Panelists Bio -

Emily Honer is the Director of Nutrition Program Services for the Minnesota Department of Education. The division administers the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Child Nutrition Programs as well as the state of Minnesota Free School Meals Program and Minnesota Kindergarten Milk Program. These programs promote the health and well-being of children and help fight hunger and obesity.

Emily served as the Supervisor of Business Operations and Support Services as well as the Assistant Director within the division. Prior to her time at MDE, Emily has managed financial and program compliance with county health and nutrition programs, tribal health and wellness operations, and senior living business operations in the private sector. She has a bachelor’s degree in service management with a minor in human development and family studies, and a master’s in business administration with a focus on healthcare administration.

William McNally's passion for community, hunger issues, and his background in logistics led him to found Harvest Pack. His mission is to ensure fair distribution of food globally and locally, driven by facts and his hands-on experiences. William has lived and worked in Mexico, traveled to Belize to support education and livelihoods, and visited rural Philippines, Native reservations, and food shelves in the U.S., learning firsthand about food assistance. He holds a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Northwest Christian University, a pilot’s license, and serves on his local Rotary Board. In his free time, he enjoys biking, tennis, and coaching his kids in baseball.

When Rob learned in 2010 that kids were taking extra food at school on Fridays so that they could eat over the weekend, fighting child hunger became Rob’s mission. As the founder of Every Meal, Rob has led the organization since it first began operating in 2010. He has overseen the growth of Every Meal, leading the organization's expansion from a one-school program in 2013 into a widespread network of food programs throughout Minnesota.

Rob is passionate about leveraging logistics and operational excellence to solve community challenges. He believes that child hunger isn’t a supply problem, but rather a distribution problem. In other words, enough food exists in our community, but that food is not always in the right place at the right time. Every Meal seeks to fight child hunger through a strong logistics network that gets food into the homes of kids who need it.

Prior to Every Meal, Rob worked with multiple Minnesota-based Fortune-500 companies to improve their global supply chain. Rob and his wife, Claire (a Memphis gal who has fallen in love with Minnesota), have been married since January 2008. They live with their son Amos and daughter Mabel in Arden Hills.