Schumacher is the former Under Secretary for farm and foreign agricultural services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Prior to his appointment as Under Secretary, he was the administrator of USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Before joining the USDA, Schumacher served at the World Bank and as the Massachusetts Commissioner of Food and Agriculture.

During his tenure in Massachusetts, the number of the states’ farmers markets grew from 34 to 88 and roadside stands showed strong growth. Schumacher created the Farmers Market Coupon program that provided coupons to low-income mothers and senior for use at farmers markets and also helped develop new markets for local farmers. The coupon program was replicated by numerous other states and eventually became the federal FMNP (WIC) and SFMNP (seniors) program.

As the son of displaced farmers, Michel Nischan, CEO/President, grew up with a great appreciation for local agriculture and those who work the land. He translated these childhood values into a career as a professional chef and restaurateur, becoming a catalyst for change in the sustainable food movement. Nischan has devoted his life to “cuisine of well-being,” focused on pure, flavorful, local, organic foods without highly processed ingredients. H He is chef/owner of Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant at the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Connecticut. He won a 2008 James Beard Foundation award for Best TV Segments for his work on PBS’ “Victory Garden” and author of two best-selling cookbooks –2004 James Beard Award winning Taste Pure and Simple (Chronicle Books, 2003) and Homegrown, Pure and Simple (Chronicle Books, 2005). Nischan’s third cookbook – Sustainably Delicious: Making the World a Better Place, One Recipe at a Time will be released in April 2010.

Betsy Fink is co-chair of Marshall Street Management and President of the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation, which focuses on conservation and environmental education.

In 2005, Fink established Millstone Farm in Wilton, Connecticut, which is dedicated to preserving and promoting local, sustainable agriculture, and which provides its own eggs and produce to a select group of area restaurants and markets. Millstone works with land trusts, environmental organizations and local farmers to preserve valuable agricultural land and develop sustainable agricultural models. Fink also serves on the Board of the American Farmland Trust and the Wilton Land Trust.

Nora Pouillon is a pioneer and champion of organic, environmentally conscious cuisine. She opened Restaurant Nora in 1979 in Washington, D.C. and was immediately recognized for her ability to create healthy and delicious organic dishes. In 1999, the restaurant became the nation’s first certified organic restaurant. Only three other restaurants have achieved this goal.

Pouillon also serves on the boards of the Amazon Conservation Team, Environmental Film Festival, Fresh Farm Markets and Earth Day Network and is an advisor to the Center for Mind Body Medicine’s “Food as Medicine” program, as well as Rachel’s Network.

Nell Newman launched Newman’s Own® Organics: The Second Generation® with business partner Peter Meehan in 1993. Great tasting products that happen to be organic is the company’s motto. She is the President of the company, which started as a division of Newman’s Own and has been an independent company since 2000. Nell’s responsibilities are in the areas of product development and marketing.

The daughter of actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Nell had an early introduction to natural foods at their rural Connecticut home. The family had a garden, raised chickens, and Nell was taught to cook by her mother, as well as spending many hours fishing with her father. While in college, she continued to experiment in the kitchen, and is still the designated chef when home for family holiday dinners.

Nell attended the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, graduating with
a B.S. in human ecology. She worked briefly at the Environmental Defense Fund in New York, but, preferring a more rural environment, moved to Northern California. She was the Executive Director of the Ventana Wilderness Sanctuary, which was working to reestablish the bald eagle in central California. After two and a half years, she left Ventana Wilderness Sanctuary and began fundraising for the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group.

The late Michael Batterberry with his wife Ariane were founders of Food Arts and Food & Wine magazines. Batterberry served as director of the American Institute of Wine & Food for six years.

Batterberry also served on the board of the French Culinary Institute and as a member of the Corporation of The Culinary Institute of America and previously, on the board of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs. The Batterberrys were on the founders’ committee of advisor members for the U.S. Pastry Alliance and on the advisory committees of the New York Restaurant School and the NYU Department of Food & Nutrition Studies. He served on the board of advisors to the Rockefeller Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.

Adrienne Houël is executive director of Fairfield County Housing Partnership and Founder of Greater Bridgeport Community Enterprises (The Green Team). A multi-talented individual with over 25 years of global senior management experience, Houël has developed numerous international projects, including more than 700 units of affordable housing in Europe. While based in Paris, Houël served two years as financial director of Kaufman & Broad, a residential, commercial real estate firm. She co-founded two real estate development firms in France (1979-1994) and then supervised operations, staff, and strategic marketing for international companies in Russia, the Ukraine, and Ireland. She returned to her hometown of Bridgeport in 2001.

In the Bridgeport region, Houël has designed, funded and operated workforce development training programs, conducted studies concerning affordable housing, funded and developed affordable housing projects and worked with for-profit corporations to develop and implement change management strategies. Most recently, she has focused on the creation of green jobs and business development in the energy conservation and Brownfields remediation sectors through GBCE, a federally funded community development corporation.

Houël is a graduate of Harvard Business School with a master’s degree in business administration. She has a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Antioch College.

