As Executive Vice President of Innovation, Mark Stephens is responsible for fostering a culture that embraces and advances new ideas grounded in the practice of human-centered design. Mark and his team are working co-creatively with the Feeding America Network, other partners, and people facing hunger to improve people’s experience with the charitable food system while advancing innovative new strategies to materially improve the lives of people facing hunger—especially as it relates to advancing economic mobility and improved nutrition and health vis-à-vis the charitable food system.
Mark has over 20 years of experience leading innovation, new product development, brand strategy, consumer behavioral analytics and customer experience (CX) innovation. Prior to joining Feeding America, Mark worked at companies such as Motorola Mobility and Kraft Heinz. He is an expert in bringing game-changing, innovative products to market with compelling value propositions that captivate consumers and propel companies forward. He is a tried-and-true collaborator with experience working in diverse/multicultural stakeholder settings in Latin America, Europe, North and South Asia as well as North America. He was formerly Managing Partner of Syntegra-ESG, helping public and private sector organizations as well as NGOs lead purposeful transformation.
Mark is the founding partner of Think Justice, a BIPOC-led consultancy focused on marrying DEI and a strong insights practice to create innovative solutions around equity and wellbeing.
Mark earned his Master of Arts for Political Science & International Relations from Purdue University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from Prairie A&M University’s Benjamin Banneker Honors College, an HBCU. He is a winner of the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Fellowship from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Urban and Public Affairs (SUPA) and the Sloan Foundation and was a visiting fellow at Leiden University, the Netherlands, Erazmus Program in Environmental Policy. Finally, Mark is an alumnus of the Armand Hammer United World College (UWC) of the American West. The UWCs are high schools founded by Lord Mountbatten that make education a force for peace, international understanding and a sustainable future.