Meet Our Team

Natalie V. Farrell

Natalie (Vandenburgh) Farrell has operational and leadership experience in a wide range of mission- and public health–driven food spaces. In addition to her work with Food Works Group, she currently leads the Chef Ann Foundation’s Healthy School Food Pathway Fellowship, the first registered apprenticeship program for school food professionals looking to advance their careers in school food leadership. Through 13 months of intensive, cohort-based virtual and in-person learning, the Fellowship prepares Fellows to be confident leaders who can transform school food (and the food system) through scratch cooking and values-aligned procurement. 

Natalie shepherded the Fellowship’s first cohort of 24 Fellows through their learning journeys to the inaugural Fellowship Graduation, a 1.5-day event with over 90 attendees that took place in Sacramento, CA and included capstone project presentations, field trips, and more. She also led the recruitment and selection of the second and third cohorts of Fellows and is currently guiding the second cohort of Fellows through their graduation in January 2025. Natalie’s relationship-building and continuous quality improvement skills allow her to build strong rapport with the Fellows and make real-time adjustments to best meet their needs in tandem with organizational and programmatic goals.

Prior to the Chef Ann Foundation, Natalie served at Hennepin County Public Health through Americorps’ Public Health Corps and spent five years working in various capacities at two food hubs, first The Good Acre in St. Paul, MN, followed by 4P Foods in Washington, DC. She was motivated to go into food systems work by the conviction that all people should have access to the food they need to thrive and that a healthy food system should nourish producers, growers, eaters, land, and animals. She sees food as a powerful tool to achieve public health, advance sustainability, and build community. 

Natalie holds a Master’s in Public Health Administration and Policy from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health and a Bachelor’s of Science in Food Systems from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. In her free time, Natalie enjoys cooking and baking, traveling, spending quality time with friends and family (often over good food), and exploring all of the active pursuits, especially in the great outdoors. Natalie lives in Iowa City, IA.