Today is World Food Day. Leaders in food and nutrition are gathered to discuss the state of food and nutrition security — and we believe CEOs from the food and beverage industry can be drivers of healthy, sustainable diets worldwide.
As we know from the 2024 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, global hunger levels have plateaued for three consecutive years, while overweight and obesity are on the rise. Billions of people cannot afford a healthy diet.
Against this “perfect storm” of food and nutrition issues, CEOs from the food and beverage industry are in a privileged position to drive change. They make the decisions that steer the innovation, inputs, production, aggregation, trading, processing, and marketing of most of the foods available globally.
About the authors
Vinita Bali
Vinita Bali is an Indian businesswoman who was formerly the managing director of Britannia Industries Limited. Vinita was awarded the Business Woman of the Year award at the 2009 Economic Times Awards. In 2009, she founded the Britannia Nutrition Foundation which combats child malnutrition through the distribution of fortified biscuits to Indian schoolchildren.
Greg S. Garrett
Greg S. Garrett is the executive director of Access to Nutrition Initiative, or ATNI, a global foundation supporting market change for nutrition. Greg has held several leadership roles over the past 20 years, including serving on the global executive team of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, or DNDi; directing Abt Global’s health reform in Kyrgyzstan; and leading strategy at ThinkWell, a global health organization.
Paul Polman@PaulPolman
Paul Polman was the CEO of Unilever from 2009 to 2018. Polman is also the co-founder and chair of IMAGINE and the founder of the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust charity. He is a speaker on philanthropy, leadership, innovation, and sustainability. Polman is the author of “Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take.”
Rajiv Shah
Dr. Rajiv Shah is the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, a global institution with a mission to promote the well-being of humanity around the world. For more than two decades, Rajiv has worked to find fresh innovations, forge partnerships, and fiercely track data to make the big bets needed for a better, brighter 21st century. Trained as a physician and health economist, Rajiv is widely recognized as a global leader who builds strong institutions, leads extraordinarily talented teams, and delivers lasting results.
