L. Ann Thrupp is the Executive Director of the Berkeley Food Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, which is aimed to catalyze and support the transformation of food and agriculture systems, to promote sustainability, justice, diversity, resilience, and health. Thrupp has extensive experience in sustainable and organic agriculture and food systems, in the United States and internationally. She has held leadership positions in non-profit organizations, government, academia, and as a practitioner and educator in sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, and environmental/food justice.

Thrupp has a PhD and MA from Sussex University (with Marshall and Fullbright Scholarships) and a BA in Human Biology and Latin American Studies from Stanford University (Phi Beta Kappa), and is fluent in Spanish. She has over 70 publications, and served on a Scientific Advisory Committee of the CA Department of Food and Agriculture, and on two committees of the National Academy of Science.