Meet the IFSC Team

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Tommy Hexter works to strengthen Iowa’s food system by expanding local food production, supporting farmers, and increasing access to Iowa-grown food. He served as Policy Director for Iowa Farmers Union, where he advanced state and federal policies impacting farmers and rural communities. He also led Grinnell Farm to Table, managing a local food retail market and programs that connected farmers with families across the region.

Originally from a family farming background in Central Virginia, he brings a deep commitment to supporting farmers and strengthening local food economies in Iowa.

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Mallory DeVries is a food systems practitioner, writer, and communications specialist. With a background in marketing and design, she works at the intersection of storytelling, strategy, and agriculture to help Iowans better connect with local food.

She also operates a small pasture-raised poultry farm with her family in Charles City, giving her a practical understanding of what it takes to make a farm work.

PODCAST PRODUCER & STORYTELLING COORDINATOR

Beth Hoffman has been reporting on food and agriculture for more than twenty-five years. She is the author of Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America, a book about the economics of farming, told through her story of moving with her husband John to take over his family’s 530-acre farm, now known as Whippoorwill Creek Farm.

She hosts the Coalition’s podcast, At the Iowa Farm Table, and writes In the Dirt.

STEERING COMMITTEE CHAIR

Community and Economic Development
Education Extension Specialist, ISU and Outreach Farm, Food, Enterprise Development

STEERING COMMITTEE VICE CHAIR

Senior Program Director, Iowa Valley Resource & Development

STEERING COMMITTEE

President, Iowa Farmers Union

STEERING COMMITTEE

Regional Food Systems Manager, University of Northern Iowa Center for Energy & Environmental Education

STEERING COMMITTEE

Director of Wellness and Nutrition Policy, Harkin Institute for Public Policy

STEERING COMMITTEE

Local Food and Farm Manager, Johnson County Local Food Policy Council

STEERING COMMITTEE

Executive Director, Iowa Environmental Council

STEERING COMMITTEE

Farm Services Director, Regenerative Agriculture Alliance

STEERING COMMITTEE

Farm Director, Seed Savers Exchange

ADVISOR

ADVISOR