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The following is a list of selected speakers and not a complete list. This page will be updated as more information becomes available.
Deputy Secretary
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Kathleen A. Merrigan is the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Working alongside Secretary Tom Vilsack, Merrigan oversees the day-to-day operation of USDA's many programs and spearheads the $149 billion USDA budget process. She serves on the President's Management Council, working with other Cabinet Deputies to improve accountability and performance across the federal government.
Merrigan brings a wealth of knowledge to USDA from a decades-long career in policy, legislation, and research related to the many missions of USDA.
Deputy Secretary Merrigan has managed the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food effort to highlight the critical connection between farmers and consumers and support local and regional food systems that increase economic opportunity in Rural America.
In November 2009, she made history as the first woman to chair the Ministerial Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Recognizing that most employees work outside of Washington, D.C., Merrigan has visited USDA field offices nationwide to ensure top-flight program delivery that meets constituents' needs.
Recognizing the history and scope of her work, Time magazine named Dr. Merrigan among the "100 Most Influential People in the World" in 2010.
Before becoming Deputy Secretary, Merrigan served for eight years as Assistant Professor and Director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment graduate program at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Under an appointment by President Bill Clinton, Merrigan was Administrator of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service from 1999 to 2001. She served for six years as a senior staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, working for Senator Patrick Leahy (VT).
Merrigan has also been engaged in agricultural policy in positions at the FAO, the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, the Texas Department of Agriculture, and the Massachusetts State Senate.
Merrigan holds a Ph.D. degree in environmental planning and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Texas, and a B.A. degree from Williams College.
She and her husband Michael Selmi have two children in elementary school.
Director of Nutrition Sciences
Unilever
Dr. Douglas Balentine is the Director of Nutrition Sciences for Unilever The America's and is a member of Unilever's Global Nutrition Leadership Team. He is responsible for Nutrition Communications. Sciences and Health and Wellness for Unilever The America's. ln his prior role he was leader of the Unilever Global Technology Center for Health and Wellness at the Unilever Food and Health Research Institute, The Netherlands. He also led the Global Unilever research program on the Health Benefits ofTI:3- Prior 10this assignment he held the position of Group Manager of Beverage Research at Lipton. At Lipton he led research projects in tea product and process development, the health benefits of tea, tea biochemistry. chemistry and enzymology, and development of read)' to drink teas. Dr. Balentine is a member of the American Dietetics Association and the Institute of Food Technologists and the United States Tea Council.
Dr. Balentine has a B.S. (1979 with Highest Honors). M.S (1981) and Ph.D. (1982) in Food Science from Rutgers University. His studies focused on nutritional biochemistry and food technology. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at Rutgers University he conducted research on yeast cell biology and genetics.
Dr. Balentine has published four comprehensive reviews on tea and the chemistry of tea fIavonoids and has co-authored over 20 papers on the biology and health effects of tea. He has presented papers on the chemistry, antioxidant properties and health benefits of tea at a number of scientific meetings in the United States and abroad. His technical Innovations have led to 8 United States Patents.
Vice President Nutrition
Kraft Foods Global
Richard Black joined Kraft Foods in March, 2005 as Vice President Nutrition, Kraft Foods Global. In this role, Richard is responsible for leading corporate-wide nutrition programs: developing strategies, guidelines, and portfolio improvement opportunities; and providing overall accountability for nutrition research, nutrition communications, and nutrition business applications. Richard is a member of Kraft's internal Worldwide Health and Wellness Committee, and leads the Worldwide Health and Wellness Advisory Council engaging with independent experts in key health and wellness disciplines.
Prior to joining Kraft, Richard has represented different organizations in a variety of technical/research positions. Most recently, he was Executive Director for International Life Sciences Institute North America in Washington, DC, a not-for-profit institute conducting research in nutrition and food safety. As Head of Nutrition Research, Richard worked at the Novartis Consumer Health Center in Switzerland guiding research in medical, health, and functional nutrition. At Nestle in Canada, Richard was Director of Scientific/Regulatory Affairs and Manufacturing Services where he gained product development and regulatory experience. With the Kellogg Company, Richard started as a Research Nutritionist in Battle Creek, then became Manager of Nutrition & Scientific Affairs at Kellogg-Canada.
