Alesha Black

Alesha Miller is a nonresident fellow of the Global Food and Agriculture Program at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She currently advises a social impact technology startup and is an independent consultant and public speaker on food and agriculture. Most recently she was managing director of the Council’s Global Food and Agriculture Program, overseeing strategy, research, policy development, and team management.

During her time at the Council, she led research looking at key challenges and opportunities affecting the food system, including urbanization, the rise of global youth populations, water scarcity, and digital technology. Miller joined the Council from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where she held several roles. These principally included managing strategic partnerships with government and United Nations agencies and managing investments focused on improving agricultural markets in sub-Saharan Africa to support smallholder farmers. She also coled important activities to link programmatic investments in nutrition and agriculture, advocacy to increase global investment in food security, and coordinated the development of the inaugural gender and impact measurement strategies for the Agricultural Development program.

She has a bachelors from University of Arizona and a masters from Syracuse University.