Deputy agriculture secretary during the Obama era, Kathleen Merrigan was one of Time magazine’s “100 most influential people in the world” in 2010. Now, she is the first executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University. She moved to Arizona State after working as executive director of sustainability at George Washington University.
“Food sustainability – learning how to feed the world’s growing population more efficiently and effectively – is one of the most daunting challenges we face,” said ASU President Michael Crow. In a statement, Crow said Merrigan “has been involved with sustainable food systems at nearly every level and understands every facet of it, providing an abundance of knowledge for our students.”
As a Senate staff worker, Kathleen Merrigan helped craft the organic food law in 1990 and implemented it a decade later at USDA. She was deputy secretary from 2009-13, noted for the “Know your farmer, know your food” initiative to support local and regional food systems. After USDA, Merrigan worked and taught at GW. She will be an ASU professor as well as directing the Swette Center, endowed in 2017 by entrepreneurs Kelly and Brian Swette.