INNOV-EAT Expedition

Jeffrey Shaman, Interim Dean, Columbia Climate School

Jeffrey Shaman, PhD, works in the fields of climate and environmental health, climate dynamics, infectious disease epidemiology, and infectious disease modeling and forecasting. He uses mathematical and statistical models to describe, understand, and forecast the transmission dynamics of disease systems, and to investigate the broader effects of climate and weather on human health. During the Covid-19 pandemic, his team built one of the first models to project the spread and understand the epidemiological properties of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Shaman has studied a number of climate phenomena, including Rossby wave dynamics, atmospheric jet waveguides, the coupled South Asian monsoon-ENSO system, extratropical precipitation, and tropical cyclogenesis.

Shaman was awarded his PhD by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He received an MA and MPhil from Columbia University in 2000 and 2002 respectively.

Dhanush Dinesh, Chief Climate Catalyst, Clim-Eat

Dhanush is the Founder of Clim-Eat, a think and do tank that aims to accelerate food systems transformation under climate change. A fearless visionary determined to shake up our food systems and take on climate change.

Prior to founding Clim-Eat, Dhanush worked as Head of Partnerships and treach of CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) to scale up Climate-Smart Agriculture. He is a Trustee of Plan Vivo Foundation and a Visiting Researcher at the University of Leeds. His previous work experience includes roles within the private sector, NGOs, and the UN system, in China, India, Thailand, and the UK. He has worked on a range of issues including forestry, environmental policy, climate change adaptation, and advocacy, at the national, regional, and global levels.

Jessica Fanzo, Professor of Climate, Director, Food for Humanity Initiative, Columbia University

Jessica Fanzo, Ph.D., is a Professor of Climate and the Director of the Food for Humanity Initiative at Columbia University’s Climate School in New York City. She also serves as the Interim Director for the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, also known as IRI. Before coming to Columbia in 2023, Professor Fanzo was the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food Policy and Ethics at Johns Hopkins University. She has also held positions at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN), the UN World Food Programme, Bioversity International, the Earth Institute, the Millennium Development Goal Centre at the World Agroforestry Center in Kenya, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. She has participated in various collective endeavors, including the Food Systems Economic Commission, the Global Panel of Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition Foresight 2.0 report, the Lancet Commission on Anaemia, and the EAT-Lancet Commissions 1 and now 2. She was also the Co-Chair of the Global Nutrition Report and Team Leader for the UN High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Systems and Nutrition. She currently leads the development of the Food Systems Dashboard and the Food Systems Countdown to 2030 Initiative in collaboration with the Global Alliance of Improved Nutrition.

Mildred Nadah Pita, Head of Public Affairs Africa, Bayer

Mildred is the Head of Public Affairs Science & Sustainability in Africa Crop Science and a Global Healthcare Programs Coordinator in West Central Africa. She has managed the balance between client satisfaction and shareholders value creation, has also ensured compliance with internal policies, quality standards, and legal frameworks in different jurisdictions.

Game master:

Andy Jarvis, Director of Future of Food, Bezos Earth Fund

Andy Jarvis has worked for over 20 years in research for development to support the delivery of food security and environmental sustainability in the food system. His research has focused on data-driven policy analysis on a variety of topics from agrobiodiversity conservation to climate impacts and adaptation. Andy joined the Bezos Earth Fund from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, a CGIAR center, as the Associate Director General for Research Strategy and Innovation where he oversaw research that spans from crop breeding and genetics to landscape management, climate adaptation and mitigation through to dietary shifts and consumer behavior.

Phil Thornton, Research and Innovation Strategist, Clim-Eat

As Research and Innovation Strategist for Clim-Eat, Philip combines horizon scanning and futures thinking with the latest research on food and climate, helping to identify new opportunities for our impact partners. He will focus on the environmental, social and economic impacts of technological innovation in food systems and the enablers of transformative change in food systems.

