Angel Veza is the Director of Innovation at ReFED, where she leads efforts to scale solutions that combat climate change by tackling one of its largest drivers: food waste. She oversees the ReFED Catalytic Grant Fund, a pooled funding vehicle designed to help organizations overcome system-level barriers, de-risk innovation, and unlock follow-on capital from traditional funders.

Angel began her career in education, teaching underserved communities for seven years before earning her Grand Diplôme from the French Culinary Institute. She then worked in several of New York City’s top restaurants, including Morimoto and the two Michelin-starred Atera, as well as with foodservice companies like Compass Group. Witnessing the scale of food waste in the hospitality industry, she pivoted her career to work with the food waste team at World Wildlife Fund. Building on this experience, she worked in supply chain and led strategic sourcing and procurement efforts focused on food waste reduction at Manhattan Restaurant, part of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group in New York City.