Richard was born and raised in Canada. At McMaster University, he received Bachelor of Science degrees in Psychology and Chemistry, and completed his Ph.D. in Psychology. At the University of Toronto, Richard did a post-doctoral fellowship in the Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, and subsequently served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences.
Richard is a member of the American Society of Nutrition, Institute of Food Technologists, North American Association for the Study of Obesity, as well as various food industry trade associations. Richard also served on Health Canada advisory panels, developing policy on health claims, and policy on addition of micronutrients in food.
Associate Professor of International Economics
Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University
Steven A. Block is Associate Professor of International Economics and Director of the Program on International Development at the Fletcher School, and Associate Professor at the Friedman School. His research focuses on food and agricultural policy in developing countries, and on the political economy of policy reform. Much of his work concentrates on sub-Saharan Africa, and his current research focuses on agricultural productivity there. His recent publications include: “The Political Economy of Agricultural Trade Interventions in Africa,” (with Robert Bates), and “Up in Smoke: Tobacco Use, Expenditure on Food, and Child Malnutrition in Developing Countries," (with Patrick Webb). He teaches courses on development economics, agricultural policy, and political economy. Professor Block earned his MPP and Ph.D. (in political economy) from Harvard University.
Food Systems Consultant, Senior Associate
Center for a Livable Future Johns Hopkins University
Kate Clancy is currently a food systems consultant, Visiting Scholar at the Center for a Livable Future Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, and Senior Fellow in the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, University of Minnesota (she resides in University Park, Maryland). She has a Ph.D. in Nutrition Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley.
Her resume includes positions at several universities (Cornell, Syracuse, and the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems at the University of Wisconsin): the federal government (nutritionist and policy adviser at the Federal Trade Commission): and nonprofits (the Wallace Center for Agricultural and Environmental Policy, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy). She has served on numerous boards (the Society for Nutrition Education, Bread for the World, Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, and Michael Fields Agricultural Institute among others).
Clancy developed a graduate course on food systems in 1982 and since then has published, taught, spoken, and consulted widely on sustainable agriculture and food systems with government agencies, universities, and nonprofits around the country. Her present interests are the research and policy facets of Agriculture of the Middle, the development of regional food systems, the relationships between land use and farm viability, and the research needed to advance sustainable agriculture and food systems policy.
Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources
Environmental Working Group
Craig began his career in conservation by joining the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in 1977 as a field biologist. Since then, he has worked for the National Academy of Sciences, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and as Executive Director of the Soil and Water Conservation Society. He joined EWG as Midwest Vice President of EWG in 2008 and directs the organization’s research and advocacy work in agriculture, renewable energy, and climate change. He has degrees in Wildlife Ecology and Agricultural Economics from the University of Minnesota.
President
Food, Nutrition & Policy Consultants, LLC
Tracy Fox, President of Food, Nutrition & Policy Consultants, LLC has over 20 years of experience working in the federal government and the private sector, and has extensive experience in federal nutrition policy and the legislative and regulatory process. Her clients include/have included Federal, State and local agencies including the US Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, non-profit organizations including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play, Produce for Better Health Foundation, Action for Healthy Kids, Nemours Foundation, public health departments and educational agencies, grocery store chains and public relations firms, where she provides advice and expertise on policy and nutrition initiatives. Areas of expertise include child nutrition and school health, nutrition education, federal, state and local nutrition policy, advocacy and government relations. She has presented and spoken at national, state and local venues across the country and is quoted and appears regularly in media outlets (print, radio and TV) on subjects including school nutrition, children’s health, obesity, and nutrition policy.
Prior to forming her consulting company Ms. Fox was with the Government Relations office of the American Dietetic Association in Washington, D.C. and with the US Department of Agriculture in the food and nutrition assistance arena.
Ms. Fox is currently the President of the Society for Nutrition Education and serves or has served on numerous boards and committees for organizations including the Institute of Medicine School Foods Committee, Childhood Obesity Prevention Actions for Local Governments, and Front-of-Pack Labeling, Guiding Stars Scientific Advisory Board, the DC Dietetic Association, Society for Nutrition Education, National Cancer Institute, American Academy of Pediatrics, Montgomery County School Health Council and PTA and is a retired Commander in the US Navy Reserves.
