FP Virtual Summit: Food+

Thomas J. Vilsack was confirmed as the 32nd United States Secretary of Agriculture on Feb. 23, 2021 by the U.S. Senate. He was nominated by President Joe Biden to return to a role where he served for eight years under President Barack Obama. Under Secretary Vilsack’s leadership, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is building back better by restoring the American economy, strengthening rural and historically underserved communities, responding to threats of climate change, creating good-paying jobs for American workers and the next generation of agricultural leaders, and investing in our kids and our families. Secretary Vilsack is spearheading a transformation of the food system by creating more, better, and fairer markets and ensuring that the food system of today and the future is more resilient and more competitive globally. It will also offer consumers affordable, nutritious food grown closer to home. From excessive drought to more extreme fires, our producers, farmers and ranchers are on the frontlines confronting the challenges associated with climate change. USDA is engaging the agriculture and forestry sectors in voluntary, incentive-based climate solutions to improve the resiliency of producers and to build wealth that stays in rural communities. Additionally, USDA is advancing investments in science and research to offer producers a toolbox to adapt to and mitigate climate change. Secretary Vilsack continues to take bold, historic action to reduce barriers to access for historically underserved communities. By working to ensure all aspects of civil rights and equity are integrated, USDA is rooting out generations of systemic racism and building systems and programs inclusive of all USDA employees and customers. Secretary Vilsack is also focused on ensuring Americans have consistent access to safe, healthy, and affordable food. USDA is investing in bold solutions that enhance food safety, improve the various far-reaching and powerful nutrition programs in the Department, and reduce food and nutrition insecurity in America.

Rasmus Prehn was appointed Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries in Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's Government on 19 November 2020, representing the Danish Social Democrats. Prior to his appointment, he served as Minister for Development Cooperation from 27 June 2019. The Danish Government has set an ambitious goal in terms of cutting Denmark’s greenhouse gas emissions with 70 percent by 2030. Tackling the food loss and waste challenge is at the same time one of the top priorities on Prehn’s political agenda. Rasmus Prehn has an extensive parliamentary career. He has served as elected member of the Danish Parliament since 2005.

Congressman Jim Baird is a lifelong resident of West Central Indiana. He proudly represents Indiana’s 4th Congressional District, which includes 16 counties, and serves on the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Before being elected to Congress, he served eight years as a State Representative in the Indiana General Assembly. During this time, he was a member of the Ways and Means Committee and played an integral role in balancing Indiana’s budget. He is a strong believer in fiscal responsibility and applied the idea of living within our means, helping to keep Indiana a place where Hoosiers can thrive and businesses can grow. He also served on the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, the Statutory Committee on Interstate and International Cooperation, the Environmental Affairs Committee, the Statutory Committee on Ethics, the Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee, where he provided assistance and insight, and authored legislation relating to these areas. Additionally, Congressman Baird served in local government as a County Commissioner where he focused on improving his community's infrastructure and keeping local services efficient and cost-effective. Congressman Baird is a decorated Vietnam War veteran, as his distinguished service to our country was recognized with a Bronze Star with V device and two Purple Hearts. He and his unit were inducted in the United States Transportation Corps Hall of Fame. One of the Gun Trucks from the unit, “The Eve of Destruction” is on display in the Transportation Museum in Ft. Eustis, Virginia.

Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett represents the United States Virgin Islands’ at-large Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. She is currently serving her fourth term in Congress. For the 117th Congress, the members of the House Steering and Policy Committee unanimously appointed Congresswoman Plaskett to serve on the House Committee on Ways and Means, the oldest and one of the most exclusive committees in Congress. In true historic fashion, Mrs. Plaskett is the first Member from a U.S. territory and the fourth African-American woman to serve on this committee. Currently serving her fourth term on the House Committee on Agriculture Congresswoman Plaskett previously served as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research. Mrs. Plaskett is also a new member of the House Committee on Budget.
Congresswoman Plaskett has also previously served on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, as well as the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Mrs. Plaskett is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, House Blockchain Caucus, and the New Democrat Coalition where she is a co-chair of the Infrastructure Taskforce and the at-large Leadership Member. Congresswoman Plaskett also co-chairs the Congressional Caribbean Caucus.

Ravi Agrawal is the editor in chief of Foreign Policy. Before joining FP, Agrawal worked at CNN for more than a decade, including his most recent position as the network’s New Delhi bureau chief and correspondent. Previously, he served as a senior producer in CNN’s New York and London bureaus, receiving a Peabody Award and three Emmy nominations for his work. Agrawal is the author of India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy. He is a graduate of Harvard University.

