Adriano Campolina is an agronomist with a Master of Science in Development, Agriculture and Society. Throughout his career, he has worked to advance sustainable smallholder agriculture, food security, poverty eradication, the right to food, and equitable land tenure. He has held policy and leadership positions with CONTAG, CUT, and ActionAid International, where he served as Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Executive Director of ActionAid Brazil, and Secretary General of the ActionAid International Federation. Since joining FAO in 2019 as a Senior Policy Officer, he has led the Rural Institutions, Services and Empowerment (RISE) Team and the Land Tenure Team. He currently serves as Deputy Director ad interim of FAO's Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, coordinating programmes, knowledge development and policy initiatives on sustainable livelihoods, inclusive rural transformation, and gender equality in agrifood systems.

Ambassador Andreas von Brandt is Germany’s Permanent Representative to the Rome-based United Nations agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), and ICCROM.

He serves as Chair of FAO’s Committee on Legal and Constitutional Matters (CCLM) for the 2025–27 biennium and as a member of the WFP Executive Board Bureau and List D Convenor for 2026, representing 32 donor countries. His work focuses on UN reform, strengthening collaboration among Rome-based agencies, advancing the Humanitarian Development Peace (HDP) Nexus, promoting the human right to adequate food, and integrating climate, biodiversity, and bioeconomy considerations into rural development. Together with India, he co-founded and co-chairs the Group of Friends on Rome-based Agency Collaboration, contributing to the UN80 reform agenda.

Prior to his posting in Rome, Ambassador von Brandt held senior leadership roles within the German Federal Foreign Office, contributing to the conceptualization and implementation of the HDP Nexus across German foreign and development policy, and overseeing strategy, planning, communication, and institutional learning.

From 2020 to 2022, he served as Ambassador of the European Union to Afghanistan, leading the EU Delegation during a period of exceptional political and security challenges. He managed major development and humanitarian assistance portfolios, oversaw the NATO withdrawal period, coordinated donor engagement, and led the evacuation of international and Afghan staff. He subsequently guided EU policy engagement from Doha and oversaw the EU’s return to Kabul.

Earlier, Ambassador von Brandt was Deputy Director in the Private Office of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (2018–2020), advising on relations with Russia and China, arms control, NATO enlargement, partnerships, and the Western Balkans. He previously served as Deputy Ambassador at the German Embassy in Kabul, Deputy Head of Division for Southern Caucasus and Central Asia, and in senior postings in Pakistan, Libya, Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan, and Rome.

Before joining the German Foreign Service, he worked with the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank on governance, justice reform, and human rights, and completed policy assistance assignments with FAO on food security and bioenergy.

Ambassador von Brandt holds advanced degrees in Political Science, International Relations, and Law, including an LL.M. in International Law. A Fulbright Scholar, he has also worked as a freelance journalist. He speaks English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian, with basic knowledge of Farsi, Urdu, and Arabic

Ambassador Saulo Ceolin heads the General Coordination for Food and Nutrition Security (CGSAN) at Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which coordinates Brazil’s international engagement on issues such as food and nutrition security, school meals, and food systems transformation. Over the course of his career, he has served at Brazil’s Mission to the Rome-Based Agencies and as adviser to the Director-General of FAO.

For more than 25 years, Anna Lappé has been organizing for sustainability and justice along the food chain. Before joining the Global Alliance for the Future of Food in 2023 as Executive Director, Anna had written or co-written three books on food systems, most recently Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It, and contributed to 18 more. Named one of TIME’s “eco” Who’s-Who, Anna is the founder or co-founder of three national organizations, including Real Food Media, a communications strategy non-profit and the Small Planet Fund, which supports democratic social movements worldwide. A recipient of the James Beard Leadership Award, Anna is the co-author or author of three books on food, farming, and sustainability and the contributing author to, or featured in, nineteen more. Anna’s work has been translated internationally and featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Gourmet, and Oprah Magazine, among many other outlets. In 2016, she launched the Food Sovereignty Fund of the Panta Rhea Foundation, a GA member, where she worked closely with philanthropic partners around the world on a range of initiatives, including helping to launch the Castanea Fellowship. A current Castanea Steering Committee member, Anna is also an active board member of the Rainforest Action Network.