Program Staff

Dr. Gail C. Christopher is vice president for programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, serving on the executive team that provides overall direction and leadership for the Foundation. She is nationally recognized for her pioneering work to infuse holistic health and diversity concepts into public sector programs and policy discourse. A prolific writer and presenter, Gail is the author or co-author of three books, a monthly column in the Federal Times, and more than 250 articles, presentations, and publications. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2007, Gail was vice president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies’ Office of Health, Women and Families in Washington, D.C. She was guest scholar in the governance studies department at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and executive director of the Institute for Government Innovation at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has additional experience at the National Academy of Public Administration, Howard University School of Divinity, Americans All National Education Program, and Family Resource Coalition of America. Gail holds a doctor of naprapathy degree from the Chicago National College of Naprapathy in Illinois and completed advanced study in the interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in holistic health and clinical nutrition at the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities at Union Graduate School of Cincinnati, Ohio.

John Fisk is the Director of the Wallace Center at Winrock International. The Wallace Center supports entrepreneurs and communities as they build a new, 21st century food system that is healthier for people, the environment, and the economy. Winrock International works with people in the United States and around the world to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment, implementing projects in more than 65 countries across the globe. The Center is focused at the national level and works in partnership with regional organizations to expand community-based and sustainable food and farming systems. Prior to the Wallace Center, John was an independent consultant providing food systems consulting to several Michigan based organizations including the Kellogg Foundation’s Food and Society Initiative. He also served as the Programs and Development Director for Michigan Food and Farming Systems, a statewide not-for profit organization focused on building capacity and opportunities to foster growth of sustainable food systems. John has been a Fellow at the Donella Meadows Leadership Program for Systems Thinking and a C.S. Mott Fellow of Sustainable Agriculture. He holds a Ph.D. in Crop and Soil Sciences from Michigan State University, a master’s in Agronomy from University of Missouri-Columbia and a bachelor’s in Environmental Studies-Agroecology from the University of California-Santa Cruz.

Rick Foster is vice president for programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and he serves on the executive team that provides overall direction and leadership for the Foundation. Rick joined the Foundation in 1991 as a visiting professional while on sabbatical leave from the University of Nebraska, where he served as a professor of agricultural education. Prior to joining the Foundation, he worked in international development activities in Africa and Central America, and was instrumental in establishing the School of Agriculture for the Humid Tropical Region (EARTH University) in Costa Rica. Rick was a leadership fellow in the Kellogg National Fellowship Program from 1987-1990 and served as a Thorton Bradshaw Fellow exploring ‘the Humanities and the Young Professional’ in 1991. Rick received his bachelor's, master’s and doctoral degrees in agricultural education from Iowa State University and taught at Iowa State University, the University of Idaho, and the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

James E. McHale is senior vice president for programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He provides leadership for all programming, including the development of effective programming strategies, teamwork, policies, philosophies, and organization-wide systems. Prior to this position, Jim was assistant vice president with responsibilities for programming in Greater Battle Creek. Before joining the Foundation in 1993, Jim was a community foundation program associate for the Council of Michigan Foundations in Grand Haven. He has worked as a development manager and marketing specialist for Hackley Hospital in Muskegon, Michigan, and as a development associate for St. Mary’s Health Service in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jim founded Camp Catch-A-Rainbow, a summer program for children with cancer, along with helping to establish the first camp for children with cancer in Russia. He also co-founded Kalamazoo Special Skiing, a program that trains the blind and physically disabled how to downhill ski. He earned his bachelor’s degree in public relations and journalism at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, and his master’s in business administration at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids.

David Norman, Group Vice President of Winrock International is an agricultural economist with experience managing rural development and credit projects in the United States and overseas. He leads Winrock's Enterprise and Agriculture Group which includes Agriculture, Volunteer Technical Assistance (VTA), the Wallace Center, and U.S. Programs. Most recently, he headed the VTA Program which focuses on recruiting qualified U.S. volunteers to assist farmers, businesses, and organizations both overseas and in the U.S. Prior to joining Winrock in 1994, Norman was director of Technology Operations for AgriBank in St. Louis. Norman currently sits on the board of directors for AgriBank, a $30 billion cooperative bank serving 15 states. He also chairs Winrock's Information & Communication Technology oversight committee that establishes technology priorities for the institution. He holds a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Arkansas.

Dr. Ricardo J. Salvador is program director at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. He provides leadership for the Food and Society initiative and other programming in the areas of sustainable agriculture, community food systems, Native American food systems, immigrant communities in agriculture, and in strengthening the role of institutions of higher education in these fields. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2007, Ricardo was on the Agronomy faculty at Iowa State University, where he researched the ecological footprint of row-crop agriculture, alternative agricultural systems for the Midwest, and traditional agricultural systems in the developing world. While at Iowa State University, Dr. Salvador was the first chair of the Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture and Faculty Director of the University Honors Program.

Frank Tugwell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Winrock International leads the organization in its quest to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment. Under his leadership, Winrock's existing program activities have expanded and new initiatives have launched to address the changing needs of the world's people and the global environment. Most recently, Tugwell was executive director of the Heinz Endowments of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Previously he served Winrock as vice president of Programs and Global Projects and was director of the Renewable Energy and the Environment Program. He is the founder and first president of the Environmental Enterprises Fund, a non-profit organization that invests in small and medium-sized environmental companies in developing countries. Tugwell received his Doctorate in Political Science from Columbia University.