Maura Barry serves as the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator in USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security and as interim USAID Global Water Coordinator. In this role, she oversees the implementation of the Agency’s responsibilities under the U.S. Global Water Strategy. Ms. Barry also oversees the bureau’s strategy, program, budget and administrative functions, which support implementation of both the Water for the World and Feed the Future initiatives. Prior to joining RFS, she served as the Deputy of the Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance in USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance. Before returning to Washington, she served for a year as the Acting Deputy Chief of Mission to the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica.

Chuck Conner is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC), a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing the interests of U.S. agricultural cooperatives. Previously, Conner served as Deputy Secretary for the US Department of Agriculture. As Deputy Secretary for the USDA, Conner served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) overseeing day-to-day operations including development of a $95 billion budget for the 26 USDA agencies representing 300 programs and more than 100,000 employees. Conner’s experience also includes the assignment of Special Assistant to the President, Executive Office of the President, from October 2001 to May 2005. In this role, he worked directly with President George W. Bush and his senior staff on the 2001/02 Farm Bill to develop the strategy behind the transfer of several USDA agency functions to the newly formed Department of Homeland Security. From May 1997 to October 2001 Conner served as President of the Corn Refiners Association. He navigated and negotiated the interests of both large and small companies to gain consensus on the association’s budget and policy direction. Conner is a graduate of Purdue University, with a Bachelor’s of Science degree and is the recipient of Purdue’s Distinguished Alumni Award. He and his wife Dru have four children.

Pilu is the 5th generation of farmers in her family, in Santa Fe province, Argentina. Mother of  Manuel (27) and Felipe (26). She is an Agronomy Engineer, farmer and consultant, with a Post  Degree in Senior Management in Agribusiness and Food.  As the daughter of one of the pioneers and as Honorary President of Aapresid, the Argentine  NoTill Farmers Association, carries the legacy of commitment to production linked to environmental care and social development along with institutional participation in her DNA. Participates and she is a member of different institutions and initiatives in the country and globally, promoting the Argentine leadership and advocacy of sustainable production systems and the power of the bioeconomy to meet not only current but also future demands. Promotes the role and voice of the farmers at the highest level of local, regional and global discussion. She is involved in communication and in a weekly radio program to bring the "farm" close to the whole society.  Also linked to the country's CSOs that work to prevent Child Malnutrition and Food Waste. Between June 2016 and March 2018 she had her first experience in the Government as  Coordinator of Policies for Sustainable Development in the Ministry of Agribusiness of the Nation. During 2018 founded with others colleagues, the Rural Women Network, inspired on the W20  discussion during the G20 Argentine Presidency.

Maciej Golubiewski is the Head of Cabinet of Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr.
Janusz Wojciechowski. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Washington and Lee University (1999) and a Master of Arts degree in Political
Science from the Johns Hopkins University (2005). He also holds an International
Baccalaureate Diploma from the United World College of the Atlantic in the UK.
After graduation, he moved to Washington D.C. where he spent three years in
business consulting at Charles River Associates International (CRAI) before going on
to graduate school. During his studies Mr. Golubiewski interned with the office of
Senator Richard Lugar, served as a summer fellow at the Heritage Foundation and
was an associate scholar at the Center for European Policy Analysis. For close to
five years, he was a teaching assistant and lecturer in political science and
international relations at the Johns Hopkins University and spent two semesters as a
visiting professor at Mannheim University in Germany. In 2008, he joined, as an established official, the Directorate General for Development and Relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries at the European Commission in Brussels as a desk responsible for regional political and economic cooperation with the Horn, East and Southern Africa region. During that
time he participated in the Economic Partnership Agreement free trade negotiations with the African regional blocks. In 2011, he was transferred to the newly created European External Action Service, where, since 2012, he had been responsible for preparing the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council positions on the developing conflict in Syria. Between 2014 and 2016, Mr. Golubiewski served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and the Head of the Political Section at the EU Delegation to Lebanon in Beirut and between 2017 and 2019 as the Consul General of the Republic of Poland
in New York. Mr. Golubiewski sits on an advisory board of the Integral Economic Development
master programs at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C, and for almost ten years has been associated with the Sobieski Institute in Warsaw as an expert on the EU and foreign policy. He speaks Polish, English and French.

