Staff Bios

Josh Viertel, President
As president of Slow Food USA, Josh is working to create a world in which all people can eat food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it and good for the planet.  He previously co-founded and co-directed the Yale Sustainable Food Project at Yale University.  The project transformed the university’s cafeteria to a menu based on sustainable, local foods, built an organic farm on campus, and developed food and agriculture curriculum and programs for undergraduates.  Prior to his work at Yale, Josh started Mamabrook Farm, a small organic vegetable farm that provided food to local restaurants and farmers’ markets. Josh graduated from Harvard University with degrees in philosophy and literature.  In 2010, he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.  Josh is dedicated to building a social movement that can transform our relationship to food and farming.

Angelines Alba Lamb, Associate Director of National Programs
Angelines joined Slow Food USA in September 2010. In her role as Program Manager for Campaigns and Projects, she helps inspire the Slow Food network and the broader public to work towards good, clean, and fair food practices and policies both locally and nationally. Angelines has over 15 years experience in the non-profit sector, working as a youth coordinator, a housing rights organizer, and a fundraiser. Her passion for good food that is grown and harvested in sustainable ways arose from her years living in the Bay Area of California, meeting people who were connecting sustainable food systems to racial, economic, and social justice. She was born and raised in the Bronx by a Panamanian mother, an elementary school teacher, which explains her love of the Yankees, hip-hop, collective bargaining, and carimañolas. She grew up marching for farm workers’ rights and against police brutality, learning early on about the power that lies in collective action for social change.

Jane Sung E Bai, Director of National Programs
After 25 years of racial and economic justice and immigrant rights organizing, she embraced food justice when she enrolled her daughter in a daycare that serves low-income children. Dismayed by the Board of Education-provided meals, Sung E made a commitment to prepare her daughter’s breakfast and lunch everyday and to work towards improving access to nutritious food for working people. Along with being the executive director of a community-based organization for almost 12 years, Sung E has held teaching appointments in higher education, been a certified advocate for domestic violence survivors and trainer for grassroots organizers, and served on various leadership bodies of local and national organizations. She believes in the power of everyday people making change every day.

Jenny Best, Chief of Staff
Jenny joined the staff of Slow Food USA in January 2010, wanting to help create a world where people are inspired to regularly cook and to eat together, and where environmentally friendly food production flourishes.  Jenny oversees public relations for the national office and is the primary liaison to the Board of Directors and Slow Food International.  Prior to Slow Food, she served the City of New York for eight years, as Chief of Staff at the city buildings agency and as a member of Mayor Bloomberg’s City Hall staff.  Before her time in government, Jenny was a professional dancer with New York City Ballet.  She enjoys making pizza, tending to her edible garden and has undertaken a personal project where she is trying to eat mostly fresh, organic food on $6 a day for 365 days.

Aimee Thunberg, Program Manager, Membership
Aimee is passionate about quality, fresh foods and the social experiences surrounding a good meal.  She joined the staff in 2011, after more than a decade in marketing and fundraising for public broadcasting, among other community-based, non-profit organizations.  A firm believer in the power of media to engage and build support for the greater good through advocacy and charitable donations, she completed a BA in public relations and MBA in media management to augment her fundraising experience.  She credits Barbara Kingsolver’s book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life” for teaching her to think locally and enjoy eating seasonally.

Hnin Hnin, Associate Manager of National Programs
Hnin joined the staff of Slow Food USA in September 2010.  In this capacity she works with young people from Slow Food on Campus and other organized groups to create movement towards a better food system.  Hnin grew up in Brooklyn, eating her mom’s amazing home cooking. Coming from a working class, immigrant family with a father who is a food worker, she sees the need for a united food justice movement that addresses food security and fair labor issues in addition to promoting healthy and sustainable food options. She is hopeful about facilitating multi-issue coalitions to dismantle the forms of discrimination that underlie unequal access to good food. Before joining Slow Food USA, she worked as a prep cook and interned at Applied Research Center in Oakland, CA.

Gordon Jenkins, Associate Director of National Programs
Gordon joined the staff of Slow Food USA in 2009 after leading the Slow Food Berkeley chapter for two years. In 2008, he was part of the team that organized Slow Food Nation in San Francisco. Gordon grew up eating Happy Meals and deep-fried corn dogs, until his track coach told him that eating healthy would help him run faster. (It did.) His big “food awakening” came a few years later, while working on a farm, where he found purpose in growing food and bringing people together around the table. Those are still his favorite things to do.

Kate Krauss, Director of Development
Kate joined Slow Food USA in 2009 after working in major gift fundraising at The Nature Conservancy, where she had responsibility for fundraising for the organization’s China program and its climate change initiative.  As Director of Development, Kate oversees Slow Food USA’s major gift individual and institutional fundraising initiatives.  Kate began her career in television journalism, working in production for the ABC News programs World News Tonight and Nightline. A native of southern Ohio, Kate has loved having the opportunity to live on the east coast and in California, but she still has a soft spot for Midwestern summer thunderstorms and fresh-picked sweet corn.

Monika V.I. Kunz, Associate Director of Development
Monika joined Slow Food USA in 2010 and currently oversees the organization’s major gift portfolio after spending the last decade in development offices at a variety of arts organizations. Prior to Slow Food, Monika directed the development effort at High 5 Tickets to the Arts, managed donor relations at the Brooklyn Museum, and oversaw the annual fund, alumni and parent programs at The Boston Conservatory. A long time lover of delicious meals, only during the last few years did she realize she not only cared about how the flavors came together on her plate, but also wanted to know the story behind her food. After meeting real live farmers, she’s hooked on local, sustainable food and is thrilled to help promote it daily in her work.

Nathan Leamy, Associate Director of Operations
Nathan came to Slow Food USA via his work at Slow Food Nation in San Francisco. Nathan’s agricultural education truly began when he attended Deep Springs College where he studied politics and managed 152 acres of organically grown alfalfa. After Deep Springs, he attended Oberlin College.  There he spent time working with the student cooperative association, eventually developing a housing and dining cooperative which focused on educating students to eat well. Nathan has spent time working for the government and various non-profits.  Post college, Nathan completed a Watson Fellowship studying how global changes in agricultural and economic policy have altered the consumption of traditional breads in Mexico, India, France, Italy, and Egypt.

Tim Smith, Associate Manager of New Mediat
Tim joined Slow Food USA in July of 2011 as the Associate Program Manager for Online Engagement. He comes to the staff with extensive experience in both online and offline media production. Most recently, Tim served as the Program Coordinator for a statewide AmeriCorps program in Massachusetts where he managed the organization’s marketing and communications, organized annual events, and helped create an alumni and youth program. Prior to that, he worked as a sports radio and online television producer. Tim is a graduate of Fordham University and enjoys local food, local music, and all things from his hometown of Boston, MA.

Emily Walsh, Manager, Public Relations and Marketing
Emily joined Slow Food USA in 2011, bringing a diverse communications and marketing background, and more than six years experience in both agency and corporate settings. She has represented a wide variety of sustainable, non-profit, real estate, travel and technology clients. However, healthy and traditional food is in Emily’s blood; her family owned and managed an Italian restaurant for several years, and she lived on a farm in Italy for a summer as a child. Most recently, she helped launch a farm with an innovative Consumer Supported Agriculture model. A graduate of Fordham University with a B.A. in International Political Economy, and a dual minor in Business Communications and Italian, Emily also holds a Digital Media Marketing professional certificate from New York University. When not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband, friends and family, particularly on the Cape in Chatham, Mass.