is a Voices for Racial Justice Apprentice.

Lisa Gemlo
Program Coordinator for the Comprehensive Cancer Control Unit, Minnesota Department of Health

Lisa Gemlo MPH, RD, LD. is currently the Program Coordinator for the Comprehensive Cancer Control Unit at the Minnesota Department of Health. She has worked on many initiatives to increase the access of Minnesotans to healthy foods focusing on environmental and systems changes with over 25 years of public health nutrition experience. This experience includes work in chronic disease prevention in the US Territory of Guam, program leadership in nutrition education for the University of MN Extension Service as well as private practice consultation with state programs.
In the past few years, she has worked with others to coordinate the creation of the first Farm to School Leadership team in MN and was the lead staff person for the development of the MN Food Charter at MDH. Lisa and her family are avid gardeners including growing giant pumpkins and they are on a quest to visit all 50 state capitals.

Jodi Gertken
Director of Wellness, CentraCare Health Foundation

Jodi Gertken started her career with CentraCare Health in 2004 as the coordinator for Crave the Change, a community coalition working to reduce exposure to second hand smoke. In 2007, she joined the CCH Foundation team as coordinator of BLEND, a childhood obesity prevention initiative. Jodi was promoted to director of wellness in 2015 and is presently overseeing the newest umbrella for community health, Feeling Good MN, which is focused on creating and supporting healthy communities.
Jodi has 20 years of experience in the public health sector having previously served as:

• BLEND Coordinator- CentraCare Health Foundation
• Project Coordinator- Central Minnesota Heart Center
• Public Health Coordinator- Stearns County Human Services
• Health Systems Manager- American Cancer Society
• Public Health Specialist – Morrison County Public Health

Jodi received her B.S degree in Community Health from St. Cloud State University. Presently she sits on the following committees:
• American Heart Association Statewide Advocacy Board
• Minnesota for Health Kids Coalition Steering Committee
• Steans County Public Health Task Force
• Sartell/St. Stephan Lacrosse Board
• Sartell Community Education Board

Jodi was born and raised in St. Cloud Minnesota. She’s an exercise enthusiast who enjoys running, spending time with her family, and shopping. She has two active children who she enjoys following them around the state to cheer them on in hockey and lacrosse.

Sara George
Wabasha Farmers Market

Sara George is a vendor and the manager of the Wabasha Farmers Market. She is a fruit and vegetable grower and active community volunteer who has created farm-to-school, farm-to-hospital, and farm-to-restaurant programs in the Wabasha area and who volunteers in the schools, her congregation, and area non-profit organizations. Sara also works at the Harbor View Café and has been active in producing locally grown items to add to the menu there. Sara was born in Montevideo, MN. She currently lives in Pepin, Wisconsin with her partner Doug, two teenaged sons Matthew and Austin, and four-year-old daughter Faith.

Melvin Giles
Peace and Diversity Educator

Melvin Giles works on food systems in St. Paul and provides leadership to the Urban Farm and Garden Alliance. Melvin participated in a collaborative grantmaking process kicked off at the Convening of Food Network Leaders in November of 2016.

Metric Giles
Interim Executive Director, the Community Stabilization Project

Metric has been instrumental to the new life and direction of the organization. His experience is as a Public Policy Organizer and uses many unique and creative methods to bring people together to advocate for their own particular needs. An important aspect of Metric’s work is teaching people their rights and responsibilities so that they can stand up and demand changes to policies that restrict or deny those rights. He advocates for people to break free of the cycle of dependency on institutions and campaign at a policy level for fair and equitable, community-based approaches to issues. He has been a community activist and youth mentor since the 1960s and is responsible for the development of several community gardens. Metric is a co-founder of the Peace Poles project. Prior to joining CSP as a part-time organizer, he served on CSP’s board of directors. Much of Metric’s current work focuses on the light rail project along University Avenue. From 2007 to 2009, he worked tirelessly to change community leaders’ perspectives regarding the number of stops that are needed along University Avenue. He led the organization of the “Stops for Us” Campaign and has brought together many community residents to explain the impact of light rail on their neighborhood, specifically how housing, economic opportunities, and transportation will be impacted as light rail develops.

