Rowen White is a Seed Keeper/farmer and author from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne and a passionate activist for indigenous seed and food sovereignty. She is the Educational Director and lead mentor of Sierra Seeds, an innovative Indigenous seed bank and land-based educational organization located in Nevada City CA. Rowen is the Founder of the Indigenous Seedkeepers Network, which is committed to restoring the Indigenous Seed Commons, and currently serves as a Cooperative Seed Hub Coordinator. As a farmer, mentor, leader, writer, and storyteller Rowen is deeply committed to a lifelong practice of embodied prayer that contributes to cultivating a culture of belonging in our ways of nourishing ourselves.

Rosalinda Guillén is the Founder and Executive Director of Community to Community Development (C2C), a farm worker and rural justice leader. Born in Texas and raised in Mexico, she moved to Washington in 1960 and began working as a farm worker at age ten. She co-founded the Whatcom County Rainbow Coalition and led a campaign for the first union contract for farmworkers at Chateau Ste. Michelle/Columbia Crest Wines. Guillén spent nine years with Cesar Chavez & the United Farm Workers of America, serving as National Vice President. She returned to Washington in 2003 to establish C2C, supporting the new farm worker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia, which secured a union contract at Sakuma Farms in 2016. Guillén’s work focuses on transforming agricultural labor into a well-paid, respected profession and building a solidarity economy. She currently lives in La Conner, WA.

Malik Yakini is co-founder and former Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network. He led the development of the Detroit Food Commons, a new 31,000 sq. ft. building in Detroit's North End that houses the Kujichagulia Kitchens, Imani Humphrey Banquet Hall and the Detroit People's Food Co-op. He serves on the co-op's board. He is a co-founder of the National Black Food and Justice Alliance. He is adamantly opposed to the systems of white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy. He has an intense interest in contributing to the development of an international Black food sovereignty movement.

Heather Day's first word was "strike!", and she credits her mom with teaching her about community organizing as a child. After being further radicalized through her education at The Evergreen State College, Heather was trained as an organizer by CISPES, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. In 1999 she helped to organize the protests against the World Trade Organization, and a year later co-founded Community Alliance for Global Justice (CAGJ). She earned a Masters in Geography at the University of Washington, focusing on transnational organizing to defeat the Free Trade Areas of the Americas. After becoming director in 2006, Heather led CAGJ to its current mission, to strengthen the global food sovereignty movement. She lives in Seattle with her son Henry.

Sarah Hackney has served as the Coalition Director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition since 2019, leading its strategic direction and governance. She previously spent 8 years as NSAC’s Grassroots Director, organizing grassroots voices over multiple farm bills through nationally coordinated campaigns focused on advancing more sustainable, equitable federal farm and food policy. Prior to NSAC she worked to improve farm viability, strengthen community food systems, and build leadership in rural communities in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Raised in Florida helping tend cattle and citrus groves, she holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College.

Susan Lightfoot Schempf has dedicated her life’s work to building relationships of solidarity across communities, nourishing leadership, facilitating collaboration, and realizing food sovereignty. She first dug her hands in the earth as a child at Our Father’s Garden – a faith-based community farm in her hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana – and has been growing community through food ever since. She brings 20 years of practical experience in non-profit leadership, value chain coordination, and equitable food systems development to her role as Executive Director of the Food Systems Leadership Network (FSLN). Outside of work, Susan eagerly seeks out music, food, family, and friends (preferably together), and is almost always plotting her next tropical surf adventure.

Edna became RAFI’s Executive Director in 2017 following six years as Come to the Table program Director, Development Director, and Director of Operations. In her current role, Edna led RAFI through a strategic planning process centered around equity, launched and grew the Farmers of Color Network, and extended programs to the U.S. Caribbean territories. In addition to serving on NSAC’s Organizational Council, Edna serves as Treasurer of the National Family Farm Coalition’s Executive Committee. Born in Puerto Rico to Dominican parents, Edna was raised between The Hague, Netherlands, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Jose Oliva was born in Xelaju, Guatemala. In 1985 he and his family were forced to flee the civil war and come to the US. Once in Chicago he was called to be Executive Director of Casa Guatemala where he began to organize day-laborers in Chicago’s street corners. He founded the Chicago Interfaith Workers’ Center and then became the Coordinator of Interfaith Worker Justice’s National Workers' Centers Network. Jose served in several leadership positions at the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, the national organization of restaurant workers. Jose was the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, a national coalition of food-worker organizations that collectively represents over 350,000 workers.

Dave Henson is a founder and the Executive Director of the 30-year old Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in northern California. For 40 years Dave has served as a strategy and organizational consultant to hundreds of environmental and social justice organizations, movement networks, foundations, and land-based projects in the US and around the world. Dave has co-founded many national and regional projects, including the Environmental Project on Central America, the Wild Farm Alliance, the Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project, the California Climate and Agriculture Network, Californians for GE Free Agriculture, and the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy.