Bio
Leslie A. Dach
Leslie Dach is executive vice president of corporate affairs for Walmart. He is a member of the company’s executive council, and is responsible for public policy, reputation management, corporate communications, philanthropy, government relations, and the company's social responsibility and sustainability initiatives. He also manages the company’s global security, aviation, and travel departments. Dach has been responsible for the development of initiatives such as Walmart's partnership with First Lady Michelle Obama to make food healthier by dramatically reducing sugar and salt content, and to make healthy food more affordable by reducing prices on fresh fruits and vegetables; its $2 billion commitment to fight hunger; its pledge to remove 20 million metric tons of carbon from its global supply chain; and Walmart's overall corporate giving which reached $800 million last year. Leslie serves on the board of directors of the World Resources Institute and the United Negro College Fund.
Robert Egger
Robert Egger is the Founder and President of the DC Central Kitchen, where unemployed men and women learn marketable culinary skills while foods donated by restaurants, hotels and caterers are converted into balanced meals. Since opening in 1989, the Kitchen has distributed 17.4 million meals and helped over 605 men and women gain full-time employment.
Currently, Egger is the Chairperson of the DC Mayor's Commission on Nutrition, as well as the Chair of the Board of Street Sense, Washington's "homeless" newspaper, and RESULTS, a multinational microcredit and citizen advocacy organization. He serves on the Boards of TimeBanks USA and the Food Systems Leadership Institute. He was also the Co-Convener of the first ever Nonprofit Congress.
Robert was included in the Non Profit Times list of the "50 Most Powerful and Influential Nonprofit Leaders" in 2006 and 2007. He was the recipient of the 2005 Volunteers of America Community Service award and the 2004 James Beard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year award. He has also been named an Oprah Angel, a Washingtonian of the Year, a Point of Light and one of the Ten Most Caring People in America, by the Caring Institute. He is also a 14-gallon blood donor to the American Red Cross.
Egger's book on the non-profit sector, Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding For All, which was released in 2004 by HarperCollins, received the 2005 McAdam Prize for "Best Nonprofit Management Book" by the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.
Corby Kummer
Corby Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he has established himself as one of the country's most widely read, authoritative, and creative food writers. Kummer is the restaurant critic for Boston Magazine and the former restaurant critic for New York magazine. In addition to The Atlantic, Kummer writes regularly for Martha Stewart Living, The New York Times Magazine, and Food & Wine, among others.
Kummer is the author of The Pleasures of Slow Food: Celebrating Authentic Traditions, Flavors, and Recipes. His Atlantic series on coffee was nominated for a National Magazine Award and led to his book, The Joy of Coffee. Kummer is the recipient of three James Beard Journalism Awards, including the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award.
Judith Salerno
Judith A. Salerno is the Leonard D. Schaeffer executive officer of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, where she is responsible for managing the IOM's research programs and guiding the institute's work on a daily basis. Prior to coming to the IOM, Salerno was deputy director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services. She oversaw more than $1 billion in aging research conducted and supported annually by the institute, including research on Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases; frailty and function in late life; and the social, behavioral, and demographic aspects of aging. Before joining the NIA, Salerno directed the continuum of Geriatrics and Extended Care programs across the country for the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Earlier in her career, Salerno was a senior clinical investigator at the NIA.
Lauren Walters
Lauren Walters is co-founder and CEO of Two Degrees Food. Having seen firsthand the problems and consequences associated with poverty, especially in the lives of children, the idea that a new food company in the US could leverage everyday consumer buying decisions to change the lives of hungry children emerged as a viable concept, and one that connected many of Walter's important personal networks.
With the energy and interest of long-time family friend Will Hauser, Walters fused the one-for-one business model behind Tom's Shoes with the problems of malnutrition in children and developed a solution with the goal of giving back to the global community through business. With career stops in politics, public service, business, and entrepreneurship, Walters believes strongly in the power of the right networks of individuals to do amazing things collectively.
