Our Team
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Leslie Krueger is a public health dietitian, community organizer, educator, and the MFC’s first Coalition Director. Her work is rooted in her belief: the people most affected by our food system disparities should have a meaningful voice and real power in shaping its future.
Leslie previously served as Vice President of the Milwaukee Food Council Board of Directors, where she helped strengthen the organization’s governance, infrastructure, and strategic direction. She now brings that experience into her staffed-role, supporting MFC’s work as a democratic, member-led, movement-building organization.
As Coalition Director, Leslie works alongside members to build relationships, develop leaders, strengthen coalitions, and create the conditions for collective action. She is committed to bringing people from across the food system into conversation with one another, from those who grow and produce food to those who prepare, distribute, sell, serve, and eat it while creating opportunities for members to identify shared challenges and determine their own action plans toward change.
Leslie also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, teaching a nutrition seminar course that introduces students to the wide-range of careers and opportunities within the nutrition field. She is passionate about helping emerging nutrition professionals see themselves not only as practitioners, but as leaders and participants in creating healthier, more equitable communities and food systems.
With a background in public health, nutrition, organizing, education, and program development, Leslie brings a deep commitment to community voice, equity, and collective action. She believes that lasting change happens when people have the relationships, knowledge, resources, and power to shape the systems that affect their lives.
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Sam Odin is a researcher, organizer, farmer, and musician. Alongside their partner Sara, Sam is a farmer and a co-owner of Village Farmstead in Oak Creek. Research-wise, Sam has worked with and simultaneously studied several food and farm-based organizations, seeking a dynamic albeit thoroughly critical perspective of the so-called "Local Food Movement" and its initiatives: Urban Agriculture, CSAs, Food Sovereignty, and Small-Scale Farm Businesses. Using Anthropology and Political-Economics, situates interpersonal motivation, behavior, and outcomes within broader dialectical contexts and patterns. As an organizer, Sam helped form the Milwaukee-Waukesha Chapter of the Wisconsin Farmers Union - of which he now presides as President and is currently working towards the formation of a Wisconsin Farmers Collective that will coordinate farm production to meet the needs of our communities. Sam is a professional upright bass player, vocalist, and songwriter, playing and touring with several acts, including Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. Sam is a founding member of the Village Co-op of Oak Creek - a housing co-op they reside in today.
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Tay is the Farmer Education Manager at Marbleseed. His prior experiences include on-farm food safety, organic certification and farmer peer-to-peer education. He lives with his wife in Milwaukee and during the growing season helps on an apple orchard in Racine County. He enjoys being active outside, eating good food and helping family farmers thrive.
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Food systems have come up both in Frani O'Toole's work and in her process of making herself at home, whether it was in joining co-workers active in the food access movement in Laredo, TX, or using her position at the Department of Economic Development to gap-fund a refugee-run urban farm in Cleveland, OH. Over the two years of her Master's in Urban Planning in Toronto, ON, she WWOOFed (Worldwide Opportunities and Organic Farms) on a CSA farm to integrate/ground-truth her environmental studies with firsthand experience. Starting in grad school, she began working for the Department of City Development -- once in Milwaukee, she never looked back. Though her career is in urban planning, she did her undergraduate degree and a yearlong post-grad fellowship in creative writing, and it's an interest in tying things together that continues to power her work in emergency and resiliency planning with the Milwaukee Health Department. What she hopes to bring to the MFC is a wide record of teamwork, and getting creative.
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Sarah Bressler works to support a more equitable and community-centered food system in Milwaukee. In her role as Farm Director at Hunger Task Force, she helps manage sustainable food production and collaborates with volunteers, staff, partners, and local organizations. She brings practical experience in agriculture and community engagement to the Milwaukee Food Council and is committed to supporting efforts that help make healthy food more accessible for all.
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Heidi Katte, MS, RDN, CD, FAND is an Instructor, Lead Faculty and Program Chair in the Nutrition and Dietetic Technician Program for Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC). Heidi is a master's prepared Registered Dietitian Nutritionist as well as WI State Certified Dietitian and Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She has over 15 years of experience as a faculty member at MATC. She has been working in food since in utero! As a farmer’s daughter, Heidi is passionate about food and nutrition and has been practicing in the field of nutrition and dietetics for over 30 years. She has collaborated with a variety of academic facets in the program planning, course development and implementation process within MATC and other higher education institutions. With support of the MATC Innovation Grant Initiative, she developed and maintains the Mobile Nutrition Classroom, a community-based nutrition education project. These experiences of teaching throughout the Milwaukee neighborhoods have led her to develop innovative ways to help teach food preparation techniques to a community where hunger related health disparities are evident. From 2021-2025, Heidi led the Urban Agriculture and Green Industry (UAGI) Initiative for MATC creating three interdepartmental microcredentials and organized the college’s Green City Pact Team and external Urban Agriculture and Green Industry Coalition meetings bringing like minded academics, community members and partners together to lift up healthy food access and future green jobs potential opportunities. She works with the MATC Sustainability Committee to bring groups together in an effort to improve the food related health disparity efforts and increase potential future green jobs in Milwaukee. As Heidi continues to work to extend her impact to nourish and heal Milwaukee from the inside out, she is eager to be a new member and an integral part of the Milwaukee Food Council Executive Board.
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Brandice Kirchner, MS is passionate about creating a more just and accessible food system in Milwaukee. Through her work in urban agriculture and food recovery, she connects surplus food with communities that need it most while building strong volunteer networks and community partnerships. Such partnerships are local and beyond. Recently receiving a Permaculture Design certificate from the Design School for Regenerating Earth, Brandice has connected globally on agricultural concepts and good food for all. With a background in environmental science, Brandice brings both practical experience and a deep commitment to sustainability, equity, and local food resilience.
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Patricia Wilson is a proud Community Health Worker (CHW) and serves the National Association of Community Health Worker as a CHW Ambassador and previously a Community Health Worker for NACHW/ASTRO Vaccine Equity Board where she helped reduced vaccine hesitancy in the states of Alabama & Georgia. Currently she works for Milwaukee County Organization Prevention Programs (MCOPP), as the Program Coordinator for the ACTion Movement Initiatives Grant and a consultant for Wisconsin Literacy collaborating with the Refugee and TANF Programs for a few hours a week. She serves as Wisconsin Public Health Association New Member Committee Co-Chair, Foundation of Black Women Wellness Ambassador, Feeding American Food Leaders Lab Alumni and Mason Temple Church of God in Christ Community Liaison. Patricia has dedicated her life to improving health of individuals, families, and the community. Food insecurity is the key to improving overall health. She has always worked with health services, whether she is working on care health systems, advocating for food justice, improving social determinants of health or empowering others to take control of their own health. Patricia the recipient of the 2025 American Cancer Society Kohl’s Healthy Families Community Health Worker Champion Award, 2025 CHW Wisconsin Gathering Legacy Award, 2022 Wisconsin Community Health Worker Bridging the Gap Award. 2022 Honorable Mention for the National Esther Holderby Award 2021 Community Health Workers Advocacy, and 2021 Wisconsin State Vaccine Healthcare HERO Award.