Program

Alex Smith is a Senior Food and Agriculture Analyst at the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental think-tank in Berkeley, California. Alex works on topics related to agricultural innovation, geopolitics, and decarbonization and has written extensively on U.S. agricultural policy, protein transitions, and global food trade.

Emily Bass is the Federal Policy Manager for Food and Agriculture at the Breakthrough Institute, a global research center that works to identify and promote technological solutions to environmental and human development challenges. At Breakthrough, Emily focuses on coalition building and advocacy to implement policies that advance agricultural innovations to decarbonize the sector. Emily holds a BA in Public Policy and Economics from the College of William and Mary and she lives is Washington, DC.

John leads 3Degrees’ global agriculture strategy and brings over 15 years of experience in the agriculture and climate technology space. John has led a variety of projects including the development of regenerative agriculture programs and measurement scorecards that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and drive improvements in soil health, irrigation management, fertilizer use efficiency, and pesticide management. Additionally, John helps clients reduce their agriculture emissions through turnkey or co-developed supply chain intervention projects. John’s expertise in agriculture data management, remote sensing, and nature-based MRV technology, helps clients scale program management across diverse geographies and agricultural production systems. Prior to joining 3Degrees, John was Senior Vice President at Ceres Imaging, the leading data analytics and imaging company for the agriculture industry. In his role he helped CPGs, agriculture retailers, agriculture insurers, and large farming operations reduce risk and improve sustainability outcomes. Prior to Ceres Imaging, John was a Venture Partner at Piedmont Partners Group Ventures (PPGV), where he led diligence for PPGV’s agriculture investment strategy.

Max Elder is the co-founder and CEO of Nowadays, a venture-backed foodtech startup making plant-based meats with only a few simple ingredients and an unparalleled nutritional profile. Max is a multidisciplinary researcher, published author, keynote speaker, and trusted advisor to individuals and organizations across the global food system. He was a Research Director at the Institute for the Future (IFTF), the world’s leading futures thinking organization, where he co-led IFTF's Food Futures Lab.

Arthur Chow is a Vice President at S2G Ventures. Arthur supports the Food & Agriculture strategy, focusing on consumer brands, marketplaces, and automation across the supply chain. His responsibilities include evaluating and executing investments as well as managing and supporting portfolio companies.

Arthur began his career in investment banking at UBS and later joined Frontenac, a middle market private equity firm, where he focused on food and consumer buyouts. Seeking operating experience, he worked for the Kraft Heinz Company and managed a $2 billion commercial P&L within the Foodservice business unit. Arthur then joined S2G prior to pursuing his MBA, where he primarily spent time working with several early-stage consumer-focused food companies including Tovala, Once Upon a Farm, and Dom’s Kitchen and Market.

Arthur received a BBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business with Highest Distinction and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

John Farner is Executive Director of the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy. Bringing more than 25 years of experience as a leader in sustainability, focusing on water, land use, and agriculture, John currently serves as the Executive Director of the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy. Throughout his career, John has been at the forefront of promoting solutions to global environmental challenges. Speaking before the United States Congress, the United Nations and various other national and global organizations, John is recognized as one of the leading experts on global water challenges.Part of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the Babbitt Center advances the integration of land and water management to meet the current and future water needs in the Colorado River Basin and, ultimately, around the world.Prior to joining the Babbitt Center, John served as the global chief sustainability officer of Orbia Precision Agriculture - Netafim, where he oversaw all corporate social responsibility, regenerative agriculture initiatives, water replenishment activities, and circularity programs.John’s background is rooted in water and land policy. Having served as a presidential appointee, working for two members of Congress, and for the United States-based Irrigation Association, John continues his commitment to sustainability, water use and sound policy in his position with the Babbitt Center.John holds a B.A. in political science and communication from Virginia Polytechnic Institute University, in Blacksburg, Virginia. John is also a graduate of the Leadership Development Program from the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina.

