Ruth Richardson was the Executive Director of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food between 2012-2022. Ruth brought nearly 20 years of experience in the philanthropic sector to the role, and of particular relevance to this undertaking, has extensive experience starting new and complex things. These include being the first Director of the Unilever Canada Foundation, Founding Chair of the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers’ Network, Founder and Chair of the Small Change Fund which is a leader in grassroots micro-philanthropy in Canada, and the first Environment Director at the Metcalf Foundation providing a cornerstone to the Ontario sustainable food systems community. Ruth also served as the lead consultant to establish The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada and has worked with private-public partnerships on sustainability issues and cross-border collaborations, such as coastal fisheries management. As well, while her career has been focused in Canada, she has lived in Europe, worked on an agricultural kibbutz, and has travelled widely in Africa and the Middle East. She and her husband own a small farm just east of Toronto, ON, where they have been known to run a small organic garlic operation and she writes her own food blog.