Lindsi Gish
CEO, gish & co.

Lindsi Gish is owner (and doer!) at gish&co.—a small strategic communications and digital marketing firm in Minneapolis. She’s also a former nonprofiteer, insatiable problem solver, digital enthusiast, Jane-of-many-trades, and self-aware extrovert. After spending a number of years at a regional nonprofit, followed by a global PR firm, Lindsi saw an opportunity to use her significant experience and robust network to develop creative approaches to solve communications and marketing challenges for nonprofits and small businesses—more efficiently and cost-effectively. Now entering its fourth year of existence, gish&co. does just that.

Connie Greer
Board of Directors for CAPRW, St. Paul

Connie began Community Action career at Bi-County CAP, Bemidji in 1973. (7 years) Worked with all agency programs. Retired from State of Minnesota, Office of Economic Opportunity. (35 years) Currently on the Board of Directors for CAPRW, St. Paul, HHS Rural Advisory Committee on Health and Human Services, and a CCAP.

Noelle Harden
Extension Educator, University of Minnesota, Extension

Noelle has worked on food systems change in Minnesota for the last five years, bringing an educational background in geography, agroecology and sustainable food production. As part of her work with Minnesota food networks, Noelle has experimented with collaborative grantmaking processes like shared gifting as a strategy for more equitable grantmaking.

Melanie Heckt
Northside Fresh Engagement Coordinator, Appetite for Change

Melanie is the Engagement Coordinator for the Northside Fresh Coalition and is serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA member. In her position, she works to increase coalition engagement with northside youth and families, co-lead quarterly meetings, lead the outreach and events action team and special projects action team, build capacity for communications and outreach, as well as develop volunteer and sub-granting systems. This December Melanie will receive her degree in Food Systems with an emphasis in community health from the University of Minnesota. In the past she has worked at Waite House in the Urban Agriculture Office on food and land policy at the city and state level. Melanie is very close with her family, especially her two younger brothers. She also loves swing dancing, crocheting, and is just getting into sci-fi books and loves recommendations!

Stephanie Heim
Association Program Director, University of Minnesota Extension

Stephanie develops and manages strategic partnerships at local, state, and national levels related to healthy food access and provides strategic direction and leadership to food networks, especially the Minnesota Food Charter Network. She also provides statewide leadership to Farm to School initiatives.

Nathan Hesse
SNAP-Ed Educator, University of Minnesota Extension

Nathan is a regional SNAP Ed educator with a passion for advancing equity in the food system to ensure that everyone has access to healthy, nutrient dense foods. He is a managing consultant for SuperShelf, and uses his energy and experience to help food shelves across Minnesota transform in healthy, welcoming spaces for all.

Colleen Hetzel
Waste and Toxicity Prevention Specialist, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Colleen Hetzel works with organizations to reduce the environmental impacts of products and materials throughout the life cycle. She determines where there are inefficiencies within the life cycle, and works with partners to address these issues. Recently her work has diverged to include food that is wasted.

Andrea Hills
Sourcing Specialist, The Food Group

Andrea Hills is the Sourcing Specialist with The Food Group, an innovative nonprofit organization with a mission of fighting hunger and nourishing our community. Her responsibilities include purchasing food for various program areas, as well as soliciting bulk product donations with a focus on sourcing in ways that reduce waste in the food chain. She has a Master of Science in International Food Business and Consumer Studies from the University of Kassel and University of Applied Sciences Fulda in Germany. She wrote her master’s thesis about food waste management practices in Minneapolis restaurants in 2012 and has since worked on a number of food waste-related projects in the Twin Cities.

Megan Hruby
SNAP-Ed Educator

Megan Hruby is a SNAP-Ed Educator with the University of Minnesota Extension, based in Crookston and serving communities in the far northwestern corner of Minnesota. Megan has provided leadership to the One Vegetable One Community program in several communities in her region.

