Ertharin Cousin

For more than 40 years, Ertharin Cousin has been tackling the global food insecurity issues brought on by conflict, climate change, and food deserts. In 2019, she became a first-time entrepreneur, launching Food Systems for the Future, a business accelerator that also houses a nutrition-focused impact investment fund. The organization aims to improve nutrition outcomes in underserved and low-income U.S. and Sub-Saharan African communities by investing in innovative and profitable food and agriculture startups and small businesses. She believes the key to solving world hunger lies in building an infrastructure that allows people to support themselves.

Cousin also serves as a Distinguished Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford University, Center on Food Security and Environment.

Cousin has made it her mission to eliminate hunger in her lifetime. Earlier in her career, she served as U.S. Ambassador for Food Security and as Executive Director of the U.N. World Food Programme. Prior to her global hunger work, Cousin helped lead the U.S. domestic fight to end hunger, including service as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of America’s Second Harvest (now Feeding America). Cousin’s previous private sector experience includes working for Albertsons as the Senior Vice-President of Public Affairs.

Cousin’s work has earned her appearances on some impressive lists: Forbes’ "50 Over 50" and "100 Most Powerful Women"; Time’s "100 Most Influential People"; and the "500 Most Powerful People on the Planet" by Foreign Policy magazine.

She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Georgia Law School, and the University of Chicago Executive Management Program-Finance for Non-Financial Executives.