Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council

Fluent in advanced research techniques & statistical methods. Skilled at performance management and measurement. Trained in group facilitation & inclusivity. Adept at managing databases & social media outlets. Comprehensive learner and patient teacher. Celebrated for written and oral communications. Trained to listen. Lover of artistic creative expression. Enthusiast of food & agriculture policy, environmental & social justice and social innovations & technology.

Lisa's passion for ecological conservation led to a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science with a co-major in Biology from Creighton University in 1997.  Since then she has served successfully in various positions including: seasonal park ranger for Colorado State Parks; chemist; NEPA implementation and environmental permitting specialist; and, air quality compliance specialist for a power production and transmission association. Lisa's growing passions for public health and nutrition, food system resiliency, and urban agriculture later led her to pursue a Master in Landscape Architecture from the University of Colorado Denver in 2010, and the appointment to be co-chair of the Food Production Working Group of the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council in 2016. Her hobbies include snowboarding, sailing, walking my dog (or vice versa), and connecting with people.

Reuben is responsible for Sustainability and Strategic Partnerships at Metro Caring, a local hunger relief center. While spending a decade in social work, he began to understand the importance of access to affordable and healthful food for all. His passion for growing food at home led to starting community gardens which then led to farming for different entities, such as Denver Public Schools.  Here he learned of the complications of making urban agriculture succeed, assisting in private and public partnerships as well as for-profit and non-profit collaborations. While at Metro Caring, he has provided leadership in programming areas including food access, food waste reduction, and nutrition and gardening education.  Reuben is a former Rocky Mountain Farmers’ Union fellow, and currently sits on the board for a new agriculture-based faith community called The Land. He is also on the board of Future Pointe, consulting and developing integrated solutions for food waste statewide.

"If you have food on your table with friends joining around, you are truly rich." Patti's grandfather described this richness" that she would like for all Denver families--regardless of zip code, age, ethnicity or color. Patti brings a wealth of experience to the SFPC: 10+ years writing/speaking on community-based participatory research (CBPR), 10+ years university/graduate-level teaching (Social Work), 20+ years organizational development and community bridge-building. Patti lives/works in NE Denver. She is a board member/leader in Taking Neighborhood Health to Heart, Inc., a resident-led 501(c)3 non-profit engaged in CBPR.

In 1977 Joanne co-founded the Three Tomatoes Catering Companies, a full service catering organization. Passionately committed to providing “from scratch” beautiful food served at myriad events on the Front Range, she and her partner sold the business after 38 entrepreneurial years. She has served on the boards of Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver Film Society and the Woman’s Presidents Organization.

Currently she is volunteer, dilettante, activist and concerned citizen. Denver has been her home since 1964. The city has grown exponentially since then. Her dream for this City is that there would be a garden in every yard and vacant lot, and that we could get back to a time like the Victory Garden era when fresh food was cultivated by individual citizens and shared freely in their communities.

Along with her husband, they proudly grow organic vegetables from seed in their front yard which they share with neighbors and family. Her husband holds a board position for Denver Urban Gardens. Drawing, cooking and preserving the bounty of her garden fills her time, and sharing beautiful meals fulfills her passion. 

Lauren Duncan is the Abandoned Mine Restoration Project Manager for Trout Unlimited based in Denver, Colorado. She has received a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Denver and an M.S. in Environmental Science and Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.  Prior to coming to Trout Unlimited, Lauren worked for various public and private entities in sustainable operations, water quality and water resources.  Lauren’s interests in healthy cooking, food access and environmental sustainability led her to volunteering with Denver’s Sustainable Food Policy Council in 2015 and she joined as a full member in 2016. 

Turner Wyatt is the Executive Director of Denver Food Rescue, a nonprofit organization in Denver, Colorado, focused on improving health equity outcomes for low income families by increasing access to healthy food in areas with insufficient access to healthy food. In 2014 he graduated manga cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder with focuses in environmental studies, leadership studies, and sustainable energy studies. 

Jody Norman is a food system-planning consultant, with an environmental-planning background and a passion for sustainable city and community creation in all its complexity. Jody brings to the SFPC a systemic understanding of: the food system, from production to waste; the food-water-energy-waste nexus; poverty and how to address it through the emergent understandings of social sustainability theory. Her personal focal point of policy instrument-creation is where the built environment and its attendant urban ecology, biogeochemical flows, and social structures all intersect with the natural world, and her goal is to join with colleagues to collaboratively advance the creation of a regenerative construct that enhances the well-being of people, communities, and the natural world — a sustainable city at its best. She has taught sustainability courses at the University of Colorado in Denver, worked with the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute, WPM Consulting, and the nonprofit Women in Sustainable Energy, as well as serving as a member of Denver Seeds.

Eric is a food and social justice fanatic. His drive to build a better kind of business began while working on an all women owned co-op in Costa Rica and writing his thesis on the impact of Fair Trade coffee cooperatives in Nicaragua. After graduating from the University of Denver with a degree in Economics, Eric pursued his passion of building resilient communities back in his Colorado home by founding Re:Vision. His contributions to Denver’s local food movement has landed him an appointment by former Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council; he was selected as a Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Fellow; and after graduating from the National Farmers Union Beginning Farmer Institute, he now serves as the President of the Denver/Jefferson chapter of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union.