On May 17, 2021, Dr. Jewel Bronaugh was sworn-in as the firstBlack woman and woman of color Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.

Prior to her confirmation, Dr. Jewel H. Bronaugh was appointed as the 16th Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in 2018 by Governor Ralph Northam. She previously served as the Virginia State Executive Director for the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), appointed by Governor Terry McAuliffe and then-U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, in July 2015. Prior to her FSA appointment, she served as Dean of the College of Agriculture at Virginia State University (VSU) with oversight of Extension, Research and Academic Programs and as Executive Director of the VSU Center for Agricultural Research, Engagement and Outreach. She also previously served as the Associate Administrator for Extension Programs and as a 4-H Extension Specialist.

In spring 2019, Dr. Bronaugh launched the Virginia Farmer Stress Task Force to raise awareness and coordinate resources to address farmer stress and mental health challenges in Virginia. In the fall of 2020, she helped establish the Virginia Food Access Investment Fund and Program, the first
statewide program of its kind to address food access within historically marginalized communities.

Dr. Bronaugh holds a bachelor’s degree in Education from James Madison University and she received her master’s degree and Ph.D. in Career and Technical Education from Virginia Tech. She is passionate about the advancement of youth leadership in agriculture. Dr. Bronaugh is from Petersburg, Virginia. Her husband Cleavon is a retired United States Army Veteran.

As the Deputy Editor for FoodNavigator-USA and host of the podcast Soup-To-Nuts, Elizabeth Crawford is business journalist who covers the food, beverage, and supplement industries. She tracks everything from emerging trends, regulatory pressures, marketing strategies and food science. In her video series, Investing in the Future of Food, she features new brands, entrepreneurs, and investors to shine a light on where the food and beverage industry is headed and what it takes to make it in a competitive market.

Niya Gupta is the current founder and CEO of Fork & Goode, which is growing meat directly from cells so you can eat delicious animal protein without compromise. Cultivating meat addresses critical food safety issues, cuts out immense resource needs, and avoids animal slaughter to help meet our growing global protein needs. Niya was also the CEO and co-founder of Comcrop a vertical farming startup in Singapore selling green produce into major supermarkets. Prior to this she had spent more than 10 years in food and agriculture businesses, including at McKinsey and Syngenta. She holds an MBA and MPAID from Harvard, and an Economics BA from Yale.

Meera Shekar is Global Lead for nutrition with the World Bank’s Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice.  In this capacity she provides leadership, support and policy advice on the Bank’s nutrition portfolio across the spectrum of undernutrition and obesity, managing key partnerships such as the Power of Nutrition,  and firmly positioning nutrition within the Global Financing Facility for RMNACH and the Bank’s new initiative on Human Capital. Over the last several years, she has led the repositioning of the nutrition agenda that led to the global Scaling-up Nutrition (SUN) movement, and was a founding member of the Catalytic Financing Facility for Nutrition developed in partnership with the Milken Institute, that evolved in to “The Power of Nutrition”. Meera serves as the chair for the SUN executive committee and has been one of the principals for the emerging aid-architecture for the SUN, and the G8 and G20 agenda-setting process for food security and nutrition over the last decade.  She developed the first ever global Investment Framework for Nutrition and co-leads (with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) the Nutrition Financing working group for the “Nutrition for Growth” (N4G) summit to be hosted by Japan in 2021.

Meera has lived and worked across the globe and has extensive policy and operational experience across the globe. She has a PhD in international nutrition, epidemiology and population studies from Cornell University and has consulted extensively. Among other publications, she is the author of the health chapter in the World Bank’s flagship report entitled eTransform Africa: the Transformational use of Information and Communication Technologies in Africa, 2012; Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development, 2006;  Scaling-up Nutrition –What will it cost? World Bank 2009; And most recently, An Investment Framework for Nutrition: Reaching the global Targets for Stunting, Anemia, Breastfeeding and Wasting, World Bank, 2017; and Obesity: Health and Economic Consequences of an Impending Global Challenge, World Bank, 2020. Meera has served as an Adjunct professor at Tufts University, USA, and has been a guest speaker at several G8 preparatory events including the G8 parliamentarians’ conference in Canada, invited speaker at Cornell University, GW University, Harvard School of Public Health, University of Toronto, BRAC University Bangladesh, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), National Institutes of Health, Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), Washington DC, National Academies of Sciences (NAS) USA, the Committee on Food Security, The Wall Street Journal, and several others. Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Obesity co-led by the University of Auckland & GW University; co-author of the Lancet Undernutrition Series 2008; Member of the Expert Advisory Group for UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report; External advisory board at DNS (2012-18), Cornell University. She is on the Advisory panel for the Essential Living Standards index, Legatum Institute, UK; the Cost of Obesity Advisory Group (CoOAG) and the advisory group at Gates Ventures (Bill Gates’s private office) among several others.

