Kate Geagan, MS, RDN is Co-Founder and Director of Strategy at Food + Planet, a nonprofit empowering health professionals at the intersection of food and climate. Since 2020, F+P has educated over 15% of U.S. dietitians on planetary health diets, partnered with Johns Hopkins, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the American Heart Association, and launched the first U.S. Blue Foods As Medicine curriculum. Its landmark research on climate-forward ocean foods recently received the 2025 UN FAO INFOODS Award.

Author of Go Green Get Lean (Rodale), Kate is a global thought leader in sustainable diets and serves on the Global Council of the True Health Initiative. She has advised award-winning media (PBS’s Hope in the Water), pioneering brands (Clif Bar, Yerba Madre), and climate-focused investors (Drawdown Fund). A frequent media voice with 1,500+ interviews and dozens of national TV appearances, Kate has presented across 10+ countries and at the White House on building a more nutritious, equitable, and regenerative food future.

Jim Morris is the founder and executive director of Public Health Watch, a nonprofit news organization based in Texas. A journalist since 1978, he is the author of “The Cancer Factory,” an investigative book on chemical exposures in the workplace published by Beacon Press in 2024. He has received more than 85 awards for his work, including the Barlett and Steele Gold Award, the George Polk award, the White House Correspondents’ Association award, the Sidney Hillman award, three National Association of Science Writers awards, three national Edward R. Murrow awards and five Texas Headliners awards. Morris spent more than 13 years with the Center for Public Integrity as a senior reporter, managing editor, acting CEO and executive editor. While there, he directed a global investigation of the asbestos industry that won the John B. Oakes award for environmental reporting from Columbia University and an IRE Medal from Investigative Reporters and Editors in 2011. Morris helped edit “Breathless and Burdened,” a 2013 investigation into the flawed federal black lung benefits program that won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. Morris has worked for newspapers in Texas and California as well as publications such as U.S. News & World Report and Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C.

Emily Bancroft is the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of Health Care Without Harm, bringing over a decade of experience leading health systems innovation at VillageReach, where she advanced equitable access to primary care through government partnerships, sustainable supply chains, and digital health solutions. She has worked globally to strengthen health workforce capacity, improve health financing, and lead technology-driven initiatives for social impact, bringing a deep commitment to systems transformation and a proven ability to scale impact through cross-sector collaboration. Building on this experience, Bancroft will lead Health Care Without Harm in its mission to achieve a zero-emissions, climate-resilient, and equitable health sector that protects both people and the planet.

Gary Cohen has been a pioneer in the environmental health movement for nearly 40 years. He has helped build global coalitions and networks to address health impacts related to climate change and toxic chemical exposure. Cohen is co-founder and board member of Health Care Without Harm, created in 1996 to help transform the health care sector to be environmentally sustainable and support the health and climate resilience of the communities they serve. Since its inception, the nonprofit has grown to lead and partner in groundbreaking initiatives in more than 70 countries. Cohen’s contributions have earned national recognition, including the White House Champion of Change Award for Climate and Public Health and the MacArthur “Genius Grant.”

Karla Cordero is the Chief of Staff at WE ACT for Environmental Justice, serving a critical role in facilitating change management and strategic direction in alignment with the mission and vision of the organization while ensuring a culture of collaboration and teamwork. Prior to joining WE ACT, over the last 12 years, Karla served in various capacities in New York City government, developing and implementing policies and programs serving underserved communities through the lens of social services, sustainability, and economic development. This included leading citywide response efforts during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, establishing an emergency food reserve program serving over 18 million meals to New Yorkers, managing teams in administering contracts that provided client-centered services to over 50,000 New Yorkers, and implementing large-scale sustainability and resiliency projects across New York.

She holds a BA in Political Science from Fordham University and an MPA from the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College. Karla is a native New Yorker and her personal lived experience has driven her passion towards playing a role in advancing the environmental justice movement.

Rachel Wissner is the Individual Giving Manager at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. Rachel is responsible for designing, developing, and implementing WE ACT’s individual giving program, cultivating relationships with WE ACT’s individual donors, and managing our monthly giving club, the Environmental Justice Sustainers. Born and raised in New York City, Rachel is a community organizer and fundraising professional with over a decade of nonprofit experience. Prior to coming to WE ACT, Rachel worked as Field Director at the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), and Development Director and Interim Executive Director at Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Rachel has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from SUNY New Paltz and is a student in the Master of Public Administration program at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College.

Kathy Baughman McLeod is Founder and CEO of Climate Resilience for All, a global NGO dedicated to protecting health, income, and dignity for and with women on the front lines of extreme heat. CRA has reached more than 250k informal women workers in India with income-supporting insurance, social supports, and on-the-ground actions to reduce the profound health and economic impacts of extreme heat.

She is the former Director of the Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, Global Executive for Environmental and Social Risk at Bank of America, Global Managing Director for Climate Adaptation at The Nature Conservancy, and Deputy Chief of Staff to Florida’s elected CFO and served as a Florida Energy & Climate Commissioner.

A former member of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Advisory Council as the agency’s first climate specialist, she also serves as a member of the Operating Committee of the Insurance Development Forum and as a UK Trustee for the insurance and resilience-focused charity, Humanity Insured.

Recognized by Reuters as a 2024 Trailblazing Woman in Climate, Kathy is the recipient of the Fuqua School of Business 2021 “Leader of Consequence” award and a Policy Fellow of the French Foreign Ministry. She recently accepted California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s “Climate Innovation Leadership Award” on behalf of CRA. She holds an MBA from Duke University, an MS in Geography from Florida State University, and certification in Health Impact Assessment from The University of Liverpool in the UK.