About

As co-founder and CEO of the Chef Ann Foundation — the nation’s leading organization advancing fresh, healthy, scratch-cooked meals in schools — Mara has spent more than a decade championing healthier food for America’s children. And as a mother of three, Mara understands firsthand the challenges parents face in ensuring their children eat fresh, healthy food. 

Mara’s journey into food systems advocacy began in her early twenties when an autoimmune diagnosis led her to discover the transformative power of food as medicine. Before leading the Chef Ann Foundation, Mara spent over a decade at Whole Foods Market, where she served as Global Director of Partnerships, building initiatives that bridged industry, communities, and mission-driven organizations. 

Mara’s expertise lies in systems-based change and what she calls “programmatic engineering”: breaking down complex problems to their foundation and building integrated solutions that create lasting impact. 

Mara serves on regional and national boards, advises organizations at the intersection of food, health, and equity, and has been featured in leading publications as a champion for systemic change in school food. She brings both strategic vision and practical solutions to audiences nationwide, speaking at conferences, academic institutions, and convenings focused on the future of food systems.

For interview and speaking inquiries, contact us.

Select Media

Articles

• NPR: The MAHA movement is coming to school cafeterias. Here’s what that means for kids. 
• EdNC: “Getting ultraprocessed food out of school meals: What it takes to scratch cook” 
• K–12 Dive: “What does the MAHA strategy mean for school meals?” 
• Albany Times Union: “Commentary: School food workers are the key ingredient to higher-quality school food” 
• Education Week: “Will RFK Jr. Reheat the School Lunch Wars?”
• Fox News: “Diet and nutrition experts weigh in on how RFK Jr’s nomination could impact how we eat”
• Civil Eats: “For Healthier School Meals, California Bets On More Cooks in the Kitchen” 
• FoodService Director: “How the Chef Ann Foundation is investing in labor to increase scratch cooking in schools” 
• Food Tank: “Interview with Mara Fleishman: School Lunches Are As Important As Ever” 

Podcasts

• Leading Voices in Food • World Food Policy Center Duke University: “What’s next for school meal quality?”
• Food Dignity: “Improving Our Workforce to Improve School Food Programs”

Select Speaking Events

• 2026 Google Food Lab: “Investing in People: Workforce Development as a Catalyst for Food System Change” 
• 2026 SXSW EDU Featured Panel: “Feeding Kids Like We Give a Damn: Transforming School Food”
• 2025 NYC Climate Week: Farm-to-School luncheon with First Partner of California Jennifer Siebel Newsom
• 2024 Good Food Institute’s Global Futures Conference: “How Values-Aligned Food Purchasing Can Create Jobs, Promote a Valued Workforce, and Advance Racial Equity”
• 2023 ScratchWorks: “Healthy School Meals for All: Why It Matters” & “The Importance of Marketing for a Scratch Cook Food Program”
• Boston University: “Food Waste: Scope, Scale, and & Signals for Sustainable Change” (2023)
• Harvard Food Systems Initiative: “De-Mythifying K-12 School Food” (2022)

Select Awards & Recognitions

• 2026 Elevate Prize Winner 
• 2025 Nation of Neighbors Award and Grant Recipient 
• Forbes: “These Entrepreneurs are Taking a Systems Approach to Food Challenges” 
• Huffington Post: “50 Women Changing the Way We Eat”