Barbara O. Schneeman, Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor of Nutrition at the University of California, Davis. From 2004 to 2013 she was the Director of the Office of Nutrition, Labeling, and Dietary Supplements at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In that position, she oversaw the development of policy and regulations for dietary supplements, labeling, food standards, infant formula, and medical foods and served as U.S delegate to two Codex committees (Food Labeling and Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses). From 1976-2004, she was a member of the nutrition and food science faculty at UC Davis.  At UC Davis she served in several administrative roles, including Chair of the Department of Nutrition, Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and Associate Vice Provost for University Outreach.  She has been a visiting scientist at UC San Francisco, and Assistant Administrator for Nutrition in the Agricultural Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture.  Professional activities include serving as the Higher Education coordinator at USAID, participation in Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committees (including chair of the 2020 DGAC), member of committees for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, USDA, Food and Agricultural Organization, World Health Organization, the American Society for Nutrition, and the Institute of Food Technologists. She has been Associate Editor for the Journal of Nutrition and on several editorial boards including Nutrition Reviews, Journal of Nutrition, and Journal of Food Science.  Her professional honors include Fellow of the American Society of Nutrition, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Awards from the Institute of Food Technology (Carl Fellers, Gilbert Leveille, and Samuel Cate Prescott), the Conrad Elvehjem Award for Public Service in Nutrition, the FDA Commissioner’s Special Citation and the Harvey W. Wiley Medal, the FDA Merit Award, and several honorary lectureships. She is recognized for her work on dietary fiber, gastro-intestinal function, development and use of food-based dietary guidelines, and policy development in food and nutrition. She received her B.S. degree in Food Science from the UC Davis, Ph.D. in Nutrition from the UC, Berkeley, and postdoctoral training in gastro-intestinal physiology at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California.

Dr. Siega-Riz’s research focuses on the first 1,000 days of life by understanding the influence of maternal weight status and dietary patterns/behaviors in the etiology of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including but not limited to, gestational diabetes, pregnancy induced hypertension, pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, and inadequate or excessive gestational weight gain. She is also exploring food reward and sensitivity among pregnant women and early determinants of childhood obesity and the association of maternal preconceptional health with childhood eating and weight status among Hispanics. Other research interests include examining the determinants and consequences of food insecurity and the implications of food policy on health outcomes. 

Dr. Siega-Riz currently serves on the National Institute of Health’s Council of Councils, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Health and Medicine Division Advisory Committee, the Food and Nutrition Board, and as a board of trustees member for the International Food Information Council. Previously she served on the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Federal Advisory Committee; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Advisory Council; the U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Pregnancy Technical Expert Committee, B–24-month Project; and five Institute of Medicine committees. Dr. Siega-Riz has received the March of Dimes Agnes Higgins Award for Maternal and Fetal Nutrition; the University of North Carolina Center for Women’s Health Research Award for Excellence; and the American Public Health Association, Food and Nutrition Mary Egan Award. She held key positions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Public Health, including Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; Program Leader of the Reproductive, Perinatal and Pediatric Program in the Department of Epidemiology; Associate Chair of Epidemiology; and Director of Nutrition Epidemiology Core, Nutrition Obesity Research Center. 

Dr. Siega-Riz holds a B.S.P.H. from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, an M.S. in Food, Nutrition, and Food Service Management from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Ph.D. in Nutrition with a minor in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health. She held the credentials of a registered dietician from 1983–2014. 

Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam is a Professor of Cooperative Extension in the field of Animal Genomics and Biotechnology in the Department of Animal Science at University of California, Davis.  She received a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and both an MS in Animal Science, and a PhD in Genetics from UC Davis. Her publicly-funded research and outreach program focuses on the use of animal genomics and biotechnology in livestock production systems. Her current research projects include the development of genome editing approaches for cattle. She has given over 700 invited presentations to audiences globally, and uses a variety of media to inform general public audiences about science and technology. A passionate advocate of science, Dr. Van Eenennaam was the recipient of the CAST 2014 Borlaug and the ASAS 2019 Rockefeller Prentice Award in Animal Breeding and Genetics.

Twitter: @BioBeef.

Hailing from a rural town in the Mississippi Delta, Ebony Webber serves as the Chief Officer of Operations for the National Society for Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, and has worked for MANRRS for the last 17 years.  Ms. Webber strives daily to transform the National Society into a nationally recognized name as well as developing young, minority students into future leaders. Focused on developing strategic partnerships and building collaborative teams, Ms. Webber drives innovation and growth at MANRRS through programs connecting students and professionals in academia, government, nonprofit, and private industry.

Graduating at the top of the Computer Science and Mathematics Department, Ebony received her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Stillman College and also holds a certification in Technology Management and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, both from the University of Phoenix. Ms. Webber is an alum of the National Urban League Emerging Leaders Program, United Way of Greater Atlanta Volunteer Involvement Program and the Georgia Center for Nonprofits High Potential Diverse Leaders Cohort.  She is a member of the National Black MBA Association and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and was recently appointed to the Women in Food and Agriculture Advisory Board and the 1890 Center of Excellence to Motivate and Educate for Achievement (MEA).

Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft is the Deputy Director and Program Manager for NASA Harvest, a diverse Consortium of more than 50 institutions focused on advancing the use of satellite data by agricultural and food security decision makers. She is an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, and since 2015, she has served as Program Scientist for G20’s Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEOGLAM). She serves as Agriculture Point of Contact to the world’s space agencies (through CEOS), co-leads GEOGLAM’s Capacity Development Team, and is Founder and Director of the Agricultural Monitoring in the Americas Initiative. She is an expert in organizational change with respect to integrating new satellite technologies into work flows. She’s developed collaborations and partnership models with public and private sector, emphasizing sustainable business models and value to all actors. Dr. Whitcraft, having grown up working in her family winery, also understands well the challenges of high-quality agricultural production in the context of climate change, extreme weather events, and land mismanagement.