J.OLU BAIYEWU is a food systems expert that excels at resolving challenges, with a combination of innovative & time-tested solutions. while achieving measurable, sustainable results through strategic planning and capacity building, his approach is of a personable servant leader, tenacious community advocate, and well-informed professional, rooted in values such as equity, transparency, inclusivity, and accountability to name a few.

As the City of Atlanta Urban Agriculture Director, j. olu leads the strategic planning process, stakeholder and partner collaboration, and program implementation for Atlanta’s urban agriculture and fresh food access activities. Prior to joining the City of Atlanta j. olu was Director of Programs and Outreach at Atlanta nonprofit Food Well Alliance. There he led the partnership, outreach, and implementation strategy of the organization’s Resource Center program. j. olu has also founded and served as Director of Organix Matters, which designs, builds, manages, and grows initiatives across metro Atlanta in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), farmers markets, and gardens. He has also worked at two Atlanta-area non-profit urban farming organisations, Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture and Global Growers Network.

j. olu is a 2013 graduate of the Urban Grower Training Program at Truly Living Well, a Center for Civic Innovation Food Innovation Fellow, a member of The Wallace Center’s Food Systems Leadership Network, and a past Forum (conference) Planning Committee member of Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders. Before his “official” urban agriculture journey began, j. olu worked in the restaurant and hospitality industry, and was Co-Founder of ThePopShop Natural Handcrafted Ice Pops in Chattanooga and Atlanta. He earned his BA in Business Administration with a concentration in Management, from Morehouse College.

RICHARD ELM-HILL is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and is a Senior Program Officer at First Nations Development Institute. He supports First Nations’ Nourishing Native Foods & Health program by providing education, technical assistance, and grant opportunities.

Richard manages several projects dedicated to Native food sovereignty and healthy Tribal food economies. He collaborates on First Nations’ Food Sovereignty Assessment, Native Farm to School initiative, Business of Indian Agriculture, and serves on the project team for the Indigenous Food Systems Community of Practice in partnership with Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders.

As a former Operations Analyst for the Oneida Nation, Richard established the Oneida Emergency Food Pantry and continued the development of the Oneida Community Integrated Food System. He was the inaugural board present for the Oneida Youth Leadership Institute, a newly assembled 7871 tribal organization. Richard holds a graduate degree in Applied Teaching and Learning from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

DEVIN FOOTE is a dedicated advocate for sustainable food systems and community-led agricultural initiatives. As a Program Officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, he focuses on food systems programming, working to address the connections between food, health, and social equity. Devin brings over two decades of experience in sustainable agriculture, including his role as Farm Director for The Greening of Detroit. He is also on the board of Seed Savers Exchange. 

FABIOLA GREENAWALT is Senior Program Lead at The Russell Family Foundation, where she manages the Food for Climate Solutions and Environmental Education programs focused on Western Washington. She brings over a decade of philanthropic experience advancing climate resilience, regenerative agriculture, and outdoor education through strategic grantmaking and cross-sector partnerships. 

In addition to leading core programs, Fabiola contributes to special projects that strengthen TRFF’s funding strategies, including capacity-building initiatives and collaborative field efforts. She currently serves on the board of the Blue Sky Funders Forum and is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum’s Pierce County Chapter.

HAVEN LEEMING is a philanthropy connoisseur, enthusiast, and skeptic. She is committed to bettering our communities to ensure that everyone can reach their full human potential. Currently, Haven is a Senior Program Officer at Builders Initiative, leading the foundation’s food systems grantmaking portfolio. She developed her philanthropic and subject-matter expertise during her previous tenures at The Chicago Community Trust, the region’s community foundation, and the IDP Foundation, a small family foundation. She sits on the Steering Committee of the Chicago Region Food System Fund, which practices participatory philanthropy, as it is majority community members and guided by a consensus-based process. Haven graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota and earned a joint master’s degree in business administration and master’s degree in public policy from the Booth School of Business and Harris School of Public Policy from The University of Chicago respectively. Born and raised in Maine, she now lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter. She makes a mean grilled cheese sandwich.

