Natalie Lewis

Natalie Lewis is the current Chief Operating Officer at KC Scholars. Prior to their current position, Natalie served as a Systems Advisor/Sector Liaison at Chef Collective KC from April 2020 to September 2020. Chef Collective KC is a collaboration between chefs, food industry and non-profit partners and a community of growers working together to preserve the food system through a centralized and optimized approach to the growing, production and distribution of food through local food systems. This approach allows small scale growers, distributors and restaurants to have the scale of purchasing powering and distribution channels that will allow them to be sustainable post-crisis.

Before their role at Chef Collective, Natalie was a National Fellow at Flamboyan Foundation from September 2016 to March 2018. In this role, they worked to generate a robust workforce of related professionals for the greater Kansas City region.

Natalie has also served on the board of advisors for the KC STEM Alliance from February 2017 to February 2020. The KC STEM Alliance is a not-for-profit collaborative network of educators, businesses and related organizations working to inspire interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

Natalie Lewis has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a MBA in Marketing from the Texas McCombs School of Business, and a semester abroad studying entrepreneurship at the Manchester Business School. Natalie also has a High School Diploma in engineering from the High School for Engineering Professions.

Natalie Lewis reports to Earl Martin Phalen, President and CEO. They are on a team with Angie Besendorfer - Executive Vice President, Samantha DeVilbiss - Director of Programs, and Sharmelle Winsett - Director of Workforce.