President & CEO
Fair Food Network
Dr. Hesterman is the inaugural president and chief executive officer of the Fair Food Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to re-designing the food system in a manner that upholds the fundamental right to healthy, fresh, and sustainably-grown food. 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 this organization and the broader sustainable food systems movement.
Prior to coming to the Fair Food Network, 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. He also was the founding President of the Fair Food Foundation. Dr. Hesterman researched and taught forage and cropping systems management, sustainable agriculture, and leadership development in the Crop and Soil Sciences department at Michigan State University in East Lansing before going to the Kellogg Foundation in 1996. From 1987-1990, he was a fellow in the Kellogg National Fellowship Program (KNFP). Dr. Hesterman was also a fellow at the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy in Washington, D.C.
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.
Professor of Religion and Philosophy, ISU
President, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
Frederick L. Kirschenmann, a longtime national and international leader in sustainable agriculture, shares an appointment as Distinguished Fellow for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University and as President of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, New York. He also oversees management of his family's 3,500-acre certified organic farm in south central North Dakota and is a professor in the ISU Department of Religion and Philosophy.
Kirschenmann holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago, and has written extensively about ethics and agriculture. He has held numerous appointments, including the USDA's National Organic Standards Board and the National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production operated by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and funded by Pew Charitable Trusts.
He served as the Center's second director from July 2000 to November 2005, when he was named a Distinguished Fellow. He joined the Board of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in 2004 and was elected president in 2007. In January 2008, he assumed a half-time appointment at Stone Barns, dividing his time between Iowa and New York, to explore ways that rural and urban communities can work together to develop a more resilient, sustainable agriculture and food system.
In April 2010, the University Press of Kentucky is publishing a book of Kirschenmann's essays edited by New Mexico State University agricultural economist Connie Falk. The book, Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher, follows his writing on farming, philosophy and sustainability. He has published articles in other books including Farm Aid: A Song for America, Agroecosystems Analysis and Sustainable Agroecosystem Management.
Kirschenmann also is a board member for the Food Alliance, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area and the Nature Institute. He chairs and is a charter member of the Whiterock Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that manages a 1,300-acre conservation area in west-central Iowa. Kirschenmann helped convene and continues to be active on Agriculture of the Middle, a multi-state task force that focuses on research and markets for midsize American farms. In 2008, he received the first-ever Medal for Distinguished Leadership in Sustainable Agriculture from the Glynwood Center in New York and was selected for Plenty magazine's Top 20 list of people dedicated to sustainability.
His academic credits include several years teaching and as administrator, culminating in a position as academic dean at Curry College in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1976 he returned to the family farm when his father became ill. By 1980, the farm was certified organic, one of the early operations to make the transition. The farm is a natural prairie livestock grazing system that combines a nine-crop rotation of cereal grains, forages, and green manure.
Kirschenmann Family Farms has been part of a number of research studies. It also has been featured in national publications including National Geographic, the Smithsonian, Audubon, Business Week, the LA Times and Gourmet magazine. In 1995, Kirschenmann was profiled in an award-winning video, “My Father's Garden,” by Miranda Productions, Inc.
In 1978, Kirschenmann helped organize North Dakota Natural Farmers that later became the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society. He helped found and for 10 years was president of Farm Verified Organic, Inc., an international private certification agency.
In 2001, Kirschenmann received the Seventh Generation Research Award from the Center for Rural Affairs for his work in sustainable food and farming systems. He also was named a 2002 Leader of the Year in Agriculture by Progressive Farmer publications.
The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture was created by the Iowa Legislature to develop sustainable agricultural practices that are both profitable and conserve natural resources.
Partner
Hogan Lovells
Joseph Levitt is a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He focuses on the development and implementation of legislative and regulatory policy regarding the manufacture and marketing of food, drugs, and medical devices and how to work effectively with the FDA and related agencies. Joe also brings indepth knowledge to a wide range of matters, including food and drug safety, biotechnology, labeling, advertising, and bioterrorism.
For six years, from February 1998 through December 2003, Joe served as Director ofthe FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), where he led successful efforts to modernize food safety regulation and enhance the security of the U.S. food supply. He also initiated a revitalization of FDA's nutrition program. During his FDA tenure, Joe also helped streamline the new drug review process and launch the agency's food labeling initiative. Additionally, he served as Deputy Director for Regulations and Policy at the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. He began his FDA career in the Office of Chief Counsel.
