ESMC Board of Directors

Emily Johannes is Partnership Development Director, Trust in Food. In prior positions, she led the U.S. food and beverage sourcing strategy at Nestlé in support of Nestlé’s global and regional sustainability and animal care commitments. She was responsible for ensuring compliance with the Nestlé Responsible Sourcing Standard. Emily joined Nestlé from K·Coe Isom, where she was the Director of Sustainability Services. She has worked for over 18 years implementing environmental/sustainability strategies, measuring and reporting metrics, driving responsible sourcing programs, and developing verification schemes.

Delane Atcitty, Executive Director of the Indian Nations Conservation Alliance has thirty plus years of firsthand experience in agriculture, farming, and conservation management as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Agri-Business and a Master of Science Degree in Ranch Management/Agri-Business. Delane has worked in all segments of the cattle industry from cow-calf, stocker, and finishing cattle at the feedlots. At the Indian Nations Conservation Alliance, his major projects include tribal conservation youth corps projects, a large-scale virtual fencing project, creating an INCA Trading App to reestablish ancient tribal trading of natural resources, Climate Smart grant projects utilizing tribal resources to add value to the normally commodity sold livestock, and starting the Indigenous Grazing Lands Coalition as a hub for the 55 million acres of tribal rangeland.

Aline DeLucia is the CEO and a co-founder of AgSpire, a company dedicated to advancing sustainability goals for clients in the food and agriculture sectors through strategic program development and implementation. Through previous roles with Syngenta, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and BASF, Aline gained a comprehensive view of the agriculture industry, with experience in livestock nutrition and reproduction, stakeholder engagement, corporate issues management, and agricultural policy and advocacy. Additionally, she maintains strong ties to her family’s beef cattle ranch in Brazil. Aline holds three master’s degrees spanning the breadth of agricultural sciences and business from Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of Florida. She received her bachelor’s degree in Animal Science from University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Bob Lawrence is a retired environmental lawyer who worked at major international law firms for over 40 years. He has provided legal support to ESMC since its inception. His career included work for half of the Fortune 500 companies, most major international banks and large-scale developers of renewable energy projects, including wind, solar and bioenergy. For the ten years immediately preceding his retirement in 2024, he worked primarily on financing renewable energy projects and arranging purchases and sales of environmental benefits in carbon markets.

Gene Lollis has been the Ranch Manager at Archbold Buck Island Ranch since 1996. His passion for sustainable agriculture drives the ranch and research on the property to be practical and applicable to the everyday cattle producer. Gene is a sixth generation Floridian who has spent his life in ranching and agriculture. In addition to managing the ranch, Gene ensures that the Agroecology research conducted on the property is conducted with sustainability and real-world applicability. He stays active in several associations outside of Archbold including the US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, Florida Cattlemen’s Association (Past President 2020-2021), US Animal Health Association, Florida Cattle Ranchers, and the Florida Farm Bureau. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Florida, 1993 and a Master of Business Administration from Capella University, 2018.

Shelly Mayer is the Executive Director of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin. Shelly grew up on a dairy farm in Southwestern WI and graduated from UW-Madison with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural journalism and dairy science. She and her family dairy near Slinger, WI and manage a herd of Holsteins and Brown Swiss. Their farm is located in a very urbanized portion of southeastern WI, just 30 miles northwest of Milwaukee. They own and manage an agri-tourism business that includes a restored 1850s events barn that has been in their family for seven generations. With the Professional Dairy Producers of WI, she helps dairy farm families across the country work proactively on issues ranging from improving business profitability, community relations, environmental management, leadership development, food safety and animal health to labor issues, industry relations, mentoring the younger generation and family business transition.

Ashley McDonald is Executive Director of the National Grazing Lands Coalition (NatGLC). Ashley grew up on a farm in Missouri and studied Agricultural Economics while attending her home state’s Land Grant institution, University of Missouri-Columbia. Her educational interests then took her to Washington DC to study law at George Mason University. Ashley has notably worked for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Missouri Farm Bureau Federation, two of NatGLC’s member organizations. She joined NatGLC after serving as Assistant Vice President, Sustainability Development & Outreach for the National Pork Board.

Debbie Reed served as Executive Director from 2019 – 2024. She previously led the Coalition on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (C-AGG), a national multi-stakeholder coalition supporting the development of tools, technologies, knowledge and programs to improve quantification of GHG from agriculture and GHG mitigation opportunities for the sector. She was also the founding Executive Director of the International Biochar Initiative. Debbie served in the Clinton Administration at the White House Council on Environmental Quality as the Director of Legislative Affairs and Agricultural Policy and in the U.S. Senate as a Senior Staff on natural resource and agricultural issues for U.S. Senator Robert Kerrey of Nebraska. She held numerous leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She has graduate and undergraduate degrees in human nutrition/dietetics, chemistry, and communications/journalism.

Elizabeth Walls is the US Sustainability Manager at FMG Global, the consolidated purchasing group for McDonald’s beef, focusing on beef climate solutions to help McDonald’s achieve their public climate commitments. She has spent the last 4.5 years at FMG with experience in supply chain, procurement, and sustainability. Working collaboratively with the McDonald’s sustainability team and incorporating the beef industry knowledge at FMG Global, Elizabeth is helping connect FMG and McDonald’s to projects in the beef supply chain that benefit the industry and help drive progress towards a more sustainable future. Elizabeth earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering with a minor in Sustainability from Michigan State University.

Jay Watson is the Regenerative Agriculture Director General Mills and leads efforts to advance progress on General Mills global impact initiatives, notably the 2030 regenerative agriculture commitment and enterprise climate ambition. In his role, Jay collaborates with farmers, farm advisors, NGOs, suppliers and retailers to deploy programs seeking to improve outcomes of agricultural systems in targeted supply sheds. Prior to joining the Global Impact Team in 2017, Jay spent 10 years in a variety of buying roles within the company’s global sourcing organization. Jay holds B.S. in Finance and B.S in Economics from Arizona State University and an MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.