Michael has been Executive Chef at Gramercy Tavern since 2006. Under his leadership the restaurant has earned a 3-star NY Times review, a James Beard Award for “Outstanding Restaurant” and Best Chef, NYC. In 2015 Chef Michael won the James Beard Award for “Outstanding Chef.” Michael is also the author of “V is for Vegetables,” which won the James Beard award for Best Vegetable-focused Cookbook.

Michael maintains strong relationships between the restaurant and local farmers. He arranges for his staff to make visits to local farms -- including a burgeoning partnership with Glynwood’s Farm -- to build awareness of where the food the restaurant works with comes from. He also hosts growers and producers regularly in the restaurant for tastings.

He is a Board Member of “God’s Love we Deliver” whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses by alleviating hunger and malnutrition. Michael is a Council Member of City Harvest’s Food Council and supports the Garden Program at PS 41.

Mark Bittman is the author of 30 books, including the How to Cook Everything series and the #1 New York Times bestseller VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good. He was a food columnist, opinion columnist, and the lead magazine food writer at the New York Times, where he started writing in 1984 and remained for more than 30 years.

Bittman has starred in four television series, including Showtime’s Emmy-winning Years of Living Dangerously. He is a longtime TODAY regular and has made hundreds of television, radio, and podcast appearances, including on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Real Time with Bill Maher, and CBS’s The Dish; plus NPR’s All Things Considered, Fresh Air, and Morning Edition.

Bittman has written for countless publications and spoken at dozens of universities and conferences; his 2007 TED talk, “What’s wrong with what we eat,” has almost five million views. He was distinguished fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He has received six James Beard Awards, four IACP Awards, and numerous other honors.

Bittman is currently Special Advisor on Food Policy at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where he teaches and hosts a lecture series. He is also the editor-in-chief of Heated and is working on a book and television series titled Animal, Vegetable, Junk.

Mary Cleaver, one of the country’s foremost authorities on sustainable food and local sourcing, is the founder and owner of Cleaver Co., and formerly The Green Table inside Chelsea Market, and the Table Green Kiosk and Table Green Cafe at the Battery.

In addition to Mary’s reputation for providing sumptuous, seasonally-driven food, attentive service and excellent event planning, she is well known for helping create a sustainable, humane and delicious food system. The Cleaver Co. and Mary’s restaurant endeavors are widely recognized for utilizing local farms and purveyors in order to obtain the best- quality product, and for supporting small to midsize farms and family farmers.

In November 2011, Mary was named the first-ever “Snailblazer” by Slow Food NYC to honor her contributions creating a better, healthier food system for all. She is a founder of the Farm-to-Chef network and a board member of Food Systems Network NYC and Local Infrastructure for Local Agriculture, among other professional affiliations. Mary is a sought-after speaker on the subject of local food and agriculture, as well as a mentor to restaurateurs and business owners seeking to source food locally and sustainably.

Mary and her husband are also owners of NOFA certified Green Table Farms in Washington County, NY where they raise heritage poultry and pigs and grow organic produce, flowers and a small amount of grain for their livestock.

Evan graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans where he studied English and Philosophy. Upon graduating he realized that cooking was his calling. He began working at The Dressing Room with chef Michel Nischan, learning about the importance of sustainability and justice in food. After a brief stint at Locanda Verde, Hanczor landed at Egg restaurant in Brooklyn, where he’s worked since 2009.

In 2012, Evan and his partner, George Weld opened Parish Hall which earned Evan a 2013 StarChef’s Rising Stars Sustainability Award. When Parish Hall closed and reopened as a newer Egg, Evan stayed on continuing to focus on his team and the community. Hanczor and Weld also purchased Goatfell Farm in the Catskills, where they use sustainable practices to grow food that they serve in the restaurant. In 2015 Evan and George collaborated on a cookbook titled “Breakfast: Recipes to Wake Up For”. In 2017 they opened an Egg restaurant in Tokyo, Japan.

The restaurant critics at The New Yorker and New York magazine recognize that Evan Hanczor’s commitment to local and heirloom ingredients and his strongly held values about sustainable agriculture are the foundation of his contemporary American cooking.

Marion is Paulette Goddard Professor, of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University, which she chaired from 1988-2003 and from which she officially retired in September 2017. She is also a Professor in the Sociology Department at NYU and Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. Her research examines scientific and socioeconomic influences on food choice, obesity, and food safety with emphasis on the role of food marketing.

She is also an author of six prize-winning books, the most recent being “Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat.”

She blogs daily at foodpolitics.com and has an active Twitter account. Her Twitter account is considered to be one of the top ten in health and science by Time Magazine, Science Magazine and the Guardian.

Raj Patel, distinguished author, filmmaker, activist, and academic has joined Glynwood as a new Ambassador, bringing a wealth of experience and passion for building equitable food systems. Raj currently serves as a Research Professor at the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. His background includes degrees from the University of Oxford, the London School of Economics, and Cornell University. Raj has not only worked for institutions like the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, but has also been a vocal advocate against those institutions, participating in protests around the world.

