Kathleen A. Merrigan

Kathleen A. Merrigan is an expert in food and agriculture, celebrated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010. Currently, she serves as Professor in the School of Sustainability and executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University. She has been working with Astanor Ventures since 2017.

Kathleen served as Deputy Secretary and COO of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 2009-2013, where she oversaw USDA’s $150 billion annual budget and regulatory processes. She is renowned for her efforts supporting local food systems and authoring the U.S. law establishing national standards for organic food, as well as the federal definition of sustainable agriculture. She serves on the boards of various global food, climate and forestry research centres including Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and CIFOR-ICRAF.