OUR TEAM
Our team of seasoned supply chain, agriculture, trade, and development experts is dedicated to supporting the businesses and communities that depend on natural ingredients. Having worked in government, nonprofits, international organizations, and multinational corporations, we understand diverse stakeholder perspectives and know how to quickly find critical points of alignment.
We have experience building efficient and effective partnerships through our vast Network in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The PNI Network includes more than 400 food and cosmetic brands, ingredient suppliers, processors, exporters, governmental agencies, public and private donors, research institutions, consultancies, and nonprofit organizations.
Joseph Funt, Lead, Multi-Stakeholder Strategy, has 17 years of experience establishing unique public private partnerships that promote trade, sustainable production, and poverty alleviation. Mr. Funt launched Partnership for Natural Ingredients in 2019 and has developed commercial sustainability programs and large-scale supply chain initiatives that produce, process, and export beeswax, cashew, fonio, honey, palm, and shea from West Africa. He previously served as managing director of the Global Shea Alliance where he raised more than $30M USD for the association’s sustainability and promotion initiatives and established partnerships with over 100 public and private institutions such as AAK, The Body Shop, Bunge Loders Croklaan, Burt’s Bees, EOS, FAO, Fuji Oil, Ferrero Rocher, Jergens, L’Occitane en Provence, UNDP, and USAID. He successfully launched and implemented public private partnerships to support 250,000 women shea processors with warehouses, processing centers, equipment, and trainings in 7 African countries by aligning the interests and resources of multinationals, civil society, and international donors. Mr. Funt studied economics at the University of Michigan and London School of Economics and speaks English and French. He is based in Maryland.
Raymond Major, Advisor, Company Engagements, has more than 42 years of experience in the chocolate and confectionery industry where he held a variety of positions in manufacturing, crop research, product development, procurement and sustainability. For six years, Mr. Major ran Hershey’s manufacturing operations in Brazil and for ten years he traveled the world searching out fine cocoas for Hershey’s Artisan Brands, Scharffen Berger and Dagoba. In 2010 he was made a Hershey Fellow in recognition of his long service to the cocoa industry. His last responsibility for Hershey was managing their global sustainability programs and their crop research program in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. He was also Hershey’s representative on various partnership platforms such as the Ghana Fine Flavor Project, Cocoa Livelihoods, ECHOES, the African Cocoa Initiative, CocoaAction and Cacao Mexico. His experience in cocoa production, chocolate making, tropical agriculture and partnership building spans five continents. He speaks English and Portuguese. He is based in Pennsylvania.
John Pacheco, Advisor, International Trade and Development, has 16 years of experience developing and implementing trade initiatives in the public and private sectors. He most recently served at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) under the Trump and Obama Administrations, where he led technical barriers to trade negotiations with the EU and spearheaded USTR’s engagement on regulatory and standards issues in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Central America. Previously, Mr. Pacheco was Managing Director of Crowell & Moring International, an international trade policy consultancy, where he worked on behalf of governments, trade associations, and businesses in the food, agricultural chemicals, textile, fast- moving consumer goods, building materials, and mining industries. Mr. Pacheco has worked extensively with the OAS, USAID, GIZ, DFID, Global Affairs Canada, and the WEF, to create innovative public-private partnerships to advance trade and development goals. Mr. Pacheco has a Master of International Public Policy degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees from Northwestern University. He speaks English and Spanish. He is based in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Christof Walter, Advisor, Supply Chain Initiatives, has over 15 years of experience working with multinational consumer goods companies on sustainable sourcing strategies, certification and agri-standards, supply chain development, and inclusion of smallholder farmers in commercial supply chains. Dr. Walter started his career at Unilever, where he worked on sustainable agriculture projects worldwide. He developed the company’s industry-leading smallholder farmer engagement strategy and managed a CEO-level collaborative project between Unilever and Oxfam to connect 100,000 smallholders to commercial supply chains. Following Unilever, Mr. Walter has worked on smallholder supply chain strategies and projects for more than 25 crops including coffee, tea, palm, cotton, coconut, mango, and tomatoes. He has worked with food companies like SAB Miller, Kellogg’s, Unilever, and Marks & Spencer, investors and Development Finance Institutions, including KfW, EBRD, Deutsche Bank, and Afrexim Bank, and NGOs and non-profits, including Sustainable Food Lab, Utz Certified, Solidaridad, Cotton Connect, COELACP and the International Trade Center. He speaks English, German, and Spanish. Dr. Walter has studied agronomy, economics and ecology, and has a PhD in horticultural sciences. He is based in Osnabrück, Germany.