WHO WE ARE
The Center for Good Food Purchasing uses the power of procurement to create a transparent and equitable food system that prioritizes the health and well-being of people, animals, and the environment. We do this through the nationally-networked adoption and implementation of the Good Food Purchasing Program by major institutions.
The Center manages the Good Food Purchasing Program, working with institutions to establish supply chain transparency from farm to fork and shift towards a values-based purchasing model.
The Center works with national partners and local grassroots coalitions in cities across the United States to build a cohesive movement in support of Good Food purchasing.
“Governments have few sources of leverage over increasingly globalized food systems – but public procurement is one of them. When sourcing food for schools, hospitals and public administrations, governments have a rare opportunity to support more nutritious diets and more sustainable food systems in one fell swoop.”
Olivier De Schutter, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (2014)WHAT WE DO
The Good Food Purchasing Program brings stakeholders from across the food chain to the same table to:
ACTIVATE POLICY
to institutionalize buyers’ commitments to Good Food and supply chain transparency.
ENHANCE CAPACITY
of local grassroots coalitions and support for local procurement policy efforts to ensure that public food contracts reflect community values.
INCREASE COORDINATION
and alignment in the food movement through comprehensive, metric-driven standards that reflect a shared vision and collective values.
SUPPORT ADMINISTRATORS
by sharing tools to make informed procurement decisions, set procurement targets, and measure impact.
LEVERAGE BUYING POWER
and increased supply chain knowledge to drive change in the food industry towards suppliers that support our values.
OUR TEAM
LAM LE is an Analyst at the Center for Good Food Purchasing. Her work involves collecting and analyzing data, working with local partners and assisting institutions in meeting and complying with the Good Food Purchasing Standards, and supporting the Center’s current and future initiatives. Previously, Lam worked with the Green Team at Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley to support and implement green-building projects. She was also part of the Zero Waste Team at Haas, where she focused on outreach and the education of zero-waste practices. Lam is a member and volunteer at the Berkeley Student Food Collective. She holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.
After a long career as an attorney in civil litigation, she served as a Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner (a full-time position overseeing the Department of Public Works) and then Senior Advisor to Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles. She has also been a commissioner with the California Coastal Commission, and a gubernatorial appointee on the governing board of the California Bay-Delta Authority. She is an appointee of Governor Brown to the California Water Commission, and served in his Office of Planning and Research as Senior Fellow for Food Systems, Water and Climate.
Allison lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three kids. She is an avid runner, skier, and fair weather biker, who enjoys chasing her children with kale and strawberries from her garden.
NATHALIE LAIDLER-KYLANDER is responsible for identifying and supporting DRK Entrepreneurs. Nathalie currently serves on the boards of DRK portfolio organizations Spark MicroGrants, EForAll, Foster America, Rainforest Connection, Indus Action, Solutions Journalism Network, Laboratoria and The Center for Good Food Purchasing.
Nathalie is one of the world’s leading experts on nonprofit brand management. Her passion for understanding and promoting the important role that brand plays for nonprofit organizations has resulted in a decade of research, teaching, and consulting. Nathalie has been a practitioner as well as an academic over the course of her career. Her courses, including many Executive Education programs, and multiple publications have targeted nonprofit leaders, with the goal of building marketing and branding capacity in the sector. Nathalie has supported many of her students as they created and launched social enterprises both at Tufts University, where she taught entrepreneurial marketing, and at Harvard where she currently teaches strategic management for nonprofits.
She has worked extensively in both the private and social sectors over the course of her 30-year career. As a biochemist, an MBA and a PhD, Nathalie also built on her experience in strategy consulting to hold a number of prominent positions in sales, marketing and management at Medtronic Inc. She led Doctors Without Borders programs in Armenia, worked for the UNDP in Senegal, and has consulted to dozens of both large and small nonprofit organizations.
Nathalie received a BS in Biochemistry from Imperial College at London University, an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and a PhD from Fletcher School at Tufts University.
