Vice President of Business Initiatives
About this role
ReFED is a U.S.-based nonprofit that partners with food businesses, funders, solution providers, policymakers, and more to solve food waste. We serve as the definitive source for data and insights on food waste, providing the most comprehensive analysis of the problem, the solutions to address it, and the resources required to make it happen. From the 2016 Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste, to the 2021 launch of the ReFED Insights Engine, our online data center, to this year’s release of the AI-powered Insights Explorer, we have produced first-of-their-kind tools and services tailored to help key audiences scale their impact. Reducing food waste will have a significant impact on the economy, climate change and natural resource optimization, and our communities, including the 47 million people in the U.S. who currently face food insecurity. We are continuing to grow our team to further build our capacity to achieve our vision of a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive food system that makes the best use of the food we grow.
We are a team of doers, and we get a lot accomplished. We create outsized impact, and everyone on the team contributes to accomplishing our shared goals. Learning and professional development are heavily embedded in ReFED’s culture. We promote cross-functional work to embrace diverse perspectives, experiences, and skills to ensure we are an inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you are excited about this role but your experience does not align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
The Vice President, Business Initiatives, serves as ReFED’s senior leader for business-facing work and a formal member of the Leadership Team. This role is responsible for the strategic direction, performance, and external credibility of ReFED’s Business Initiatives team, which engages food businesses directly through consulting, advisory services, and multi-stakeholder commitment programs, including the U.S. Food Waste Pact. While ReFED's work has been primarily U.S.-focused, the organization is beginning to expand its reach globally, with continued growth expected in the years ahead.
The VP, Business Initiatives, partners closely with the Executive Director and other programmatic leaders to ensure that ReFED’s business-facing work is strategically sound, well-resourced, and clearly connected to the organization’s theory of change. This role holds accountability for team performance, funder and business partner relationships, and external representation of ReFED’s business engagement work. The VP, Business Initiatives, reports directly to the Executive Director and manages two Directors and an Analyst with potential for team growth.
As a member of ReFED’s Leadership Team, the VP, Business Initiatives, advances ReFED’s mission by mobilizing food businesses, from farm to fork, to take meaningful, measurable action on food waste. Food businesses are among the most critical partners in the fight against food loss and waste, and ReFED’s programs in consumer-facing businesses have contributed to significant reductions in food waste.
Sara Burnett is the hiring manager for this position. Applications must be received by August 5, 2026, to be fully considered.