Before he became part of the founding Clim-Eat team, Philip was the Flagship Leader for Policies and Priorities for Climate Smart Agriculture for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), and a Principal Scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. He has 38 years’ experience in agricultural research for development. He is a member of several journal editorial boards and a lead author for Working Group II of the IPCC’s AR6 assessment round, to be published in 2022. Philip is an Honorary Professor in the School of Geosciences, The University of Edinburgh, and listed as the 39th most influential climate change scientist on Reuters Hot List.

Annebelle Rombach, Innovations Researcher, Clim-Eat

As Innovations Researcher, Annebelle predominantly works on horizon scanning for highly impactful and disruptive technical innovations to catalyze the transition to a sustainable and just food system. Meanwhile, she is also dedicated to learning about how behavioral science can improve the science communication of organizations such as clim-EAT and cultivate action in our society.

Annebelle previously completed her Bachelor’s degree (Hons) Earth, Energy & Sustainability with a minor in Psychology at Leiden University College, during which she specialized in quantitative and methodological subjects, with a focus on environmental sciences. She is especially interested in how we can use our understanding of the intersection between the natural world and technology as an advantage in protecting and enhancing environmental systems and services.

Paul Winters, Executive Director, Innovation Commission for Climate Change, Food Security and Agriculture

Paul Winters is the Executive Director, Innovation Commission for Climate Change, Food Security and Agriculture, and Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Global Affairs in the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. His research and teaching focus on rural poverty and food insecurity and the evaluation of policies and programs designed to address these issues.

Prior to taking the role of Executive Director of the Innovation Commission and joining Notre Dame, he was Associate Vice-President, Strategy and Knowledge Department and Director, Research and Impact Assessment Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Rome.

Previously, he worked at American University in Washington, DC, the Inter-American Development Bank, the University of New England in Australia, and the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru. He holds a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Chair & Moderator:

Dario Soto Abril, Executive Director, Trafigura Foundation

Born in Colombia, Dario currently serves as the Executive Director of the Trafigura Foundation, a philanthropy whose mission is to invest in catalytic solutions for resilient communities and ecosystems.

In the past, Dario served as the Executive Secretary of the Global Water Partnership. He was also the  Global CEO of Fairtrade International, and before that the COO of the Trust for the Americas at the Organization of American States (OAS). Dario started is career as an attorney for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Bogota and in New York.

He has a Law degree from Universidad Javeriana (Colombia), a Masters of Laws from Tulane University, and a Master in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is admitted to practice law in Colombia and in New York.

 

Panelists: 

Jaime Adams, Senior Advisor & U.S. AIM for Climate Lead, USDA

Katharina Stenholm, Chief Sustainability Officer, DSM-Firmenich

Katharina Stenholm is Global Chief Sustainability Officer at dsm-firmenich, a global leader in health, nutrition and beauty, combining the essential, desirable and sustainable. She envisions a future where sustainable practices are the norm, not the exception. Her approach to sustainability centers around the crucial link between solid business performance and positive impact on people and planet. Katharina has worked in the entire food value chain for many years and has been keenly focused on the transition to a more sustainable food system.

Katharina was formerly SVP Chief Sustainability Officer at PepsiCo Europe, SVP Chief Cycles & Procurement Officer responsible for Global Procurement and the Nature Sustainability team at Danone and Global CPO at SABMiller. She  has a strong background in research, business development, marketing & sales and leadership including previous roles as Commercial Director for Viking Malt Ltd and Group CEO of Polttimo Group Ltd.

Katharina Stenholm also works as an Executive Coach, focusing on personal growth and nurturing resilient, responsible leadership. Through this work in helping others unlock their true potential, she finds energy, personal fulfillment and reward.

Originally from Finland, Katharina holds a Doctorate of Technology in Biotechnology and a Masters in Chemical Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology.

Tania Strauss, Head, Food and Water, World Economic Forum

Chair & Moderator:

Sam Kass, Partner, Acre Venture Partners and Food Entrepreneur

Sam Kass is the former Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition in the Obama administration, Executive Director of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Campaign and the Obama family chef.

