Lea Harvey

With a background that spans the environmental, higher education, governance, and policy spheres, Lea Harvey leads AFT’s diversified efforts to engage donors and partners committed to a sustainable future for agriculture in America. Across three decades, Lea has held fundraising and senior management roles in national nonprofit organizations and led an independent consultancy. She began her fundraising career at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations. After nearly eight years with WWF, she joined BoardSource, formerly the National Center for Nonprofit Boards, as Vice President for Development. She then spent nearly a decade as Vice President for Development and Corporate Secretary at Resources for the Future (RFF), an environmental policy research organization anchored in environmental economics. In 2017, Lea transitioned to Director of Strategic Initiatives for her beloved alma mater, Sweet Briar College, a liberal arts college for women, in the wake of an attempted closure. During her time at the college, she participated in re-establishing agricultural operations on campus while developing the institution’s public platform in agriculture. Lea is a native of the South Carolina Lowcountry who spent some of her earliest years on a soybean farm in Georgetown County. She, her wife, and their intrepid beagle/foxhound mix live in Northern Virginia.