Biography

Arlin is the founder and principal of Changing Tastes, a consultancy he founded in 2003 that works with food and agriculture companies, private foundations and government agencies to realize new opportunities at the intersection of sustainability, public health and demographics. He has advised Fortune 100 and growth stagefood companies, the US and European Union governments, and some of the 25 largest private philanthropies in the U.S and Canada. Arlin also is a fellow at the Aspen Institute, chairs the Sustainability Business Leadership Council at the Culinary Institute of America, and serves as a judge for theJames Beard Foundation Leadership Awards as well as the board of the Sustainable Food Lab. He is also a past member of the Society for Organizational Learning Board of Advisors and is a founding member of the GreenBiz Executive Network. He previously served as an advisor on community food and economic development issues to the United States Department of Agriculture, state agencies in the Midwest, and several of the nation’s largest private foundations. Arlin also has spoken before the European Union Parliament on industry and consumer trends in the U.S. food system and world trade negotiations. Arlin also is a past recipient of a national Food and Society Policy Fellowship, funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. From 2007 until 2012, Arlin served as Vice President of Sustainability at Sodexo, the world's leading institutional food service provider, developing and implementing the company’s first sustainability strategy and in 2008, Arlin was appointed to Sodexo’s North American Executive Committee. In 2003, he was appointed to the State of Michigan’s Cardiovascular Health and Active Living by Design task forces, working to improve public health through better public policy on land use and community design. In 1996, he served on that state’s Pollution Prevention Strategy and Implementation Committee. In the 1990s and prior to receiving the Food and Society Policy fellowship, Arlin served as the founding President and Policy Director for the Michigan Land Use Institute,where he directed programs on land use, transportation, agriculture, and sustainable economic development. Arlin holds a Masters of Science in Natural Resources and a Masters of Public Health, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economics, all from the University of Michigan.