Joe Maxwell
President
Joe Maxwell is President of Farm Action Fund. His experience in farming, building agricultural supply chains, practicing law, and serving in statewide office are keys to his successful policy development and campaign strategies.
Along with his brother, Steve, Joe raises hogs, sheep, and grain crops on their fourth generation farm. The pair manage a regional hog marketing group selling animal welfare certified pork into outlets including Chipotle. Working with the Ag of the Middle Project, Joe developed an economic model that allowed smaller livestock producers to compete with large meatpackers.
Joe held office in Missouri for 14 years, serving as a member of the House of Representatives, Senate, and as Lieutenant Governor. He is retired from the Army National Guard, where he served as a First Sergeant in the Field Artillery. He holds degrees in agriculture economics and law from the University of Missouri.
Joe has held key positions in both political and initiative petition campaigns. He has assisted Presidential, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives candidates in developing their antitrust, agriculture, and food policy positions.
Joe’s work has been profiled by Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Politico, and The Nation. He has been cited by USA Today, CNN, The New York Times, NPR, and the Washington Post, among others.
Angela Huffman
Vice President
Angela Huffman provides strategic direction for the organization’s efforts to integrate research, communications, and advocacy toward successful policy reforms that break up corporate food monopolies and build fair competition in rural America. Her winning strategy centers on building capacity through broad-based, diverse collaborations.
She brings 15 years of experience in food and agriculture policy reform and market development. In prior work, Angela led numerous institutions, retailers, and other food buyers to shift their purchasing toward farms that meet the highest standards for fairness and sustainability. She has also held marketing and consulting positions for farms, regional dairy and meat processors, distributors, and restaurants.
Angela’s commentary is frequently featured in national news media and rural farm outlets. She has appeared on CNBC, NBC News, Fox News, and NPR, and she has been cited by the AP, Bloomberg, Reuters, The New York Times, Politico, The Hill, and others.
Angela holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Public Policy and Management from the Ohio State University. She raises registered Katahdin sheep on her family’s 200-year-old farm in Northwest Ohio.
Christian Lovell
Senior Director of Programs
Christian Lovell draws on his deep experience in production agriculture and food policy as Farm Action Fund’s Senior Director of Programs. In this role, he provides leadership and direction for the organization’s growing program portfolio to advance a more just food system.
Previously, Christian spent nearly a decade working on federal agricultural policy in Washington, DC, and served as Legislative Director to U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro during her time as Chair of the House Committee on Appropriations. He also held other roles at the National Governors Association, The World Bank, and Informa Economics Group.
Christian is a native of West Central Illinois where he now resides and manages his family’s Registered Hereford cattle herd. He passionately advocates for regenerative grazing and is actively involved in the Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition.
Sarah Carden
Research and Policy Development Director
Sarah Carden joined Farm Action Fund to raise awareness and advocate for policies that meaningfully reform the nation’s food and agriculture system.
Sarah holds a B.A. in Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University. She has been working on food system reforms for over a decade and brings expertise in local food systems and distribution networks, agriculture, non-profit development, and food entrepreneurship. Sarah has also worked as an organizer on two presidential campaigns and one congressional campaign.
Sarah lives with her husband and their two young children on their organic vegetable farm.
Jessica Cusworth
Senior Communications Manager
As Communications Manager, Jessica focuses on furthering engagement with the organization’s work to create a fair and sustainable food and agriculture system.
Jessica holds a B.A. in Global Environmental Studies and an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Clark University. She brings a wide range of experience from her past work in land conservation, where she focused on wildlife habitat restoration, environmental monitoring, volunteer management, and engaging communities in land stewardship. She’s cultivated skills in digital communications, program development, and creative storytelling through her experience working in the nonprofit world.
Jessica spends her free time tending to her urban vegetable garden, cooking new recipes, and working on her photography skills.
Webster Davis
Senior Policy Advisor
Webster Davis is owner of Triple D Produce, located two miles west of Auxvasse, Missouri. He has worked with various FFA groups to secure vegetable starts and encourage youth to pursue food production as an occupation. He worked with Lincoln University as a mentor for the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS). He hosted an intern through Lincoln University and has served on the planning committees for Minority and Limited Resources Farmers and Ranchers Conferences.
Webster is a proud Ambassador for the Missouri AgrAbility program which is dedicated to helping farmers and ranchers return to their passions and livelihoods after an accident.
Webster is a veteran having turned 18 years old in U.S. Marine Corps boot camp and serving almost 23 years in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and Missouri Army National Guard; he is now a member of the Farmer Veteran Coalition. He conceived and is Chairman of the State of Missouri NAACP Agriculture Committee, whose goal is to increase awareness of agriculture issues and opportunities.