Farming in West Liberty, Iowa, Mark Heckman volunteers as a board member for the Global Farmer Network and is currently serving on the Animal Ag and Environment Committee for Iowa Corn, and as Advisor for the US Grains Council. He and his family partnership farm about 1,500 acres of corn and soybeans with a focus on soil health. The family farm also includes pork and cattle production. Heckman Farms uses technology that supports the sustainable use of hog and cattle manure while maintaining water quality standards and good relationships with his neighbors. Mark is focused on improving sustainable production of food, feed, and fuel, and off-the-farm is a Senior Regulatory Consultant for EcoEngineers of Des Moines, Iowa. Mark is a past member of the Soil Health Partnership and has dedicated much of his career assisting producers and companies focus on specialty markets and renewable fuels. He also has expertise in Strategic Risk Management, Commodity and Energy Procurement, Policy Development, and Raw Material Exposure Coverage.

Teresa manages the foundation’s Oceans initiative, which aims to bring fisheries under good management that protects ecosystems and builds economically thriving coastal communities by leveraging the influence of the largest seafood markets. Before joining the foundation, Teresa was the seafood project manager for the Corporate Partnerships Program at Environmental Defense Fund, where she worked with leading seafood buyers to develop and implement sustainable seafood purchasing policies. She co-founded FishWise, an early leader in the sustainable seafood movement and served on its board of directors. Teresa has a master’s degree in marine science and joint bachelors in environmental studies and marine biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. She is in the process of completing a certificate in Corporate Finance at the Harvard Extension School.

Krause Holsteins is a sixth-generation dairy farm, located in Buffalo, Minn. Today, three generations work together, Charles Krause with his father Warren, wife Robyn and their children, Andrew and Morgan, milking 225 holstein cows. The newest barn at Krause Holsteins uses a truss system to increase airflow and thermostat-controlled curtains to improve cow comfort and increase energy efficiency. The barn also recycles the manure into bedding and in addition to the environmental benefits, it’s actually better bedding for the cows.

Chef Bun Lai is the recipient of the 2016 White House Champion of Change Award for Sustainable Seafood, a James Beard Award nominee for Best Chef, and an author who has written articles for Scientific American and Harvard Design Magazine. His Connecticut eatery, Miya’s, is the first sustainable sushi restaurant in the world and specializes in avant-garde sushi recipes featuring sustainable seafood, invasive species, and plant-based ingredients.

Maggie Lake is a veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering business, technology, politics, and international affairs. She started her career at Reuters, where she worked in both the New York and London bureaus covering economics and global finance. In 2001, she joined CNN International, where she served as a correspondent and anchor for the network’s flagship business shows. Over the course of her career, she has interviewed the world’s top CEOs, celebrities, and politicians and has been a consistent champion of economic inclusion and sustainable development. She has served as a weekly contributor for NPR and moderated events for the United Nations, World Bank, Council on Foreign Relations, and Global Citizen. She now runs the communications consultancy Maggie Lake Media and is a founding board member of the newly created Rutgers University Center for Women in Business.

Dr. Hoesung Lee is the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, elected since October 2015, and Endowed Chair Professor at Korea University Graduate School of Energy and Environment, Seoul, Korea. He is Chair of the Asian Development Bank President’s Advisory Board on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Lee was the founding president of the Korea Energy Economics Institute -- a government agency for national energy policy development. He was Distinguished Research Fellow at the Korea Environment Institute, senior adviser to the Minister of Energy and Resources and the Minister of Environment, senior fellow at the Korea Development Institute, and economist at Exxon Company USA. He served as the president of the International Association for Energy Economic, a member of the International Advisory Board of the Battelle-Pacific Northwest National Lab, USA, the Board of Directors of Hyundai Corporation and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan. He served as Vice-Chair of IPCC 2008- 2015, and Co-chair of Working Group III of the Second Assessment, lead author and review editor for the various IPCC assessments. He was named to the 2019 TIME 100 Most Influential People in the world. He received the 2020 IAEE Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession.

Amelia Lester is the executive editor at Foreign Policy. She has worked as a journalist on three continents, most recently reporting in Japan for publications including the Economist, the New York Times, and the New York Review of Books. Previously, she was editor in chief of the weekend magazine of the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age newspapers and, before that, managing editor and an executive editor of the New Yorker. Amelia lives in Washington, D.C., and is a graduate of Harvard University.