In his role as a Glynwood Ambassador, Raj will support our mission to cultivate just and resilient regional food systems, helping communities, farmers and the land thrive. His impressive body of work—from bestselling books like "Stuffed and Starved" and "The Value of Nothing" to his acclaimed documentary "The Ants & The Grasshopper"—reflects his profound understanding of the intricacies of our global food system. His latest book, "Inflamed: Deep Medicine and The Anatomy of Injustice," co-authored with Rupa Marya, contributes to critical conversations about the intersection of health, justice, and food. We look forward to working alongside Raj to bring meaningful change. Welcome Raj!

Chellie was a farmer and a successful small business owner before being elected to the Senate in 1992. She served until 2000, when she left office due to term limitations.

In 2008 she was elected to Congress where she is an advocate for reforming federal policy to better support the diverse range of American agriculture - including sustainable, organic & locally focused farming - as well as reducing food waste.

Chellie sits on the House Appropriation committee, serving on the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment and Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. She also has a seat on the House Agriculture Committee.

She received a 2017 James Beard Leadership Award for her national leadership in food system reform.

Kate Rutherford, brings a unique set of skills and passion to the role. Kate is not only a professional rock climber but also an artist, wilderness advocate, and devoted consumer of leafy organic greens. Her global climbing adventures include first ascents on iconic peaks in Patagonia, Kenya, and Venezuela, as well as a notable free ascent of El Capitan's Freerider route. Kate's diverse experiences—including earning a biology degree from Colorado College, rural homesteading in Alaska, and subsistence hunting and fishing—have shaped her perspective on the intersection of climbing, sustainable living, and environmental activism.

As a Glynwood Ambassador, Kate will help advance our work to support regional food systems. Each Ambassador contributes a unique set of expertise and interests in alignment with Glywood’s vision, and Kate’s initiative, Farm to Crag. Is a perfect match. Farm to Crag aims to connect climbers to local and sustainable food sources through tangible resources, community engagement, and education. Kate's dedication to promoting organic regenerative agriculture's role in combating climate change, coupled with her adventurous spirit, makes her an inspiring advocate. We eagerly anticipate the positive impact Kate will bring to Glynwood as an Ambassador, blending climbing, stories, farms, maps, organic greens, and environmental activism into a powerful force for change. Welcome Kate!

As Director and Food Scientist at Union of Concerned Scientists Ricardo works to transition our current food system into one that grows healthy foods while employing sustainable and socially equitable practices.

Previously, at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation he worked to support a national array of programs in Good Food (healthy, green, fair and affordable), and at Iowa State University he chaired the first graduate program in sustainable agriculture in the United States. He is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainability in Food. In 2014, he was co-author of an influential Washington Post Op-Ed that called for the application of a coherent national policy for food, health and wellbeing. He is a recipient of the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award (2013), Iowa State University International Service Award (2001), and the CIBA-GEIGY Agricultural Recognition Award for Outstanding Contributions to Agriculture (1992).

Self proclaimed “Origin Forager” Stephen is a food writer, multimedia producer and co-founder of Whetstone Magazine, a seasonal print publication on food origins, culture and global gastronomy. He’s also host and producer of Point of Origin podcast in collaboration with iheartradio, and co-founder of Whetstone Media, a multimedia company producing both original and commissioned content dedicated to telling the story of food.

Before his career in media, he was a social entrepreneur, advocating for wine as a catalyst for economic development for black and indigenous wine workers in South Africa’s Western Cape. Stephen is a sommelier in recovery, having spent more than a decade working in fine restaurants throughout the United States. In addition to founding and editing Whetstone, he’s written for Esquire, Wall Street Journal, SF Chronicle, NY Magazine and several other notable magazines and newspapers. In addition, Stephen is a Culinary Trust Fellow for Civil Eats.

Since 1985 Karen Washington has been a community activist, striving to make New York City a better place to live. As a community gardener and board member of the New York Botanical Gardens, she worked with Bronx neighborhoods to turn empty lots into community gardens.

As an advocate, and former president of the New York City Community Garden Coalition, she stood up and spoke out for garden protection and preservation. As a member of the La Familia Verde Garden Coalition, she helped launch a City Farms Market, bringing fresh vegetables to the community.
Karen is also a board member of Why Hunger and NYC Farm School. As a speaker, teacher and mentor, she leads workshops on growing food and justice across the country. In 2010, Co- Founded Black Urban Growers (BUGS) an organization supporting growers in both urban and rural settings.

In 2012, Ebony magazine voted her one of their 100 most influential African Americans in the country and in 2014 was the recipient of the James Beard Leadership Award.

Since retiring from Physical Therapy in 2014, Karen is Co-owner/Farmer at Rise & Root Farm.