2025 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit

Ben Kuethe Oaks is the VP & GM, Retail at Divert, Inc., a circular economy company on a mission to prevent food from being wasted through nationwide infrastructure and innovative technologies. He has spent the greater part of his life immersed in our food system at a national, regional, and local level, working on some of the first commercial food waste diversion projects in the Northeast and holding advisory and mentorship positions with Slow Food Seacoast and MIT Solve. Over the past decade, Ben has played an instrumental role in helping to build and scale Divert’s business, preventing over three billion pounds of unsold food from going to the landfill and serving over 7,500 customer locations across the country. Ben is an industry thought leader on wasted food and climate issues, having spoken on the TEDx stage and received numerous accolades, including the Progressive Grocer GenNext Award and the Shelby Report Emerging Leaders Award.