Since joining Hogan & Hartson in January 2004, Joe counsels numerous food, drug and device companies and trade associations regarding compliance with federal laws and regulations.
Professor of Food Policy
Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts University
Will Masters joined the Friedman School in July 2010, after more than 18 years in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. He is editor of Agricultural Economics, the journal of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, and has written or edited several books including Economics of Agricultural Development (Routledge, 2nd ed. 2010) and Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Africa (World Bank, 2009). His most recent research focuses on child undernutrition (“Effects and determinants of mild underweight among preschool children across countries and over time” in Economics and Human Biology, 2010), and the development of new incentive mechanisms for the pursuit of public policy objectives (“Entry into winner-take-all and proportional-prize contests: An experimental study” in Journal of Public Economics, 2010). Prof. Masters attended Deep Springs College (1979-81), thengraduated from Yale University (1984), and received a Ph.D. from the Food Research Institute of Stanford University (1991). He has also been a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe (1988-1990), a visiting scholarat Harvard University (2000), a visiting professor at Columbia University (2003-04), and a consultant to various organizations. He is chair of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees for Deep Springs College.
Director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy
Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University
Dr. William Moomaw is Professor of International Environmental Policy and Director of the center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the Fletcher School Tufts University. He earned a PhD in physical Chemistry at MIT, and has worked on stratospheric ozone, climate, energy, forests, water and sustainable development issues for over 20 years. He has served as a lead author or coordinating lead author for five Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports addressing mitigation and adaptation options in the context of development. He has been a co-author for a major report on nitrogen pollution for the EPA Science Advisory Board, a major report on Financing Forests for the UN, written reports for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and is coauthor of a soon to be completed book on International Forest Diplomacy. He was also a member of the Technical Steering Committee that published the new forest management recommendations based upon ecosystem services for Massachusetts. He has lead training sessions for climate, environment and resource negotiators, and facilitated international environmental negotiations. He has advised corporations, governments, UN agencies and The World Bank on climate, sustainable energy and forest issues. He serves on the board of directors of several climate organizations and the Consensus Building institute. He lives with his wife, Margot, in a recently completed zero net energy home in Massachusetts that is powered by grid connected solar energy, and heated by a ground source heat pump.
National Institute for Food and Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Dr. Otto is the Deputy Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, with responsibilities for food and community resources. From 2007 until September of 2009, Dr. Otto served as the Associate Administrator of USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES).
Prior to 2007, Dr. Otto served as the Deputy Administrator for the Plant and Animal Systems (PAS) unit of CSREES. In this capacity, he was responsible for the management of substantial portions of Hatch research and Smith-Lever extension funds, certain competitive grant programs, and numerous special research projects.
Dr. Otto has been with USDA since 1980 in a variety of positions that span rural development, natural resources, the environment, and international development. From 1980 through 1989, Dr. Otto worked with USDA's Office of International Cooperation and Development, holding positions in both training and technical assistance. His original interest in international development stems from working as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia in the early 1970s.
Dr. Otto is a native of New Jersey, and a current resident of northern Virginia. He is proud to have three degrees from land grant universities: a B.S. degree from Rutgers, an M.S. from Virginia Tech, and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University, the latter two degrees with emphasis on the quantitative aspects of wildlife biology.
Senior Researcher and Co-Project Director
Nourishing the Planet
Danielle Nierenberg, an expert on sustainable agriculture and food security, is a Senior Researcher and Co-Project Director of Nourishing the Planet. She has spent the last year traveling to more than 25 countries across sub-Saharan Africa evaluating environmentally sustainable ways of alleviating hunger and poverty. Ms. Nierenberg worked for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic and holds an M.S. in Agriculture, Food, and Environment from Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and a B.A. in Environmental Policy from Monmouth College.
Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College
Adjunct Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Robert Paarlberg, a researcher and consultant on international food and agricultural policy, is Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College and Adjunct Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. His book, Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is Being Kept Out of Africa, was published in 2008 by Harvard University Press, with a foreword by Norman Borlaug and Jimmy Carter.
