Katie Stebbins
Executive Director, Food & Nutrition Innovation Institute
Katie launched her career as the Deputy Director for Economic Development for the city of Springfield, MA, where she successfully designed and implemented the city’s first environmental planning program which became a focus for public health and community nutrition. She was then the Executive Director for the Holyoke Innovation District, leveraging investments for sustained local revitalization, a new culinary school in downtown Holyoke, a community-based entrepreneurship program, and creative and arts entrepreneurship training. She then served in the Baker administration as the Commonwealth’s first “Tech, Innovation and Entrepreneurship” Assistant Secretary, leading competitiveness strategies for Massachusetts on technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Most recently, she was the Vice President of Economic Development and Chief Economic Development Officer for the University of Massachusetts’ five campuses.
Eileen Kennedy
Eileen Kennedy is a former dean of the Friedman School. Currently a professor at the School, Kennedy’s research interests include assessing the health, nutrition, diet and food security impacts of policies and programs; nutrient density and diet diversity; and agriculture nutrition linkages. She is a member of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the UN Committee on World Food Security. Formerly a member of the UN SCN Advisory Group on Nutrition. She founded and was the first Executive Director of the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. She created the Healthy Eating Index which is used as a single summary measure of diet quality. She is currently a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Food Security and Nutrition.
Clark Davis
Clark was most recently a student at the Friedman School in the Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition MS program. He is currently pausing his formal education to pursue his passion for agriculture and food systems in a more literal context as a farmer at The Neighborhood Farm in Wayland, MA. He seeks to continue to play roles in groups like the Food and Nutrition Innovation Institute and to bridge the gap in communication between those who see food systems through the lens of dirt and those who see it through policy. His efforts under the direction of Katie and Eileen led to the creation of this site, where all the work on food systems being done at Tufts can be displayed in one place.