DAVE NEZZIE is a Program Officer at Waverley Street Foundation. Dave is a tribal member from the Navajo Nation. He previously served as a field representative for the Office of U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich where he engaged with federal, state, and local agencies, as well as organizations, community leaders, and sovereign tribal governments. Dave is a candidate in the LL.M. Program in Agriculture & Food Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. He received a J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law with program certificates in Federal Indian Law and Natural Resources & Environmental Law. Dave attended Arizona State University as an undergraduate, earning concurrent degrees in Anthropology and American Indian Studies.

LOLITA NUNN brings over 25 years of diversified and progressive experience in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors to the Potlikker team. She worked in the banking industry for 14 years where she developed expertise in finance, investment banking, and management. In addition to her financial role, her work included cultivating and building relationships with community leaders and advocating for programs providing financial literacy, consulting, and mentoring. Lolita is committed to building strong and resilient communities. Her passion for philanthropy led her to the nonprofit sector where she led donor outreach, fund development, community and business engagement efforts. Lolita’s career journey led her to the ecosystem of impact investing where she combined her years of financial acumen along with her passion for philanthropy to be a further champion of positive social, racial, and environmental system change. In her most recent role, she was the Investor Relations Officer at Fair Food Fund where she helped to re-imagine their investment thesis to support BIPOC food businesses, and lead the initiative that increased their geographic reach and grew the brand recognition of the Fund nationally.

ESPERANZA PALLANA is a culture change leader working with people, data, strategy, capital and storytelling. Her passions are community centered economic development, equitable and sustainable food systems and racial justice. She has worked with nonprofits for over 20 years with an emphasis in leadership, systemic change, and policy advocacy. She has led several successful campaigns that resulted in institutional change and innovative policy as well as capital and grantmaking programs advancing economic and racial equity. For the past ten years, she has worked to support social justice entrepreneurs and movement leaders in removing policy barriers, consolidating resources and accessing grant and lending capital for transformative food system change. She has recently joined the Wildseeds Fund as Executive Director.

CALLA ROSE OSTRANDER lives in Paonia, Colorado, close to her family and her beloved Rocky Mountains. She works at the intersection of regenerative agriculture, investment, public policy, education, and science to accelerate ecological restoration and rural prosperity.

A graduate of 13 years of Waldorf education in Boulder, Colorado, Calla Rose earned her bachelor’s degree in International Political Economy with a focus on environmental science from the University of Puget Sound which she attended on classical cello and needs based scholarships. Following graduation, she served as a Communications and Economic Development Fellow at the Rocky Mountain Institute and later worked with the City of Aspen, the City and County of San Francisco, the California Natural Resources Agency, family foundations, and mission-driven investors to advance systemic solutions for people and the planet.

She is a classically trained cellist, DJ, and science communicator. Her weekly public radio show and podcast, Rain & Shine, airs on KVNF.org and Spotify. She co-authored the short film The Soil Story, and served as a science advisor for the documentaries Kiss the Ground and Fantastic Fungi.

KATHERINE PEASE is a Managing Director at Pathstone. Before joining Pathstone, she served as the Chief Impact Strategist at Cornerstone Capital Group (acquired by Pathstone in 2021). Katherine led Cornerstone’s thematic research team and co-managed the firm’s impact measurement effort, while also working directly with clients and providing strategic guidance to the integration of impact strategies across the firm.

Before Cornerstone, Katherine served as the Principal of KP Advisors, Inc. The firm’s mission was to help foundations, nonprofits, and investors develop thoughtful, innovative approaches to address the challenges they care most about by using various types of capital and other resources to make the world more just, fair, and equitable. Previously she served as Senior Vice President for Philanthropic Investment and Public Policy at Gary Community Investments and as Executive Director of the Gill Foundation.