Annalisa Hultberg
Food Safety Extension Educator

Annalisa Hultberg, M.S., is an Extension Educator in Food Safety at the University of Minnesota. She coordinates the On-Farm GAPs (Good Agricultural Practices) Education Program, where she provides education and outreach relating to farm food safety. The program works with small to large scale commercial vegetable farmers, farm to school programs, food hubs, agricultural trainers and educators and community and youth garden programs to provide education related to GAPs to help ensure a safe, healthy supply of local food for all Minnesotans. She is the Minnesota state lead for the North Central Region FSMA Training Center and the Produce Safety Alliance at Cornell University where she brings training and education to the state to help farmers be in compliance with new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

Tim Jenkins
Produce Safety Data Analyst, Minnesota Department of Agriculture

Tim Jenkins is Produce Safety Data Analyst at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. He has worked on farms, in migrant health, environmental health, food safety, public health, and recently with the Minnesota Department of Health as the Food Access Coordinator, collaborating with partners to increase the access healthy, safe food across Minnesota. In this role, he partnered with University of Minnesota Extension and many stakeholders to create the MN Food Charter Healthy Food, Safe Food Action Guide. Tim just joined Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s produce safety team that’s working with farmers, UMN, and others to build a program around the new federal FSMA Produce Safety Rule.

Jane Jewett
Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture

Jane Grimsbo Jewett is part of the Information Exchange program at the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, University of Minnesota. Much of her work is centered on local food systems, and particularly the regulatory landscape around local food. She co-founded the Local Food Advisory Committee in 2013, which works at the intersection of state food regulations and local food systems. She has edited or co-authored a number of publications dealing with regulatory aspects of local food production and marketing. Jane also farms near Palisade, MN. She has a small, diversified livestock farm and does farmers’ market and farm-to-school sales.

Ray Jobe
Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) Coordinator, Northern St. Louis County

The Virginia Digs Vegetables team includes Brian Bluhm and Marlise Riffle with the Rutabaga Project, Ray Jobe, the Northern St. Louis County SHIP coordinator, Chris Strand, University of Minnesota SNAP-Ed educator, and Betsy Johnson with Extension Health and Nutrition who serves as facilitator. We started with a Counter Tools food environment assessment in July of 2016, chose 4 convenience stores that were already offering some healthy options, and narrowed our pilot to one store that is co-located in a senior high-rise housing complex. We performed a targeted assessment of the layout and placement of various food items in this store and are currently working with the owner on placement and promotion of healthier options using the MN EATs recommendations.

Betsy Johnson
Extension Educator in Healthy and Nutrition, University of Minnesota

Betsy Johnson joined Extension Health and Nutrition in 2007. The focus of her work is health promotion and chronic disease prevention through education, engagement, training, and facilitation to ensure access to healthy food and physical activity for all Minnesotans. She comes to Extension with a broad background in community health and nonprofit management that includes work with the YMCA, United Way, Minnesota Department of Health; and as a medical clinic administrator, public relations manager, and a contractor for senior health projects and rural hospital performance improvement. Betsy holds certifications as a leader for several evidence-based health improvement programs, health impact assessment, and as a health/fitness instructor with the American College of Sports Medicine. Betsy earned a Masters in Public Health Degree in policy and administration from the University of Minnesota — Twin Cities.

Kristin Johnstad
Johnstad and Associates

Kristin Johnstad works with networks and organizations to build their network literacy and change the world by changing how they see the world. She has an extensive history in community engagement and partnering with large youth-serving systems like the YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs as well as community collaboratives. She loves developing simple approaches for people to use in seeing, understanding and influencing the systems and communities in a positive direction. Network mapping is one tool to visualize and have critical conversations and she is currently providing leadership to a MFCN pilot project to better understand network connectivity, vibrancy and effects. She is providing leadership to a consulting team working to develop a network evaluation framework and tools for Minnesota Food networks to use to understand their health and impact.

Emily Kilbourn-Shear
Public Health Associate, Food Access Associate| Office of Statewide Health Improvement Initiatives

Emily is a Public Health Associate at the Minnesota Department of Health. Her work focuses on healthy eating in communities, specifically around food retail and food guidelines. Before joining the Minnesota Department of Health, she served as an AmeriCorps member at a family health center in Pittsburgh, PA. In this role, she provided case management to new mothers with the goal of improving maternal health and in turn, future birth outcomes. She is excited by the opportunity to address health inequities through food.

