Welcoming Anne Knapke to the Meridian Team

We are thrilled to welcome Anne Knapke to the Meridian team! Anne joins us as the Senior Director, Climate and Agriculture Strategy, in the Washington, DC office.

Anne brings more than 20 years of experience in policy, strategy, and executive management roles domestically and globally on food and agriculture issues. She has worked within government, advocacy, philanthropy, and private sector organizations.

We had a chance to sit down with her recently and learn more about what drew her to Meridian and what she hopes to accomplish in the coming years.

What drew you to Meridian?

Collaboration is essential to unlocking durable solutions and action to solve the biggest, most challenging problems. Meridian enables collaboration and it has the people with the skills and trusted relationships to actually make progress on complicated issues.

I was drawn to Meridian because of the promise of that potential. And for the freedom to actually not be beholden to a particular corporate/government/advocacy/philanthropy leadership agenda but to help push beyond those agendas to find (and seed) common ground where working collaboratively with other stakeholders can accomplish so much more than working apart.

Given your previous experience in government, how do you think Meridian’s role as a nonprofit makes it uniquely qualified to address systemic issues?

Nonprofits play a critical role in creating the enabling environment for lawmakers and Administrations to take action. Meridian is uniquely positioned to assess challenges inhibiting progress on systemic issues and pull together the stakeholders or stakeholder coalition needed to create momentum for action.

What accomplishment(s) are you most proud of from your time with the Biden/Harris administration?

It was the honor of my career to serve under the leadership of Secretary Vilsack. The stars aligned (with a lot of elbow grease!) in the first 18 months for USDA to get an infusion of resources that enabled us to solve big problems in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and lay the groundwork for rural prosperity in America for decades to come.

The American Rescue Plan included $4 billion for USDA to work on supply chain resiliency. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included funding for USDA broadband programs, NRCS restoration programs, and unprecedented forest management resources.

Later, we worked to get the Inflation Reduction Act across the finish line with unprecedented resources for climate-related NRCS work. We found ourselves with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to program dollars to meet the moment of need in rural communities while also changing course and telling a different story of how agriculture can be part of the solution set in addressing climate change.

I was really in the trenches on a few projects that were particularly tricky. It was a good day when we finally launched the Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program – a program that felt impossible to sort when the Secretary pitched it to me. But after many months of plotting, planning, and pressure-testing, we announced grants to producers across the country that will both support them in accessing the H2A program and also support them in implementing robust labor standards and commitments: a rare win-win for employers and workers alike.

I think the accomplishment I hold most dear though are the relationships I built with an outstanding set of public servants and the folks I worked with every day in the Office of the Secretary that I consider family. It’s quite a gift to build a team of people you can rely on and trust with your whole heart – and it’s the key to unlocking success.

What do you hope to achieve during your time at Meridian?

I’m looking forward to making good progress on solving big problems!

What early experiences influenced the direction of your career?

I grew up on a bit of a family funny farm in southwest Ohio. We had a whole suite of characters on the “farm” – a pony that you couldn’t ride, a hermaphrodite goat, a three-legged cat, the resident evil rooster. I showed animals at the county fair and loved living in the country.

I was heavily involved in the National FFA Organization when I was in high school and college and there is no doubt that my involvement in that organization deeply influenced my career path into food and ag policy. I was first exposed to policy conversations through FFA trips to Washington DC and Europe and it opened a whole world of questions and rabbit holes for me. And when I spent a summer in rural Thailand during grad school, I knew that fighting inequity and injustice through the food/ag/climate policy lens would be my professional mission.

What do you and your family get up to on the weekends?

I live in the Brookland neighborhood of DC with my partner, Mark, our 4-year-old son, George, and our 18(!!)-year-old dog, Barry. Friday nights are movie and pizza nights at our house!

We are just a block from the Metropolitan Branch Trail, and we love biking down to our favorite playgrounds and the Smithsonians on any given weekend. Natural History is the current favorite. We also love skipping town for a hike in the hills.