Michel Nischan
Co-founder & Chairman, Wholesome Wave
Michel Nischan is a four-time James Beard Award winning chef with over 35 years of leadership advocating for a more healthful, sustainable food system. He is Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Wholesome Wave. He is also Co-Founder of the James Beard Foundation’s Chefs Action Network, as well as Founder and Partner with the late actor Paul Newman of the former Dressing Room Restaurant.
Nischan and his Wholesome Wave partner, the late USDA Under-Secretary Gus Schumacher, were instrumental in securing $100M for Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grants for the food equity field in the 2014 Federal Farm Bill, which was recently expanded to $250M in the 2018 Farm Bill to become a permanent part of all future farm bills. The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) permanently expands affordable access to fruits and vegetables for low-income Americans, while creating a legacy for Gus and the organization he and Michel created.
He is the author of three cookbooks on healthful and sustainable food, and a respected thought leader for the Good Food Movement. A lifetime Ashoka fellow, he serves as a director on the board of the Jacques Pepin Foundation; and on the advisory boards of Chef’s Collaborative, Modern Farmer, Good Food Media Network, and The Culinary Institute of America.
