Speakers

Jack Bobo is the Executive Director of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies and an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham. He previously served as Director of the Food Systems Institute at Nottingham and as Director of Global Food and Water Policy at The Nature Conservancy. Earlier, Jack was CEO of Futurity, a food foresight company, and spent over a decade as a senior advisor on global food policy at the U.S. Department of State. Named one of Scientific American’s 100 most influential people in biotechnology and recipient of the Borlaug CAST Communication Award, he is the author of Why Smart People Make Bad Food Choices, which explores how psychology and food environments shape consumer behavior. Jack has delivered more than 1,000 speeches in over 50 countries, inspiring audiences on food security, agricultural innovation, and the future of food. Through his leadership at UCLA, consistently ranked among the very best public universities in the United States, he is advancing Nudge the Planet, an initiative to reduce polarization and build trust in food and agriculture. Jack holds a J.D., an M.S. in Environmental Science, a B.S. in Biology, and a B.A. in Psychology and Chemistry, reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to reshaping food systems for a sustainable and nutritious future.