The Board of Directors role is to set policies and establish priorities to maintain the overall direction of Our Food Chain.
Wendy Slusser, MD, MS, FAAP, is Associate Vice Provost for the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center at UCLA, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the UCLA Schools of Medicine and Public Health, and Co-Founder and Academic Director of the UCLA Fit for Healthy Weight Program. She joined the UCLA faculty in 1996 and since then has been a leader in community, school, clinic, and family-based programs focused on enhancing the physical, social and emotional wellbeing of infants, children, young adults and their caregivers. Dr. Slusser practiced and taught General Pediatrics and health promotion at the Venice Family Clinic for 19 years. She was the PI on the Fruit and Vegetable Bar Intervention study to promote fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income elementary school children in LAUSD that inspired national legislation and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Salad Bar to Schools. She is currently the producer and host of the Semel HCI LiveWell Podcast. She was selected to be a member of the Institute of Medicine committee called Obesity Prevention Policies for Young Children. In 2020 she received the Venice Family Clinic Visionary Award and the UCLA Community Program Office’s Open Heart, Open Mind Award “for her collaborative spirit, dedication in making the campus healthier and supporting basic needs insecure students during the COVID-19 Crisis.” She is one of three UC faculty honored in 2015 by President Janet Napolitano for outstanding leadership on the UC Global Food Initiative. She is a co-leader for the UC Healthy Campus Network and leading the efforts this past year to integrate health into the UC-wide Sustainable Practices Policy. She also chaired the Wellness and Work Expectations Work Group (WWE WG) as part of the UCLA COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force. In her free time, as a fifth-generation California farmer helps to sustainably farm her family’s Vineyards in the Russian River Valley.
Wendy is the CFO/Secretary of Our Food Chain.
Paula Daniels is Co- founder, Chief of What’s Next, and Chair of the Board of the Center for Good Food Purchasing, founded in July of 2015 as a national spin off from the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, which Paula founded in 2011. The Center for Good Food Purchasing uses the power of procurement to create a transparent and equitable food system that prioritizes the health and well-being of people, animals, and the environment, through the nationally-networked adoption and implementation of the Good Food Purchasing Program by major institutions. The program has received national and international acclaim, including the 2018 Future Policy Award for Scaling Up Agroecology, from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Future Council, and IFOAM Organics International.
Paula is an experienced private sector attorney who transitioned to public policy and served in several senior level positions as a government official, including: Senior Advisor, Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles; Commissioner, Los Angeles Department of Public Works; Commissioner, California Water Commission; Board, California Bay-Delta Authority; Commissioner, California Coastal Commission.
Her leadership in food and water policy has received recognition through numerous academic appointments and other awards. Some recent examples: 2018, Ashoka Fellowship; September 2016, Resident Fellow of the Bellagio Center of the Rockefeller Foundation; 2015, Pritzker Environment and Sustainability Education Fellow at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability; 2013, Lee Chair in Real Estate Law and Urban Planning at the College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley; 2012-2013, Stanton Fellowship (awarded by the Durfee Foundation). She has been adjunct faculty at UCLA since 2010 and has also had academic appointments at USC and Vermont Law School.
Thomas Bruce has extensive Washington experience, international background and leadership work in higher education. He is a former staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, first director of the Office of External Relations of the OAS, the moderator of a national public affairs television show and former Vice President of Cornell University. Until 2019, Thomas was senior counsellor at NYU Shanghai, building a robust public affairs program for the new research university. He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area.
Sarah Slusser is the CEO of Cypress Creek Renewables, a solar and storage independent power producer that develops, owns and operates projects across the United States. She is an expert in power markets and an accomplished investor and officer of public and private companies, having led investments of $4 billion across the electric sector. During her 21 years at AES, she rose to be a senior officer and built and ran the Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean division. Sarah co-founded GeoGlobal Energy, a geothermal company in the US, Chile, and Germany, which was sold to its investor. Subsequently, she founded Point Reyes Energy Partners, a solar and energy storage advisory and development company, where she provided strategic advice to large companies in the renewable sector. Sarah graduated from Harvard University with Honors and received an MBA from Yale School of Management.
