We’re guided by a team of leaders who are united under our mission to alleviate global poverty and promote sustainable development. Combined with the collective wisdom and constructive feedback of our Board of Directors and Advisory Council, these individuals enable us to deliver more impact to more communities around the world.
Felipe is based in Colombia and is a proud dad to two daughters. He holds bachelor’s degrees in political science and business administration from Boston University as well as accreditations from FLO-CERT, Social Accountability International, Global Reporting Initiative and Integrated Reporting among others.
Paul Rice is the Founder of Fair Trade USA, the leading certifier of Fair Trade products in North America.
Since launching the Fair Trade Certified™ label in 1998, Paul has helped establish Fair Trade as one of the fastest-growing segments of the food and apparel industries. To date, Fair Trade USA has partnered with over 1,500 leading companies, including Green Mountain, Nespresso, Whole Foods, Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Kroger, and Target. Fair Trade USA now certifies coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, coconut, fresh produce, and seafood. Recently, through groundbreaking partnerships with Patagonia, Athleta, Williams-Sonoma and J. Crew, Fair Trade has begun certifying apparel and home goods, improving the lives of factory workers.
In 2022, consumer recognition of the Fair Trade Certified label hit 65%. To date, Fair Trade USA and its partners have generated over $1 billion in additional income for farmers and workers in 51 countries, allowing them to care for the environment and steadily improve their livelihoods.
Prior to founding Fair Trade USA, Paul worked for 11 years as a rural development specialist in the mountains of Nicaragua, where he founded and led the country’s first Fair Trade, organic export cooperative. Paul’s rich, first-hand experience over the last 30 years in the fields of sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, grassroots economic development, global supply chain transparency and consumer activation is unique in the certification world. He is now a leading advocate of “impact sourcing” as a core strategy for both poverty alleviation and sustainable business.
Paul has been named Ethical Corporation’s 2019 Business Leader of the Year and is a four-time winner of Fast Company magazine’s Social Capitalist of the Year. Paul is also the recipient of the prestigious Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and has spoken at the World Economic Forum, Clinton Global Initiative, Skoll World Forum, TEDx and numerous universities and conferences around the world.
Dana Dufresne is a seasoned sales leader with a distinguished career in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. Her extensive experience spans multiple segments including dairy, beverage, confectionery, and produce, demonstrating her versatility and expertise in the field.
Throughout her career, Dana has held pivotal roles at companies such as Land O’Lakes Inc., Cadbury Schweppes (now DR Pepper Keurig), and Marich Confection. She also was key to the growth and innovation at Vertage Foods, a plant-based dairy company. At these organizations, she has led high-performing sales teams and implemented strategies that have significantly enhanced market presence and sales performance.
Dana earned her Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in Food Science in Business from the University of Minnesota. Her academic background provides a strong foundation for her strategic approach to sales and market analysis.
In addition to her professional achievements, Dana is deeply committed to giving back to the community. She actively volunteers with the American Red Cross and Special Olympics, contributing her time and energy to support these important causes.
Residing in Connecticut, Dana is a proud mother of two sons, Jonny and Colby and spends her spare time watching them play competitive baseball at the collegiate and high school level.
In February 2024, Jordan joined Fair Trade USA as the Head of Philanthropy with the goal of engaging our global community in fostering a new era in capitalism —one that harmonizes people, planet, and prosperity.
With over twenty years of experience driving strategic growth and revenue in local, regional, and multinational nonprofit organizations, Jordan is a proven leader in navigating diverse markets, fostering community and employee engagement, and crafting impactful CSR platforms for Fortune 500 companies. Jordan’s career has centered on the intersection of conservation and education, creating leadership, environmental, and global education programs for school districts throughout the United States while securing the necessary funds to sustain them. Recognized for her ability to create meaningful philanthropic causes from the ground up, Jordan is passionate about two main objectives: helping children better understand themselves and their connection to the planet and collaborating with strategic partners to establish support systems that enable people to positively impact our world.
Jordan holds a master’s in organizational psychology from the London School of Economics and a B.A. in environmental education and wildlife conservation from Hampshire College. She resides in Asheville, NC, with her husband, Bradley, and their two children, Josephine & Odin.
Carlos Ruiz joined Fair Trade USA in August 2015 and serves as the Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Fair Trade USA, Carlos led the Finance department for over five years at International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, CA. In addition to professional experience in the non-profit environment, Carlos worked seven years supervising the Accounting and Finance departments for Amidi Group, a family own business. Previously, Carlos worked for leading international corporations based in Mexico, including Deloitte.