Katherine is a board member of Global Greengrants Fund and the Colorado Nonprofit Association, and she serves on numerous corporate and nonprofit advisory boards. Katherine is a graduate of Colorado College and holds an MPA from the University of Colorado Denver.

EDNA RODRIGUEZ is currently serving as RAFI’s Strategic Advisor. She served as RAFI’s Executive Director from 2017-2025, following six years as Come to the Table program Director, Development Director, and Director of Operations. Edna has grown the organization’s capacity by overhauling financial systems, diversifying income, and organizing cross-programmatic teams for greater collaboration and impact. In her current role, Edna led RAFI through a strategic planning process centered around equity, launched and grew the Farmers of Color Network, and extended programs to the U.S. Caribbean territories. Edna is a strategic thinker with the consistent goal of funding the movement more equitably, a value which most recently resulted — in partnership with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) — in a pool of granting funds devoted specifically to BIPOC-led organizations for climate and equity-centered policy work.  In addition to serving on NSAC’s Organizational Council, Edna serves as Treasurer of the National Family Farm Coalition’s Executive Committee. Born in Puerto Rico to Dominican parents, Edna was raised between The Hague, Netherlands, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Before RAFI, Edna served as Senior Program Officer at the Atlanta Women’s Foundation and Director of Educational and Career Services at the Latin American Association in Atlanta, GA. Edna holds a B.A. in Economics with a concentration in Latin American Studies from Haverford College. Edna lives in Chapel Hill, NC, with her husband, three children, and their growing puppy.

ANN THRUPP has extensive experience in sustainable, organic, equitable and regenerative agriculture and food systems in the United States and internationally. For more than 35 years, she has been a pioneer working on the intersection of agriculture, ecology, food security, social justice, and public health. Ann has held leadership positions in non-profit organizations, government, academia, business, and now philanthropy. 

She is currently working as Senior Program Officer of Food Systems Transformation for the Clif Family Foundation. In 2022-23 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research about pesticide use in banana production in Costa Rica. Ann previously served as the Director of the California Food is Medicine Coalition (2019-2022) and was founding Executive Director of the Berkeley Food Institute at the University of California Berkeley from 2013-2019. Prior to that, she was Manager of Sustainability and Organic Development at Fetzer and Bonterra Vineyards for 11 years (2003-2013). She also worked for several years with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Agriculture Initiative in the Western Region office, and for 10 years, was Director of Sustainable Agriculture at World Resources Institute, leading projects in Latin America and other regions of the world.

Ann has a PhD and Master’s degree from Sussex University in England (with Marshall and Fulbright scholarships), a BA from Stanford University (Phi Beta Kappa), with double majors in Human Biology and Latin American Studies. She has more than 75 publications, including three books (with two as co-author), and has served on boards of non-profit organization and advisory committees in the field. She is a graduate of the California Agricultural Leadership Program and is fluent in Spanish. She is an avid runner (and was an All-American cross-country runner at Stanford University) and enjoys gardening, music, and creative writing.

AMANDA ZAKHAROV joined Dirt Capital Partners in 2022 and is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and closing new investments. She has a background in commercial real estate acquisitions and a passion for impact investing in sustainable agriculture. In roles at Strategic Office Partners (a platform of TPG Real Estate), Angelo Gordon, and W. P. Carey, Amanda acquired ~$2B in predominately single tenant real estate, including office, industrial, and retail properties. Additionally, she worked on social impact investments in the food and agricultural sphere as an angel investor, consultant, and entrepreneur, with groups such as Slow Money NYC, Blue Marble Ice Cream, and Local Farms Fund.

Amanda received a B.S. in Finance and Accounting and a M.A. in Food Studies from New York University. She is also a CFA® charterholder and serves on the board of Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders (SAFSF). Previously, she served as a board member of the CFA Society of Phoenix and the Orange County Land Trust.