Board of Trustees

Jen is the CEO and Co-Founder of Otherworld, a plant-based food company addressing planetary and human health through nutritious and climate-conscious food products. She is also the Co-Founder and Chairwoman of the Board of Before It’s Too Late, a nonprofits arts organization whose mission is to use art and technology to ignite urgency and collaboration toward addressing climate change.
Jen is the Founder of The Sustainable Investor, an editorial blog demonstrating through data-driven research that profitability and environmental/social impact need not be mutually exclusive.

Amy’s career as an educator spans over 30 years from teaching science education at elementary and middle schools to working as a school counselor for children with language-based learning disabilities to her current position at Antioch University as an assistant professor in the special education department. Amy received her Bachelor in Science from Cornell University as an environmental education major. She earned a Masters in Science Teaching from Antioch University New England and worked as a science educator for ten years before returning to college to obtain a Masters in Social Work from Boston University.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Carl has fond memories of visiting family members down south who grew and harvested their own food. In 2011, he co-founded Rounding the Bases in Baltimore, and then brought the concept to Dorchester. Rounding the Bases connects people directly to resources for training, education, employment, housing, food, and other services in Metro Boston. “When we started our food delivery program for seniors and their families, we delivered to a handful of houses bags of non-perishable food, mostly cans and starches,” says Carl, who can regularly be found picking up fresh produce at The Food Project’s Dudley Greenhouse.

Valerie is the Deputy Director of Environmental Justice at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA). Prior to this role, she worked as a Climate Change Policy Analyst and Program Administrator for the Food Security Infrastructure Grant program at EEA. She began working in state government in Governor Charles Baker’s Office of Constituent Services where she was the Deputy Director and Internship Coordinator. Valerie graduated with a B.A. in Sociology from Boston College in 2014, and upon graduation, served as a City Year Americorps member at an elementary school in the Bronx, NY.

Emmanuel (Manny) is a Human Resources Professional working at CareQuest Institute for Oral Health supporting the organization’s growth and their employee experience. Manny has worked for The Food Project in various capacities. He was a youth in the North Shore’s first Summer Youth Program, now known as Seed Crew, and continued his time through Dirt and Root Crew.
After graduating from Salem State University with a double Bachelor’s in Business and Dance, he began working as a Community Health Worker for Mass General Hospital assisting families suffering through food insecurities.

Norris graduated from UMass Boston with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology (focus in community studies) and attended Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government’s UE Executive Education Program (Using Evidence to Assess Effectiveness) where he graduated in 2017. Currently, Norris is the Director of the Lynn Food and Fitness Alliance (LFFA) in Lynn, MA. In this role, he manages and facilitates community partnerships to address food insecurity and improve other public health intersections while dually serving as the City’s Food Security task Force leader having been appointed to the position by the mayor Tom McGee in May 2020.
Norris also leads a statewide working group that is actively facilitating connections between BIPOC farmers, building that networks capacity for policy advocacy, and drafting language for bills, he drafted a significant amount of language for bills HD 1661 & SD 1036.

Irene, winner of the 2022 James Beard Leadership Award, is a graduate of The Mountain School, Milton Academy, and Cornell University. Her life experiences range from organic farming to prison education and many things in between. While she never expected a life in the restaurant industry, her desire to create change and to care for those around her remains constant. She’s passionate about carefully sourced ingredients and high-quality jobs. Under her leadership, Mei Mei implemented open-book management with Rethink Restaurants in order to improve the business while providing team members with valuable hospitality skills and financial know-how. Irene is involved with a number of community organizations and serves on the boards of Haley House, Lovin’ Spoonfuls, and Project Bread. In the weeks that followed the COVID-19 emergency, Irene launched Unsung Restaurants, a campaign to raise money for under-the-radar, mom and pop, and immigrant-owned businesses, partnered with Off Their Plate to lead a grocery program for hospital workers, and continued to drive Mei Mei in whatever direction best serves her community – like selling toilet paper!

Andy Ly is a sophomore at Lynn Classical High School. He is the class president and takes part in multiple extracurriculars, such as the math team, orchestra, and baseball. He started working at The Food Project in September 2020 and is currently a Root Crew member on the North Shore. Previously, he had the unique experience of being in North Shore’s Sprout Crew during the covid season and was able to develop skills from both Seed and Dirt crews in a single academic year. He thoroughly enjoys creating and listening to music as a violinist and loves having fun on the baseball diamond and at the frequent hangouts, he has with his fellow Root Crew members outside of work.

Dan is an independent Brand Strategy and Marketing Consultant specializing in mid-size to large consumer goods companies. Prior to this position, he was the CMO of inMusic and before that was Vice President of Marketing for T.J.Maxx at The TJX Companies, Inc., a leading off-price retailer in the U.S. and internationally, where he was responsible for the end-to-end customer experience including brand strategy, integrated marketing communications, retail marketing, creative, and agency leadership. Dan has held a variety of brand leadership roles at PepsiCo, Starbucks Coffee Company, Welch’s and Adidas Group. Diversity and inclusion are a passion point for Dan and he’s held a range of positions in Asian-American, Multi-Cultural, and LBGTQ+ affinity groups in each of his corporate roles.

Diane formerly worked in development as the Assistant Director of Alumni/ae and Parent Engagement at the Cambridge School of Weston. Diane was passionate about her work at CSW building community and connecting alumni, parents, and other constituents to each other and the school. Community engagement benefits the fiscal health and growth of any organization. Diane’s professional experience began in corporate wellness programming: teaching classes in fitness, health, and nutrition.

Lynn resident Sarai Zelada is a Public Health Planner for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. She brings more than a decade of experience working in climate justice, affordable housing, economic opportunity, and public health to The Food Project. While earning a degree in Natural Resource Studies at UMass Amherst, she got her first taste of urban farming by helping to build the school’s first campus community garden.