Jeff is passionate about bringing together unusual partners—strange bedfellows, as he likes to call them. In the case of PFS that means leading international food companies and promising food companies in Africa, as well as the US government, committed donors, NGOs, impact investors, and talented employees, all partnering to do much more together than they could on their own. Jeff has spent half his career in business and the other half in relief and development, including two years living and working in Zambia, and he has worked for both global organizations like Cargill and World Vision as well as several start-up ventures.
What Jeff likes most about his job is working with a strong international team—a whole network of people in the US, Europe, and Africa, coming together to accomplish something significant. For his work with PFS he was recently named an Ashoka Fellow, an honor reserved for leading social entrepreneurs around the world, and was awarded a Bush Fellowship in 2018. Outside work, Jeff loves time with family and friends, biking/running/skiing in wild, beautiful places, and good conversations that get to the heart of the matter. He lives in Edina, Minnesota with his wife Molly, where he loves, encourages—and writes tuition checks for—his three young adult children, Mackenzie, Clara, and Bennett.