Maine Food Waste Solutions Summit – Participants

Speakers

Sarah NicholsSarah K. Nichols, NRCM Sustainable Maine Director
Sarah is a waste policy expert and leads NRCM’s local and State efforts to reduce waste and litter in Maine; and she provides the environmental voice for all materials management related policies that come before the Legislature. Prior to joining NRCM in 2014, she spent several years working to improve recycling programs in rural communities. She earned a master’s degree from the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California Santa Barbara, where she specialized in environmental policy, and has a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire in Environmental & Resource Economics. Sarah is from Bath, and resides in Cumberland.

Chellie PingreeCongresswoman Chellie Pingree, U.S. Representative for Maine’s First Congressional District
Chellie lives on the offshore island of North Haven, Maine, where she raised her three children and ran a small business. She served on the school board and as the local tax assessor, a job no one else in town wanted. She was elected to the Maine State Senate in 1992, representing Knox County.

From 2003 to 2007, Chellie served as the National President and CEO of Common Cause, a non-partisan citizen activist group with nearly 300,000 members and 35 state chapters. Common Cause’s mission is to help citizens make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.

In 2008, Chellie was elected to Congress, making her the first woman to represent Maine’s 1st Congressional District in Washington. She has previously served on the House Rules Committee and Armed Services Committee. She currently sits on the House Appropriations Committee, where she is the Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment and a member of the Subcommittees on Agriculture and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.

Chellie has been an advocate in Congress for reforming federal policy to better support the diverse range of American agriculture, especially small-scale and organic farming. She has also been recognized for her leadership on a number of other issues, including assisting survivors of military sexual trauma, strengthening the creative and arts economy, and helping address climate change for farmers and coastal communities.

Angel VesaAngel Veza, Senior Manager, Capital, Innovation & Engagement, ReFED
Angel is currently the Senior Manager of Capital, Innovation & Engagement at ReFED, where she leads their bespoke programming and strategic partnerships. She originally worked in the education field teaching underserved communities. After working with students for seven years, Angel received her Grade Diplome at the French Culinary Institute and worked through New York City’s top restaurants including Morimoto and two-Michelin starred Atera and with foodservice companies like Compass Group. During that time, she witnessed the significant amount of food being wasted in the hospitality industry and decided to work with the Food Waste team at World Wildlife Fund. As an expansion of that, she led strategic sourcing and procurement with a focus on food waste reduction at Manahtta Restaurant, part of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group in NYC.

Panelists

Olivia DoucetteOlivia Doucette, Operations Manager, Sodexo, USM Portland, LAC, UMA
Olivia continues to assist the University of Southern Maine in helping control food waste. Sodexo has helped reduce food waste in many ways and in helping educate the students on their goals as a team.

Amber LambkeAmber Lambke, Founder and CEO, Maine Grains, Inc; Founding Director, Maine Grain Alliance
A driving force behind Maine’s sustainable foods movement, Amber has worked with local business leaders and community members to successfully bring the cultivation and processing of heritage grains back to Skowhegan, Maine. Her efforts through the Maine Grain Alliance have generated a broader understanding and appreciation of the nutritional and economic value of heritage grains and oats, as well as their exceptional flavor.

Nancy PerryNancy Perry, Program Manager, Mainers Feeding Mainers, Good Shepherd Food Bank
Nancy joined the team at Good Shepherd Food Bank in 2008 as the Food Resource Coordinator soliciting donated food from retail stores, manufacturers and distribution centers. She later became the Food Sourcing Manager and currently managing the Mainers Feeding Mainers Program. In 2014 Feeding America recognized Nancy as Food Sourcing Leader of the Year for the Northeast.

Bryan BelliveauBryan Belliveau, Code Enforcement Officer, Building Inspector, Plumbing Inspector, Solid Waste Supervisor, Town of Skowhegan