About
Megan Klein's passion for local food and a personal belief she shares with Gandhi to "be the change" fuels her exceptional commitment to making local produce available to more people. Having always been an environmentalist at heart, Klein’s current role as President of Here evolved from an increasing concern about the environment and the food we eat. Her focus at Here - a company that launched a line of clean label retail products - is working to increase access to local produce 365 days a year.
Born and raised in the Midwest, Klein received her bachelor's degree in English from Boston College in 2001 and a juris doctorate degree from Fordham University School of Law in 2006. After three years working as a full-time attorney on energy and litigation cases in NYC, Klein traded her job at Chadbourne & Parke for a green thumb. By 2009, Klein volunteer farmed a rooftop garden in Fort Greene, Brooklyn and began a rigorous study on the difficulty of eating local on a daily basis. From 2009 to 2011, she worked for Earthjustice advocating to reduce the dangerous impact that emissions plants and factory farming practices have on our environment.
In 2011, her love of local and sustainable food led her back to the Midwest where she began working in the local food industry. Klein has been actively involved with organizations like Growing Power and the Chicago Food Policy Action Council and served as a member of Chicago Food Policy Action Board from 2011 to 2015. During that time, she was also sponsored by The Walton Family Foundation to Food Safety Modernization Act comments on behalf of the urban farming and aquaponics industries, a process that put her at the forefront of indoor farming and urban food safety. From 2014 to 2017, Klein worked for FarmedHere — once the nation’s largest vertical farm — where she worked to increase local food access and helped to create farming jobs for city residents including graduates of Windy City Harvest and Growing Home.
Klein has served on several boards including Chicago Food Policy Action Council, Board member (2011-2015); Illinois Environment Council Associate Board (2012-2015); Chicago Bar Association Food Law Committee Chair (2014-2015), Women in Green member (2011-present), and Committee Chair for the Network of Executive Women (2017 to present).
When she’s not tending to her rooftop garden in Chicago or eating, she enjoys a good cocktail, podcasts, daily meditation and getting her culture fix at Lookingglass Theatre. She lives with her 10 year old rescue dog Biggie Smalls in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood.
Videos (1)
President Megan Klein On The Importance Of Innovating Locally
