Lenore Beyer is the Director of Conservation Initiatives at Kinship Foundation, where she manages Food:Land:Opportunity, a multi-year initiative to create a resilient local food economy in the Chicago region. Beyer manages a grant portfolio of $3M annually and spearheads projects in collaborative COVID response funding and innovative financing. Prior to joining Kinship Foundation, Beyer was the vice president of policy and planning at Openlands, a regional conservation land trust, where she led projects to create Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge and integrated farmland protection with local food initiatives. Beyer was previously the executive director of the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County, a citizen advocacy organization, and served as president of the Illinois Environmental Council.

Dion Dawson is a food-fighting social entrepreneur, philanthropic leader, and founder focused on health equity through an innovative and logistical lens. Dion’s penchant for challenging the solvency of food insecurity through the stabilization of the supply chain has reinvigorated the traditional food distribution model and been met with worldwide attention. With data-driven operations, consistent quality, and a deep commitment to a resident-informed process that meets residents and recipients where they are, he prioritizes the end-user experience.

Dion is the Chief Dreamer of Dion’s Chicago Dream, a nonprofit social enterprise combating food insecurity through logistics & last-mile delivery in the U.S’s Midwest region. His system provides fresh produce to the door steps of food insecure recipients and has provided millions of pounds of fresh produce annually to the Chicago region food system, with numerous community jobs created and one powerful movement.

Cortney Renton, Executive Director of Proofing Station, is a seasoned food systems leader with experience driving change from farm to shelf. She is rooted in 15 years of multidisciplinary experience in research, sustainability, strategy, and fundraising roles across diverse social impact organizations.

Most recently, Cortney served as the Executive Director of CitySeed, a nonprofit based in New Haven, CT building an equitable local food system through community and economic development. 

Cortney is a proud Midwesterner. She was born and raised in Minnesota and built her career in Chicago. Previously, she led national programs focused on rural hunger relief by building strategic relationships with donors, partners, and farmers at Feeding America, one of the largest nonprofits in the country. Cortney has also held research, fundraising, and sustainability roles with The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, The Greater Chicago Food Depository, and Sir Kensington’s. 

Chicago native and passionate entrepreneur, Nikkita Randle, founded Twisted Eggroll in 2015 to bring a fresh, culturally inspired twist to traditional egg rolls. What started as a frozen packaged product has expanded into consumer packaged goods and e-commerce, and will soon include a Chatham storefront in 2026.  

Awards and Recognition: Red Eye Big Idea Award Food & Drink, Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, and Midwest Dairy Pitch Competition winner.

Blending expertise in agriculture, genetics, food chemistry, and nutrition, John Hammerstone and Shwetha Shrivatsa—a retail expert and mother—turned their shared love of food and music into Sorghum Symphony. Inspired by the need for safe, healthy snacks for people of all ages—especially children with food allergies—they created a line of nutritious, allergen-free snacks made from sorghum and other climate-friendly crops, all free from the Top 9 allergens. Dedicated to both health and sustainability, Sorghum Symphony proudly maintains a carbon-neutral footprint and contains no added sugar—snacks that are good for people and the planet.

Known for its high-tech, solar-powered vertical farms, Oishii is redefining what’s possible in agriculture and the future of food. From AI-driven strawberry production to sustainable packaging and robotics, Oiishi’s premium berries are nutrient-rich, hyper-local, and Non-GMO Project verified. 

“Vertical farming technology is critical to solving one of the world’s largest problems – our failing agriculture system,” said Hiroki Koga, CEO and Co-founder of Oishii in Forbes. “Vertical farming does not require pesticides; we can recycle most of the water that we use, and we can use significantly less land.

Oishii operates the world’s largest indoor vertical strawberry farm. Oishii is on a mission to fix our broken agriculture system – one perfectly plump berry at a time.