Friends of the World Food Program

Board of Directors

• President and partner in the agricultural and food consulting firm of Russell & Barron, Inc. (1986-present)
• Chief of staff for Secretary of Agriculture John R. Block (1985 - 1986)
• Deputy assistant secretary for economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (1984)
• Vice president for agriculture and trade policy, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (1982 - 1984)
• Director of government relations for The Pillsbury Company (1982)
• 1981 Farm Bill coordinator for the USDA, serving as assistant to Secretary of Agriculture John R. Block (1981)
• Agricultural legislative assistant to Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minn.) (1979 - 1980)
• Economist for the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry (1979)

Russell and his wife Beth live in McLean, Va., and have five children. Randy has been actively involved in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program in Northern Virginia. He has served as a Big Brother for 10 years and has served as president, vice president and treasurer of the Northern Virginia Council of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. He also served on the board of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the National Capital Area. He also currently serves as Chairman of the Board for Friends of the World Food Program, which raises awareness and funding in order to end global hunger. The Russells are co-founders of The Golden Phoenix Foundation, which is focused on addressing the issue of childhood abandonment around the world. 

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Dan Glickman is chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc., (MPAA), which serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries. Its members include Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., NBC Universal and Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

Prior to joining the MPAA, Glickman was the director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (2002-2004). He also served as senior advisor to the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Washington, DC.

Glickman served as U.S. secretary of agriculture March 1995 until January 2001. Under his leadership, the Department administered farm and conservation programs; modernized food-safety regulations; forged international trade agreements to expand U.S. markets; and improved its commitment to fairness and equality in civil rights.

Before his appointment as secretary of agriculture, Glickman served for 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 4th Congressional District of Kansas. During that time, he was a member of the House Agriculture Committee, including six years as chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over federal farm policy issues. Moreover, he was an active member of the House Judiciary Committee; chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and a leading congressional expert on general aviation policy.

Before his election to Congress in 1976, Glickman served as president of the Wichita, Kan., school board; was a partner in the law firm of Sargent, Klenda and Glickman; and worked as a trial attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He received his B.A. in history from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from The George Washington University. He is a member of the Kansas and The District of Columbia Bars.

Glickman serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Hain-Celestial Corp., Communities in Schools, Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), National 4-H Council, the William Davidson Institute and the Center for U.S. Global Engagement. He is also a member of the Genocide Prevention Task Force, chaired by former Secretaries Madeleine Albright and Bill Cohen; the Council on Foreign Relations and the Kansas Bioscience Authority. In addition, Glickman serves as The Chicago Council on Global Affairs co-chair of the Global Agriculture Development Project (with Catherine Bertini). He is a former member of the international advisory board of The Coca-Cola Co. He has been a senior fellow and part-time instructor in the public policy departments at Georgetown University and Wichita State University and is a lecturer on public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. 

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Kathryn E. Johnson served as the Chief Executive Officer of Health Forum for 25 years and retired on January 1, 2002. She has served on numerous Boards, including chairing the Boards of the Institute for Research on Learning and the American Society of Association Executives. She is a former W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow. Currently, Ms. Johnson serves on the Boards of Friends of the World Food Program, the Global Women’s Leadership Program, the Health Technology Center, the International Leadership Association, Omni Med and RENEW.

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Marshall Matz is a partner with the law firm of Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz PC in Washington, DC. Before entering private practice, Matz spent seven years working with Congress, and he developed a specialty in the area of food, nutrition and agriculture. He served as general counsel to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs for five years and then worked for two years as special counsel to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. Matz is currently on the steering committee of the Child Nutrition Forum. He also serves on the boards of directors for the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) and for the Congressional Hunger Center. Matz is a frequent speaker on the politics of food and nutrition issues. 

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Barbara S. Belmont serves as executive director for the School Nutrition Association (SNA), the School Nutrition Foundation and the Global Child Nutrition Foundation. SNA, a 501(c)(4) association with approximately 55,000 members, was founded in 1946 to ensure that all children have access to nutritious meals during the course of a school day. The Alexandria, Va.-based association represents all segments of K-12 school foodservice, including directors, managers, employees, nutrition educators and industry.

Prior to her current position, she served as senior vice president of marketing, SMART HOUSE, a for-profit subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), from 1991 to 1993. Belmont worked for NAHB from 1978 through 1991 as a staff vice president of marketing, association services, membership and special industry councils.

She is a past chairman of the board of directors for the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and is the past chairman of the board for the Latin American School Feeding Network. In addition, she is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Friends of the World Food Program.

Belmont is the recipient of the Association TRENDS 2002 Association Executive of the Year and the 2001 FAME Silver Friend of Child Nutrition Award, and she is a past recipient of the GWSAE Award of Excellence in Education, the ASAE innovative programs education award and two ASAE Gold Circle Awards.

