People

Andrew Crispin brings personal experience and professional expertise to the fight against food insecurity. Originally from New Hampshire, Andrew brings a diverse background in research, education, hospitality, and public health to his role as Executive Director at Berkeley Food Network. Andrew graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor's in Biochemistry and from Boston University with a Master's in Nutrition. He is committed to building partnerships and using a data-informed approach to strengthen the social support network within Berkeley, ensuring all who need food are able to access it.

Katie brings a community-centered and equity-driven approach to her role as Senior Development Manager at Berkeley Food Network. Her career spans marketing agency, Corporate America, nonprofit and higher education philanthropy, always grounded in advancing social justice and strengthening community well-being. Katie is committed to a food justice framework that centers wholeness, dignity and belonging for all Berkeley residents. She leads BFN’s development and advancement efforts and serves as a visible partner in the community. Born and raised in Akron, Ohio, Katie now calls Berkeley home. If you see her out in the community, please say hello - she’d love to meet you!

Perry Hall (she/her) has worked for over 12 years coordinating volunteers at non-profits engaged in environmental education. She is passionate about the difference that volunteers can make and works to match each volunteer’s abilities and motivation with the needs of the organization. Perry is excited to be a part of making good nutrition more accessible to members of the Berkeley community that she calls home. She looks forward to collaborating with staff and volunteers to expand BFN’s partnerships with local businesses and organizations.

James (he/him) is a Northern California native with a family history of giving back to food insecure communities, from his mother volunteering in food pantries to his grandmother leading canned food drives at her church. James is an alumnus of San Francisco State University with a Bachelor’s in Film and Screenwriting and enjoys losing himself in a good movie or book. And during his time off, James can be found with his wife walking around the lake and redwoods of Oakland or writing his next screenplay at a local coffee shop. He has an extensive background in customer service and is excited to help his local East Bay communities through his work at BFN.

Daryanna Lancet (they/them/theirs) is grateful to call the Bay Area home for the last ten years. They have since worked as a live-nanny, California Climate Action Corps Fellow, & an elementary educator across Berkeley and Oakland. They care deeply about doing the most we can in this lifetime to make the world better for ourselves, the children, and those children' s children. In their free time, Daryanna can be found hosting and supporting community events, fundraisers, drag shows, and celebrations across the East Bay, while enjoying food & cups of Irish Breakfast Tea with friends and family. Supporting folks in doing something tangible—like volunteering for the Berkeley Food Network—is something that brings them hope and grounding, especially now. They are so excited to support Berkeley Food Network with Volunteer Coordination, and looking forward to meeting you!

Ben is a second generation Berkeley resident and is fortunate to return home and work in the community he grew up in. He brings with him a background in farming, cooking, and organic produce sales and distribution. Ben is excited to work for an organization that is focused on improving access to healthy, high quality food for the Bay Area community.

Angelina is a Bay Area native with roots in Richmond and Berkeley, she attended Berkeley Public schools and went on to study early Childhood Education leading her to a career in teaching for many years. She is now hoping to get involved in community based programs that have an emphasis on food justice and education. She's excited to embark on a new journey with Berkeley food Network, and be part of an important service that directly impacts the communities she was raised in.

Keli’i (Key) is a first-generation college graduate, born and raised in the East Bay by his grandparents, who instilled in him values of pride, purpose, and community. Forged from his values and life’s humble beginnings was a passion for investing in people. Throughout his personal and professional life, Keli’i has joined efforts supporting educators, students, athletes, the unhoused, immigrants, single parents, and low-income individuals because he loves seeing others thrive. He's excited to join BFN in the everyday fight to help the community weather the rising cost of living in the Bay. He looks forward to spreading awareness and helping community members obtain essential resources to achieve a higher quality of life. When he’s not at BFN chasing his dreams, you can catch him coaching football at Pinole Valley High School, or embarking on an outdoor adventure with his wife, and dog Nala.

Julia Sheng has always been interested in feeding people. After attending UC Santa Cruz for college, she moved to a New England farm and learned the deep satisfaction of turning hard work into food. Since returning home to Berkeley, she's worked in restaurants, wholesalers and industrial ecoyards, always thinking about what it means to live in community and how the system can support the individual. She's excited to find a professional home at Berkeley Food Network, where she can use her logistical background to support community food security. When not wrangling a forklift or making a kickass spreadsheet, Julia can be found crushing library books, baking cookies, or paddling her canoe on an alpine lake.