In 2009 he was the principal writer of a bipartisan report from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, American Leadership in the Fight Against Global Hunger and Poverty. His latest book, Food Politics: What Everybody Needs to Know, was published in March 2010 by Oxford University Press. He has served on the board of Winrock International and has been a consultant to the International Food Policy Research Institute, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UnitedNations, the Common Market for East and Southern Africa, the World Bank, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is currently a member of the Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the National Academies, and an Associate at the Weatherhead Center forInternational Affairs at Harvard. He received his B.A. in political science from Carleton College and his PhD in Government from Harvard University.
Executive Vice President, National Advertising Self -Regulation, Council of Better Business Bureaus
President and CEO, National Advertising Review Council
C. Lee Peeler, Esq., is President and CEO of the National Advertising Review Council (NARC) and Executive Vice President, National Advertising Self-Regulation, Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB). Lee joined NARC on Sept. 11, 2006, following a distinguished 33-year career at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where he held a number of staff and management positions.
From 1985 to 2001, he served as Associate Director of the Division of Advertising Practices. In 2001, he was named Deputy Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. In addition to his leadership roles at the FTC, Lee led the United States' delegation to the consumer policy committee of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and regularly met with foreign government officials to discuss the United States' advertising regulatory system, including the importance of industry self-regulation.
He has spoken and testified widely on consumer protection issues including truth in advertising, consumer credit, electronic commerce, privacy and data security. Lee received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Georgetown University.
Executive VP
HolaDoctor
Dr. Schroeder co-founded HolaDoctor in 1999 with Roberto Estrada. His current responsibilities include directing HolaDoctor’s research and consulting services. Dr. Schroeder is an expert in global health and a former tenured Associate Professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. Dr. Schroeder retains a faculty appointment at Emory in the Department of Global Health where he continues to teach.
Prior to Emory, Dr. Schroeder was a post-doctoral fellow at Cornell University from 1992 to 1993. Between 1989 and 1991, he lived in Guatemala and worked for the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama. Dr. Schroeder has worked throughout Latin America for more than two decades and is fluent in Spanish. He has received numerous honors and awards including a Future Leader Award (International Life Sciences Institute of North America, 1998), Professor of the Year (Emory School of Public Health, 1997), and a Fulbright Fellowship (Indonesia, 1985-1986).
Dr. Schroeder received his PhD and MPH degrees from Johns Hopkins University in 1992 and a BA with honors and distinction from Stanford University in 1984. Dr. Schroeder is the author of a book and various articles. He has worked in or traveled to over 75 countries.
Chief, Nutrition Section, Programme Division,
UNICEF
Mr. Schultink joined UNICEF in April 1999 and has held a number of senior positions both at Headquarters in New York, where he was a Senior Nutrition Advisor, and in the India Country Office, where he led the Child Development and Nutrition Section.
Before joining UNICEF, Mr. Schultink had extensive experience working with the German Agency for Technical Cooperation from 1990 to 1999. He served as an advisor on issues of curriculum development of post-graduate courses and research management in community nutrition.
He attended the Agricultural University of Wageningen in the Netherlands and obtained his Ph.D. degree in Human Nutrition in 1990. His doctoral research led him to Benin where he studied seasonal variations in the nutritional status and energy requirements of rural Beninese women.
Mr. Schultink has written extensively about nutrition issues in the developing world in both academic journals and specialized books. Mr. Schultink assumed his duties as Chief, Nutrition Section at UNICEF's Programme Division in New York in June, 2007.
Mr. Schultink is a national of the Netherlands. In addition to his native Dutch, he is fluent in English, German and French and has a good knowledge of Indonesian.
Mr. Schultink is married and has three children.
Lead Health & Nutrition Specialist, Human Development Network,
World Bank
Meera Shekar, is Lead Health & Nutrition Specialist with the Human Development Network at the World Bank. She leads the Bank’s work in scaling-up its investments in nutrition, develops corporate strategy, advises country teams on design and development of nutrition investments, and is the Bank’s policy liaison on nutrition with partners. She has been actively engaged in the G8 agenda-setting processes in Japan in 2008 and in Canada in 2010 and in the development of the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Framework for action.
She has a PhD in International Nutrition, Epidemiology and Population studies from Cornell University, Ithaca NY, and a Masters and a Bachelors degree in nutrition from Delhi University in India. She has lived and worked across the globe and has extensive programming experience in nutrition and public health in diverse countries ranging from India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Vietnam, Bolivia, Guatemala, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Before joining the World Bank she led UNICEF's Health, Nutrition and Water and Sanitation programs in Tanzania, the Philippines and Ethiopia. Among others, she has consulted extensively with the Johns Hopkins University Population Communications Services (JHU/PCS), USAID, Community Systems Foundation, and Population Services International.
