President of the Oregon Food Bank, Susannah Morgan
The accomplished Susannah Morgan, President of the Oregon Food Bank, stops by the chat to discuss food, hunger, and why having things to do makes all good ideas possible. Along the way, Melissa and Staci find out about lots of other tasty morsels like: how food insecurity affects mental health (yes, we said that in the right order) or when would you call 211, what is WIC, how does one cook a rutabaga, and why hunger has a lot more to do with macroeconomic forces, than just matching hungry people up with excess food. We talk about the many facets of food banking as well as a smorgasbord of other topics that feed into food banking like: universal school meals, programs to feed hungry kids in the summer, and why the data on those seeking food fall into the bimodal distribution in “the tale of two tails”. She also discusses why she thinks the Oregon Food Bank is seeing a lot more chronic hunger than episodic hunger, especially post-pandemic and what you can do to help. Please join us as we are inspired by her energetic style and infectious laughter along the way. Welcome Susannah!
The Share Backpack Program - summer meals for free in Clark County provided by Share. Columbian Article on 20 year anniversary of the program.
Susannah Morgan, President of Oregon Food Bank - Biography
Susannah Morgan has been the President of Oregon Food Bank since November 2012. Under Susannah’s leadership, Oregon Food Bank is pursuing a bold vision to build resilient communities that never go hungry with a deep commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. During Susannah’s tenure, Oregon Food Bank is expanding food access for historically marginalized communities, supporting robust food systems through rural and urban communities; and building a movement to support public policies that address the root causes of hunger.
Susannah is a recognized leader, locally and nationally. She currently serves on the Board of the Oregon Human Development Corporation,whose mission is to promote economic advancement and self-sufficiency of farmworkers and underserved communities. Susannah was recognized as a 2022 Civil Rights Champion by the Oregon League of Minority Voters. Susannah is active in the national network of food banks, Feeding America, currently assisting in developing new food bank performance measurement tools. Susannah was recognized as the 2023 John van Hengel Fellowship Awardee for her lifetime of leadership in food banking, centering equity and incorporating lived experience of hunger into programmatic innovation, and as Network Leader of the Year in 2017. In 2007, Feeding America recruited her to lead a national team to establish Three Square Food Bank in Las Vegas. Susannah also represented Feeding America in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Prior to joining Oregon Food Bank, Susannah led the fight against hunger in Alaska as Executive Director of Food Bank of Alaska for more than a decade. Under her leadership, Food Bank of Alaska and its network tripled food distribution, supported summer meals to children statewide, and built the state’s first anti-hunger advocacy program.
Susannah’s food-banking career started in the mid-90s at the San Francisco Food Bank. She then became second-in-command at Interseminarian Project Place, a homeless services agency and partner of the Greater Boston Food Bank. She also taught a Social Entrepreneurship graduate course at Boston University School of Management.
Susannah received her bachelor’s degree in Japanese Language from Carleton College, earned a certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of California, Berkeley, and received her M.B.A. in Public and Nonprofit Management from Boston University.
Susannah and her wife, Dr. Jocelyn Krebs, live in NE Portland with their two sons: Rhys and Frey.
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