During the pandemic, Audrey began volunteering at the UC Berkeley Food Pantry and became passionate about supporting food access, sustainability, and food recovery in her community. Originally from San Diego, she’s excited to return to the East Bay to serve as Berkeley Food Network’s Food Sourcing Coordinator, building and maintaining relationships with local organizations to reduce food waste and ensure that BFN has enough food to support the community. When she’s not at work, she loves spending time outside running, hiking, and swimming and exploring the Bay.

Pam (she/her) has worked in the public, private and nonprofit sectors and has been a longtime community volunteer in the Bay Area. She served as Chair of the City of Berkeley Parks and Recreation Commission and was a board member and sea kayak guide at Environmental Traveling Companions, a non-profit serving people with disabilities and under-resourced youth. Her professional experience includes directing operations at Goodwill Industries, San Francisco and working in the office of Berkeley City Councilmember Laurie Capitelli. Currently, she is the Employer Engagement Manager for BroadFutures, a non-profit that prepares young adults with learning disabilities to successfully enter the workplace. Pam received her B.A. from Tufts University, her MBA from Dominican University and holds professional certificates in Process Improvement and Sustainable Operations from Portland State University.

Mirna (she/her) is a first-generation Latina with a demonstrated history of 10 years working in the nonprofit sector. She is currently the Executive Director of The Multicultural Institute, a community-based nonprofit organization addressing Latinx Immigrant community's issues in three counties of the California Bay Area. Her personal and first-hand experience shape her career and passion for programs and initiatives tailored towards the immigrant community. Mirna's work experience centers around Community Outreach to the day laborer and domestic worker community, Direct Service to monolingual Spanish speaking immigrant adults, Nonprofit Administration and Development, Donor Cultivation, and Grant Writing and Contract Management. With a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from University of California Berkeley Mirna is pursuing a Masters of Nonprofit Administration at the University of San Francisco.

Lynnette Orme is a CPA and MBA and currently works as a Senior Finance Director at MHN, a behavioral insurance company. Previously, she worked as the Chief Financial Officer of Lifelong Medical Care, a non-profit Health Center based in Berkeley. She also volunteered as Treasurer for Berkeley High School Development Group for close to four years. She was born and raised in Berkeley and her family spent all of their vacations in the Sierra Nevadas so she calls Yosemite her second home. For higher education, she attended UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley – ultimately receiving a BA in Classical Languages. For post-graduate work she attended California State East Bay (Hayward), receiving a Master in Business Administration, Taxation. She hopes that her background running finance and operations teams will be of help in preparing BFN for the next big administrative leap. She is a big proponent of people having access to healthy, nutritious food - one of dad’s life lessons was “food is love”.

Jessica has a diverse background in customer service, communication, and education advocacy. With extensive experience as a former director of customer service in the private sector, Jessica transitioned her skills and passion towards public education. She served in communications and public information roles at Oakland and Berkeley USDs. The majority of her positions in education were as a volunteer serving as Co-President for Berkeley High School Development Group, among other leadership positions. Jessica brings exemplary leadership, fundraising, project management and non-profit operations skills. Jessica's community involvement extends beyond education, as she has also been actively engaged in local youth sports programs, acting as coach and manager for both Albany Berkeley Girls Softball and ECFC/Spurs soccer. She is a Berkeley native who holds a B.A. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley.

Regular BFN volunteer for 5+ years. Joined BFN’s Finance Committee in August 2024. Business degree with an accounting concentration from the University of Washington. Retired from Chevron after a 32-year career (mostly in the Bay Area, with time in Houston, Miami and Cape Town, South Africa). Experience in business planning, strategic studies, project management, investment analysis, corporate reorganizations, communications and energy economics. Corporate Claim to Fame: Last 4 years at Chevron were working as the Advisor to the current CEO of Chevron, running leadership team meetings, reviewing approvals on his behalf, preparing materials for "ExCom" and Chevron's Board, and organizing multi-day off-site meetings. Grew up in Seattle. Married to Kate, no children. Live in the Elmwood area of Berkeley. Like to travel (Spain, Portugal & Mexico this year.) Enjoy biking and hiking.

