Dave Donnan

David Donnan is a business leader and consultant with significant global experience in the agriculture, food and retail industries. During his career, David has run operating companies, managed food plants and consulted to leading global retail and consumer product companies.

David is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University teaching a graduate course on the Future of Sustainable Food & Agriculture. He is also a Partner Emeritus with Kearney, an international management consulting firm, where he ran the global food and agriculture practice.

A champion of innovation in the food sector, David works as an investor and mentor with many entrepreneurs and startups in the nutrition, food and agriculture industry. He recently served a 3-year term as a Public Board Member of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, that represents the 100,000 registered dieticians in the US. He often speaks at leading conferences on the topics of consumer nutrition, technology and consumer trends.

David is a Limited Partner of Spiral Sun Investments, an early stage venture capital firm focusing on natural foods and food supplements. He also serves on the boards of Protein Industries Canada, a public-private partnership to promote plant based protein industries and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research that funds advanced research into sustainable agriculture.

Widely recognized as an industry leader with a diverse background, Dave actively speaks and writes on topics vital to the global agriculture, food and beverage, retail, and restaurant industries. He brings an informed, yet lively perspective to any number of topics including The New Definition of Convenience — From Grab 'n Go to Uber Eats, Affluence to Influence — Changing Consumer Culture, and Can We Feed the World? — The Collision of Demographics, Economics and Resources.

He has presented at a variety of industry conferences for the Food and Nutrition Board, USDA, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Food Marketing Institute, Consumer Goods Forum, National Restaurant Association, Specialty Foods Association, U.S. Soybean Export Council, Farm Foundation, and Retail Council of Canada. He has also appeared on Bloomberg TV and is quoted in various business journals, including Business Week, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.

Throughout his career, Dave has given his time and expertise to organizations like Feeding America, the leading domestic hunger relief organization and the AARP Foundation (AARP Hunger Summit) for its work in addressing nutrition and health concerns for underserved seniors in urban areas. He also joined forces with Top Box Foods, Chris and Sheila Kennedy's not-for-profit to supply food to inner city Chicago. In 2015 he received the Consulting Magazine Community and Social Impact Award for his work with Feeding America.