EFR TC Leadership

Members of the Edible Food Recovery Technical Council are staff from local government (cities and counties), food recovery organizations and services, collection companies, consultants, food industry and other stakeholders working on food waste prevention and food donation programs. The goal is to have a mix of members from the Southern, Central and Northern districts. There are 14 members on our executive council and several subcommittees working on the development of resources for our members. 

You can connect with us via email at efrcouncil@gmail.com Visit our community discussions on our public forum under Resources.

2023 Technical Council Executive Committee Contact Information

• Cassie Bartholomew

• Lisa Coelho

• Julia Heath

• Paddy Iyer

• Mike Learakos

• Robin Martin

• Monica White

• Derek Crutchfield

• David Hott

• Rachel Otair-Parris

• Alyson Schill

• Jack Steinmann

• Annika Anderson

• Mallika Sen

Executive Committee Members:

Co-Chair

Cassie Bartholomew

Cassie is a Program Manager at StopWaste.  Cassie has over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing programs in non-profit government sectors.  Cassie serves as the lead for StopWaste’s Food Waste Reduction initiatives working with jurisdictions, community-based organizations, businesses and institutions to reduce food waste through prevention and food donation. In her role as the SB 1383 Food Recovery Lead, she’s developed networks for Food Recovery Organizations, facilitated the Edible Food Recovery Capacity Planning process for Alameda County, and developed communication, education and outreach tools.  Cassie is a member of the CRRA Edible Food Recovery Technical Council and currently serves as the Subcommittee Coordinator.  

Co-Chair

Lisa Coelho

Lisa Coelho is a Customer Success Manager at Recyclist. Lisa has 7 years of experience in solid waste consulting with an expertise in legislative compliance and field experience. Her past work with edible food recovery supported municipalities, nonprofits and private businesses in planning, implementing and assessing edible food recovery programs. She also serves with us on the executive committee of CRRA’s Edible Food Recovery Technical Committee. In her new role, she dives into our industry’s on-the-ground stories to find opportunities for process efficiency and reporting success.

Secretary and Treasurer

Jack Steinmann

Jack (He, Him, His) has been involved with organics diversion since 2015 when he started San Francisco State University’s first food recovery program. Since then, he’s continued in the zero waste field as an intern with the EPA, Climate Corps Fellow with the City of Hayward, Co-Chair of the NCRA Zero Food Waste Committee, and now in his current position as a Resource Conservation Specialist with the County of San Mateo’s Office of Sustainability. In his current role, Jack focuses his efforts on the County’s implementation of SB 1383’s edible food recovery and procurement requirements. He is thrilled to contribute to preventing food from being wasted with the CRRA EFR TC.

Administrative Director

Rachel Otair-Parris

Rachel is the Director of Operations at Abound Food Care. She brings her knowledge from working in the foodservice industry and the nonprofit sector to provide oversight including nonprofit outreach, food industry outreach, logistics, data tracking and aggregation, grant and special project management, healthcare programs, and assists the Executive Director in implementing Abound's strategic plan.

Public Communication Director

Paddy Iyer

Paddy Iyer is the ED of Daily Bowl, a Southern Alameda County based food recovery non-profit organization. Paddy has been instrumental in growing Daily Bowl into a recognized food recovery organization, forging relationships between donors and receiving agencies alike. Food waste is an issue that Paddy is passionate about, and as such he lives every day to Daily Bowl’s exit strategy of “If there is no Food Waste, there should be no Daily Bowl”. But till then, it’s his mission to help reduce food waste, connecting with agencies feeding the hungry, completing the circle. In his spare time (if there is any), Paddy dreams about what he would like to do in his spare time

CRRA Coordinator

Monica White

Monica is the Sustainability Manger at Edgar and Associates. She has over 14 years of experience working in the sustainability arena where she has led teams in developing sustainability programs for a range of companies and sectors. She has played a leadership role in assisting companies to develop strong sustainability and environmental programs, securing grant funding and strategically achieve desired goals, including how to incorporate carbon projects into their business to meet their carbon reduction targets. Notably she is assistant the development of zero waste programs, SB 1383 compliance plans, and cutting-edge approaches to the management of edible food. 

Subcommittee Coordinator

Julia Heath

Julia is a Recycling Program Specialist II with the City of Oakland. She has supported the administration of the City's franchise agreements with Waste Management and California Waste Solutions including performance and compliance tracking and analysis, overseen the City's Recycling Hotline, tracked the promulgation of planned for compliance with landmark SB 1383 Short-Lived Climate Pollutants regulations, administered the Disposable Foodware Ordinance and participated in the Regional Mandatory Reusable Foodware Ordinance working group, and updated the requirements for Mobile Food Vending and Large Events Permits. In 2018, Julia completed the Zero Waste Principles & Practices Certification program offered jointly by CRRA and SWANA.

Advisory Members

Robin Martin

Robin is the Chair of the Best Practices and Protocols Subcommittee of the Edible Food Recovery Technical Council. She came to Joint Venture’s Food Recovery Initiative in 2017 to head the award-winning A La Carte pilot program, bringing 20 years of experience in public health and community team building. During her tenure at Joint Venture, she founded the Silicon Valley Food Recovery Council, the Santa Clara County Food Recovery Program on behalf of all jurisdictions in Santa Clara County, and authored numerous seminal reports. She speaks publicly on a regular basis about the importance of safe and nutritious food recovery and waste prevention. Robin serves as a board member for the Santa Clara County Food System Alliance.

Alyson Schill

Alyson is the CEO of the food donation app, Careit. She thrives at the heart of shaping and advocating for city, county, and statewide policies and support for food waste prevention. With a background in volunteer management, gleaning, sustainable event production, environmental service-learning leadership in educational institutions, and restaurant management, Alyson combines experiences from across the food waste chain to create meaningful and comprehensive waste reduction programs.

Mike Learakos

Mike is a food service professional with over 30-years of food industry experience. Under Mike’s leadership and with his unique perspective into the foodservice industry, Mike has developed a nationally recognized food care model that focuses on the benefits, collaborations, data and support hat is needed between public, private and nonprofit sections

David Hott

With an educational background in Collaborative Health and Human Services from the University of California Monterey Bay, David brings extensive work experience in food recovery and corporate leadership. David serves as the Director of Programs at Loaves and Fishes in Silicon Valley, the home of the A La Carte Program. He holds a Board Position on the Northern California Recycling Association (NCRA) and is certified as a Practitioner in Zero Waste Principles and Practices from SWANA. A San Francisco Bay area native, David spends his free time as a wilderness guide in the backcountry of Yosemite. 

Derek Crutchfield

Derek has been the Recycling Coordinator for the City of Vallejo for 22 years, he oversees all aspects of the City’s Solid Franchise Agreement and is responsible for the implementation of all of the City’s solid waste and recycling programs, which includes ensuring that the City is in compliance with SB1383 Short-Lived Climate Pollutants Reduction Strategy. He has supported and collaborated with non-profit groups in Vallejo to assist with food recovery. Derek is currently the Vice President of the Northern California Gold Rush Chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) and is on the Executive Board of the California Product Stewardship Council.

Subcommittees:

Best Practices and Protocols: Robin Martin

Funding: Monica White

Stakeholder Engagement: Mike Learakos