About Us

Leadership

Meet Farm Sanctuary’s Board of Directors

Gene Baur, President and Co-Founder

Gene Baur has been hailed as “the conscience of the food movement” by TIME magazine.  For 25 years he has traveled extensively, campaigning to raise awareness about the abuses of industrialized factory farming and our cheap food system.

A pioneer in the field of undercover investigations, Gene has visited hundreds of farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses documenting the deplorable conditions that exist. His pictures and videos exposing factory farming cruelties have aired nationally and internationally, educating millions about the plight of modern farmed animals.

Gene has also testified in courts and before local, state and federal legislative bodies, advocating for better conditions for farm animals.  His most important achievements include winning the first-ever cruelty conviction at a U.S. stockyard and introducing the first U.S. laws to prohibit cruel farming confinement methods in Florida, Arizona and California.  His efforts have been covered by top news organizations, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Wall Street Journal.  In 2008, Gene’s book, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food, became a national best seller.  As a recent guest on The Martha Stewart Show’s first-ever “vegan show,” he inspired viewers to eat in alignment with their compassionate values.

Gene began his activist career selling veggie hot dogs out of a VW van at Grateful Dead concerts to fund farm animal rescues.  Today, he serves as President of Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, with shelters in New York and California.  Providing rescue, refuge and adoption for hundreds of farm animals each year, Farm Sanctuary shelters enable visitors to connect with farm animals as emotional, intelligent individuals.  Gene believes these animals stand as ambassadors for the billions on factory farms who have no voice, and he has dedicated his career to advocating on their behalf.  Gene holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State University Northridge and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University.

Dr. Allan E. Kornberg, Executive Director 

Allan E. Kornberg, M.D. is the Executive Director of Farm Sanctuary. A lifelong animal advocate and vegetarian of more than 20 years, Dr. Kornberg formerly served as the U.S. Executive Director of the World Society for the Protection of Animals, a major international organization based in the U.K., and has worked with numerous other advocacy groups, including the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, to end the abuses of animals in factory farms and laboratories. In addition to his commitment to animal protection, Dr. Kornberg has also had a long and distinguished career in medicine as a pediatrician with more than 25 years of clinical and executive leadership experience.

Dr. Kornberg has practiced both primary care pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine, and recently served as Senior Vice President for the National Initiative for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ). His prior professional background includes being CEO of Network Health (a Medicaid health plan serving the poor in Massachusetts), Medical Director of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (also in Massachusetts), Executive Director and Medical Director for the physician-hospital organization at Scottish Rite Children's Medical Center in Atlanta, and Chief of Emergency Medicine at Buffalo Children's Hospital in New York. His educational credentials include an undergraduate degree from MIT, a medical degree from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and an M.B.A. from the University of Rochester. 

Board Chair Megan Watkins currently serves as Senior Philanthropic Advisor at Bank of America, where she advises clients of U.S. Trust and Merrill Lynch on their personal philanthropic endeavors. She brings more than 12 years of nonprofit and philanthropic experience to her position, including philanthropic advisory, strategic grantmaking and international and domestic program development and policy work in the private and non-profit sectors.

Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair Tom Anderson joined the board in 2010. Tom has served as CEO of Upromise and Integrity Interactive and held senior positions with leading global organizations like McKinsey & Company, SLM Corporation and Capital One. He currently serves as the Lead Independent Director of Constant Contact, which helps small businesses, associations and nonprofits connect with customers, clients and members.

Vice-chair Yonaton Aronoff is an experienced commercial litigation attorney at Foley & Lardner LLP, an international law firm with an office in New York. Yonaton also represents New York Animal Care & Control on a pro bono basis, assisting the agency with a variety of legal matters involving cruelty to animals.

Leslie Barcus is president of the Microfinance Management Institute, an international network organization of training and academic institutions working together to advance the management and staff capacity of microfinance institutions globally. She specializes in management, economic development, and capacity-building initiatives for microfinance institutions.


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Matt Bershadker is senior vice president of the ASPCA Anti-Cruelty Group. He oversees the Field Investigations & Response team, Forensic Science & Anti-Cruelty Projects, Legal Advocacy, Campaigns and Strategy, and Humane Law Enforcement department.

Under Matt’s leadership, the ASPCA brings their knowledge and practices to communities throughout the nation and provides skilled support to state and federal agencies in animal cruelty situations, such as puppy mill busts, dog fighting raids, and animal hoarding cases, as well as during natural disasters.

Matt has served as ASPCA’s vice president of development and led the Government Relations team in effectively securing an unprecedented number of state and federal legislative victories relating to animal cruelty.

He received an MBA from Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School and a BA in communications from Ohio University.

Matt serves on the board of the Gruber Family Foundation and lives in New York City with his wife Nina, son Elias, and their dog Thelma.

Secretary, Audit Committee Chair and former Board Chair Jane Hoffman is President and Chair of the Board of the Mayor’s Alliance, a coalition of over 150 animal rescue groups and shelters working collaboratively to reduce the euthanasia of cats and dogs at Animal Care & Control of NYC by increasing adoptions and spay neuter surgeries. Jane is a Founding Member and past Chair of the NYC Bar Association Committee on Legal Issues Pertaining to Animals.  

Development Committee Chair Mia MacDonald is executive director of public policy action think tank Brighter Green, which works on environment, animal and sustainability issues both globally and locally. She is a senior fellow of the Worldwatch Institute, and has consulted on issues of environment, sustainable development, women’s rights, and animal protection for organizations including the Ford Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund and the United Nations.