Our Team of Industry Leadership

Visionaries. Innovators. Changemakers.

These industry and organizational leaders are driving and shaping regenerative agriculture and inspiring others to follow.

Lauren Manning

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

A lawyer, former regenerative rancher, and capital strategist, Lauren leads the program design and financial innovation work of Food System 6.

Before joining FS6, Lauren was an adjunct professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, teaching courses on farm animal welfare, food safety, farm succession planning, agricultural cooperatives and local food systems. In the classroom she drew upon her experience as a regenerative rancher, raising grass-fed and grass-finished beef and lamb, as well her years as a journalist and later investor at AgFunder, focused on deal flow and due diligence. She has published extensively on agricultural finance and farm policy.

Earlier in her career, Lauren was a trial attorney in California litigating a broad range of civil matters. During law school, she clerked for the Honorable Justice Joyce L. Kennard and completed a comparative legal systems tutorial at Oxford University in England.  She earned a BA in Legal Studies from UC Santa Cruz, a JD from University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, and a Master of Laws, Food and Agriculture Law and Policy from the University of Arkansas.

  • Meredith Nguyen

    COO

  • Denise Gurule

    CFO

  • Karen Simons

    DIRECTOR OF INNOVATIVE FINANCE

Our Board of Directors

  • Renske Lynde

    CO-FOUNDER & BOARD PRESIDENT, MEMBER OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE

    Renske is an investor, philanthropist, and advocate for a healthy and sustainable food system. She has been actively developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in food and agriculture since 2012. Renske is general partner of 1st Course Capital, an early-stage food and agriculture venture capital fund investing in pre-seed to seed-stage companies that are transforming how we grow, produce, and distribute food. She is a co-founder of Food System 6.

  • Peter Herz

    BOARD MEMBER & SECRETARY

    Peter is general partner of early stage venture capital firm, 1st Course Capital (1CC). 1CC invests in entrepreneurs developing innovations that will improve the environmental, human and social health of the food system, while delivering above market returns. Peter is a serial entrepreneur and executive in a range of companies over a thirty-year career.  He is a co-founder of Food System 6.

  • Allison Roseman Hagey

    BOARD MEMBER

    Allison is the hiring partner at Braun Hagey & Borden.  She has over 15 years of experience in food law, policy, regulation, and food systems. Allison has represented Fortune 100 companies in international and national disputes and Department of Justice hearings.  She has an extensive track record developing large-scale projects in the food and agriculture sector including creating and implementing federal policies generating over $1 billion in investment in over 200 food businesses.  Allison is a nationally recognized leader, keynote speaker, advocate, and author on food, agriculture, health policy, and equity.