Melissa Laska
Associate Professor, Epidemiology & Community Health, University of Minnesota

Melissa Laska, PhD, RD is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, where she also serves as Co-director of the University of Minnesota Obesity Prevention Center and Director of the Program in Public Health Nutrition. In addition, Dr. Laska serves as a Senior Research Adviser to Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her research focuses on nutrition promotion and obesity prevention among young people, as well as mechanisms for improving healthy food access in under-served communities.

Sophia Lenarz-Coy
Associate Director, Hunger Solutions

Sophia Lenarz-Coy is the Associate Director for Hunger Solutions. She is passionate about looking at hunger from a food systems perspective and wants to see that all Minnesotans have access to healthy, quality food. Sophia is a graduate of Smith College in Massachusetts and has worked in the nonprofit sector for many years, developing programs, managing staff, and finding innovative ways to solve the complex problem of hunger.

Lois J. Lewis
President, MN Assn. of Family & Consumer Sciences
FACS Teacher - Indus School Food Skills Assessment Work Group member

Lois Lewis is a veteran Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Indus School, a former Minnesota County Extension Director in Koochiching County, and is currently president of the state FACS association. She holds a B.S. degree in Home Economics and Journalism and an M.S. degree in Education. She won a national teaching award for her program on "Healthy Initiatives" in 2012, and was named ProStart Educator of Excellence in 2014 for her culinary arts and foodservice management program.

Takayla Lightfield
Policy and Prevention Coordinator, American Indian Cancer Foundation

Takayla Lightfield is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota and grew up in Faith, S.D. She earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree from the University of Minnesota Morris in American Indian Studies, Human Services and Psychology. Takayla currently works as a Policy and Prevention Coordinator with the American Indian Cancer Foundation. She is passionate about working towards making her community healthier; especially through health equity, nutrition education, preventative healthcare and policy change.

Serdar Mamedov
Extension Educator, Center for Family Development, University of Minnesota Extension

Serdar Mamedov is an Extension Educator, Health and Nutrition Programs at the University of Minnesota Extension. He possesses a master's degree in community health education from Western Illinois University. After his graduation, Serdar worked as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Health Sciences at his alma mater. Serdar’s professional areas of interest include refugees’ and immigrants’ health, nutritional epidemiology, food access networks, and innovative teaching methods. He has lived in Turkmenistan and has graduated from Turkmen State Medical Institute there.

David Manuel
Food Coordinator, Red Lake Local Foods Initiative

David Manuel is a member of the Red Lake Nation and currently employed as the Foods Coordinator, a project of the Economic Development and Planning Department. David was initially hired as the assistant coordinator in April 2016, but due to personnel changes within the department, was promoted to the Coordinator position. As Foods Coordinator for the tribe, David is working with other departments to develop a comprehensive local foods system that will address the diet-related health disparities that plague Indian Country. Incidences of diabetes and obesity are disproportionately high in these communities. Food Scarcity and Food Sovereignty along with job creation are also issues the Foods Initiative hopes to address as the program grows in manageable increments with each passing year. With the partnerships being created, the Foods Initiative is creating a strategic plan to utilize the assets available to develop a long-term solution having affordable, healthy foods produced by tribal members, for tribal members.

Mary Marrow
Staff Attorney, Public Health Law Center

Mary Marrow is a senior staff attorney at the Public Health Law Center supporting community efforts in Minnesota to use law and policy to increase access to healthy food. Through this work, Mary has helped a number of local partners in Minnesota identify and navigate different legal and policy issues impacting new food distribution models. Mary will facilitate this presentation, providing an overview of the state and local legal and policy framework impacting the different case studies and moderating a discussion about challenges and opportunities experienced by panelists in developing and implementing new and emerging food distribution models in Minnesota.