She holds an M.A. in American history and a B.A. in social science from the University of Colorado. She has been a Certified Association Executive (CAE) since 1986.

Belmont has two married daughters: Erin McCahill is a television writer/producer in Washington, DC; Jennifer Soloway is a global consultant for IBM in Chicago.


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Samuel R. Berger is Co-Chairman and co-founder of Stonebridge International, LLC. He is involved across nearly all the firm's engagements and regions, with a particularly strong focus on Asia, Russia and Central Asia and the Middle East. 

Mr. Berger has had a distinguished career in both the public and private sectors. As former National Security Advisor, Mr. Berger was pivotal in shaping America's role in the post-Cold War era. Through his efforts to build relations with China, managing financial crises in Asia and Latin America, driving critical peace negotiations in the Balkans and the Middle East, and expanding foreign trade, he worked closely with leaders around the world. 

Mr. Berger's extensive relationship and knowledge of global issues is further strengthened by his corporate background with the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson, where he headed the firm's international trade group. Earlier, Mr. Berger served as Deputy Director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, Special Assistant to former New York City Mayor John Lindsay and Legislative Assistant to former U.S. Senator Harold Hughes (Iowa) and Congressman Joseph Resnick (N.Y.). 


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R. Hunter Biden is a partner at Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC and is Counsel to Boies, Schiller, Flexner, LLP, a New York based-law firm.  Mr. Biden is a member of the bar in the state of Connecticut, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.   Mr. Biden serves as a Director on a number of not-for-profit Boards including the Friends of the World Food Program and Zero – The Project to End Prostate Cancer.   From 2006- 2009 Mr. Biden served on the Board of Directors of Amtrak, serving as Vice Chairman from 2007-09.  Previously, he was a founding member of the law firm, Oldaker, Biden and Belair, LLP, served in the U.S. Government having been appointed by President Clinton to serve at the United States Department of Commerce as Executive Director of E-Commerce Policy Coordination and was Senior Vice President at MBNA America Bank, N.A.   Mr. Biden was also honored to serve as an Honorary Co-Chair of the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee and to have served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.  Mr. Biden received a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Yale Law School and is married and has three daughters, Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy.


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Frank Mitchell Corso, Jr., is a principal of Frank Mitchell Corso, Jr., and Associates, Inc., a business and finance consulting firm. Corso is a nationally recognized expert and leader in economic and business development, lending and franchising. His firm has assisted hundreds of businesses throughout the United States on a myriad of business matters, including financing, business development, marketing, franchising and CFO services.

Corso has been the recipient of many awards over the years, including the New York Small Business Advisor of the Year for three consecutive years, an award of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Center. He has also received the Appreciation Award of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, which honors a person who has made a significant contribution to the federal technology transfer program. He is listed in the 2009 editions of the Marquis Who’s Who in America and the Marquis Who’s Who in Finance and Business.

Corso has been the financial editor of Technology Business Magazine for several years. He is also a contributing writer for many business publications; host of “Dollars & Sense,” a half-hour business talk show on local cable television; and a national speaker on business.

In addition to the Friends of WFP Board of Directors, Corso is on the boards of trustees of the American Kidney Fund (chair of public support, member of audit committee and co-chair of the northeast regional council) and Long Island Transportation Management, Inc. (secretary). He also sits on several business advisory councils. 

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Bob Dole is special counsel in Alston & Bird LLP’s Washington, DC, office. A renowned statesman, Sen. Dole was elected to Congress from his home state of Kansas in 1960 and to the U.S. Senate in 1968. He gained national prominence as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 to 1972. In 1976, President Gerald Ford tapped him to be his vice presidential running mate. Elected Senate Majority Leader in 1984, Sen. Dole set a record as the nation’s longest serving Republican leader. He resigned from the Senate in 1996 to pursue his campaign for the presidency of the United States.

Dole is national chairman of the World War II Memorial Campaign and the former chairman of the International Commission on Missing Persons in former Yugoslavia. Following Sept. 11, he joined former President Bill Clinton in helping to raise over $100 million as co-chair of the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, which enables families of victims to attend a college or trade school of their choice. Dole also serves as president of the influential Federal City Council in Washington, DC, and is honorary co-chair of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, a part of the USA Freedom Corps.

In 1997, Dole received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, which is awarded by the president to persons deemed to have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interest of the United States, to world peace or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. His other celebrated honors include the American Legion’s prestigious Distinguished Service Medal; the Horatio Alger Award from Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc.; the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award; and the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Theodore Roosevelt Award.

Dole’s record of public service includes numerous distinguished appointments, including advisor, U.S. delegation to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979; member, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, 1977; member, National Commission on Social Security Reform, 1983; member, U.S. National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 1970, 1973; advisor, U.S. Delegation to Study the Arab Refugee Problem, 1967; and advisor, President’s Delegation to Study the Food Crisis in India, 1966.

