Our team

• 
  Frank Mechielsen

  Director

  Frank graduated in Agricultural Engineering from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Between 1989 and 2000, he worked as a program manager and sustainable agriculture advisor in Sudan, Nicaragua and Cambodia.

  The past 20 years he worked as program manager and policy advisor for Hivos and Oxfam Novib in the Netherlands. He developed and managed an international advocacy programme to promote sustainable diets in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Indonesia and Bolivia and he was co-lead of the UN Sustainable Food Systems Programme.

  At Oxfam he supported the development and implementation of public campaigns in relation to food companies and supermarkets to promote fair chocolate (Green Santa Claus) and inclusive and sustainable supply chains (Behind the Brands).

• 
  Pieter Roden

  Project Manager Our Fish / Notre Poisson

  Pieter coordinates the Our Fish/Notre Poisson project, implemented with partners in West Africa and the UK, and leads Foodrise’s work on EU policy and the private sector with regards to industrial aquaculture and fisheries.

• 
  Maximilian Herzog

  EU Advocacy Officer

  Maximilian is responsible for our advocacy efforts at the heart of the European institutions, in Brussels. He thereby dives into all our campaigns, such as biomethane, food waste prevention, aquaculture, as well as sustainable trade. Born in Hamburg, his studies led him south to study political science & public administration in Constance, Germany; and Bordeaux, France. He then followed an extra-occupational master’s program on “Applied Economy for the Common Good” in Austria.

  Politicised by organizing climate strikes, he later helped coordinating the European “WithdrawTheCAP” campaign, advocating for sustainable and fair food systems. After working for Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation’s competence center for climate & social justice, Maximilian joined Foodrise in 2024.

• 
  Edit Tuboly

  Programme Manager Sustainable and Just Food

  Edit joined the Foodrise team to coordinate the Voices of Food Injustice project implemented by 7 organisations in Europe to contribute to a fair food system. At the local level, partners will work mainly with communities to dismantle certain myths about food and to get a real picture on how their food environment can be improved. Although supermarkets are a dominant element in the food system, we will investigate other ways of promoting sustainable, healthy and affordable food.

  Edits background is in international development cooperation working on land use issues, organic agriculture, agroecology and biodiversity. Edit is also active at the local level as chairperson of a neighbourhood association.

• 
  Julianne van Pelt

  Campaigner & Operations Officer

  With a background in communications and journalism, Julianne handles various aspects of outreach for the projects Foodrise is working on. She creates content for social media channels, helps set up campaigns, and ensures that our work reaches the public with the right messaging. Additionally, she assists the director in ensuring the smooth running of operations within the organisation.

  Julianne studied History at the University of Amsterdam and pursued a Master’s in European Studies at KU Leuven, with a specific interest in climate and gender policies. She has been involved in climate and feminist activism, and she is passionate about writing about these topics through news articles.

• 
  Phoebe Zhuang

  Intern - Fish Farming

  Phoebe Zhuang is a Master’s student in International Development Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Her thesis research focuses on small pelagic fish for local food consumption. As an intern at Foodrise EU, she supports the Our Fish project by collecting, organising, and analysing data and related materials on seabass aquaculture, trade, and relevant policies.

Our board

• 
  Gemma Verhoeven

  Chair

  With over 15 years of experience in development finance in emerging markets, Gemma is a seasoned professional in impact investing. She currently leads the impact and investment team at FOUNT, an investment management and advisory firm in Amsterdam. Funds under management focus amongst others on the fashion sector, clean cooking, carbon credits and organic agriculture. Before joining FOUNT, Gemma fulfilled similar roles at EDFIMC – ElectriFI, an EU funded facility focussed on the decentralised renewable energy sector, and FMO – the Dutch development bank in various investment roles. Having left the Netherlands in 2014, she lived in Bulgaria for 6 years where she worked as independent investment advisor, among others for FMO and ElectriFI. Gemma finished her masters degree in international financial business in Amsterdam. Her heart for impact brings her to support Foodrise EU on its mission to protect and improve the environment by aiming for a more sustainable and equitable food system.

• 
  Carina Millstone

  Secretary

  Carina’s career began in the business world working as a sustainability consultant for Environmental Resources Management, before she realised our planetary ecological crisis would not be solved in the corporate boardrooms in which it was created. She has since worked with several system change campaigning and movement building organisations, including Changing Markets in the UK and the New Economy Coalition in the US. A committed permaculturalist, she founded The Orchard Project, a charity working with community groups in cities across the UK to plant and nurture community orchards in public urban spaces. Carina has also been a Visiting Research Fellow of the Global Development and Environment Institute of Tufts University and is a Research Fellow of the Schumacher Institute. Her book, Frugal Value: Designing Business for a Crowded Planet (Routledge, 2017), provides a blueprint for organisations in an ecologically viable system of production and consumption.

• 
  Rick Pleij

  Treasurer

  Rick has worked as account manager for Dutch non-profit organisations with a major Dutch bank since 2018, having worked in banking since 2013. With a network that covers policy-makers, directors, board members and key figures within the NGO sector as well as trade unions and philanthropic organisations, he aims to help Foodrise connect and traverse the landscape in which it operates. Raised in a household where key environmental NGO’s were omnipresent, his personal beliefs match the current course of Foodrise EU and he hopes to pass this spirit on to his twin boys.

• 
  Gine Zwart

  Member

  Agriculture, food and production systems, hunger and poverty, exclusion and exploitation. For over 30 years Gine has been working in these areas to find links and lasting solutions. Both at a practical level: implementing and overseeing programmes in Africa for the FAO and extensive travel to other continents for Oxfam. In her close to 20 years for Oxfam Gine has been instrumental in setting the agenda for Oxfam on its rural livelihoods and sustainable agriculture programmes and campaigns on the ground as well as in relation to (multinational) companies. Gine currently work s for a small NGO in the Netherlands ARISA where she is works on the relationship business and human rights with a focus on Dutch/European companies and their supply chains from India. Gine holds an MSc (awarded with honours) of the Agriculture University and Research Centre of Wageningen, the Netherlands. She is a mother for two daughters and lives together with her husband in the Netherlands. When not there Gine can be found in, or on, the water: swimming or sailing.

• 
  Tom Kools

  Member

  Tom Kools is an independent strategist and public affairs advisor with over 8 years of experience in transforming food systems. He works with farmers, growers, NGOs, industry leaders, members of parliament and policy makers to drive systemic change. Tom is a frequently asked public speaker on topics such as transitions and corporate activism and is a vocal advocate for using the power of lobby for the good cause. He holds a degree in international economics and lives in Amsterdam with his husband.

• 
  Laura Platenkamp

  Treasurer

  Laura Platenkamp is a sustainability professional with 10+ years of experience working in public sector and NGO roles. She has worked on sustainable urban food systems for the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), for which she has developed a Menu of Actions for cities to improve their food systems, and is currently focusing on EU NetZero goals and climate adaptation, particularly in the context of cities and regional governments. Her network encompasses universities, public sector professionals, businesses and NGOs, both national and international. She is committed to support Foodrise EU in its endeavours towards a fair and sustainable food system. Laura holds an MSc International Relations from London School of Economics and an LLM in Public International Law from Leiden University.