‘Father of Environmental Justice’ to Speak at Commencement: Clark University

Clark University’s 2024 honorary degree recipients (clockwise from top left): Robert D. Bullard, Sean B. Carroll, Akiko Iwasaki, and Michel Nischan.

Michel Nischan is a four-time James Beard Award-winning chef with more than 40 years of leadership advocating for a more healthful, sustainable food system and championing the farm-to-table concept, even before it had a name. He is co-founder and executive chairman of Wholesome Wave, founder and CEO of Wholesome Crave, and founder and partner of the former Dressing Room Restaurant with the late actor Paul Newman.

In 2007, Mr. Nischan and former USDA Undersecretary of Agriculture Gus Schumacher co-founded Wholesome Wave, a national nonprofit established on the belief that choosing healthy food is a fundamental right for everyone, regardless of race, age, ethnicity, income, or location. He has regularly presented and testified in both houses of Congress, and was a White House guest during the Bush, Obama, and Biden administrations. He was also a stakeholder member of the Biden-Harris Transition team and was invited to participate in the White House Conference on Hunger, Health, and Nutrition. In 2019, Mr. Nischan founded Wholesome Crave, a plant-based food company that provides chef-crafted, plant-based soups to the corporate, higher education, and health care food-service sectors. A percentage of gross revenue sales directly supports Wholesome Wave’s groundbreaking work toward meaningful systems change.

A lifetime Ashoka fellow, Mr. Nischan serves on the board of the Jacques Pepin Foundation and is co-founder of the James Beard Chefs Boot Camps for Policy and Change. He was honored by the James Beard Foundation as the 2015 Humanitarian of The Year for his groundbreaking work with Wholesome Wave.

University Trustee Nancie Julian ’86 will present Mr. Nischan for the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

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