Sodexo, a world leader providing integrated facilities management and foodservice operations, today announced the hiring of Anne Rowell of Crafsbury as the director of its “Vermont First” local food initiative. Rowell – a Vermont native, Middlebury College graduate, and local food advocate – will lead Sodexo’s program to help grow the local food economy and to supply consumers with more locally sourced food.
Rowell comes to Sodexo from her job as program manager of the Center for an Agricultural Economy in Hardwick, where she developed partnerships with private markets, institutions, farmers, and charitable food networks. While in college, she interned for Vermont Natural Coatings and Vermont Soy, both in Hardwick, and in the Washington, D.C. office of Senator Patrick Leahy.
“I have done this work on a micro-scale, and I am excited to help tap into the more than 7,000 local farms in Vermont that have annual sales of $673 million annually,” Rowell said. “With Sodexo’s support, farmers who don’t currently sell wholesale can make the infrastructure changes to do so. Vermont First will create jobs and expand markets.”
Sodexo, which serves approximately 34,000 institutional and corporate meals in Vermont daily, launched its “Vermont First” initiative in September. In announcing the venture, Phil Harty, Regional VP of Campus Services for Sodexo, committed the company to an annual summit on local food economics, to the training of providers, distributors and others, and to offering technical expertise in quality control to bring more local food into the supply chain.
“We want to be the leader in driving local food procurement, and Annie’s hiring is our first step in making that leadership a reality,” said Harty. “Her charge is to use the passion, expertise and market power of Sodexo to grow Vermont’s local food system in partnership with those who have been at this for many years.”
Chuck Ross, Vermont’s secretary of Agriculture, Food & Markets, hailed “Vermont First” as benefiting farm sustainability, job creation, access to fresh local food, and our “agricultural literacy” of understanding where our food comes from.
Rowell, who graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury, serves as the secretary of the Craftsbury Village Improvement Society, and a member of the Town Planning Commission. She is a cellist in the Porter Brook Trio, and a volunteer stage manager of the Craftsbury Players summer music festival.
-XXX-
Sodexo in North America
Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), leading Quality of Life Services company in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, delivers On-site Services in Corporate, Education, Health Care, Government, and Remote Site segments, as well as Benefits and Rewards Services and Personal and Home Services. Sodexo, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., funds all administrative costs for the Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $25 million in grants to end childhood hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at blogs.sodexoUSA.com. Visit Sodexo on Facebook and follow on Twitter @SodexoUSA.
Sodexo Contact:
Enrico Dinges
Sodexo North America
301-987-4393