Commencement: speaker Deborah Atwood

Deborah Atwood, executive director of AGree: Transforming Food and Agriculture Policy, gave the commencement address at Western's summer commencement Saturday, Aug.18, 2012.

Atwood is an alumna of Huxley College of the Environment and Western's Campus School. She is the daughter of the late State Sen. R. Frank Atwood Jr., who was a strong advocate for Western. At the Washington, D.C.-based AGree, Atwood leads a multidisciplinary effort to develop policies relating to global food security, bringing together leaders from throughout the food and agriculture supply chain from the farmers to the consumers. She has more than 30 years of experience in policy and legislative matters in food, agriculture, the environment and research. Before joining AGree, she was an associate for corporate affairs and public policy at Mars, Inc. She also has served in senior positions with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, the National Pork Producers Council and others. Currently she is on the board of ACDI-VOCA a nonprofit organization dedicated to agriculture development particularly in Africa, Asia and Latin America.