Joel Berg

About Joel Berg

CEO of national anti-hunger public policy and direct service nonprofit organization…

Experience

1. CEO

   Hunger Free America

   Jun 2001 — Present

   Manages the daily operations of the organization, overseeing all pandemic response, policy, advocacy, program development, strategic planning, research, community organizing, fundraising, marketing, communications, fiscal, personnel, and administrative work. • Led rapid, large-scale expansion and intensification of all activities in response to COVID-19. • Transformed a small, local New York City advocacy group into a widely respected national public policy and direct service organization aimed at ending U.S. hunger by ensuring that all Americans have sufficient access to nutritious food. • Increased number of employees six-fold and annual budget (now at $4.5 million) ten-fold. • Oversaw all branding, organizational development, communications, policy, technology, and legal work necessary to transition from a local to a national organization. • According to the Nation, under my direction, the group “grew into one of the leading direct service and advocacy organizations on hunger and poverty in the nation.” • Currently oversees the work of more than 35 employees and AmeriCorps national service participants. • Works closely and collaboratively with the group’s board of directors. • Interacts regularly with high-ranking elected and appointed government officials, business and community leaders, directors and staffs of fellow nonprofit organizations, clients of food charities, and participants in government nutrition assistance programs. • Has delivered hundreds of keynote speeches on four continents and in 37 states. • Led successful effort to obtain a $2 million federal Hunger Free Communities grant, which funded nine of the city’s leading hunger and senior citizens organizations to increase access to government SNAP, WIC, and school meals benefits. • Competed for and won a contract to manage the USDA National Hunger Clearinghouse. • Garners widespread local, national, and international media coverage. i

Education

• Columbia University

  Bachelor's degree, Political Science and Government

  1982 — 1986