Mary Atwater James received her BA from Princeton University and her MBA from Harvard University. Currently, Mary serves on the Board of Brentwood School, LA Leadership Charter School, and HOLA After School Programs. She is also actively involved with Planned Parenthood LA, the Everychild Foundation and USC Hybrid High School. Currently, Mary is an Executive Board Member at the Prime Group in Los Angeles.
Chris Meledandri p.g.a. is the founder and CEO of Illumination Entertainment, one of the entertainment industry’s leading producers of event-animated films. Illumination, which has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal Pictures, is the creator of Despicable Me, the world’s most successful animated franchise in cinematic history, which includes Minions, the fourth-highest-grossing animated film globally, as well as Despicable Me 2, an Academy Award® nominee for Best Animated Feature Film of 2013. In all, Illumination’s iconic and beloved films, which are infused with memorable and distinct characters, global appeal and cultural relevance and include 2011’s Hop, 2012’s Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, 2016’s The Secret Life of Pets and Sing, 2018’s Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch and 2019’s The Secret Life of Pets 2, have grossed $6.7 billion worldwide and feature some of the world’s most renowned talent. Meledandri also oversees Illumination’s creation of content for marketing campaigns, mobile platforms, consumer goods, social media and theme parks, such as Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem in 3D at Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, ensuring the same high level of quality he brings to his feature productions.
Prior to Illumination, Meledandri was a senior executive at 20th Century Fox. He became the founding president of 20th Century Fox Animation, where he both created original material with the birth of the Ice Age franchise and shepherded existing brands into the feature space, including The Simpsons and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! Meledandri has received numerous awards for his work with Illumination, including the Producers Guild of America’s Visionary Award and being named to Vanity Fair’s New Establishment list as well as Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies.a company that was formed in partnership with Universal Pictures to produce animated movies. Illumination has made the films Minions, Despicable Me, Hop, Dr. Seuss’ the Lorax and Despicable Me 2. Prior to Illumination, Chris was the founding President of Twentieth Century Fox Animation where he executive produced Ice Age, Robots, Ice Age: The Melt Down, and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who. Chris is a graduate of Dartmouth College and currently serves as a Vice President of the Board of Trustees of The Hotchkiss School.
Master Foodie Mara Papatheodorou is a Tastes & Traditions Expert and a nationally established entertaining specialist. She has interpreted the cuisine and experienced the culture of over 70 countries worldwide through facts, flavors, flair and folklore. Her real person persona makes her a popular guest lecturer, panelist/judge and presenter about food, travel and entertaining.
As a 12 year Editor at BON APPETIT Magazine, Mara scouted and produced the Entertaining with Style section that highlighted how real people entertain around the country and the world and was editor of their international editions. Mara works as a consultant with food companies developing recipes, menus and promotional campaigns. She is the blogger for French Chef’s Company Matfer and also does work with chefs highlighting home entertaining. Mara has produced stories about such celebrity chefs as Gordon Ramsey, Wolfgang Puck, Cat Cora and Thomas Keller. She contributes to National Geographic Traveler Magazine and is the author of the coffee table book Moments in Time, The Ojai Valley Inn & Spa.
She is a culinary consultant for different cruise lines where she lectures and presents a Sail, Sip & Savor Series highlighting the history of cuisine and culture in different ports of call. As the Culinary Specialist for travel company Destinations & Adventures International, Mara cultivates and designs food & wine experiences.
Before BON APPETIT, Mara lived in London for 10 years and was a columnist and editorial producer for the European edition of W and HARPERS & QUEEN. Mara attended UCLA, University of Paris.
La Sorbonne and La Varenne Cooking School where her food and travel adventures began. She is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier and the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
Mara lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son. You can learn more about Mara on her website.