Our Leaders

Kari Jorgensen Diener brings more than 25 years of experience leading mission-driven, community-centered organizations with a focus on humanitarian response, food security, and building stronger, more resilient communities. Her deep commitment to service and her track record of visionary, collaborative leadership make her the right person to lead the Food Bank in this moment—and into the future.

Most recently, Kari has served as Executive Director of the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative, where she leads a global network of more than 400 organizations dedicated to improving the lives of refugees through effective policy, research, and practice. Though her work has taken her across the globe, Kari lives here in the Shenandoah Valley and is actively engaged in our local community. She serves as Chair of the Board of Gift and Thrift in Harrisonburg and volunteers as a mentor to refugee families supported by Church World Service.

Prior to her work with RSRI, Kari held senior leadership roles with international nonprofits, including Mercy Corps and Global Communities. While with Mercy Corps in Jordan, she oversaw a $90 million portfolio of humanitarian and development programs, many focused on food security and supporting vulnerable families.

Kari holds a B.A. in Political Science from Bates College and an M.A. in Arab Studies with a certificate in Refugee and Humanitarian Emergencies from Georgetown University, where she is also an affiliated Scholar at the Institute for the Study of International Migration. She is fluent in Arabic and conversant in Turkish.

Outside of work, Kari enjoys playing oboe with the Eastern Mennonite University community orchestra and cheering on her sons at baseball games around the Valley.

Karen Ratzlaff joined the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank team in July 2013 to lead its fundraising and communication team, and to share with donors, volunteers and friends the face of hunger in our community.

Previously, Karen served as Director of Development at Hospice of the Piedmont from 2007 to 2013, working with donors and friends to create an endowment for Hospice House and growing sources of revenue to ensure that quality end-of-life and grief services are available to all. Before that, Karen worked for more than 13 years at the University of Virginia School of Nursing.

She has also worked as a private fundraising and alumni engagement consultant.

Karen graduated from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg and earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Virginia in 2008. She resides in Charlottesville with her husband.

Linda Baker joined the Food Bank in July 2017, bringing extensive experience in nonprofit and for-profit financial management.

After several years in public accounting with national and regional firms, Linda spent time as the controller of a national distributor of early childhood educational materials and equipment. From there, she began a 23+ year career as the business and financial officer at three different independent boarding and day schools in the Southeast, where she was intimately involved with, among other things, technology, gift accounting, and endowment investment and management.

Her experience as a leader in independent schools led to her 2008 peer selection to serve a six-year term on the Board of MISBO, which stands for Mid-South Independent Schools Business Officers. MISBO is a regional association of independent school operations leaders from 18 states that provides professional development and operational support through its purchasing consortium.

Linda is a CPA and a member of the American Institute of CPAs with a BBA and an MBA from the University of Georgia. She and her husband and daughter reside in Staunton, Virginia.

Leanne Vigliano joined the Food Bank in March of 2019, bringing with her more than 20 years of human resources experience in the nonprofit sector.

Prior to joining the Food Bank, Leanne served 17 years as HR Director for the National Society DAR and the Center for Resource Economics/Island Press. In her previous positions, she was responsible for administering human resource programs and best practices including the areas of employee engagement, classification and compensation, recruitment and retention, performance and evaluation, training and employee relations. She also oversaw the administration of benefit offerings including health, retirement, workers’ compensation, flexible benefits, life insurance, EAP and wellness programs.

Leanne has a Bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a Master’s degree from Central Michigan University. She is both SHRM-SCP and SPHR certified.

Tyler Herman serves as the Senior Director of Impact and Innovation at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, where he leads efforts to deepen the organization’s reach and effectiveness in communities across the region. Since stepping into the role in July 2024, he has grown to provide leadership and oversight for the Food Bank’s health initiatives, partner network expansion and capacity-building, benefits outreach, and evaluation, research, and planning functions.

Tyler began his tenure with the Food Bank in 2009 as Grants Manager and has since held a variety of roles spanning children’s programs, mobile pantry initiatives, and partner engagement. Most recently, he served as Director of Partner Engagement, where he helped shape the evolution of the Food Bank’s partner network and led the refinement of the Partner Impact and Innovation Grants process, resulting in more than $5.5 million in funding distributed to support community-based food access solutions.

Tyler holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Development with a minor in Agriculture and Rural Extension from the University of Guelph and a postgraduate diploma in International Project Management from Humber Business School.

He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife and two children. Outside of work, Tyler enjoys connecting with nature and is an avid begonia hybridizer and conservationist, cross-breeding new cultivars from begonia species collected around the world.

Dave Kraft brings 30 years of broadline food service distribution experience to his role as Chief Operating Officer at Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. He joined the organization in April 2023 where he oversees operations, including food sourcing and acquisition, warehousing, transportation, and logistics for all four of the Food Bank branches.

Before joining the Food Bank, Dave served as President for Sysco Virginia in Harrisonburg for 10 years, where he was responsible for all areas of operations including warehouse, transportation, facility maintenance, safety, merchandising, sales, and finance. During his tenure as President, Sysco Virginia received numerous awards for Safety and Operational excellence, including VPP Star site safety certification and Sysco Wall of Fame status for Operational Excellence. Prior to his tenure as President, Dave worked in various executive and sales management positions in several Sysco locations throughout the U.S., including Salt Lake City, Denver, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Virginia.

Dave received his Bachelor of Science – Business degree from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Shenandoah Valley Wrestling Club Non-Profit and previously served as an Advisory Board Member for JMU Hart School of Hospitality.

Dave currently resides in Harrisonburg with his wife Denise and his sons Cullen and Camden.