Organic Heroes – Keynote Panel

Sunday, July 26th
2:00-3:00pm – Valley Main Stage

You will be inspired by our “Organic Heroes” keynote panel, which features leaders in  the organic movement, including the Rodale Institute’s Tim LaSalle, Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group, Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association, biologist and author Dr. Sandra Steingraber, and University of Wisconsin graduate student, Genya Erling, founder of Slow Food UW.  The panel will be moderated by Theresa Marquez, Organic Valley’s chief marketing executive and founder of Earth Dinner.

Timothy J. LaSalle, CEO of the Rodale Institute

Tim LaSalle holds his doctorate in depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, a master’s in populations genetics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a bachelor of science degree from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). For 12 years he was a full professor at Cal Poly, where he taught dairy science classes and served as the president and CEO of California’s Agriculture Education Foundation. While at Cal Poly, LaSalle started and operated a conventional dairy near Templeton, California. More recently, LaSalle served in an executive capacity with various nonprofit organizations, including the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County and the Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management.

Ken Cook, Co-founder and President of the Environmental Working Group

Ken and EWG have been the subject of profiles in the New York Times, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the Chicago Tribune, and many other publications. Ken earned degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Deb Callahan.

Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association National Director

Ronnie Cummins is the Executive director, OCA; former director, Jeremy Rifkin's Beyond Beef Campaign & Pure Food Campaign; author of books on Central American culture; co-author, Genetically-Engineered Foods: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers

Dr Sandra Steingraber 

Ecologist, author, and cancer survivor, Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert on the environmental links to cancer and reproductive health. She received her doctorate in biology from the University of Michigan and master’s degree in English from Illinois State University. She is the author of Post-Diagnosis, a volume of poetry, and coauthor of a book on ecology and human rights in Africa, The Spoils of Famine. She has taught biology at Columbia College, Chicago, held visiting fellowships at the University of Illinois, Radcliffe/Harvard, and Northeastern University, and served on President Clinton’s National Action Plan on Breast Cancer.

Theresa Marquez, Organic Valley’s Chief Marketing Officer and founder of Earth Dinner

Theresa Marquez has been involved with the organic movement and emerging organic industry for the past 30 years. She has worn a wide variety of hats over the decades, though always focused and dedicated to deepening industry values surrounding organic and sustainable food and farming.  Theresa has championed the ideal that social and environmental change can and must occur through mission based business practices, and one’s own connection with food and how it is produced. She has and continues to live this ideal both professionally and personally.

Genya Erling, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Founder of Slow Food UW
 
Genya Erling is a graduate student in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where she studies urban agriculture and sustainable food systems.  Two years ago she founded Slow Food UW, a student group working to change the food system at the University, one meal at a time.  With Slow Food, Genya has become connected with the food movement at a broader level.  She has attended the last two Terra Madre - Slow Food International meetings in Turin, Italy, as well as Slow Food Nation last summer in San Francisco, where the seeds of a new food movement—the Youth Food Movement— were born.  Genya is from Gays Mills, WI originally, and is happy to be back in the Valley.