Born in Mexico City, Carlos graduated with honors from Escuela Bancaria y Comercial, known as Mexico’s leading business school, where he received a degree as Public Accountant.
Carlos lives with his two sons in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is active in the community and enjoys coaching baseball and soccer youth teams. In his personal time, Carlos enjoys golfing, riding his motorcycle and spending time with friends.
Meagan Siddiqui serves as the Head of Digital Technology at Fair Trade USA, where she plays a pivotal role in propelling the organization’s innovation and scalability. Her responsibilities encompass steering product development, orchestrating project management initiatives, and devising comprehensive technology strategies.
Joining Fair Trade USA in 2022 as the Vice President of Product, Meagan brought forth a wealth of experience garnered from spearheading technology development and execution across diverse industries such as retail supply chain, human resources, finance/banking, and cloud computing. Renowned for her capacity to lead and motivate high-performing technology teams, Meagan excels in fostering innovation, crafting solutions that effectively address users’ most pressing needs.
Before her tenure at Fair Trade USA, Meagan held the position of Senior Digital Technology Manager at H-E-B, a prominent $38 billion grocery retailer boasting over 430 stores. Directly accountable for the design, development, and maintenance of a vast portfolio of systems encompassing both on-premise and cloud-based solutions, her efforts supported over 154,000 H-E-B employees as well as the financial reporting for the company.
Raised on a farm in rural Kansas, Meagan earned her Business Management degree from Pittsburg State University. Forming the bedrock of her career, she honed her expertise in Project/Program Management and Agile Methodologies. Meagan holds certifications as a PMP and PMI-ACP, upholding her commitment to professional excellence. Currently residing in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband Sameer, Meagan remains dedicated to driving technological advancement and meaningful change within her field.
Ryan Owen is the Senior Director of Philanthropy and Partnerships at Fair Trade USA. Ryan has served international development organizations for more than 15 years working to connect philanthropists of all sizes with opportunities to impact and empower projects that give people opportunities to provide for themselves through sustainable business and agriculture. Giving to Fair Trade USA greatly accelerates the impact that the fair trade certification helps farmers and producers earn, so Ryan and his team are working diligently to expand the opportunities for donors and partner organizations to participate.
Ryan holds a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University and is a member of the faculty at Drury University where he teaches in the Nonprofit Leadership program offering both graduate degrees and professional certificates for current and aspiring nonprofit leaders. Ryan is passionate about his family, global connections, and continuing to learn.
Sugumar is a strategist with over three decades of international work experience in global, multistakeholder organizations having a progressive track record of transforming operations. Sustainable development and social justice are his passion, and his personal vision is always to be involved in fostering a better planet.
Sugumar joined Fair Trade USA in September 2023 as the Chief Program Officer, leading its Standards, Auditing and Certification programs. Prior to joining FTUSA, Sugumar spent 14 years leading the assurance activities of FLOCERT, the global certifier of fair trade. Before FLOCERT, he worked in Kenya, Nigeria, and India, leading and managing agribusiness entities dealing in products like tea, coffee, cut flowers, dairy, etc.
Born in the tea-growing mountains of South India, Sugumar’s alma mater are The Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore (IIMB) and Bharathiar University. He currently lives along with his partner in Bonn – Germany.
Jeanne-Marie is a values-based, performance-driven leader with more than 20 years’ experience as a strategic thought partner to executive leaders, designing and driving people strategies to foster an inclusive, impactful and thriving workplace.
Prior to joining the leadership team at Fair Trade USA, her extensive international career includes roles as Chief People Officer and as a leader in talent innovation and HR transformation across EMEA, APAC and USA with a variety of complex organizations and multiple industries including Fortune 500 financial services firms, in addition to technology, education, industrial, agribusiness and digital marketing organizations.
Her multi-faceted leadership roles have included leading people strategy initiatives and functions at scale, including DEI and Culture, People Operations, talent and change management, transformation and M&A activities. Additionally, she has served as a consultant and board advisor for people operations strategy and organizational transformation to social enterprises and not-for-profit organizations in both USA and Europe.
Jeanne-Marie is inspired by Fair Trade USA’s mission, model, and track record of impact, and passionate about our ambitious growth strategy to further our impact globally. She is an avid supporter of conscious capitalism, sustainability and equitable practices in social enterprises.
Jeanne-Marie earned both Bachelor and Master’s degrees from University College Dublin and completed her post-graduate studies at National College of Ireland. She holds additional professional accreditations in talent strategy, organizational development and program management. She is a regular speaker, facilitator and contributor to industry bodies and non-profits on people strategy and advancing business transformation and organizational health through inclusive, sustainable practices.
