Amy Kirtland

Executive Vice President of Growth & Innovation
KeHE Distributors (KeHE)

Amy Kirtland is an innovative, passionate and transformational executive with 30 years of leadership experience spanning all aspects of the food industry, including brand management, importing, sales, manufacturing, distribution and supply chain.  Amy is currently a Founding Board Member of The Climate Collaborative, Advisory Board Member for Tree of Life Canada and recent past Board Member of the National Grocer’s Association. She has a proven track record of driving change and a commitment to businesses and organizations that prioritize the needs of consumers, promote diversity, protect the environment for future generations and build pathways to increased profits through periods of realignment and sustainable growth.  

Amy is currently Executive Vice President (EVP) of Innovation and Growth, at KeHE Distributors.  During her 10-year tenure with KeHE, she has overseen expansion, sales penetration, new partnerships and the repositioning of the brand strategy, generating significant year-over-year growth.  She is the Executive Sponsor of Women Empowered at KeHE and a vocal member of the internal Diversity Equity & Inclusion Steering Committee. 

Amy’s additional professional affiliations have included serving as Chair and as a 10 year Member of the Board of Directors, for Food Lifeline, a nonprofit organization working to end hunger in collaboration with Feeding America.  She was also a Member of FMI, Sustainability Executive Committee, and an active supporter of the Food Waste Reduction Alliance.

Amy appreciates taking time to connect with others through volunteerism and community endeavors.  She also enjoys escaping the four walls of her office, trading them for an adventure hike mountainous landscapes or unexplored trails with her two children, family and friends.

This week, I have exciting news to share on the next steps in the Climate Collaborative’s work, though it is bittersweet for me personally. In late April, I will be stepping back from the Climate Collaborative to take on a new challenge and adventure—I’ll be able to share more on that soon.

Alongside that, we are excited to announce that we are seeking a new Executive Director for the Climate Collaborative. This person will be taking on leadership of a thriving nonprofit amid its busiest year yet; to meet that challenge, we are seeking an experienced, energetic, positive leader with a strong background in corporate climate issues.

This April, the U.S. is expected to formally announce a new climate commitment, adding an official target (called a nationally determined contribution or NDC) to back up our January reentry into the Paris Climate Accords. 

Alongside that, for the first time ever, small-and medium-sized companies now have a platform for being part of the global climate agenda. The SME Hub, announced last fall, will be serving as a registry and resource hub for companies making proactive net zero commitments. 

Last week B Lab launched a new Climate Justice Playbook for Business (downloadable here) to provide companies with a resource for beginning to actively incorporate racial justice and equity considerations into climate projects and corporate priorities. We held a webinar to mark the launch and to begin exploring what climate justice projects can look like for our industry. It featured an all-star speaker line-up: 

• Michelle Romero, the National Director of Green For All, provided keynote remarks that framed up why every business in our industry should be thinking more about how they are advancing climate justice
• Raj Aggarwal, President of Provoc, a JEDI consultancy and one of the lead contributors to the Playbook, gave an overview of the Playbook
• He then led a discussion with Pukka Herbs' Natalie Sluggett and Kevin Lee from Dr. Bronner's on how they are incorporating climate justice into supply chain projects and staff engagement priorities
• CC co-Founder Lara Dickinson joined to share resources that the new JEDI Collaborative has developed to support companies

The CC's Erin Callahan sat down with Numi Tea co-founders Ahmed Rahim and Reem Hassani, winners of the 2020 National Co+op Grocers Climate Collaborative Influencer Award, to talk through the last year in climate action and what's ahead for the industry--including how we bring last year's racial justice movement into our climate work. They also shared some secrets of their decades' long experience driving collaborative action across the natural products industry.

It’s impossible to encompass a year like 2020 in a few short paragraphs, and so I won’t try to do that. Instead, I just want to say that our combined work at the Climate Collaborative has given me immense hope in an otherwise tumultuous and difficult year. Thank you for being part of it.

Today, ahead of Saturday's five year anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, more than 1,400+ businesses, cities, states, investors, and other U.S. institutions stood together and called for an ambitious and equitable national climate response. 

Below, you’ll find links to resources we've developed to help businesses in our community advocate for a climate-smart recovery to the COVID economic crisis. You can watch our August 6 Advocacy Training and Briefing here.