A seasoned sustainability expert, Val has been working for over a decade driving funding to projects that protect nature and help mitigate or adapt to climate disruption. Serving Netafim USA in advocacy and new business development, Val brings together government and companies to increase the adoption of drip irrigation. Her work flips the script on the narrative that agriculture is a driver of climate change by featuring our nation’s farmers as a path toward climate resiliency. This is accomplished by modernizing irrigation infrastructure on crops that have some of the highest natural resource use, including water, demonstrating we can farm more efficiently using fewer resources, protecting our nation’s agricultural economy and maintaining food security. Prior to Netafim, Val was Chief Development Officer at the nonprofit, Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), where she led market development for water restoration as well as BEF’s carbon offset and renewable energy programs. In 2017, she accepted the US Water Alliance’s US Water Prize on behalf of the Change the Course water campaign that catalyzed hundreds of water restoration projects that saved billions of gallons of water across North America.Val has been quoted as an expert in The New York Times and Sustainable Brands, has written articles for GreenBiz and has been on the sustainability speaking circuit for over a decade. She is acknowledged for her role in Change the Course in Sandra Postel’s book Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity.

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin began working on economic development projects with indigenous Guatemalan communities in 1988. He served as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program’s Bureau for Latin America and as an advisor to the World Council of Indigenous Peoples and was a founding member of the Fair Trade Federation in 1994. Since migrating to the US in 1992, Regi has led the creation and launch of multiple enterprises. His first significant contribution to the US social enterprise sector was in 1995 when he founded Peace Coffee, a Minnesota-based fair-trade coffee company. Regi’s social enterprise development work includes woodland owner cooperatives and a multitude of inner-city new immigrant enterprise efforts in Minnesota.Haslett-Marroquin was named one of MN’s Twin Cities International Citizens of the Year in 1996. In 2008 he received two regional Service to Mankind Awards (SERTOMA). He has served on numerous non-profit boards. Regi serves on multiple advisory boards to organizations working on regenerative agriculture with a focus on agroforestry as a global solution to climate, hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Regi is Co-Founder and CEO of Tree-Range® Farms, a MN-based company, and leads multiple teams in Minnesota, South Dakota, Mexico, and Guatemala that have broken new ground in the regenerative food and agriculture field through an innovative Poultry Centered Regenerative Agriculture System he has pioneered.A native Guatemalan, Regi received his agronomy degree from the Escuela Nacional Central de Agricultura (ENCA), studied at the Universidad de San Carlos in Guatemala, and graduated from Augsburg University in Minnesota. Regi lives in Northfield Minnesota with his wife Amy, they own and operate a 65-acre farm where he continues to do to R&D on regenerative poultry production systems.

Anna Hammond is the Founder and CEO of Matriark Foods, a food waste startup that upcycles farm surplus and fresh-cut remnants into healthy, shelf-stable vegetable products for institutional foodservice. Matriark is building a circular food future, creating products that solve for inefficiencies in the supply chain while combating climate change—at scale. The first Matriark product to market is a low-sodium vegetable broth concentrate that diverts 1,500 pounds of vegetables from landfill and 1,033.35 pounds of methane gas per pallet sold. Since its founding in 2018, Matriark has participated in the Food Systems 6 Accelerator, the global Huhtamaki Circular Economy Start Up Program, and the Foodbuy Accelerator for Minority and Women Owned businesses. Matriark was featured as a leader and innovator in Tetra Pak’s 2020 global sustainability report. 

Prior to founding Matriark Foods, Hammond spent 25 years as a nonprofit leader at The Museum of Modern Art New York and Yale University, successfully building and scaling programs and teams into dynamic, impactful, stable organizations. Most recently, Hammond was Executive Director for The Sylvia Center, which provides evidence-based food and nutrition education programs to teens and families in public housing community centers across the 5 boroughs of NYC and in all 6 school districts in Columbia County in upstate New York. During her tenure, Hammond grew the program from 300 to more than 25,000 students, reducing health disparities in underserved communities and empowering the next generation to lead healthier lives. Hammond is a founding Board member of the Upcycled Food Association, and she serves as an advisor to The Rockland Farm Alliance and Heroic Food, a nonprofit that trains military veterans for careers in sustainable farming and food entrepreneurship.

Jay Watson leads efforts to advance progress on General Mills global impact initiatives, notably the 2030 regenerative agriculture commitment and enterprise climate ambition. In his role, Jay collaborates with farmers, farm advisors, NGOs, suppliers and retailers to deploy programs seeking to improve ecological and economic outcomes of agricultural systems in targeted supply sheds.

Prior to joining the Global Impact Team in 2017, Jay spent 10 years in a variety of buying roles within the company’s global sourcing organization. Jay holds B.S. in Finance and a B.S. in Economics from Arizona State University and a MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.

