C.J. has served as the Executive Director of FORGE since February 2018, after having joined the staff in 2015 as the Central Arkansas Regional Director. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, C.J. has been an entrepreneur from a young age, starting several successful businesses while still in high school. An alumnus of Hendrix College, C.J. holds a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge and a doctorate of philosophy from Vanderbilt University. After graduate studies, C.J. returned to Arkansas to help found the Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative, a project of Heifer USA that helps sustainable livestock farmers across the state build a food system that is economically viable, environmentally sustainable, and socially just. Along with his wife, Jessica, and their two kids, C.J. also runs a grass-fed cattle operation on their farm in the Ozark Mountains.
Biography
C.J. has served as the Executive Director of FORGE since February 2018, after having joined the staff in 2015 as the Central Arkansas Regional Director. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, C.J. has been an entrepreneur from a young age, starting several successful businesses while still in high school. An alumnus of Hendrix College, C.J. holds a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge and a doctorate of philosophy from Vanderbilt University. After graduate studies, C.J. returned to Arkansas to help found the Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative, a project of Heifer USA that helps sustainable livestock farmers across the state build a food system that is economically viable, environmentally sustainable, and socially just. Along with his wife, Jessica, and their two kids, C.J. also runs a grass-fed cattle operation on their farm in the Ozark Mountains.