HFS is delighted to welcome Kristen Johnson to our Board of Directors! Kristen is an attorney and the Chief Operating Officer of Food Forward, a non-profit agency that recovers produce and donates it to hunger relief agencies. She was elected to a 3-year term on the board of HFS, an institute of the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese, at the annual Diocese convention in November 2025. Kristen and her husband Jay attend Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glendale.
Kristen grew up on a small ranch in the mountains between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Growing up working, hiking, skiing, camping, and playing under the endless New Mexico sky, Kristen developed a deep respect for nature and sustainability. She left New Mexico to attend Northwestern University and quickly realized her love of the outdoors was no match for Chicago’s winters. Kristen and her husband moved to Los Angeles, where she earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. After graduating, Kristen decided to follow her heart and put her legal education to work in the nonprofit world. She was part of a visionary team that founded an independent school with a mission to develop ethical leaders and provide an excellent education to students from diverse backgrounds.
Kristen lives in the Hollywood Dell with her husband, Jay, and their menagerie of rescue animals. When she is not recovering food or rescuing animals, Kristen enjoys running slow marathons, building wobbly furniture as an amateur woodworker, water and snow skiing, and gardening.
