Gary Oppenheimer has spent his life using technology to solve problems others overlook. A personal-computing pioneer who soldered his first computer in 1976 and demonstrated a prototype email system in 1977, he later became MCI Mail’s largest global sales agent and published the first electronic newsletter.

He brought that same systems-thinking to hunger and food waste when he founded AmpleHarvest.org in 2009. The award-winning nonprofit uses technology and AI to connect America’s 62 million home and community gardeners with nearby food pantries that can accept their surplus harvests. Today, its zero-logistics platform helps more than 8,500 pantries across all 50 states access locally grown fresh food without AmpleHarvest.org owning a single truck, warehouse, or refrigerator.

Gary is a World Food Prize nominee, CNN Hero, Points of Light Tribute recipient, Purpose Prize Fellow, two-time TEDx speaker, and nationally recognized authority on food waste and hunger solutions. His work has been supported by organizations including Google, USDA, Bonnie Plants, and faith and gardening networks nationwide.

His philosophy is simple: To do the impossible, you must first believe it isn’t.