Leadership, Staff and Students

Shaun Kennedy, Director of the Center
Amy Kircher, DrPH, Associate Director
Francis F. Busta, PhD, Director Emeritus and Senior Science Advisor

NCFPD Staff and Students

Scott Asbach Research Assistant asba0007@umn.edu Scott Asbach is a graduate research assistant working to further develop and update the Food and Agriculture Readiness Measurement (FARM) tool for the DHS Office of Health Affairs. 
Tim Boyer Epidemiologist boye0087@umn.edu Tim works on projects relating to introduction of foreign animal diseases into U.S. livestock populations in collaboration with the USDA Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health (CEAH).
Lisa Brienzo Sr. Project Manager brien002@umn.edu Lisa oversees the Center's funded projects, as well as working groups like the Industry Working Group (IWG), External Board of Advisors (EBA) and the Research Evaluation and Advisory Panel (REAP). She helps support and develop theme leadership, DHS compliance requirements, and manages the Center's RFP process.
Lisa Brower Training Coordinator lbrower@foodshield.org Lisa oversees the training and education components of the Center's projects, including the design and development of live online training, eLearning, and support documentation.
Ann Cary Finance Manager rober087@umn.edu Ann manages the Center’s finances, ensures fiscal compliance for the Center’s projects, prepares financial reports and facilitates grant submissions.
Elizabeth Cunningham Communications Manager cunning@umn.edu Elizabeth manages internal (partner and collaborator) and external (stakeholder and customer) communications for the Center, including the public website, newsletter and media requests.
Karen Everstine Fellow ever0152@umn.edu Karen is a Ph.D. student with a Career Development Grant from the Department of Homeland Security.  She works on projects involving economically-motivated adulteration of food products and supply chain modeling.
Crystal Fernandez Administrative Specialist ferna193@umn.edu Crystal assists in administrative tasks for the office, including meeting scheduling and general office support. To schedule Shaun Kennedy, contact Crystal.
John Hoffman Sr. Research Fellow hoffm584@umn.edu John is a retired military officer with extensive anti-terrorism and infrastructure protection background.  He is a resource on critical infrastructure, bio-defense and risks and vulnerabilities related to the food supply chain defense. He provides Homeland Security expertise in the risk assessment,  protection and recovery of critical food supply chain components.
Andrew Huff Post-Graduate Student huffx058@umn.edu Andrew is an Army infantry OIF and OEF veteran with real world anti-terrorism experience. He is currently conducting scientific research to create empirically based methods of systems and consequences based risk assessment to protect the food system from unintentional food contamination as well as intentional cyber, chemical, or biological threats to the food supply.
Patty Hunter Federal IT Liaison pahunter@umn.edu Patty oversees the Center’s information technology projects, collaborating with federal stakeholders on their ongoing IT needs and priorities, and translating those needs into system requirements that the technical team can understand and address.
Brittany Mader Sr. Accountant mader027@umn.edu Brittany assists Ann in handling Center finances, helps assure compliance with sponsors, and gathers financial data for Center decision-making.
Kendra McCormack Project Support Assistant mccor145@umn.edu Kendra assists with Center of Excellence and Special project and program support, including communications, reporting, meeting planning and webinars.
Jennifer Pierquet FoodSHIELD Coordinator jpierquet@foodshield.org Jenny is the main contact for membership and other inquires about FoodSHIELD. She manages the CoreSHIELD Internal Advisory Committee which meets monthly to review and discuss projects.
Gale Prince Food System Analyst gprince@umn.edu Gale is retired from The Kroger Co. with 44 years of food safety experiences covering all segments of the food industry. He brings to the center knowledge of the food distribution system that is an asset in the food defense. He provides expertise in unintentional and intentional contamination of the food supply including economic adulteration.
Jenni Sullivan Administration Manager jsulliva@umn.edu Jenni Sullivan manages administrative staff and oversees the administration and day-to-day operations of the office, as well as managing future staffing and space needs. She also handles any Center related HR needs.