Spike’s career, spanning nearly three decades, can be described as nothing short of creatively diverse. From chef and restaurateur to television personality, product developer and consultant, Spike is a force to be reckoned within the culinary world. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America and making his television debut on Bravo TV’s Top Chef, Spike went on to appear on several other cooking-related shows, including Life After Top Chef, Iron Chef America, Late Night Chef Fight and Beat Bobby Flay. He also hosted Midnight Feast and Food Network’s Kitchen Sink. In 2008, Spike opened up the first restaurant in his culinary empire on Washington DC’s Capitol Hill: Good Stuff Eatery. His burger joint quickly became a favorite of political elites, including President Barack Obama. This success inspired a cookbook (The Good Stuff Cookbook) and led to multiple locations across the country and overseas. Following the opening of Good Stuff Eatery, Spike opened up We, The Pizza, Béarnaise and Santa Rosa Taqueria. Spike’s newest restaurant, PLNT Burger, is dedicated to crafting and redefining some of America’s favorite foods without the use of any animal products. Outside of his restaurants, Spike’s popular DC speakeasy (The Sheppard) paved the way for a second concept called The Morris. Applying his experience and expertise as a chef and restaurateur, Spike has worked with several brands by providing them with creative and comprehensive culinary consulting services. Spike is currently designing kitchens as culinary director for Van Metre Homes, Northern Virginia’s premier home builder. Other consulting projects include Sunny’s and Campton Yard in Miami Beach and Vim & Victor at the state-of-the-art sports and active entertainment center, The St. James, in Virginia. In an effort to put his passion for food equity and education into action, Spike began working with organizations like CARE and DC Central Kitchen as a chef ambassador and contributor. His work landed him the position as the first chairman of DC’s Food Policy Council. He has used his voice to speak out about improving the quality of school lunches, equal access to whole and healthy foods and for the protection of the SNAP program. Spike continues to partner with groups like Food Rescue US and Food Policy Action to make a positive impact on our food system. Most recently, Spike has combined his intimate knowledge of the Relais & Chateau kitchen life with his experience in media production by partnering with Show of Force as an executive producer to deliver a riveting and never-before-seen look behind the curtain that is the Inn at Little Washington. The Inn At Little Washington: A Delicious New Documentary premiered at the Virginia Film Festival in 2019, aired on PBS in early 2020 and is now available on Amazon Prime Video. Spike lives in the DC area with his wife, Cody, and their son. When he’s not in the kitchen or lobbying on The Hill, Spike can be found surfing any river or ocean that has a wave.  

Adam's interests bridge the worlds of music, sustainability, law, academia, policy, marketing, and technology. As the bassist for AJR, he has traveled the world on sold-out tours, achieved platinum certifications in numerous countries, and recorded a repertoire of music that has garnered more than 2.5 billion streams worldwide. As the founder and Executive Director of Sustainable Partners Inc., he leads a nonprofit that addresses climate change systems through media, academic research fellowships, and incentive-based initiatives. A graduate of Columbia University, Adam received a dual degree in business and philosophy. He also holds a Master’s from New York University in constitutional religious law and is currently pursuing his PhD in international human rights law, advocating for a reconciling of tensions between sustainable development and human rights obligations. Adam’s work with the UN Development Programme as a development advocate fosters awareness on social media and beyond of sustainability, rights violations and solutions. He has brought his interdisciplinary perspective to his writing for publications including Billboard Magazine, Fortune, Mashable, and Quartz, and he is the host of the podcast Planet Reimagined.

David Moscow is on a worldwide adventure to discover how food really makes it onto your plate, by making signature restaurant meals literally from scratch – and by ‘from scratch’ he doesn’t mean preparing food with basic pantry items! David will hunt, gather, dive, forage and grow each ingredient to make one signature meal in each episode. So many ingredients go into every bite – history, geography, culture, anthropology, science and technology.

Reena is a television journalist who has worked as a White House correspondent, foreign reporter, and news anchor for ABC, CBS, and Fox News. She has reported around the world from India to Israel, Libya to Lebanon. She was the anchor, most recently, of the CBS evening news on Saturday nights. She is the founder of Good Trouble Productions, a media company focused on creating content with purpose.

Dr. Robert (Bob) Reiter serves as a member of the Executive Leadership Team and Head of Research & Development (R&D), Crop Science division of Bayer. Reiter oversees the Crop Science R&D pipeline, leading thousands of scientists in the creation of world-class sustainable agricultural solutions with the goal of helping farmers grow enough safe and affordable food while protecting the planet that
sustains us. Having held various leadership roles across Research & Development as well as in Supply Chain, Reiter has nearly 30 years of experience in discovering, developing and delivering innovative R&D solutions in crop science. He holds a Master of Science and a Doctorate in Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from The Pennsylvania State University.

