Our Collaborators

A tireless advocate for the hungry for more than 40 years, Catherine D’Amato founded the Hunger to Health Collaboratory in 2018 and assumed the leadership of The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) in 1995. During her tenure, she has transformed GBFB into a $180 million charitable business and increased GBFB’s distribution from 7.5 million meals a year to more than 82 million healthy meals this past year. She has grown GBFB’s network to include nearly 600 partner food pantries, meal programs, and direct distribution sites across the 190 cities and towns across Eastern Massachusetts.

Under D’Amato’s guidance, GBFB has risen to the unprecedented challenge of responding to the surge in hunger due to the COVID-19 pandemic, distributing nearly 100 million pounds in 2020 to GBFB partner agencies that report serving over double the number of people in need. In 2021, GBFB marked its 40th anniversary since its incorporation while also distributing its 1 billionth pound of food which was accelerated by D’Amato’s leadership through the COVID-19 crisis.

Karen Mitchell serves as the Chief Marketing Officer/Senior Vice President of Marketing at Stop & Shop. She provides strategic leadership in the repositioning of the 100+ year-old grocery brand to deliver on the company’s vision of providing a seamless omnichannel customer experience. Karen leads the teams responsible for brand marketing and strategy, creative, digital marketing, loyalty, external communications, and community giving. Karen joined Stop & Shop in January 2018 as Vice President, Brand Marketing Strategy & Planning.

Prior to Stop & Shop, Karen spent 20+ years leading multiple marketing teams at Welch Foods, Inc., the iconic Concord grape cooperative. Her experience spans general management for the juice and jelly portfolios, integrated communications, public relations, insights, and innovation. She also led a multiyear, strategic cross-functional bottle redesign project that benefitted multiple stakeholders including operations and consumers with its improved quality, simplified labeling process and improved shelf pack out for grocery retailers.

Karen has a BS in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from Bentley University. She was raised in Chelmsford, MA, where she lives today with her husband Greg and their dog Percy. Greg and Karen enjoy food, travel, and spending time with their two grown children, Jenny and Brian.

Melanie is the Director of Sustainability for Keurig Dr Pepper where she leads their corporate health and wellbeing strategy and oversees their community relations work. She is also the liaison to KDP’s commercial sector, helping the brands, sales and marketing functions embed sustainability in their daily business.

Prior to joining KDP, Melanie was with Unilever in the External Affairs and Sustainable Business Communications office. She worked in advocacy around energy and environmental policy in Washington D.C. for years before joining the consumer product goods world.

Melanie holds a BA in Political Science and International Affairs from the University of New Hampshire, and an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.