Jeffrey is a first-generation UC Berkeley alum, and President & CEO of Visit Berkeley, the cities Destination Marketing Organization. With the mission to promote Berkeley as a desirable destination for visitors and locals alike, Jeffrey brings his energy and passion for connecting people together, and is excited for collaborations that will help all of BFN's marketing efforts.

After a quarter of a century of working in advertising, marketing and communications at a variety of big digital companies, I found myself removing myself as a candidate for my dream job, selling or giving away everything in my New York apartment and moving back into my childhood home to care for my mother in the last years of her life. Not the path I imagined my career taking but fulfilling as a daughter to a single mom who sacrificed so much for me to have the life I have. What happened next was a lesson in exercising caution when asking the universe "what's next?" I took a temporary job as a cashier at my favorite grocery store, Berkeley Bowl - just something to 'hold myself over' while I searched for my next career move. About a month later a global pandemic hit, putting a hard hold on any plans I had. Interestingly, among the chaos and stress of the pandemic, an opportunity came to light that enables me to use my experience to benefit a company I had grown to love. Today I am proud to serve as the Marketing and Communications lead at Berkeley Bowl, in an amazing role where I am able to flex my creative muscles, lean into my experience in a whole new industry surrounded by great people. When I'm not working surrounded by amazing food, I am mom to the best doggo ever, and I indulge in cooking and the occasional foray into stand up comedy.

Jake is a Cal professor in Geography as well as a farmer /co-owner of Rancho Siempre Verde’s (RSV) Phoenix Food Project, which donates 10,000 pounds of organic produce for BFN to distribute to our neighbors each year.

Ian was raised in Berkeley and worked in the financial services sector for over 30 years in California, New York Philadelphia and London before retiring back in California in 2022. He managed a wide variety of investment portfolios for clients ranging from endowments to mutual funds, pension plans and sovereign wealth funds. He worked for the City of Berkeley Parks & Recreation department from 1984-1989 and has volunteered at food security programs in London, Alameda and at BFN since 2022. Ian earned his BA in economics from UC Davis, MBA from UC Berkeley and is a CFA Charterholder.

Carlos Montes is the People Operations Manager at Heath Ceramics, where he leads human resources strategy and helps cultivate a supportive, values-driven workplace. Originally from Riverside, California, Carlos studied Global Studies at UC Santa Barbara and brings experience across HR and people operations in the Bay Area. He is passionate about building inclusive systems that help teams thrive, and takes a collaborative approach to supporting both organizational growth and employee well-being.

Rossana (she/her) brings over 15 years of experience in international development, with work across Africa and Latin America to strengthen financial inclusion and food security for women and young people. For the past decade, her work has centered on evaluation and learning partnerships with leading foundations and international agencies. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the City of Albany’s Housing Advisory Commission and as Board President of SchoolCARE, a nonprofit supporting Albany’s public schools. Rossana holds a B.A. in Economics and French from Rice University and an M.P.A. from Harvard University.

Billi has focused on developing policies and implementing programs to improve people's lives, protect the environment and enhance community resilience. She has over 30 years of experience in public service, most recently as Office of Energy and Sustainable Development Manager for the City of Berkeley. Currently she volunteers in the Tenderloin with the Zen Caregiving Project, is a docent at the Berkeley Marina Shorebird Nature Center and works to enhance resilience and emergency response training in her West Berkeley neighborhood. She has conducted research on community food security and advocated for food justice and sustainable food systems.

Locke grew up in Berkeley. Shortly after her family arrived in 1969 she was part of the church congregation that started the Berkeley Emergency Food Project (now Insight Housing) to feed the hungry newly populating the streets of Berkeley. With years of experience working in non-profits globally and locally in areas of grassroots organizing and fundraising, Locke moved into leadership positions as President of the Board of the SHARE foundation (current) (working in El Salvador and Honduras), she is an alumni board member of the Berkeley Public School Fund (currently Advisory Board). She appreciates working collaboratively within the community, including the 5 years she worked in the Athletic Department at Berkeley High School. Locke has a BA in Sociology from California Lutheran University and while no longer as fluent as she was in the 1980’s, can participate in a meeting and a pretty good conversation in Spanish.