2021 Women of Power, 2019 GEN T Honoree, V Label Global Hero, 2 x TEDx Speaker: Serial social entrepreneur & trends forecaster Sonalie Figueiras is a sustainability expert, food futurist and eco-powerhouse who has been inspiring global audiences for over a decade with practical steps on how to fight climate change. Known as the Green Queen of Asia, she is the founder and Editor in Chief of the award-winning Green Queen - the region’s first impact media platform that educates millions of readers on the connection between health, sustainability and the environment and showcases future solutions. She is also the co-founder and CEO of organic sourcing platform Ekowarehouse and climate tech SaaS Source Green, which helps consumer brands quit plastic packaging thanks to proprietary plastic reduction software In addition, Sonalie is a global keynote speaker and an advisor to multiple mission-driven startups and NGOs, and a venture partner to several VC funds.

Littlefoot Ventures represents a culmination of knowledge and experiences from Eva’s 15 years as a food systems practitioner driving change on global agriculture and food issues within the foodservice, restaurant, and retail industries. As an internationally recognized food systems expert, she has spoken at 30+ conferences reaching thousands of people across the globe. 

Eva was a founding team member of ReFED, the leading non-profit dedicated to reducing U.S. food waste, serving in multiple roles. She secured the initial funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, General Mills Foundation, and Walmart Foundation to establish the organizational framework for ReFED, helping it become the food waste leader it is today. She was also responsible for the wide distribution of the original ReFED Roadmap report which continues to influence corporate and philanthropic food waste strategies, and policy agendas.

Previous to ReFED, she worked at the World Economic Forum serving on the food and agriculture team. There, she supported multi-stakeholder partnerships in 12 countries across Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America to mobilize investment and coordination amongst global food companies (Cargill, Mondelez, Nestle, SABMiller, Syngenta, Unilever, Yara amongst others), heads of state (including the G7), UN agencies (EDP, FAO, WFP) and farmer organizations. She started Littlefoot to provide more dedicated support and services to food businesses, foundations, and nonprofits focused on creating positive environmental, social and economic impact. In becoming a mother (and thus creating “little feet” of her own), Eva has more urgency to ensure we leave a better, safer food system for her children, and yours. She also uses her expertise to serve as President of the Upcycled Food Foundation Board of Directors.

She is based in Boulder County, Colorado with her husband and two beautiful, goofy children.

Michiel Bakker is an accomplished senior strategic, multi-disciplined, global ‘services and experiences’ business leader, grounded in hospitality with a touch of technology. As the visionary behind Google’s celebrated flagship Food@Work program, he brings deep experience in global operations, people, project, program, design / development, change management and food systems.

He presently leads Google’s Real Estate and Workplace Services’ (REWS) Global Programs Team (= Food, Transportation, Sustainability, ‘Global Events, Amenities and Guest Services’, Health and Performance and Placemaking) with overall responsibilities for the ongoing delivery of REWS global workplace programs & services to over 250K+ individuals around the world (55+ countries).

He is an active contributor to various Advisory Boards around the world, including the Culinary Institute of America (USA) Menus of Change Business Leadership Council, the Yale Center for Customer Insights’ Advisory Board (USA), the EAT Advisory Board (Sweden), and the Food & Nature Board of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. He is also an Executive Advisor for the Future Food Institute (Bologna, Italy), a member of the James Beard Foundation Board of Trustees and a member of the Dutch startup Orbisk Supervisory Board.

Before joining Google in 2012, Michiel spent two decades  in global hotel and food and beverage operations, creating and building out partnerships, leading hotel F&B developments, openings, and food experience design.

Husein Kitabwalla is CEO of Food Transformation and Tech & Services, North America, for Sodexo. As CEO of Food Transformation, he is responsible for carrying out Sodexo’s strategy for expanding our food services including food platform, convenience, digital & innovation, finance, M&A, marketing and strategy. As CEO of Tech & Services, he is responsible for a portfolio of activities including operational efficiency and growth, IT, facilities management services, foodservice program development, safety and supply management. Mr. Kitabwalla is a member of the North America Regional Leadership Committee for Sodexo, the global leader in Quality of Life services. Operating in 64 countries, Sodexo’s 420,000 employees serve 100 million consumers each day through On-site Services, Benefits and Rewards Services, and Personal and Home Services. Sodexo is committed to supporting diversity and inclusion and safety, while upholding the highest standards of corporate responsibility and ethical business conduct. Mr. Kitabwalla has a proven executive management track record and over 20 years of experience leading highly engaged teams that have developed and implemented award winning branded solutions and marketing strategies to drive Sodexo’s performance. Prior to his current position, he was the Global Head of Marketing for Sodexo’s Corporate Services segment, where he was responsible for creating and ensuring the execution of the company’s marketing vision. Before that, he established and led a global pricing team, responsible for coordinating Sodexo’s research, development and deployment of consumer pricing. He was named a “Mover and Shaper” in Restaurants & Institutions magazine as well as a national Finalist for the 2009 National Association Faces of Diversity Award. He serves on multiple advisory boards including the Conference Board, Founding Member of Fast Casual Executive Alliance and Technomics. He earned his BS degree from The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH.