His personal history of service includes active duty in World War II, during which he was gravely wounded and received for heroic achievement two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with one oak leaf cluster. 

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Dr. Marsha Dubrow is CEO of The Dubrow Group, a strategic consulting and leadership development firm. For over 20 years, she was president and CEO of Technolog Consulting Services, a global IT and management consulting organization serving clients in the telecommunications, computer, healthcare and financial services industries, as well as national, not-for-profit organizations. Clients have included IBM, Verizon, AT&T, Citibank, CSC, United Healthcare, National March of Dimes Foundation and the American Jewish Committee.

An early woman entrepreneur, Dubrow was appointed a mentor in the U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Women Business Ownership, where she advocated for women’s economic empowerment and lectured nationally on entrepreneurial success. She also served on the New Jersey governor’s Commission on Business and Higher Education. Former president of the New Jersey Women’s Forum and active member of the Women’s Forum of New York, she has served on many boards, including the Leadership Foundation of the International Women’s Forum and the Greater Newark Conservancy. She currently serves on the board of the Actors Shakespeare Company in residence at New Jersey City University, among others.

Dubrow is a resident scholar at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, adjunct professor at New York University and spiritual leader and cantor of Congregation B’nai Jacob in Jersey City, N.J. She earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. from New York University and an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University.


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George Economy brings 30 years of experience in the private sector as an international banker and food entrepreneur. Currently, he is a principal of Amani Holdings LLC, a private investment fund in Bainbridge Island, Washington. In this position, he manages the investment portfolio and spearheads an initiative to develop and finance scalable, replicable models for community-based social ventures in developing countries related to health, nutrition, agriculture/agribusiness and safe water systems.
 
Previously, Economy was the Founder and CEO of Helios Nutrition Ltd., a producer of organic and specialty dairy products in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. His activities in creating a successful food company serving regional and nationwide markets provided significant economic and social benefits to the company’s rural community. This experience provided the expertise and inspiration for his current activities to raise income and living standards in communities located in developing countries by involving businesses, NGOs, academic institutions and communities to build sustainable social ventures.

Economy began his career with The Chase Manhattan Bank as a corporate investment banker and credit officer in New York, Frankfurt and London. Subsequently, he became a principal shareholder and executive of Payload Systems Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, an international manned spaceflight firm involved in commercializing biomedical research developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also worked as a principal with Matrix Capital, a strategic advisory firm specializing in developing and implementing corporate and financial strategies for early stage companies and corporate spin-offs in the technology and food industries.

Economy serves as a board member of Wilcox Farms, Inc., a major egg producer in the Pacific Northwest, and Windhorse International Ltd., a start-up venture founded by Paul Polak, founder of International Development Enterprises and D-Rev, and author of Out of Poverty. Windhorse develops and commercializes radically affordable technologies for “base of the pyramid” populations. Economy also serves as a volunteer mentor with the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition sponsored by the University of Washington Foster School of Business.

Economy is a native of Bangor, Maine. He graduated in 1978 from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, with a B.A. (First Class Honors) in History of Science. 

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George McGovern was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1956, where he represented South Dakota. He served in the House until 1960, when President Kennedy appointed him the first director of the U.S. Food for Peace Program and special assistant to the president. First elected to the Senate in 1962, he was re-elected in 1968 and 1974. He served on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and the Joint Economic Committee. He was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, which developed the highly regarded Dietary Goals for the American People.

In 1972, McGovern was the Democratic nominee for President. In 1976, he was appointed by President Gerald Ford as the delegate to the 31st session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. He was subsequently appointed by President Jimmy Carter as a delegate to the United Nations in 1978 for the Special Session on Disarmament. In July 1991, McGovern became president of the Middle East Policy Council, an educational organization founded to promote better understanding of the Middle East. From 1998 to 2001, he served as the United States ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome.

McGovern has served as a professor of history at Dakota Wesleyan University and as a visiting professor at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, The University of New Orleans, American University, The George Washington University, the University of Innsbruck (Austria), Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Free University of Berlin. He is the author of seven books and numerous articles for leading journals and magazines.

As a pilot of a B-24 bomber in the European Theater during World War II, McGovern flew 35 missions and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross. 

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David Novak is Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world’s largest restaurant company with more than 36,000 restaurants in over 110 countries and territories. Yum! Brands is the parent of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s and A&W All-American Food with more than one million employees. Novak shapes the company’s overall strategic direction, including four key growth drivers: build leading brands across China in every significant category; drive aggressive international expansion and build strong brands everywhere; dramatically improve U.S. brand positions, consistency and returns, and drive industry-leading, long-term shareholder and franchisee value. Prior to Yum! Brands, Novak was president at both KFC and Pizza Hut. He also held senior management positions at Pepsi-Cola Company, including chief operating officer and executive vice president of marketing and sales.

