This fall, KK&P welcomed three new research assistants to the company. These research assistants are vital to our work, helping us to develop detailed and robust qualitative and quantitative research in support of our projects. 

Please join us in welcoming Maxwell Bernstein, Morgan Pierce, and Brian De Corte.

Maxwell Bernstein

Max is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in Urban Planning at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at NYU. There, he is studying the political, social, and physical forces which shape urban and regional food networks, the policy levers available to local governments to advance equity within these systems, and the impacts these interventions have on the ways city dwellers eat and work.

In his time at Wagner, Max has interned at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, performed research at the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy, and just finished a year as an intern and fellow with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Operations. At KK&P, Max will be supporting research and planning on NYC’s Good Food Purchasing Program, as well as collective purchasing efforts by the consortium of NYC food pantries that KK&P has been facilitating since 2018.  

Prior to returning to school, Max spent eight years as a cook, bread baker, and business operations manager at independently-owned restaurants and bakeries in both Seattle and New York. When not working or schooling, Max is most likely eating, cooking, or talking about doing so, or might be spotted biking somewhere to do those same things. 

Morgan Pierce

Morgan’s work in food systems focuses on helping multi-national consumer brands reach their environmental goals by improving the supply chain and product development process. Her passion for sustainable food systems stems from her family’s background in subsistence farming in rural North Carolina. She believes that creating equitable solutions for people to access good and nourishing food opens the door for endless opportunities for betterment.

At KK&P, she will support KK&P’s senior consultants on a range of projects, with a focus on qualitative research and stakeholder engagement.

Prior to joining KK&P, Morgan served as a fellow for the James Beard Foundation. While there, she worked with some of the nation’s best culinary professionals to create delicious, diverse, and sustainable food. She was also named a Climate Corps Fellow for the Environmental Defense Fund, where she worked with McDonald’s on their Scale For Good program. Morgan earned a B.A. from Spelman College and went on to receive her Master’s from Yale School of the Environment, where she now serves on the alumni board.

Brian De Corte

Brian is a food systems planner who is passionate about improving human and ecological well-being within the food system. Outside his work with KK&P, he has his own consulting business targeted to agricultural businesses and nonprofits with a focus on business planning, organizational development, and organics recycling.

Brian’s food system work experience includes time as a farmhand, managing a composting operation, and authoring a sustainable packaging policy for a natural foods brand. Prior to KK&P, Brian performed a food system assessment for Delta County, Colorado as a consultant for the ENGAGE Initiative. The project involved creating a framework to assess county-wide agricultural production and required extensive interviews with producers and market analysis to identify areas of opportunity. In addition, he recently completed a one-year fellowship at Mad Agriculture, a farm planning nonprofit, where he created an Ecological Health Assessment framework and secured USDA grant funding to support the organization’s regenerative farm planning program. 

At KK&P, Brian will conduct qualitative and quantitative research focusing on regional agriculture and food systems planning.

Brian holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Food Systems from the University of Colorado. 

Outside of work, he can be found hiking in the Colorado mountains, playing tennis, or growing heritage wheat varieties in his garden.