Rebecca Chesney works with organizations to redesign the food system. A food anthropologist, foresight expert, and systems thinker, Rebecca brings over a decade of research and industry insight to help leaders identify better solutions for people, the planet, and their businesses.

Before joining IDEO in 2018, Rebecca was a Research Director with the Food Futures Lab at Institute for the Future (IFTF), where she led foresight consulting projects for the agriculture and food and beverage industries. Rebecca has also been a financial management policy analyst with The World Bank and a research assistant at University College Dublin. She was one of ten graduates selected from across the United States for the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s 2007 fellowship, and that same year was awarded Texas A&M University’s Earl Rudder Memorial Outstanding Student among 11,000 graduates.

Rebecca has lived and worked across the globe, from China to Palestine to Lesotho. She holds degrees in accounting and finance from Texas A&M University and an MA in the Anthropology of Food from SOAS, University of London.