Erin McKee
Farm to Institution Program Director, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Erin McKee joined IATP in 2010. Her current projects focus on Farm to School and Farm to Early Care, getting fresh healthy produce from our local growers into school and early care meals, as well as testing and promoting curricula and educational models that encourage food literacy as children make the connection between those locally grown foods and the farmers who produce them. She is also working with a broad coalition of stakeholders to push forward state-level policy to support Farm to School and Early Care in Minnesota. Erin especially enjoys working with partners to advance the farm to institution cause both locally and nationally, and is a member of the MN Farm to School Leadership Team, the MN Child Nutrition Advisory Group, and the National Farm to Early Care Steering Committee, and a co-leader of the MN Farm to Early Care Coalition.

Colleen Moriarty
Executive Director, Hunger Solutions Minnesota

Colleen Moriarty has been involved in poverty programs for the majority of her career. She has seen the devastating effects that poverty has had on our families and children and understands that basic needs must be met before families can succeed. As Hunger Solutions Minnesota’s Executive Director and the chair of Minnesota Partners to End Hunger, she works to motivate decision-makers to take supportive action on state and national hunger policy issues. One of Colleen’s strengths is portraying the story of hunger to the media and legislators in a way that is compelling and makes a positive impact on behalf of those in need and the organizations that serve them. Before her current leadership role at Hunger Solutions Minnesota, Colleen was a Department Head at KARE 11, where she organized the Health Fair 11 program; Executive Director of the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board; Chief of Staff to Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton through her second term. She was also elected to the Minneapolis School Board in 2002 and served through 2006.

Lorena Muñoz
Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota Gender Women and Sexuality Studies and American Studies
Food Skills Assessment Work Group member

Dr. Lorena Muñoz is an assistant professor in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies and American Studies at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on the intersections of food, place, space, gender, sexuality and race. Dr. Munoz’s transdisciplinary research agenda has been focused on Latinas/os in the global south, particularly in the areas the (in)formal economy, food, labor, health and productive/transformative agency. Dr. Munoz’s current project is an interdisciplinary, collaborative, comparative study of informal systems of access to food, labor and health in three different urban populations of migrant and immigrant laborers in the Global South: Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S. This project examines how street vending in the shadows of large-scale neoliberal development projects in (im)migrant receiving centers becomes both a sustainable mechanism of livelihood and a gendered delivery system of food, goods, and healing remedies for migrant laborers in Bogotá and Cancún and Latino immigrants in Los Angeles. The project focuses on the intersection of food, health and labor in relation to street vending as well as food-way systems.

Ed Murphy
Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless

Ed Murphy has worked for homeless and hungry people since 1988. He began his career by serving as Program and Development Director at The Emergency FoodShelf Network. From 1991-2000 Ed served as Executive Director of St. Stephens Human Services. In 2000 he left St. Stephens to serve as Executive Director of The Bridge for Youth. Prior to joining Open Your Heart, Ed founded Hearts and Hands – a non-profit agency providing services and support to families of children facing life threatening conditions, where he has now moved into a board role.

Nancy Ness
Steele County Food Shelf

Nancy Ness is the current Executive Director for Steele County Food Shelf, Inc. in Owatonna MN and has been in this position since December of 2016. She has many years of experience working as an Executive Director for the American Red Cross in Southern Illinois. One of her first responsibilities for Steele County Food Shelf was getting the Meals in Motion program up-and-running. The first food packages were delivered on January 31st, 2017. Since that time, more than 140 households in Steele County have registered for this new service.

Shirley Nordrum
Extension Educator, University of Minnesota Extension

Shirley Nordrum is an Extension Educator in Water Resource Management with the University of Minnesota, serving Leech Lake Reservation. Shirley participated in a shared gifting circle in May of 2017.

Margaret Palan
Community Resource Coordinator for United Community Action

Margaret Palan is the Community Resource Coordinator for United Community Action Partnership located in SW Minnesota. Her work takes her in many directions but very important to Margaret is Building Partner Relationships. Sales and Marketing is her degree but never giving up if it’s “for the good of others” is her belief. If it’s a possibility she will press on with a positive approach while relating the vision to the team so everyone can imagine the outcome. With the coordination of four food shelves and partnering to bring EBT to Farmers Markets in SW Minnesota education with healthy eating is also very important to her. Margaret Palan was raised on a farm by New York Mills, MN and is the 7th of 8 children. Hard work and sharing extra food with the neighbors was instilled early in life by her parents. Margaret along with her husband lives in Wabasso, MN. They are the parents of two grown sons and soon to be one daughter in December! In her spare time she loves fishing, reading Karen Kingsbury books, and decorating. She is also very active in her community and church. Be ready to have fun and laughter when working on a project with Margaret!