Susan Sadigova is Foreign Policy’s Vice President of Strategic Development. She is responsible for developing long-term institutional partnerships with public and private sectors through FP Magazine, www.foreignpolicy.com, FP Analytics, and FP events. She is also in charge of developing custom programs tailored to specific client challenges. Susan has more than 10 years of business development and international government relations experience with US federal agencies, foreign governments and the private sector. Prior to joining FP, she ran an American non-profit with 55+ member companies focused on Eurasia-US relationships, assisting with market entry, partner identification, financing and investment, contracts and proposals. Prior to that, she spent two years with British Embassy in Baku as a Manager for Government Relations on behalf of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Susan also has extensive event management and public speaking experience. She is fluent in English, Russian, Turkish and Azerbaijani. Susan holds a Master’s degree in International Public Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University.

Andrew Sollinger is Foreign Policy’s Publisher. He joined FP in March 2018 to oversee all revenue generating efforts through subscriptions, sponsorships, advertising, events, podcasts and new ventures. Most recently at Business Insider as EVP – Subscriptions, Andrew previously ran the business side of Politico’s Capital New York acquisition (now Politico New York), was Managing Director – Americas at the Financial Times, and helped build and sell the digital startup Money Media to FT. He started his media career as a journalist at Institutional Investor, and was based in New York, London and Hong Kong. He has extensive experience in management, product development, digital and subscription sales, research, and in setting strategy.

For the past three decades, Steve has been a passionate defender of our natural world. His professional career began as an investigator and campaigner against the illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging, and the illicit trade in ozone-depleting chemicals. As the Campaigns Director for the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and now as CEO of EJF, Steve has led investigations documenting the corrupt, brutal and devastating practices that have damaged wildlife populations and natural ecosystems across Asia, Africa and South America. Steve is also a founding Director of WildAid, served as President and led the China and India programmes to reduce the illegal wildlife trade. Steve oversaw successful campaigns, compelling films and partnerships, using the strapline “When the buying stops, the killing can too”. Steve is a gifted strategist and orator who has created “surgical” campaigns that reach the highest levels of political decision making. His tireless dedication has secured changes to policies, laws and enforcement, business and public behaviours that have greatly improved the governance of our natural world. With a determination to amplify the voice of the communities that live alongside some of
the world’s most threatened ecosystems, Steve devised an activist training programme to provide training, essential equipment, and support to environmental defenders. He is committed to protecting the rights of those people who are most dependent upon the conservation of the natural world and to bringing ignored issues into the spotlight.

Georgia-born French-trained Chef Virginia Willis’ biography includes making chocolate chip cookies with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, foraging for berries in the Alaskan wilderness, harvesting capers in the shadow of a smoldering volcano in Sicily, and hunting for truffles in France. She is talent and chef-instructor for the digital streaming platform Food Network Kitchen. Her segments feature authentic and innovative Southern cooking. She was the celebrity chef at the Mansion at Churchill Downs for the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby. Virginia has spoken at SXSW, cooked for the James Beard Foundation, and beguiled celebrities such as Bill Clinton, Morgan Freeman, and Jane Fonda with her cooking — but it all started in her grandmother’s country kitchen. She is the author of Secrets of the Southern Table: A Food Lover’s Tour of the Global South. Her other books include Lighten Up, Y’all; Bon Appétit, Y’all; Basic to Brilliant, Y’all; Okra; and Grits. Lighten Up, Y’all won a James Beard Foundation Award of Excellence in the Focus on Health Category. Lighten Up, Y’all as well as her first cookbook, Bon Appétit, Y’all, were finalists in the Best American Cookbook for the International Association of Cookbook Awards and were also named by the Georgia Center of the Book as “Books Georgians Should Read.” Her culinary consulting company, Virginia Willis Culinary Enterprises, Inc specializes in content creation, recipe development, culinary editorial and production services, cookbook writing, media training, spokesperson and brand representation, and public speaking. Virginia is on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Blue Ribbon Task Force, the Atlanta Community Food Bank Advisory Board, as well as the Community Farmers Market Advisory Board. She is a food and hunger advocate for No Kid Hungry and a premier member of the No Kid Hungry Atlanta Society. She a member of The James Beard Foundation, Chef’s Collaborative, Georgia Organics, and Southern Foodways Alliance