Karen Lehman is the director of Fresh Taste, a funder collaborative formed to advance the growth of diverse local agriculture and healthy eating in Chicago and across Illinois. Fresh Taste partners are committed to changing the manner in which food is produced, distributed, and consumed in Illinois.

Lehman's food system work spans three decades, beginning with an award-winning PBS documentary on women's leadership in farm movements. She directed both the Local Food and Regional Economy programs at The Minnesota Project, co-founded the Youth Farm and Market Project in Minnesota and directed the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Food and Agriculture Program. Lehman also held an endowed chair in agricultural systems at the University of Minnesota, consulted with the Ford Foundation in Mexico and received a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government as a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow. Prior to leading Fresh Taste, she was a Senior Associate with Cambridge Leadership Associates, a consulting practice founded by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky.