The Board of Directors of Roadrunner Food Bank has appointed a new President and Chief Executive Officer to start on August 31, 2023.

Dinah Garcia Tolley, Board Chair, said, “Roadrunner Food Bank’s board of directors collaborated with The Batten Group Executive Search & Consulting to find the best candidate. After an extensive search, we are delighted to announce Dana Yost as President and CEO of Roadrunner Food Bank. We are most excited about Yost’s visionary leadership, passion, and experience. With his leadership, we believe Roadrunner Food Bank will make an even greater impact to our New Mexico communities.”

Yost has 13 years of experience in food banking, most recently with Arizona Food Bank Network, where he served as Vice President of Supply Chain Operations. In his role, he managed the Nogales Produce Rescue Operation and the Mexico Produce Sourcing Strategic Operations to build a coalition of US and Mexico food bank partners with the purpose of supporting produce sourcing across international borders.  Yost’s work with the Nogales team brought more than 100 million pounds of edible produce to the Arizona Food Bank Network and other food banks in the United States.  His work re-directed unsalable produce from landfills to food banks and other hunger-relief organizations to benefit people experiencing hunger in communities in both the US and Mexico.

Additionally, Yost is also one of the founding members of the Southwest Produce Cooperative, a regional produce rescue and sharing organization. The cooperative shares transportation, logistics, and food resources with food banks across the southwest United States, including Roadrunner Food Bank.

Yost previously served as the Chief Operations Officer of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, overseeing daily operations at the food bank’s main facility in Tucson and the food bank’s produce rescue and repack facility in Nogales, Arizona, from 2016 to 2021. Dana’s 13 years of food banking experience also include working as director of resource strategy at St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance from 2011 to 2016.

Prior to his years in food banking, Yost worked at nonprofits in Arizona from 2008-2011; worked in large-scale outbound freight, freight systems, and fulfillment for Target’s Distribution Center; and was employed at Arizona’s Game and Fish Department overseeing their media programs on wildlife, environmental education, hunter safety, and other game and fish related programming.

Yost has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Grand Canyon University and a Master of Arts degree in English from Northern Arizona University.

Earlier this year, Mag Strittmatter announced to the food bank’s Board of Directors she would retire in June.  Strittmatter was the fifth person to lead the food bank and helped oversee the transition to an interim leader while the board searched for a permanent replacement. Yost will be the sixth person to lead the food bank since it was founded in late 1979. Linda Wedeen has been serving in an interim capacity while the board completed the search process.

“It takes a community to truly make a difference when it comes to food insecurity. Everyone deserves access to food, and we need deep and far-reaching community partnerships to do something to lessen the burden of hunger and poverty in New Mexico communities,” said Yost. “Part of our role is to be a convener in coalition and partnership-building for our neighbors facing hunger in our state. I invite everyone to the table to help us in this work–from individuals to organizations to businesses small and large to local and state governmental entities and communities of color.  We are all in this together. It will take all of us to change the narrative of what it means for our communities to be hunger-free in today’s world.”

Roadrunner® Food Bank of New Mexico, a Feeding America member, is the largest non-profit dedicated to solving food insecurity in New Mexico. As a food distribution hub, they provide food to hundreds of affiliated member partners around the state, including food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and regional food banks. They also distribute food through specialized programs helping children, families, and seniors at schools, low-income senior housing sites, senior centers, and with and through health care partnerships. Every week, tens of thousands of hungry children, seniors, and families are reached through this statewide hunger relief network. They are working together with their partners, volunteers, and contributors to end food insecurity and hunger in New Mexico.

For more information on this fantastic organization, please visit their website, www.rrfb.org.

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Source: Roadrunner Food Bank