Leah Porter
Twin Cities Mobile Market

Leah Porter is the Market Manager for the Twin Cities Mobile Market. Leah has over 10 years of experience in program development, fundraising, and project management in areas including food access, long-term care, public health, disability services, mental health, early childhood services, and youth development. She has a bachelor's degree in English and Master of Arts in Nonprofit Management at Hamline University.

Laura Perdue
Extension Educator, University of Minnesota Extension

Laura Perdue currently serves as Extension educator in Health and Nutrition. Before joining Extension in 2014, Laura worked as a dietitian in health promotion and heart disease prevention at a small nonprofit organization in Minneapolis. There she worked in a variety of settings, including schools, worksites, and youth groups. She provided programs, education, and tools for healthy living, with a focus on healthy eating, physical activity, and stress management. Laura earned a master's degree in Public Health, Nutrition at the University of Minnesota — Twin Cities.

Julie Ralston Aoki
Director of Healthy Eating & Active Living, Public Health Law Center

Julie Ralston Aoki has two decades of experience in developing public policy for the public good. She supports tribal, state, and local communities in Minnesota and across the country in developing and writing laws and policies to promote healthy food systems, active living, and commercial tobacco control. She specializes in laws and policies aimed at supporting access to healthy food and improving the nutritional quality of foods available in public settings. She currently is Director of the Healthy Eating and Active Living team at the Public Health Law Center. She has taught public health law at William Mitchell law school; is the past president and current member of the Minnesota Community Health Worker Alliance Board; and a volunteer member of the Robbinsdale Human Rights Commission. Before joining the Center, Julie served as an Assistant Attorney General with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Divisions. She is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Iowa College of Law.

Jenn Reed Moses, AICP
Jenn Reed Moses, AICP, is a planner for the City of Duluth, where she works on land use, environmental, historic preservation, and transportation planning. She has over 10 years of planning experience and holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She serves on the Board of Directors for Junior League of Duluth, is the incoming Northeast Director for the American Planning Association of Minnesota, and enjoys being involved with her church, kids, and community. Growing up in a blue collar family that hunted, grew vegetables, and preserved food, she has a passion for local sustainability, and her graduate school studies and professional work have included an emphasis on sustainable agriculture and local food access.

Emily Richey
Planner, Community Planning Division, City of Duluth

Emily Richey is the Director of the Duluth Community Garden Program. She has a background in small scale agriculture, environmental education, and nonprofit administration. She has worked on numerous farms across the country, taught oodles of children about food, farming, and food systems, and has worked at the Duluth Community Garden Program since June 2016. She also organizes for the Duluth Young Farmers Coalition.

Eric Sannerud
Farmer CEO, Mighty Axe Hops

Eric R. Sannerud is a farmer, thinker, and entrepreneur. He is CEO of Mighty Axe Hops, a Minnesota hops farm. He is a TEDx speaker, Fellow of the Future, and advocate for the next generation of farmers. In his free time, Eric loves food.

Sarah Schmidt
Programs Manager, The Food Group

Sarah Schmidt grew up familiar with the struggle to keep the cupboards full. Her family used a food shelf to make it through hard times, and this experience fuels her drive to increase access to healthy foods and end hunger in our community. Sarah Schmidt’s background utilizing and working at food shelves deeply influences her focus on community-driven change. She is the Programs Manager at The Food Group, a founding partner of SuperShelf, and is deeply involved in the Metro Food Access Network and Partners to End Hunger.