Webster is the treasurer of the Union Local where he works at the Callaway Nuclear Plant, and is proudly serving as the Secretary for the State of Missouri NAACP Conferences. In this role he is fulfilling the important work of ensuring that books and papers are ready for the next generation.
Emma Nicolas
Communications Coordinator
As Communications Coordinator, Emma works to raise awareness and build community with Farm Action’s growing audience around the shared goal of reforming the food and agriculture system.
She holds a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri. She spent over five years in the journalism field and the last few years working on an organic vegetable farm in Michigan. As a storyteller and communicator, she draws the most inspiration from talking to farmers and sharing their stories.
Emma spends her free time in a garden, on a Lake Michigan beach, or at home with her loved ones.
Joe Maxwell
President
Joe Maxwell is President of Farm Action Fund. His experience in farming, building agricultural supply chains, practicing law, and serving in statewide office are keys to his successful policy development and campaign strategies.
Along with his brother, Steve, Joe raises hogs, sheep, and grain crops on their fourth generation farm. The pair manage a regional hog marketing group selling animal welfare certified pork into outlets including Chipotle. Working with the Ag of the Middle Project, Joe developed an economic model that allowed smaller livestock producers to compete with large meatpackers.
Joe held office in Missouri for 14 years, serving as a member of the House of Representatives, Senate, and as Lieutenant Governor. He is retired from the Army National Guard, where he served as a First Sergeant in the Field Artillery. He holds degrees in agriculture economics and law from the University of Missouri.
Joe has held key positions in both political and initiative petition campaigns. He has assisted Presidential, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives candidates in developing their antitrust, agriculture, and food policy positions.
Joe’s work has been profiled by Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Politico, and The Nation. He has been cited by USA Today, CNN, The New York Times, NPR, and the Washington Post, among others.
Lillian Salerno
Chair
Lillian has over two decades of experience in leading organizations and public interest advocacy. She has led multi-state organization and advocacy efforts on issues surrounding entrepreneurship, antitrust enforcement, economic development in rural areas, and healthcare.
Lillian served six years as a subcabinet official for the Obama administration as Deputy Undersecretary for the United States Department of Agriculture. Lillian served as a founding member of the White House Rural Council and has been an unwavering voice for the state of rural Americans and small farmers and their specific concerns regarding innovation and entrepreneurship/business start-ups and access to capital and consolidation especially for new and beginning farmers. Lillian oversaw a federal budget of 30 billion dollars and oversaw over 5000 federal employees and is known for working both sides of the aisle to get things done for those without a voice in this America.
Lillian’s experience “in the trenches” working for stakeholders and alongside government for over twenty years has given her an in-depth understanding of the crucial role advocacy plays in assuring government has the information necessary to make fact based decisions. She recognizes the political importance of identifying issues and creating strong relationships and teams to effect change. Lillian is an experienced coalition builder, which she attributes to her growing up in rural Texas as one of nine children. Lillian holds a B. A. degree in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin, an M. A. in Criminal Justice from the University of North Texas, and a J. D. degree from Southern Methodist University.
Barry Lynn
Barry Lynn directs the Open Markets Institute. Previously, he spent 15 years at the New America Foundation researching and writing about monopoly power. He is author of Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction (Wiley 2010) and End of the Line: The Rise and Coming Fall of the Global Corporation (Doubleday 2005).
Lynn’s writings on the political and economic effects of the extreme consolidation of power in the United States have influenced the thinking of policymakers and antitrust professionals on both sides of the Atlantic. His work has been profiled on CBS and in the New York Times, and his articles have appeared in publications including Harper’s, the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, and Foreign Policy. He has appeared on CBS, PBS, CNN, the BBC, NPR, MSNBC, C-Span, and the Christian Broadcasting Network, among others. Prior to joining New America, Lynn was executive editor of Global Business Magazine for seven years, and worked as a correspondent in Peru, Venezuela, and the Caribbean for the Associated Press and Agence France Presse.
Wes Shoemyer
Anim Steel
Anim Steel is a co-founder and past executive director of the Real Food Generation, which harnesses the power of youth and universities to build a fair and sustainable food system (programs include the Real Food Challenge, the Real Meals Campaign, and Uprooted & Rising).
Prior to Real Food Generation, Anim led national initiatives at The Food Project in Boston, consulted with Economic Development Assistance Consortium, and developed employment training programs at the Bowery Residents Committee.
Anim holds a B.A. in Astrophysics and History from Williams College and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
He is the recipient of a James Beard Leadership Award and received an Echoing Green award for social entrepreneurship. Born in Ghana, Anim grew up in West Africa and Washington, D.C.