Kathleen Chappelear

Background

About Kathleen Chappelear

Highlights: Driven by a mission to make the environment safer and cleaner. Work history started in national service with AmeriCorps and has evolved to today. Graduate of Green Mountain College’s sustainable food systems bachelor’s degree and alumni of the University of Colorado Boulder’s MBA and Masters of the Environment degrees. Past: Born and raised in New Jersey. My sisters and I were homeschooled, affording us the ability to experience the world in a different way. I grew up learning by doing. My mother is a gardener and taught me that knowing where food comes from is important. This is where my passion for the environment and food systems emerged from. Spent teenage years heavily involved in volunteer work, from weeklong service trips to Appalachia to regular volunteering. Worked with my mother to start and run a community garden in Newark, NJ where all harvests were brought to a food pantry. Post undergrad I lived and worked on multiple farms in Vermont, from a goat dairy, beef and raw milk farm, and a vegetable farm. Being a full-time volunteer with AmeriCorps in the migrant farming community of Immokalee, FL, was a defining point in my life. I saw and worked in a part of the food system that most people don’t know exists. These pivotal experiences are what has shaped and guided every life decision that I have made since high school. After AmeriCorps, I pursued dual master’s degrees in sustainable food systems and business administration. By obtaining both degrees I immersed myself in both the application of my passion for food systems and the business side of how to create change. During this time, I spent one year consulting for EarthHero on the sustainability of their product sourcing. In addition, I provided consulting for EcoProducts to submit their B Corp recertification application. I also interned for Mercer Advisors, collecting data, and building their first ever carbon footprint and Greenhouse Gas emissions report to guide future business planning. I authored an extensive briefing book in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics documenting risks faced by farmworkers before and during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Present: working in transmission development for a large renewable energy developer. Specialties: relationship building, people skills, organization, strategic planning. Hobbies: anything outdoors, trail running, hiking, backpacking. Baking sourdough bread and bagels and brewing my own kombucha, knitting and reading. Motto: “Action without vision is a nightmare”.