Dear Friends,
The past year has been tumultuous for the entire world, including MFK. Throughout, we’ve been able to continue producing, distributing, and treating children in Haiti – thanks in large part to your continued support of our work, for children who desperately need our help. We are mentoring smallholder farmers and providing stable employment for our employees. In fact, in the first nine months of the current fiscal year we outpaced our record-breaking production in 2020 with 1,074,645 million kilos of Ready-to-Use Foods.
We are thankful for your partnership. As our partner, we would like to update you on a management change: we have accepted the resignation of CEO Angela Brown Gilliam. This is not the outcome we hoped for, but we know Angela will continue to support MFK’s work. The MFK Board and I are fully committed to launching a new CEO search and will strategize with the search firm to identify the right leader for the organization’s next season of growth.
Continuity is crucial to the lives of the children we serve, so we are pleased to announce that the board has elected Suzanne Langlois as interim CEO beginning July 1, 2021. Suzanne joined the MFK board in 2010 and has served on the Development, Governance, and CEO Search Committees. In recent years, she has been Secretary of the board and serves on the Executive Committee.
In her professional life, Suzanne is the co-founder and former co-owner of Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Company – a roaster and regional wholesaler of specialty coffee; and Kaldi’s Coffeehouse – cafes offering coffee beverages and eclectic fare. She currently teaches entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
The St. Louis and Haiti staffs are supportive of these decisions and will ensure a smooth transition. Angela will remain on our team for the next six weeks to transfer knowledge, make introductions and offer assistance where needed.
Thank you for all that you do to help MFK save lives and improve livelihoods for Haiti’s people. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mesi Anpil,
Jeff Klopfenstein
Board President
