Our Team
Steering Committee
Will Dittmar, Chair
Will is Vice Chair of CFRC and is Executive Director of ExtraFood. Will leads strategic and business planning; manages key development activities; establishes and conducts strategic partnerships; leads new business initiatives. Will provides leadership around issues such as food insecurity and food waste in the community.
Paddy Iyer
Paddy is the Chair of CFRC and the Executive Director of Daily Bowl. Food waste is an issue that Paddy is passionate about, and as such he lives every day to help reduce food waste, connecting with agencies feeding the food insecure people, and completing the circle.
Eve Nereem Birge, Vice Chair
Eve serves as CEO at White Pony Express (WPE), the food recovery organization on a mission to end food insecurity by delivering the abundance to those in need—with love. Eve has over 25 years’ experience developing policies and administering programs that protect and advance the public health, education, and rights of people who are underserved. She serves on several Boards including the Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster and the Advisory Council for United Way Bay Area.
David Hott
With an educational background in Collaborative Health and Human Services from the University of California Monterey Bay, David brings extensive work experience in food recovery and corporate leadership. David serves as the CEO at Loaves and Fishes in Silicon Valley, the home of the A La Carte Program. He holds a Board Position on NCRA and is certified as a Practitioner in Zero Waste Principles and Practices from SWANA. David is a member of the Edible Food Recovery Technical Council Exec. Committee of CRRA.
Mike Learakos
Through Abound Food Care, Mike uses his 30+ years of experience in the food industry to facilitate solutions that reduce food insecurity and food waste while improving the health and well-being of people, communities, and the environment.
Organizational Support
Julie Leftwich, Head of Organizational Development
Julie is an attorney who’s dedicated her professional life to social and criminal justice reform. She’s the former Legal Director of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, where, for more than 20 years, she helped draft, enact and defend hundreds of pioneering state and local gun safety laws. During her tenure at the Law Center, she helped lead a California coalition of gun violence prevention organizations statewide, and organize a similar coalition nationwide.
In addition to her support for the invaluable work and development of CFRC, Julie currently serves on the Berkeley Police Accountability Board, where she Chairs the Policy Subcommittee, and the Alameda County Mental Health Advisory Board, where she Co-Chairs the Criminal Justice Committee.
Julie Arenz, Policy Director
Julie Arenz is the Sustainability Associate at Edgar and Associates and acts as Head of Policy for CFRC. Julie has over 10 years of experience working in sustainability policy, education and outreach, GHG mitigation/ Climate Action Plans, CalRecycle Annual Reporting, grant and project management, and edible food recovery capacity reports and implementation. Julie possesses the technical skills to analyze data and research to advise on the legislative process to make effective change for the Edible Food Recovery Industry.
Monica White, Policy Director
Monica is the Sustainability Manger at Edgar and Associates and acts as Advisor to the Head of Policy. She has over 16 years of experience working in the sustainability arena where she has led teams in developing sustainability programs for a range of companies and sectors. Notably she is assistant the development of zero waste programs, SB 1383 compliance plans, and cutting-edge approaches to the management of edible food.
Advisory Panel
Julia Heath
Julia is a Recycling Program Manager with the City of Berkeley formerly, 6 years with the City of Oakland’s Recycling Program and 3 years with the City of Arcata’s Environmental Services Division. Julia is passionate about source reduction over proper sorting. Julia is currently prioritizing implementing Berkeley’s Single Use Foodware Ordinance and supporting SB-54 rulemaking, specifically supporting reuse requirements. She is also working in partnership to build a California Food Recovery Coalition to support legislation for sustainable funding for food recovery organizations.
Robin Martin
Robin started the award-winning A La Carte pilot program, bringing 20 years of experience in public health and community team building. She founded the Silicon Valley Food Recovery Council, the Santa Clara County Food Recovery Program on behalf of all jurisdictions in Santa Clara County, and authored numerous seminal reports. She speaks publicly on a regular basis about the importance of safe and nutritious food recovery and waste prevention.
Cassie Bartholomew
Cassie is a Program Manager at StopWaste. Cassie has over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing programs in non-profit government sectors. In her role as the SB 1383 Food Recovery Lead, she’s developed networks for Food Recovery Organizations, facilitated the Edible Food Recovery Capacity Planning process for Alameda County, and developed communication, education and outreach tools.