A nutritional anthropologist on faculty at the University of Colorado Denver (Emeritus), John’s (he, him) research has focused on dietary decision making, micro-finance, and food security in urban settings in Latin America and the U.S. His current work on localizing the food supply and food security in Denver neighborhoods has led to the realization that the current food system isn’t broken (which could be fixed) but fundamentally unfair, with benefits skewed toward corporate producers and costs piling onto those segments of the population with the least choice. John is convinced that food security will only be realized as the historical and structural inequities in the food system are revealed and changed.
Courtlyn (she, her) grew up in western Colorado where she took full advantage of abundant opportunities to spend time outdoors hiking, biking, and skiing. Her love of the outdoors and concern for the environment led her to study environmental engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, from where she recently graduated with her degree.
Courtlyn has worked on several farms across the United States, and she spent a summer studying food systems in Denmark and England. Not only was this farming experience rewarding, but it also created an appreciation for the hard work that goes into agriculture and the amount of food surplus and waste that exists across the world.
In addition, Courtlyn co-founded a nonprofit organization in 2016 called BridgeUSA that engages college students in virtuous discourse about contentious issues. Courtlyn recently earned her Masters in Environmental Engineering and, in moments of cultivated spare time, enjoys volunteering as a park ranger in the Indian Peaks Wilderness and playing cello at gigs around Metro Denver.
Courtlyn Carpenter, M.S.
Board Secretary
Boulder Garden Manager, Garden to Table; Co Founder, BridgeUSA
As one of the leading experts in food loss and on-farm surplus in the U.S., Lisa (she, her) is committed to finding ways to reduce both food waste and loss in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 12 and is focused on finding solutions that incentivize, benefit or, at the very least, do no harm to food producers.
Collaborating with World Wildlife Fund, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Society of St. Andrew, Boston Area Gleaners, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and the Consortium for Innovation in Post-Harvest Loss and Food Waste Reduction, Lisa’s current projects focus on in-field measurement, estimation and the analysis of on-farm surplus protective foods.
In addition, Lisa is a part of the Expert Network for ReFED and consultant networks AgTech Insight, IMPACTR, and Globalwonks. Working closely with nonprofits and consortia, including World Resources Institute, Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops, she has provided technical assistance and protocols for reducing food loss on farms.
Dr. Johnson has authored and co-authored book chapters in The Economics of Food Loss in the Produce Industry, Routledge Handbook of Food Waste, and Preventing Food Losses and Waste to Achieve Food Security and Sustainability.
Dr. Lisa K. Johnson
Board Chair
Independent Consultant, Lisa K Johnson Consulting; Senior Director of Planning & Communications, InSight Labs; Adjunct Professor, North Carolina State University;
Matt (he, him) is a graduate of the University of Maryland and has worked with the land growing healthy, nutrient-dense food for communities for more than 10 years. Prior to starting his own farm, The Jolly Radish at the Treehouse Farm Collective in 2021, Matt was a farm manager at Aspen Moon Farm, an organic and biodynamic farm in Boulder County.
Matt Kuebbing, M.S.
Farmer and Owner, The Jolly Radish at the Treehouse Farm Collective
Ciara (she, her) is one of UpRoot's co-founders and worked as UpRoot’s co-director from 2016-2021, developing operations along the Western Slope. Ciara was seminal in the creation of the Safe & Abundant Nutrition Alliance (SANA), encompassing the tri-county area of Garfield, Pitkin, and Eagle and of which UpRoot is a founding member. Ciara has worked as a food-systems consultant and contractor for government and nonprofit organizations focusing on systemic issues and collaborative solutions. She was the volunteer coordinator for both Feeding the 5000 Front Range and Feeding the 5000 L.A. and was a Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Fellow (RMFU) in 2017. Ciara holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Brown University.
Ciara Low
Program Manager, Santa Clara County Food Recovery Program; Co Founder, UpRoot Colorado
As a member of the development team at Outright International (Outright), Jessica (she, they) leverages her corporate background to build and strengthen relationships with Outright's partners to accelerate momentum in advancing LGBTIQ human rights, globally. Through various avenues of advocacy and volunteering, Jessica believes in the power of altruism and works to increase nutrition security, artistic freedom, educational equality, and resource conservation throughout her home state of Colorado. Jessica also harnesses the selfless energy of others as volunteer director for a number of organizations on the East Coast and, as a musician, Jessica works to create safe spaces for all to share in the power of dance, community and self-expression. Jessica holds degrees and certificates from the University at Buffalo and University of California, Berkeley.
Jessica Miller
Senior Manager of Corporate Partnerships, Outright International
Anjani Moro, MENV
Food Policy and Systems Team Supervisor, Jefferson County Public Health
Anjani (she, her) was born in southern India and immigrated to the US at a young age with her family and grew up in rural South Carolina. She is passionate about supporting the local food systems to operate on equity and justice to support communities that face the most systemic barriers. She has a background in Public Health and has founded, administered, and worked in a variety of different health-related non-profit organizations.
Her passion for environmental justice and food systems pushed her to pursue a graduate degree at CU Boulder. Her work was focused on food and agriculture policy, food waste, Indigenous agriculture, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She currently leads the food policy and systems team at Jefferson County Public Health which is focused on increasing access to fresh, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food through policy, systems and environmental changes. She implements food systems and healthy equity programs in collaboration with other Denver-Metro government agencies and community organizations, as well as overseeing federally funded food systems grant programs in Jefferson County.