Glenn Ford parlayed an advanced degree from Northwestern University and two undergraduate business degrees from Eastern Illinois University to become a senior executive with the companies PepsiCo, Baxter Healthcare, Indiana National Bank and Electronic Data Systems. He left his career with Fortune 500 companies to teach marketing and to become an entrepreneur. His entrepreneurial pursuits and care for the plight of the urban ethnic community has led him to form Praxis Foods, which will be building grocery stores in urban areas that have been deserted or ignored by leading grocers. Commonly referred to as “food deserts,” some of these communities have not seen a new grocer in over thirty-five years. Glenn lives in Minnetonka and is the father of two grown children.

Andrew Hertzmark is a partner at Generation Partners, a private equity investment firm located in Greenwich, Connecticut. At Generation, he focuses on making investments in the healthcare services, healthcare technology and education sectors. Prior to joining Generation in 2004, Hertzmark was an associate at Galen Partners, a New York-based private equity firm focused on growth equity investments in the healthcare industry.

Hertzmark also served as an analyst in the investment banking divisions of UBS and Dillon, Read & Co. where he worked on a variety of mergers, acquisitions and capital raising assignments for companies in the healthcare sector. Additionally, he worked in the business development group at Pfizer, Inc.

Hertzmark earned a bachelor of arts in economics and political science from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business. He currently serves on the board of Virtual Radiologic Corporation, the largest provider of teleradiology services in the US; Post Education, a 120 year-old, regionally accredited, degree granting university based in Waterbury, Connecticut; and Shopwiki, a comparative shopping search engine. In addition to Wholesome Wave, he also is a board member of The New York League for Early Learning, a New York-based provider of services for children with developmental disabilities. Andrew lives with his wife and daughter in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.

Recognized as a world-leading social entrepreneur with a lifetime fellowship from Ashoka – Innovators for the Public Good, Daniel Ross has served for over 14 years as Executive Director of Nuestras Raíces, a grass-roots organization to promote economic, human and community development in Holyoke, Massachusetts through projects relating to food, agriculture and the environment, and Solutions Community Development Corporation. He has helped community members start over 25 sustainable small food and agriculture businesses, launched and served as Board Chairman of Energía, a for-profit social enterprise energy-efficiency services company.

Ross is also the founding leader of the Holyoke Food & Fitness Policy Council (awarded a $4.5 million WK Kellogg Foundation grant in 2007), the Holyoke Youth Task Force and the Pioneer Valley Environmental Coalition (funded by the US EPA). He has previous experience working with community health clinics in New Jersey, Florida and Massachusetts to develop migrant farm worker outreach programs with the East Coast Migrant Health Project. He was the winner of Ashoka Fellowship in 2007, the Do Something Brick Award for Community Leadership in 1999, Environmental Recognition from the City of Holyoke Conservation Commission in 2001, as well as a recognized leader by the WK Kellogg Foundation.

Ross is a husband and father of 3 children, marathon runner, and youth soccer coach.

Melissa Ho has over 15 years of experience in agriculture research, development and policy. Currently an Analyst in Agricultural Policy with the Congressional Research Service (CRS), Melissa is well versed in the challenges facing America’s farmers and the agriculture sector. The primary issue areas she covers for Congress include: international agricultural development, global food security, U.S. food aid programs, agricultural export programs, climate adaptation and agriculture, and agricultural research, education and extension, among other issues. Previously, Melissa was a Program Officer in the Agriculture Development Program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where she developed, implemented and managed a portfolio of grants related to agricultural water management for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Prior to working with the Gates Foundation, Melissa served as the Agriculture Policy Advisor for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, where she worked on agricultural, environmental and child nutrition policy. While in Senator Clinton’s office, she drafted legislation related to rural revitalization, strengthening market linkages for small- and medium-sized farmers, and improving the quality of school nutrition program. She also planned and implemented several local and regional food initiatives in New York State. Melissa has lived and worked abroad including in Zamorano, Honduras, where she conducted field research at the Panamerican School of Agriculture, and in Nairobi, Kenya, where she was a Program Associate at the World Agroforestry Center.

Melissa was a Rotary International Fellow in 1993, a Heinz Environmental Scholar in 2004, and an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Policy Fellow in 2005. She has a B.Sc. in Environmental Systems from Cornell University, a M.Sc. in Soil Science from U.C. Davis, and a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from Penn State University.

A national leader in sustainable agriculture and food systems, Dr. Hesterman has published more than 400 reports and articles. He played an essential role in the establishment of the Michigan Food Policy Council. Dr. Hesterman has also made significant contributions to the funding of healthy food and farming via his leadership of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders group. As a former farmer and an avid potter, Dr. Hesterman’s eclectic and innovative experiences contribute grounded guidance to Wholesome Wave Foundation.

Dr. Hesterman is the inaugural president and chief executive officer of the Fair Food Foundation. Prior to that, Dr. Hesterman worked at the Kellogg Foundation for 12 years, where he envisioned and nurtured food system projects, partnerships and collaborations, national and international in scope. He also organized national and international seminars on sustainable agriculture and community-based food systems on behalf of the Kellogg Foundation.

Dr. Hesterman earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of California-Davis in plant science/vegetable crops and agronomy, respectively. He received his doctorate in agronomy and business administration from the University of Minnesota, in St. Paul.