CHICAGO, July 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, announced the election of new members to the Feeding America National Board of Directors.
They are Anne Alonzo, Former Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of Corteva Agriscience; Eric Cooper, President and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank; Lisa Mensah, President and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network; and Toni Stanger-McLaughlin, CEO of the Native America Agriculture Fund. Their terms will begin on July 1, the beginning of Feeding America’s 2023 fiscal year.
“As we deepen our efforts to reduce food insecurity and address disparities by race and place, their unique insights are sure to prove invaluable to our work. Anne, Eric, Lisa, and Toni are truly dedicated leaders in their communities and bring more representative voices to this table,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America.
“As we move into the future, I look forward to the opportunity of partnering with each of them to continue to keep people facing hunger at the center of all that we do to advance our mission and to serve our neighbors in need.”
Anne Alonzo – Over the past three decades, Alonzo has held executive leadership roles at three Fortune 500 companies—Amoco, Kraft Foods Inc., and Corteva. She has served at four U.S. federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Alonzo has also served as CEO of the American Egg Board and as Senior Vice President of the National Foreign Trade Council. Alonzo was recently named to the Top 100 Most Influential Latinas listing by Latino Leaders and is a passionate champion of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion across businesses and in the community.
Eric Cooper – As President and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank and the recipient of the 2021 John van Hengel Fellowship, Cooper has expanded and evolved programs that ensure a healthier, more self-sufficient community. Most recently, he has extended the Food Bank’s work of building strong and strategic community alliances by partnering with organizations to provide additional services for people who are food insecure.
These partnerships include urban farming and on-site food pantries operated by people in the transitional housing where they are located. In 2023, the San Antonio Food Bank will become the first U.S. food bank to offer affordable housing to its neighbors.
Lisa Mensah – Mensah is President and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), the nation’s leading network of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).
Under her leadership, OFN helps CDFIs leverage public funding and private investment to bring affordable, responsible capital to rural, urban, and Native communities underserved by mainstream finance. Mensah was previously elected to fill an unfinished six-month term on Feeding America’s National Board and has now been elected to serve a full two-year year term.
Toni Stanger-McLaughlin, J.D. – Stanger-McLaughlin is a citizen of the Colville Confederated Tribes and serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF). She has compassionately worked in agriculture law and policy for many years, working across several nonprofit, university and government organizations to advance Tribal needs in agriculture, natural resources, land use and infrastructure development.
Before being named the CEO of NAAF, she served as the first NAAF Director of Programs, where she assisted the development and delivery of millions of dollars of NAAF philanthropic investment in Tribal food systems.
As their two-year terms begin, the new Board members will be welcomed by Feeding America’s new incoming National Board Chair Kelvin H. Taketa, who has served on the Board since 2016.
The Feeding America Board of Directors is made up of a diverse group of individuals from both private corporations and non-profits. The group helps to set and guide Feeding America’s strategic direction to help fulfill the vision of an America where no one is hungry. Feeding America, the second largest nonprofit in the U.S. according to Forbes, is comprised of a network of 200 food banks, 21 statewide associations, and 60,000 partner food pantries and meal programs.
Contact
Zuani Villarreal
Feeding America
312.641.6532
About Feeding America
Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, we helped provide 6.6 billion meals to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; brings attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