Her publications include Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development (2006), and Scaling-up Nutrition –What will it cost?(2009) published by the World Bank.
Director, Alan Shawn Feinstein International Center
Tufts University
After 25 years of field work in humanitarian crises around the world, Dr. Peter Walker, was appointed, in September 2002, as the Director of the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. At the Center he leads a team of 30 academics and practitioners working on policy and practice issues in the fields of humanitarian action, human security and human rights.
In 2007 Dr. Walker was made Rosenberg Professor of Nutrition and Human Security and in 2008 he received the American College of Nutrition's annual Humanitarian Award.
After researching disaster prevention strategies in Bukino Fasso and Libya in the early 1980's, Dr. Walker played a major role in managing the relief response to the 1984-85 famine in the Sudan. From this field experience came a major publication on famine early warning systems which set the tone for the early warning debate of the late 1980s. Moving to Ethiopia Dr. Walker established a long term development programme in the Ethiopian Rift Valley and was instrumental in introducing the modern techniques of Rapid Rural Appraisal to the aid community there and experimenting with micro-catchment water harvesting techniques.
Joining the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in 1990 Dr Walker was involved in needs assessment and evaluation missions, both for the Federation and for joint UN-Donor groupings, in the former Soviet states, Iran, Pakistan, Former Yugoslavia, The Horn of Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Somalia and the Great Lakes region.
As Director of the Disaster Policy Department he was instrumental in championing the need to professionalize the disaster response business, developing the global Code of Conduct for disaster relief workers, lecturing on disaster response in a number of European universities and steering the development of the international Sphere standards,, a major NGO and UN collaborative effort to develop universal competence standards in humanitarian assistance. In 1993 Dr Walker founded the annual World Disasters Report which has now become one of the standard reference texts in the humanitarian business.
In 2000 Dr Walker moved to Bangkok, Thailand, as Director for Red Cross programming across the SE Asia region, leaving to join Tufts university in 2002.
At the Feinstein Intentional Center Dr Walker is actively involved in research examining the future global drivers of humanitarian crises, the effectiveness of international humanitarian systems and the role of spirituality in recovery from crisis.
In the past decade Dr Walker has published in the academic and popular press on themes as diverse as the relationship between the military and humanitarian efforts, the use of local knowledge and skills in relief, the co-ordination of international relief programmes and the humanitarian effects of economic sanctions and climate change. His recent book, with Feinstein Center Faculty member Dr Dan Maxwell, Shaping the Humanitarian World, provides a robust history of humanitarianism linked to an inquiry into its future as a global venture.
He is a keen runner and a lapsed mandolin player.
Director, Nutrition Policy
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Margo Wootan is the director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), one of the country's leading health advocacy organizations that specializes in food, nutrition, and public health issues. Dr. Wootan received her B.S. in nutrition from Cornell University and her doctorate in nutrition from Harvard University's School of Public Health. She has published scholarly papers in the areas of food marketing to children, nutrition labeling, nutrition education, social marketing, and fatty acid transport.
Wootan co-founded and coordinates the activities of the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity (NANA), a coalition of more than 275 national, state and local organizations. She is a member of the National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance Steering Committee.
Dr. Wootan led the successful effort to require trans fat labeling on packaged foods. She also is a national leader for improving school foods, requiring calorie labeling in fast-food and other chain restaurants, expanding nutrition and physical activity promotion and funding, and reducing junk-food marketing aimed at children. She is the director of CSPI's award-winning 1% Or Less campaign, a community-based nutrition promotion program.
Dr. Wootan is quoted regularly in the nation's major media and served as an advisor to and appeared in the movie Super Size Me. Wootan has testified before Congress and state legislatures and been invited to speak by federal and state agencies including at the National Nutrition Summit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Academies' Institute of Medicine, and the Surgeon General's Listening Session for the National Action Plan on Overweight and Obesity.
Dr. Wootan has been recognized for her outstanding leadership and dedicated service and won awards from the American Public Health Association, Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors, the Society for Nutrition Education, the Society for Prevention Research, and the National Health Information Awards.
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