Staff + Projects Team

Meet the people who form the backbone of our organization.

  • Photo of Marissa Alexander, Co-ED of Food Secure Canada.

    Marissa Alexander (she/they)

    Co-Executive Director

    Marissa is a registered dietitian who is passionate about anti-racism, food security, and equity. Living and working on the traditional and unceded territory of the Lheidli T’enneh, she has had the honour of working alongside 55 First Nations communities in northern BC. She is also privileged to be able to connect with many different peoples and communities through her anti-racism consulting work. In her very little spare time, she is working on her Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on equity and cultural studies. As someone who is thankful to be a part of many, often oppressed, communities she is always looking for opportunities to elevate voices and lived experiences. When she is not focused on social justice work, she likes to spend time with family, friends, and her dog Ru. You can often find her crafting or creating, and she tries to include humour in her work as much as possible.

  • Susan Alexander

    Susan Alexander (she/her)

    Senior Policy Advisor

    Susan Alexander has worked on food systems policy in Canada since 2016. She first put down roots in the Montreal food movement as a volunteer with Santropol Roulant and at her local community garden. Since 2019 she has been a Senior Policy Advisor with Food Secure Canada. She supports the organisation's response to national policy consultations and engagement with the Food Policy for Canada.

    Earlier in her career, she worked in Europe and North Africa, including for the Rome-based news agency Inter Press Service as a manager, and in Spain and Tunisia as a researcher and writer for El Taller, a Southern-focused civil society think tank. Susan is Scottish, and is competent in French and enthusiastic in Spanish and Italian. She has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Somerville College, Oxford and a diploma in French from l'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

  • Ken Bejer, C4HSF Communications Coordinator

    Ken Bejer (he/him)

    Communications Coordinator, Coalition for Healthy School Food

    Ken is the Communications Coordinator for the Coalition for Healthy School Food. Passionate about children’s rights, international relations, and politics, he has been coaching badminton to young children at La Voie High School since the age of 17. While working with several students, he learned to adjust and adapt his communication style to guide students and, eventually, discovered a passion for communication.

    He completed a bachelor’s degree in political science and a certificate in public relations from the University of Montreal. Before joining the Coalition, he was a public relations coordinator for YPR Canada and Sid Lee Montreal. He also worked as a Communications Assistant for the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC) and he was a public relations, communication and social media intern for UNICEF Canada.

    When Ken is not working, he loves to play tennis, ride his bicycle, and learn new languages.

  • Fsc Profile Pics

    Charlotte Dumont (she/her)

    Communications Coordinator

    Charlotte is the Communications Coordinator for Food Secure Canada.

    Passionate about the power of words to connect, inspire and drive positive change, she enjoys exploring the intersections between literature, culture, and society, and thrives on discovering stories that resonate and spark meaningful conversations.

    Keen to foster engagement, she specializes in creating content that captivates and touches a variety of audiences. Before joining FSC, Charlotte worked with other non-profit organizations such as the Research Institute for Development (IRD), where she helped create, edit and translate engaging and promotional content.

    She describes herself as a lifelong learner, as she particularly enjoys traveling and discovering new cultures.

  • Fsc Profile Pics

    Andi Emrich

    Projects and Engagement Manager

    Andi's passion for food and farming blossomed from childhood summers spent tending vegetables with her father and sharing meals with loved ones. With over a decade of hands-on experience working in key roles in various agriculture and food organizations across Canada and the U.S., she brings a wealth of knowledge in food systems and expertise in project management, event planning, and coordination.

    Andi holds a Bachelor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Leadership with a minor in Environmental Studies from the University of New Brunswick’s Renaissance College, along with a Certificate in Food Security from Ryerson’s Chang School of Continuing Education.

    She recently returned to the east coast of Canada with her husband and two daughters after almost a decade of living and working in the U.S. and is grateful to be working toward a more just and equitable food system back home. In her free time, Andi is an avid flower and vegetable gardener, loves to sew and cook for family and friends.

  • Debbie Field, Coordinator, Coalition for Healthy School Food

    Debbie Field (she/her)

    Coalition for Healthy school food coordinator

    Debbie has been involved in promoting and improving school food programs for decades, starting when she was a child growing up in New York City where she participated in a free lunch program and loved the mash potatoes and meatloaf but hated the stigma of eating in the “free lunch” cafeteria. When her children entered grade school she was instrumental as a parent activist in organizing a healthy hot lunch program at her children’s school and then advocating to the city of Toronto to fund student nutrition programs. Over her years as the Executive Director of FoodShare Toronto she and her colleagues were involved in developing innovative and sustainable student nutrition and school food literacy programs and the creation of the Coalition for Healthy School Food.

    A social activist and globally recognized leader in the creation of a more socially just and environmentally sustainable food system, Debbie is currently also a distinguished visiting practitioner with the Centre for Studies in Food Security at the Toronto Metropolitan University. Debbie’s passion for collective action and policy change is informed by her experiences as a community college instructor, union organizer, and leadership in a variety of social movements.

    Debbie’s accomplishments and influence in Canada's food movement are well known to us at food secure Canada. Her leadership and nurturing of innovative solutions to food systems challenges through community-based approaches are rooted in recognition of progressive policy change.

  • Danie Martin, Coordinator, Collectif Québécois

    Danie Martin (she/her)

    Coordinator, Collectif Québécois, Coalition for Healthy School Food

    Danie has been coordinating the Collectif Québécois of the Coalition for Healthy School Food since 2020, and has been involved in food movements since high school, when she was in charge of greenhouse activities. Having discovered at a young age that food is central to our lives, she participated in local student-led university projects on food and social ecology, which led her to work as coordinator of the UQAM farmers' market, and then as a communications assistant at Food Secure Canada.

    Danie also teaches yoga in the Laurentians. She is an avid cyclist and outdoor enthusiast.

  • Stephanie Platero

    Stephanie Platero (she/her)

    Communications Manager

    Stephanie Platero is a second-generation Latin Canadian who is focused on critical cultural research when she is not knee deep in Communication Strategy. Cultural coding and equity for Brown, Black and Indigenous people are her inquisitive passions. Her driving force is in highlighting the regional distinctiveness of culture, evaluating resistive narratives, and shedding light on the underrepresented.

    Stephanie is currently undertaking a Master of Arts in Communication (Media Studies) with a focus on evaluating culture in food insecurity. She comes to us with a range of experience in non-profit, government and private sectors. Stephanie's drive towards decolonial, anti-racist and trauma-informed work is a tremendous contribution to our team. When she is not busy leading community philanthropic events and advocating for human rights, she is happily cozying up at home with her mini house lions and panthers (cats).

  • Wade Thorhaug, Co-ED, Food Secure Canada

    Wade Thorhaug (he/him)

    Co-Executive Director

    Having grown up on a farm in southern Saskatchewan, Wade has always been passionate about where our food comes from. After graduating from the University of Calgary (BSc Hons) he spent a number of years abroad working in education, and upon returning to Canada he took up residence in Iqaluit, Nunavut. There he gained a newfound appreciation for the diversity of local food systems in Canada, in particular long-standing yet threatened Indigenous approaches to land management.

    As president and later Executive Director, he was instrumental in vastly expanding the activities and impact of Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre. He was also deeply involved in a number of other non-profit and community initiatives, including the creation of the Nunavut Association of Non-Profit Organizations. As an advocate he has made numerous appearances before media and multiple levels of government to push for a more dignified and equitable approach to increasing food security, stronger regional food sovereignty, a dismantling of colonial food systems, and improved health of communities through good food.

    Newly based in Montreal, Wade is eager to get involved in the urban food movement while working towards change on a national level.