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Margaret Henry
Sr. Director, Sustainable Agriculture Strategy at PepsiCo
Professional Background
Margaret Henry is a well-respected systems leader dedicated to transforming mainstream food systems toward sustainable practices. With an extensive career spanning over 15 years, she has a wealth of experience across government, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), making her a notable figure in the realm of agricultural sustainability. As the Senior Director of Sustainable Agriculture Strategy and External Engagement at PepsiCo, Margaret plays a pivotal role in advancing the company's ambitious Positive Agriculture initiative, which focuses on minimizing the ecological footprint of food production while maximizing social and economic benefits to farming communities. Her passion for farming is deeply rooted, stemming from her upbringing on a dairy farm in Kentucky, where she developed a unique perspective on sustainable agriculture, one that balances productivity with environmental stewardship.
In her current role at PepsiCo, Margaret is responsible for the development of sustainability strategies and fostering partnerships that enhance agricultural practices globally. She collaborates with a myriad of stakeholders to encourage innovative solutions that align with PepsiCo's sustainability goals. With a rich professional journey that includes positions such as Director of Sustainable Agriculture and Global Sustainable Agriculture Lead, Margaret's contributions have been essential in shaping PepsiCo's sustainability directives and implementing best practices across its supply chains.
Education and Achievements
Margaret's educational background is robust and diverse, equipping her with the knowledge necessary to navigate the complexities of sustainable agriculture. She holds a Master of Public Affairs (M.P.A) with a focus on International Development, as well as a Certificate in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy from Princeton University's prestigious Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. This foundation has been complemented by her studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she earned her Master of Science in System Dynamics. Additionally, her undergraduate education at Brown University, where she pursued a double major in Development Studies and Biology, has provided her with a holistic understanding of the interplay between agriculture, science, and social issues.
Margaret's achievements resonate within the industry, highlighted by her recognition as a Next Generation Leader by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). In 2021, she was honored with the Environmental Leader of the Year Award by the Illinois Corn Growers Association, a testament to her significant contributions in promoting sustainable practices within the agricultural community. Her work exemplifies the potential for corporate leadership to catalyze positive change in sustainability frameworks, making her a sought-after voice on agricultural sustainability.
Notable Contributions
Throughout her career, Margaret has held several influential positions at distinguished organizations, where she has significantly impacted sustainable agriculture practices. Her tenure at PepsiCo has seen her lead sustainable agriculture initiatives from various angles, encompassing sustainable sourcing, greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts, and water management. As the North American Sustainable Agriculture Lead, she was crucial in designing programs that bolstered sustainable farming practices and encouraged resilience among farming families.
Prior to her work at PepsiCo, Margaret served as Program Director at the Sustainable Food Lab, where she guided teams through complex challenges in creating sustainable food systems. She also contributed her expertise as Director of Sustainability and CSR Performance at Sodexo, focusing on environmental strategies that align with corporate social responsibility. Margaret's experience working with reputable organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Wildlife Fund emphasizes her commitment to fostering sustainable practices in public-private partnerships.
Margaret's journey began early as she honed her skills as a researcher and consultant, contributing her insights to various initiatives aimed at integrating sustainability into conventional practices. Her roles have included supporting projects at U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and serving as a project assistant at the National Democratic Institute, influencing public policy and governance structures that support sustainable agriculture.
Specialties and Skills
Margaret Henry's expertise encompasses a wide range of significant areas pertinent to sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship. Her specialties include:
- Sustainable Agriculture: Deep knowledge in promoting sustainable farming practices that are economically viable and environmentally responsible.
- Governance and Public Policy: Skilled in navigating and influencing public policy to support sustainable agriculture at local, national, and international levels.
- Multi-stakeholder Collaboration: Adept at forming partnerships among diverse stakeholders, including farmers, corporations, NGOs, and government entities, to achieve common sustainability goals.
- System Dynamics and Program Design: Utilizing system dynamics to create effective program designs that yield measurable outcomes in sustainability initiatives.
- Monitoring and Evaluation: Proficient in developing indicators and evaluation frameworks to assess the impact of agricultural sustainability programs.
- Project Management: Experienced in leading projects from conception through execution, ensuring alignment with sustainability objectives.
Conclusion
Margaret Henry stands out as a leader in the field of sustainable agriculture, bringing together her deep-rooted passion for farming, an impressive educational background, and a wealth of experience across various sectors. Her dedication to making food systems more sustainable positions her as a valuable asset in the ongoing efforts to create a healthier planet while supporting the livelihoods of farmers and communities. As she continues to innovate and drive change within PepsiCo and the broader agricultural landscape, Margaret’s influence will undoubtedly foster a more sustainable future for food systems everywhere.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.