As Executive Director of GIFSL, Will’s primary role is to forge partnerships, develop programs and lead a shared vision of developing leadership in the food systems arena. Will is well known for his expertise in risk communication and Dr. Hueston remains active facilitating innovative approaches for tackling the increasingly complex dilemmas facing local, regional and global food systems. His career has spanned both the private and public sectors, including private practice and public sectors, including private practice and several faculty appointments. He also served in senior positions in the U.S. Department of Agriculture before joining the University of Minnesota.

As Chief Operating Officer, Linda is responsible for the implementation of GIFSL’s strategic plan. She provides oversight of the day to day activities of the Global Initiative, maintains a positive flow of work, and effectively manages resources and staff. Linda brings extensive management experience to GIFSL from previous executive leadership roles in healthcare, environmental science, and clinical chemistry.

As the Director of Educational Programs, Scott provides overall guidance, support, and direction for leadership curriculum and educational programs. Scott also fosters and maintains relationships with GIFSL’s academic partners. In addition, Scott is a Professor at the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine at the University of Minnesota.

Peter provides project analysis and coordination of multidisciplinary projects. He also writes briefs, analysis reviews, and assists in outreach efforts to support GIFSL programs. Prior to joining GIFSL, Peter attained a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Pepperdine University in 2007. While at Pepperdine, he worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Tbilisi, Georgia where he was a Program Assistant providing program analysis and support to the UNDP’s various on-going development projects.

As Program Coordinator, Carol is responsible for leadership program design and development; coordination of multidisciplinary projects and management of MOU development and stakeholder communication. Prior to joining GIFSL, Carol worked for the University of Minnesota in other capacities including, Extension Educator, Food Safety Coordinator for the Department of Food Science and Nutrition and under contract with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture for training development.

Shahar Journo Web-site Developer journ005@umn.edu Shahar is a professional Web developer with experience maintaining over 3000 pages on small and large business websites. He currently maintains and develops the GIFSL website. Shahar has worked with nearly every Web technology including XML, CSS, HTML, PHP, Perl, C, JavaScript, ASP, ASP.NET and Java.

As the senior project coordinator, Kris manages the logistics and event preparations for GIFSL programs. Kris joined the University of Minnesota in 2007 and has over seven years of operational and administrative experience working in a variety of industries; including engineering, insurance and manufacturing.

As an administrative assistant, Hallie provides support to all members of the GIFSL staff.

Farhiya Farah comes to GIFSL with substantial public health and food safety experience. She was the Director of Health and Nutrition for PICA Head Start and has worked for several years as a health inspector for the city of Minneapolis. Her work at GIFSL involves program development, evaluation and analysis.

Katinka is a Senior Officer for Veterinary Public Health at the Animal Health Service of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. She has worked for 9 years in Africa (Mali, Mozambique and Zambia) and in her current position at FAO is responsible for the setting up of international networks for veterinary public health and the implementation of project activities globally.

Terry is an Occupational Psychologist and Managing Director of Whitewater Consulting Ltd. She has a particular role in developing new products and services, creating Assessment & Development Centers and providing executive coaching to board members. Terry also has a special interest in Lean Service & System Thinking. She is a member of the Institute of Management Consultancy.

Dan is the Director of the FAO Liaison Office for North America. He has worked for the past 30 years on agricultural and rural development in Latin America, Africa and Asia as well as in the United States. He began his career in Brazil with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), where he worked from 1977 to 1988. This was followed by work at the University of Maryland as Program Director of the University’s International Development Management Center.

Lonnie King is the dean of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Lonnie was formerly the director of the National Center for Zoonoses, Vectorborne and Enteric Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. King is a veterinarian with local, national and international experience in the private sector. He has experience in government, non-governmental organizations, and academia. In addition to experience in designing and implementing leadership development and mentoring programs, Dr. King has as a strong commitment to mentoring emerging leaders.

Ed works in the employment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of The Netherlands. He has worked in a number of directorates, starting in the Veterinary Service, and moving to the directorate that is responsible for the management of science programmes financed by the Ministry. Since November 2008 he is employed by the Food and Consumer Goods Authority, as Product Manager Live Animals. In addition to his employment in the Ministry, he has worked on a number of consultancy projects in new member states of the European Union and in other countries, which include Suriname and Armenia.Animals.

Anni is the Senior Livestock Policy Officer in the Animal Production and Health Division of FAO, where she set up the socio-economics programme for emergency control of transboundary animal diseases. Before joining FAO in 2003 she was deputy director of the Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Research Unit at the University of Reading and a livestock economics consultant at PAN Livestock Services Ltd.

Barry’s entire career has been centered around food production, global market development, value-added industry, research, food safety, and regulatory enforcement. Currently Barry serves as a public member of the Board of Governors of Olds College and operates his own company that provides a variety of services to the Agriculture and Food industry. Before joining public service, Barry spent ten years in industry, holding the position as General Sales Manager of Swift Eastern Limited and Assistance General Beef Manager at Swift Canadian Co. Ltd.

Daniel is a meeting facilitator and has played a leadership role in designing and producing large and extensive citizen engagement projects in the United States including the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, the recovery of New Orleans, and the reform of health care in California. He has published numerous papers and articles on the subjects of organizational change and citizen engagement.

After working for 30 years in the US food industry, Bob retired from the position of R&D Director and rededicated himself to the service of the Chinese community. Dr. Tang has worked as a English-Chinese court interpreter at the federal and Minnesota state courts, in addition to his work as a consultant for food industry. He has worked with GIFSL for the past two years in its training programs for China's food regulators. His broad based background, understanding of the food regulatory and safety issues and his bilingual fluency has helped to facilitate the program.