Robin Schow
Food Skills Research and Program Coordinator Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute, University of Minnesota

Robin Schow is the research and program coordinator for the Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute’s Food Skills Assessment Project - a collaborative project that seeks to develop a validated food skills assessment tool to measure food skills in Minnesota youth. She also coordinates and teaches classes for the Institute’s Cooking for Wellness program – a hands-on cooking class that promotes healthful cooking and eating strategies. Robin has had a lifelong interest in the promotion of growing, preparing, and eating fresh food. Her work as a graduate student inspired an interest in evaluating food skills programming. She assisted in the evaluation of the Great Trays program, a CDC funded project of the Minnesota Department of Health, and she has developed and evaluated community cooking skills programming in the non-profit sector.

Liana Schreiber
Community Evaluation Coordinator, MDH

Liana R.N. Schreiber, MPH, RDN, is the community evaluation coordinator at Minnesota Department of Health. Her focus is on healthy eating evaluation, coordinating statewide efforts to evaluate PSE changes within communities to increase opportunities for healthy eating. Previous to her work at the state, she worked with Dr. Laska on the Minneapolis Staple Food Ordinance study while obtaining her Masters of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. Before her career in public health, she coordinated studies for treatment of pathological gambling, hair pulling, and skin picking with medication.

Simone Senogles
Food Sovereignty Program Coordinator, Indigenous Environmental Network

Simone Senogles, is the Food Sovereignty Program Coordinator at the Indigenous Environmental Network in Bemidji, MN. She is of mixed racial heritage- Argentinian and Anishinaabe, and is dedicated to bringing people together across boundaries by building strong connections around food, health and well-being. Her work is based upon the understanding that food systems are one of the many interconnected spheres of indigenous life that have been disrupted by genocide, colonization, capitalism, historical trauma and racism, and that the revitalization of traditional food systems go hand-in-hand with the health and vitality of all aspects of life.

Kate Seybold
UMN - Farm to School Coordinator, Minneapolis Public Schools

Kate Seybold works for Minneapolis Public Schools as the Farm to School Coordinator within the district’s Culinary & Wellness Services Department. In addition to sourcing food for school meals from small farmers in the region, she spearheads a variety of educational programs and community partnerships for the district. She is passionate about providing fresh, flavorful options for students and supporting our local food economy. Kate is a Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council member, AmeriCorps alumna, and graduate of St. Olaf College.

Luke Sharman
Volunteer Coordinator & Community Organizer, CHUM

Luke Sharman works for CHUM as a volunteer coordinator and community organizer focused on food security. He helps organize Fair Food Access’s grassroots efforts and advocates for state-wide food systems chang. He has a B.A. in English Literature and Sociology from Binghamton University.

Michael Stratten
University of Minnesota Extension

Micheal began working with Extension as a Community Nutrition Educator in 2015. He focuses his efforts on working in the Urban community to help create healthy behavior changes in community members diets and lives. He is a part of the Place based approach team in the Frogtown Rondo area of St. Paul. He partners with various agencies such as Urban Farm and Garden Alliance, Frogtown Farm, Ujjamma Place of St.Paul, and the YWCA of St.Paul. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies at the University Of Minnesota twin-cities.

Robin Trott
Extension Educator, University of Minnesota Extension

Robin Trott is an Extension Educator in agriculture and horticulture in Douglas County and also a grower. She participated in a shared gifting circle in May of 2017.

Miah Ulysse
Northside Fresh Coordinator & Policy Manager, Appetite for Change/Northside Fresh Coalition

Miah Ulysse coordinates Northside Fresh Coalition and is Appetite for Change's Policy Manager. She is passionate about cooperative, systems-based food movements and is committed to working with Coalition partners to continue building a stronger, for self-sufficient food system in North Minneapolis. Miah holds a BS in Food Systems from the University of Minnesota and has experience managing branding/marketing and developing capacity-building infrastructure for community food systems-focused organizations

José Luis Villaseñor Rangel
Executive Director, Tamales and Bicicletas

José Luis Villaseñor Rangel is the son of Mexican immigrants. As founder and Executive Director of Tamales y Bicicletas, Jose Luis works to raise awareness about the Indigenous cultural roots underlying many of today’s “green” efforts. Through this work, Jose Luis helps people understand that sustainability has always been a major cornerstone of Indigenous ways of living. As a child, Jose Luis vividly remembers the adobe home his father built. In the oral tradition, Jose Luis’ parents would tell him stories detailing the ways in which they constructed a sustainable life in Mexico - biking and walking transportation systems, purchasing or bartering for locally grown food. This process of cultural empowerment and reclaiming Mexican Indigenous technology is what informs Jose Luis’ youth work, thereby supporting immigrant students to live in harmony with themselves, their families, and mother earth. Following and rebuilding on these cultural traditions, Tamales y Bicicletas serves as a much-needed vehicle for Latino youth and families to learn about and organize for environmental and food justice.