Currently Sam is a Partner at Acre Venture Partners. Acre is a venture capital fund investing in the future of food with a mission to improve human and environmental health in the food system. The fund focuses on early stage, highly disruptive impactful companies in the food system focused on agriculture, supply chain and consumer.

 

Panelists:

Shayna Fertig, Senior Advisor to the President, Good Food Institute

Shayna Fertig is the Senior Advisor to the President at The Good Food Institute (GFI), where she works to advance the alternative protein ecosystem. She primarily works on growing GFI’s high level relationships across the climate, biodiversity, and global health communities. Prior to GFI, Shayna worked in the alternative protein industry at Impossible Foods, building out sales strategy, operations, and analytical capabilities. Shayna believes in a future where alternative proteins are no longer alternative, and one where our food system can benefit both people and the planet.

Brent Loken, Global Food Lead Scientist, WWF Global Science

Brent is the Global Food Lead Scientist for WWF. His work focuses on using food as a lever for improving human health and environmental sustainability. He has a broad and varied background that includes rediscovering what was thought to be an extinct monkey species, helping to protect one of the most biologically rich forests on Borneo, educating future environmental leaders, and working to amplify and accelerate food system transformation around the world. His current work focuses on connecting top down and bottom up processes by ensuring a food system approach is adopted in UN Conventions while simultaneously stimulating action at national and individual levels. Rarely patient, Brent believes to tackle climate change, protect biodiversity and improve human health in the short time that is available, it will be because of fast moving and innovative organizations and people that disrupt the status quo and actively show the world a better way.

Mario Herrero, Director of Food Systems & Global Change, Cornell

Mario Herrero is a professor in the Cornell CALS Department of Global Development, the director of Food Systems & Global Change, a Cornell Atkinson Scholar, and a Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigator in the Life Sciences. His research focuses on increasing the sustainability of food systems for the benefit of humans and ecosystems. He works in the areas of food systems and the environment, climate mitigation and adaptation, livestock systems, true cost of food, sustainability metrics, and healthy and sustainable diets. Herrero is a highly-cited researcher according to the Web of Science, and is in the top 10 of Reuters list of most influential climate change scientists.

Herrero has played senior roles in many global initiatives on food and the environment. Currently, he is a Co-Chair of the Food Systems Countdown Initiative, Coordinating Lead Author of the IPBES Nexus Assessment, a Commissioner and Executive Committee member of the EAT-Lancet 2.0 study, a member of the steering group for the global True Cost of Food Coalition, and he serves on the executive committee of the Global Burden of Animal Diseases program.

Geeta Sethi, Advisor and Global Lead for Food Systems, World Bank

Geeta Sethi is the lead architect of the World Bank’s Food System Transformation agenda, a food system that provides the triple bottom line—prosperity, sustainability and healthy people.  She also manages the World Bank’s program on Food Loss and Waste Reduction. She has more than 20 years of experience working as an economist on fragile, low-, and middle-income countries. Her work has focused on issues of rural development, service delivery and intergovernmental fiscal policies around the world. She has delivered many lending programs to the World Bank Board and published books and articles in refereed journals on issues relating to rural labor markets, trade policy and fiscal decentralization. Previously, she was the Chief of Staff to the Climate Change Vice President and Special Envoy, the Operations and Strategy Manger for Climate Change, and worked as the Program Manager for the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. She has an MBA and PhD in Economics.

Dhanush Dinesh, Chief Climate Catalyst, Clim-Eat

Dhanush is the Founder of Clim-Eat, a think and do tank that aims to accelerate food systems transformation under climate change. A fearless visionary determined to shake up our food systems and take on climate change.

Prior to founding Clim-Eat, Dhanush worked as Head of Partnerships and treach of CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) to scale up Climate-Smart Agriculture. He is a Trustee of Plan Vivo Foundation and a Visiting Researcher at the University of Leeds. His previous work experience includes roles within the private sector, NGOs, and the UN system, in China, India, Thailand, and the UK. He has worked on a range of issues including forestry, environmental policy, climate change adaptation, and advocacy, at the national, regional, and global levels.