Friends of Feeding Matters,

As the new chief executive officer of Feeding Matters, I am honored, proud, and eager to step into this role and serve our professionals and families with passion and integrity.

With a few years shy of a decade with the organization, I have worked closely with our Founder and Emeritus Board Member, Shannon Goldwater, and former CEO, Chris Linn, two women I deeply admire. Both courageous women have helped me grow as a professional and have made me realize my life’s work is with Feeding Matters. I am grateful for their continued support of me and the organization they built.

During my tenure with Feeding Matters, I have held several positions that have enabled me to better understand how truly impactful our mission is and equipped me with the skills and knowledge to further transform Feeding Matters. And with that, I wanted to share a bit about myself.

My career mission statement is to lead with empathy, integrity, and service to influence systems and impact vulnerable and underserved populations. I could not think of a better way to do that than committing myself to advocating for children with pediatric feeding disorder (PFD). In 2013, I fell in love with the mission of Feeding Matters and am excited to see our vision of creating a world in which children with pediatric feeding disorder thrive, realized. I used to think that “changing the world” happened by impacting one person at a time. That is still certainly a true and noble cause, but I realized early in my career that I am good at thinking about and creating systems and that I could use that strength to impact millions of children through policy changes and partnerships. Feeding Matters does just that. We look at what is needed from an Education, Advocacy, Research, and Support perspective to ensure that all children who have PFD are identified and treated early and their families are supported and respected.

At Feeding Matters, we have the team motto of striving for “anything but ordinary,” a credo that guides us when we support our families going through such emotional experiences and helps us to celebrate milestones with them along the way. That motto is our north star as we focus on providing the latest evidence-based information and building community through our international conference. It is the reason we aggressively execute our advocacy agenda to ensure we advance the field of pediatric feeding disorder so all children with PFD thrive.

With all the uncertainty right now, Feeding Matters has remained a stable, certain place for families to find support and professionals to find community. We are used to adapting, being nimble, and most of all, staying committed to our work.

Thank you for your partnership and support over the years. We are excited about this next phase of our organization. With your support, we will succeed in creating a world where all children with PFD thrive.

In gratitude,

Jaclyn Pederson, MHI
Chief Executive Officer