Birmingham, Alabama – 18 July 2018 – The Kirchner Food Fellowship, an initiative of the Kirchner Impact Foundation, today announced the selection of the 2018-19 Kirchner Food Fellows. Now entering its sixth year the program continues to be the world’s only fellowship dedicated to developing and implementing issue-focused, lean impact investment models and educating the next generation of capital allocators.

The Kirchner Food Fellowship is pleased to announce the 2018-2019 Kirchner Food Fellows:

Emery (Hattie) Brown is currently a Masters of Science candidate at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, where her studies focus on trade and agricultural policy in the interests of international food security. While in graduate school, Hattie was a Tisch Fellow at the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service Food Assistance Division, where her work centered on the impact of development programs on agricultural markets and trade facilitation. Prior to graduate school, Hattie worked in both the private and public finance sectors in a regulatory compliance capacity, implementing requirements set forth by the Bank Security Act and researching corporate governance issues.

Charles Higgenbotham is presently pursuing his Masters of Professional Studies in Agriculture and Life Sciences with a specialization in International Agriculture and Rural Development at Cornell University. Charles is proud to have served as a Sustainable Agriculture Systems Volunteer in the United States Peace Corps, completing his service in the Comarca Embera-Wounaan within the Darien Province of Panama. Charles is dedicated to exploring how socially conscious enterprise can contribute to addressing the intractable economic, environmental and socio-cultural problems facing similar isolated indigenous populations throughout the Americas.

Ambulah Mamey is presently a graduate student at the American University’s School of International Services (SIS) where he is pursuing a Masters of Science Degree in Development Management. His concentration is in Agricultural Development and the Environment. Ambulah has worked extensively in his native Liberia, spanning over eight years in both the public and private sectors. Before joining SIS, he worked with the National Oil Company of Liberia and its partners (ExxonMobil, and TGS NOPEC) on corporate social relations programs. He also previously served as a Manager in the Commercial Bank Department of First International Bank Liberia Limited, which is now GN Bank.

“I applied for the fellowship because I want to understand the ways in which the private sector approaches the most complex issues in our food system. Most importantly, how we can alleviate food insecurity with innovation,” commented Hattie Brown. “I am so thrilled to be selected, and to become part of a team dedicated to finding creative ways to tackle these challenges.”

“This fifth team of Fellows, with their deep and complementary skill sets, will continue the evolution of our lean impact investment model which is helping bridge the gap in underserved capital markets between micro-scale investing and institutional scale investing,” stated Steve Dauphin, Director.

“I’ve worked globally as a volunteer in ‘developing countries’ for nearly a decade, and carry years of academic training, focusing studies and international work on addressing food insecurities. However, nothing (and I mean nothing) has compared to the exchange of wisdom and new knowledge I’ve received as a Kirchner Food Fellow,” added Karla Rascón-García, 2017-2018 Kirchner Food Fellow (Epidemiology Phd. Candidate at University of California, Davis). “I’d wish for all to have the privilege of engaging in what I describe as a ‘front-line’ opportunity, to selflessly and strategically impact the multitudes in a manner that is as radically efficient as the Kirchner Food Fellowship is.”