Liam Brody Joining Sustainable Harvest as President in 2017

David Griswold at the opening of Let’s Talk Coffee 2016 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. LTC Instagram photo.

Green coffee importer Sustainable Harvest has announced the hire of Liam Brody as president, effective in the new year. Brody will work alongside Sustainable Harvest founder and current president David Griswold.

Brody has been a key member of the executive team at the impact lending NGO Root Capital for more than seven years, currently serving as senior vice president.

Here’s more directly from Sustainable Harvest, which is currently hosting its annual Let’s Talk Coffee event, taking place in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico:

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, October 13, 2016 – Sustainable Harvest, one of the world’s leading specialty coffee importers and a pioneering B Corporation, is proud to announce that Liam Brody has been named as its new President, effective January 1, 2017. As President, Liam will oversee the company’s strategy, partnerships, and business development. He will join David Griswold, Sustainable Harvest’s Founder, to lead the company at a time when the coffee industry, and particularly coffee farmers, face unprecedented challenges.

“Liam is a proven leader with decades of experience tackling some of the coffee world’s most daunting problems,” said David Griswold. “His experience building one of the most successful impact investing firms will strengthen our position as a social enterprise, and the value we can generate for our customers and suppliers. I am confident that his grit, kindness, and business savvy will help our company and all of our supply chain partners achieve a brighter, more prosperous future.”

Liam leaves his position as Senior Vice President for Root Capital, a trailblazer in impact investing. Since its founding in 1999, Root Capital has disbursed over $1 billion in credit, unlocking more than $6 billion in revenue for over 600 rural businesses—80 percent of which has been paid directly to 1.2 million marginalized farm families across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He draws on 20 years of experience growing peace, prosperity, and a more just world through social enterprise, impact investing, and market-based solutions to poverty. Prior to Root Capital, Liam was director of sustainable coffee for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (now Keurig). He also worked as a program manager, campaign director, and private sector adviser for the humanitarian organization Oxfam.

“Sustainable Harvest has played a catalytic role in transforming the way business is done in the coffee industry,” said incoming Sustainable Harvest President Liam Brody. “I’m deeply honored to take the reins of one of the true pioneers in sustainable business. Collaborating with farmers, roasters, and other allies, we will find ways to more efficiently and effectively grow value and our collective impact.”

“When Liam came to Root Capital we were only impacting tens of thousands of farm families each year—today that number is well over a million. As the longest serving member of our executive team, Liam’s leadership has been critical to this growth and impact,” said Root Capital founder and CEO, Willy Foote. “Liam will be greatly missed, but we couldn’t be happier for him and Sustainable Harvest.”