Community Food Bank Announces Leadership Change
Community Food Bank CEO Michael McDonald will wrap eight years of service at the Community Food Bank in January 2022 as he returns to the environmental conservation work of his early career.
In his time as CEO at the Food Bank, McDonald oversaw great growth and the start of many innovative programs. The net assets and annual budget of the food bank tripled under his leadership and new programs sprouted: offering microloans to low-income food entrepreneurs, setting up a cooperative local brokerage for institutional produce buyers, expanding the amount of edible produce rescued at the Mexico border for people in Arizona and beyond, providing critical support for improving local food security through policy-based initiatives, and putting in place an annual multi-million dollar grant making program for the food bank’s agency partners.
The main warehouse of the food bank also improved with a $4 million renovation to the building and parking lot. Feeding America, the national network of Food Banks, recognized the Community Food Bank as Food Bank of the Year in 2018.
As the Community Food Bank’s board of directors noted, “This recognition came in no small part because of Michael’s courageous and innovative leadership.”
“I move on from my work at the Community Food Bank realizing it is time for a change,” McDonald said. “I’m grateful to have been part of a team that I believe has become a collective force for good in our community and beyond. I know the next chapter of mission accomplishments for the food bank will be an amazing one.”
The board of directors of the Community Food Bank now begins the process to select the organization’s next executive. McDonald will leave in mid-January and join the Tucson Audubon Society as its executive director.
The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona was named Food Bank Member of the Year in 2018 by Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks nationwide. Founded in 1976, The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona provides food for people in need, advocacy and nutrition education throughout the region including Cochise, Graham, Greenlee, Pima and Santa Cruz counties.