NATHALIE LAIDLER-KYLANDER is responsible for identifying and supporting entrepreneurs through her role as Managing Director at Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. She is one of the world’s leading experts on nonprofit brand management. Her passion for understanding and promoting the important role that brand plays for nonprofit organizations has resulted in a decade of research, teaching, and consulting. Nathalie has been a practitioner as well as an academic over the course of her career. Her courses, including many Executive Education programs, and multiple publications have targeted nonprofit leaders, with the goal of building marketing and branding capacity in the sector. Nathalie has supported many of her students as they created and launched social enterprises both at Tufts University, where she taught entrepreneurial marketing, and at Harvard where she currently teaches strategic management for nonprofits.
She has worked extensively in both the private and social sectors over the course of her 30-year career. As a biochemist, an MBA and a PhD, Nathalie also built on her experience in strategy consulting to hold a number of prominent positions in sales, marketing and management at Medtronic Inc. She led Doctors Without Borders programs in Armenia, worked for the UNDP in Senegal, and has consulted to dozens of both large and small nonprofit organizations.
Nathalie received a BS in Biochemistry from Imperial College at London University, an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and a PhD from Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Before coming to UCS, Dr. Salvador served as a program officer for food, health, and well-being with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In this capacity, he was responsible for conceptualizing and managing the Foundation’s food systems programming. He partnered with colleagues to create programs that addressed the connections between food and health, environment, economic development, sovereignty, and social justice.
Prior to that, he was an associate professor of agronomy at Iowa State University. While at ISU, Dr. Salvador taught the first course in sustainable agriculture at a land-grant university, and his graduate students conducted some of the original academic research on community-supported agriculture. He also worked with students to establish ISU’s student-operated organic farm, and with other faculty to develop the nation’s first sustainable agriculture graduate program in 2000; Dr. Salvador served as the program’s first chair. Dr. Salvador also worked as an extension agent with Texas A&M University.
Dr. Salvador has appeared on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry Show and has been quoted inThe Boston Globe, The New York Times, Politico and many other outlets. Dr. Salvador was named a 2013 NBC Latino Innovator and received the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2014. He was also an author of a 2014 op-ed in The Washington Post calling for a national food policy, which is changing how many think about food and farm policy.
Dr. Salvador earned a B.S. in agricultural science from New Mexico State University. He holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in crop production and physiology from Iowa State University.
Chuck founded Island Press to accelerate the capacity of those organizations and individuals working on these issues to think and work across traditional academic and professional disciplines. During his time at Island Press they published more than 1000 titles by leading scientists including Edward O. Wilson, Gretchen Dailey, Paul Ehrich, Jane Lubcheco, as well as policy and thought leaders such as Bruce Babbitt, Gabe Klein and Jan Ghel. With each of these author’s work, Island Press helped to introduce new ideas that changed their fields.
Healthy food systems have been a personal priority for Chuck’s work and Island Press and he was honored to be asked to join the Center’s board. He hopes that his strategic communication skills could help spread the word about the it’s important work.
Wood brings over 20 years of experience in corporate sustainability, environmental management, and consumer engagement. Most recently, he was on the executive team at organic yogurt pioneer Stonyfield Farm as the company’s VP Sustainability Innovation. Prior to that, he was founding executive director of Climate Counts, an international NGO focused on measuring and scoring the world’s largest consumer companies on their concrete, enterprise-level responses to climate change. Wood has consulted to brands, elected officials, and public agencies on mobilizing the public around ideas that improve the environment and build community, including the start-up of a groundbreaking curbside food waste recovery program, the expansion of carshare program access to underrepresented communities in the Puget Sound area and Los Angeles, development of an early shuttle program for Bay Area biotech workers, and a citizen engagement program that nearly resulted in innovative fixed-rail for Seattle. Early in his career, he worked with the plastics industry in the policy and product stewardship arenas and was later instrumental in developing Urban Ecology’s “Blueprint for a Sustainable Bay Area.” He worked for many years on the alignment of economic and recreation demands with wetland, riparian, and wildlife corridor conservation in the Pacific Northwest.
NATIONAL PARTNERS
LOCAL LEAD PARTNERS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
CINCINNATI, OHIO
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
TWIN CITIES, MINNESOTA
JOBS & INTERNSHIPS
We currently have internship positions open. Please email us to find out more.
The Center for Good Food Purchasing is a project of Community Partners.