A Director of JPMorgan Chase & Co., the Yum! Brands Foundation, The Friends of the World Food Program, and The Business Council, Novak also devotes considerable personal support to the United Nation's World Food Programme and Dare to Care Food Bank hunger relief. Novak is addressing the global hunger epidemic through the Company’s World Hunger Relief efforts, the largest public-private sector initiative of its kind that has raised $36 million in just two years. Last year, the company mobilized associates around the world to contribute five million volunteer hours in local communities. At the 2008 Clinton Global Initiative, Novak committed to raise and donate $80 million over five years to help the World Food Programme and others provide 200 million meals for hungry school children in developing countries; generate 20 million hours of hunger relief volunteer service; and, $200 million in prepared food to hunger agencies in the U.S. He is also the recipient of the national 2008 Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship.


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Bonnie Raquet is the corporate vice president of corporate affairs for Cargill, where she leads worldwide government relations, communications, corporate responsibility and brand management activities. In addition, Raquet chairs Cargill’s corporate affairs committee and serves on the Cargill brand council.

She was appointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s policy advisory committee for trade, and she is a member of the government affairs committee of the Grocery Manufacturers of America. Raquet also serves on the board of directors for Thrivent Financial, Technoserve, Inc. and theboards of trustees of Valparaiso University and the Luther Seminary Foundation and the board of directors of the YMCA of Metropolitan Minneapolis.

Raquet received a bachelor’s degree in history from Valparaiso University, a master’s degree in history from Cleveland State University and her J.D. cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School. She is a member of the bar in Minnesota and the District of Columbia.


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Karen Sendelback joined Friends of WFP in 2005 as its President and CEO. Sendelback has fashioned a formidable, not-for-profit career over the past 20 years. Prior to serving as executive director of the American Kidney Fund (1998-2005), she served as senior director of major and planned gifts for the American Lung Association’s national office in New York. She also worked for the American Red Cross and Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc., both in Oregon, which is where she began her professional career in the sporting goods and wood products industries.

Under the direction of Sendelback – who received CFRE certification from the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) – Friends of WFP more than tripled its annual fund-raising revenues in only three years. The organization was awarded the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Wise Giving Alliance Charity Seal of approval for meeting the standards of charity accountability and has consistently received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator and Guidestar for organizational efficiency and capacity

A native of Oregon, Sendelback received her undergraduate degree in business and management from Oregon’s Marylhurst University, where she was the recipient of the American Association of University Women’s Senior Women Recognition Award. While working in the Northwest for much of her professional career, Sendelback held a variety of positions with community and charitable organizations, including the United Way of America and the Gresham (Ore.) Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center.  

Sendelback has also served as a member of the Washington, DC Inc Eagles peer group; as a board officer of the Washington Symphony Orchestra; and as President of the National Health Council Board of Directors. Karen currently serves as chairman of the board for CareerCatchers.

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Josette Sheeran is the executive director of the World Food Program. Sheeran previously served as the under secretary for economic, energy and business affairs at the Department of State. She was responsible for economic issues, including development, trade, agriculture, finance, energy, telecommunications and transportation. The majority of her focus was on economic diplomacy to help developing nations advance towards financial self-sufficiency and prosperity. Sheeran also served as deputy U.S. trade representative in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she was responsible for trade negotiations in Asia and Africa and was instrumental in launching the first USTR trade capacity building department. Before joining USTR, she was managing director of Starpoint Solutions, a leading Wall Street technology firm that works with Fortune 500 clients. She also served as president and CEO of Empower America, a Washington, DC, think tank, where she advanced the agenda of economic empowerment for inner cities and developing nations. Sheeran earned her B.A. from the University of Colorado in 1976. 

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Carl Stern is chairman of The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG). Widely recognized as the pioneer in the field of corporate strategy, BCG is a global management consulting firm that advises clients on issues of direction and performance. The firm has 67 offices in 40 countries.

Stern joined BCG in 1974. He began as a consultant in the San Francisco office, transferred to London in 1978 and led the firm’s Chicago office from 1981 to 1991. He headed BCG’s Americas region from 1991 to 1997. In 1997, Stern was elected president and CEO, a position that he held from 1998 through 2003. He has since served as chairman of the board.

Stern remains active in client service, assisting a number of global companies – consumer, industrial and financial – in developing competitive strategies for their businesses and in shaping their corporate portfolios. He spends a quarter of each year in Asia. Stern has published several articles in BCG’s widely read Perspective series and is co-author of BCG on Strategy.

Stern serves on the boards of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and Friends of the World Food Program. He is a trustee or member of several organizations; among them are the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Rush University Medical Center, the civic committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago and The Chicago Club. He is a member of the advisory committee of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Prior to joining BCG, Stern served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant. He graduated from Harvard, cum laude, with a B.A. in economics. He earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1974. 


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