Jennifer Webb
Junior League of Duluth member

Dr. Jennifer Webb joined the Junior League of Duluth in 2007 and was President of the organization in the 2015-16 year; she has been involved with the Edible Duluth: Denfeld project in various capacities. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Minnesota Duluth where she teaches classes in the history of art, architecture, and urban planning.

Susan Weisman
Senior Staff Attorney, Public Health Law Center, Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Susan Weisman provides legal technical assistance to public health advocates and government officials on the development, enactment, and implementation of local, state, and federal policies that promote healthy eating, active living, tobacco control, and health equity. Susan has worked closely with the Minnesotans for Healthy Kids Coalition and others on healthy food access issues, including farm-to-school, healthy food financing, and urban agriculture policy initiatives. She recently partnered with National Recreation and Park Association staff on a best practices guide to promote the reduction of food waste in out-of-school time settings.

Elenore Wesserle
LineBreak Media

BIO COMING SOON

Brooke Wetmore
Community Development Manager, Zeitgeist Center for Arts & Community

Brooke Wetmore is the Community Development Manager at Zeitgeist Center for Arts & Community in Duluth. As part of her role, she convenes the Fair Food Access Campaign partners to ensure effective collective impact. She has a degree in Urban & Regional Studies from the University of Minnesota - Duluth.

Diane Wilson
Executive Co-Director, Dream of Wild Health

Diane Wilson (Dakota) is the Executive Co-Director for Dream of Wild Health, a non-profit farm in Hugo, MN, that reconnects Native people with indigenous foods and medicines. She is the author of two award-winning books that focus on issues of assimilation, historical trauma, and cultural recovery: Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past; and Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life. As a 2013 Bush Foundation Fellow, Wilson focused on indigenous seed preservation.

Peter Woitock
Hunger Solutions

Peter Woitock is a Community Organizer with Hunger Solutions Minnesota where he advocates for hunger issues at the Capitol. Peter has been involved in the development and implementation of a state-wide effort to fund and develop mobile food shelves around Minnesota to increase access to healthy food by low-income Minnesotans. These efforts include advocacy work to obtain state funding for mobile food shelves as well as work with local groups to expand food distribution through mobile food shelf operations. He also works with the Market Bucks program to help SNAP-EBT users stretch their dollars at farmers markets.

Samty Xiong
Equity Specialist, The Food Group

Samty Xiong is a second generation Hmong-American. Her childhood food memories include free and reduced lunches and breakfasts, butchering chickens with her family, feeling embarrassed about her mom's urban foraging of Solomon's seal and black nightshade, and growing and freezing vegetables for winter. She creates new food memories by learning to cook and bake from scratch, growing her appreciation for Hmong food traditions, and increasing equity at all levels of the food system. She believes ending racial injustice is key to ending food insecurity and hunger. As the Equity Specialist at The Food Group, Samty facilitates and drives strategies to strengthen equity as a core organizational value and works with partners to build industry capacity around equity. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in International Studies and African Languages & Literature and a Certificate in Middle East Studies.

Song Xiong
Food Support Manager

Song Xiong is a registered dietitian and the food support program manager at Neighborhood House where she oversees two food markets (food shelves), over 20 mass produce distributions, SNAP outreach and NAPS distribution among other community initiatives. As the daughter of Hmong refugees with a curious mind, she is always searching for new ways to improve food access for the immigrant and refugee populations. Song is also a member of the community-based participatory action research group Somali, Latino, and Hmong Partnership for Health and Wellness (SoLaHmo).


 

 

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