Seth’s professional mission is to inspire a sustainable future. He sees the food system as the keystone that best connects the economy, society, and environment. At GreenBiz, Seth curates VERGE’s Food Program, co-authors the Food Weekly newsletter and collaborates with the conference team to walk the talk by building and implementing best-in-class sustainable food practices.

Prior to GreenBiz, Seth worked on collaborative solutions to global food systems, circular economy, and biodiversity challenges. He holds an MSc in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University and a BSc in Natural Resource Management from the University of Delaware.

Seth lives in Vermont with his partner. When he is not working or pampering their pets, you’ll find him enjoying seasonal outdoor activities and supporting the local food and beverage scene with his taste buds and wallet.

Nicole Jenkins is a Project Manager and the US Beef Sector lead with Environmental Defense Fund's Business team. She leverages EDF's economic, scientific, and political expertise to collaborate with and provide support to food companies in driving critical climate action in animal agriculture, particularly the beef and poultry sectors. Nicole has an M.S. in Agriculture, Food, and Environment from the Tufts University Friedman School and a background in environmental non-profit and food sector consulting work intent on creating more holistically sustainable supply chains.

Jessica has spent her career creating system change through partnerships, focusing on elevating the voices of those with lived experiences to serve the broader needs.AS the Director of the Soil & Climate Alliance her focus is on engaging with those across the food and agriculture supply chain to shift toward whole scale regenerative transition to rebuild soil health, restore climate balance, and revitalize farmers, farmworkers, and rural communities. Bringing together expertise in small grains agriculture, children’s nutrition, and global politics Jessica is able to lead initiatives focusing on connecting agriculture, food, and health, while supporting policy initiatives to ensure investment to move projects to scale.Prior to her work with the Soil and Climate Alliance Jessica collaborated on the creation of market opportunities for famers while educating consumers on the value of locally sourced products in the Mid-Atlantic Region through her work with FRESHFARM.Over the course of her career Jessica has built relationships across Central and South Asia, as well as Latin America to support resources flowing to and through communities on the front lines of development across the energy and health industries.

Jon earned his BS in Chemistry from the University of St. Thomas and a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of California – San Diego. After graduate school, Jon joined Steelcase Inc. as their environmental chemist and eventually moved into a role as a leader in sustainable design and development. He joined Andersen Windows & Doors where he served as corporate sustainability manager and was responsible for product lifecycle assessments, material ingredient transparency, and preparing Andersen for a future in the circular economy. Jon is now the VP of Circularity and Senior Analyst at GreenBiz Group, a media and events company that works to accelerate the just transition to a clean economy.

Andrea Learned is a writer and social strategist by way of marketing to women and sustainable business. The thread that has run through her 25+ year career has been building connections in meaningful and human scale ways. No matter the frame, her work has always been about seeing behind the task at hand, and looking beyond the next quarter, to connect people and projects in ways that move the big ideas forward. She's enjoyed a career in writing and consulting on marketing to women that led to a deeper look at organizational leadership and then collided (in a good way) with her personal passion for sustainability.  From there she wrote a Master’s thesis on what makes for good corporate sustainability leadership, and that’s when she jumped into social networking with both feet. Connecting and discovering how social engagement can so significantly amplify ideas and messages – and forward movement scale change – is what now drives her work as both a writer and social engagement consultant.  Learned has written for numerous industry trade publications and regularly writes for the Huffington Post, eBrandingmarketing.com, and Marketingprofs.com, as well as her own blog, Learned On Women. She has presented to international business audiences, from the Gulf Marketing Review conference in Dubai, U.A.E, and the Baltic Marketing & Advertising conference in Tallinn, Estonia, to U.S.-based gatherings, such as: the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, the Photo Marketing Association International and the American Gem Society. Follow Learned on Twitter @AndreaLearned.