More Than Groceries: The H-E-B Story

 

 

 

Lisa Helfman is the Managing Director of Public Affairs – Greater Houston Region for H-E-B Grocery Company.  Prior to joining H-E-B in 2014, Lisa served as Director of Real Estate Services at Texas Children’s Hospital and as an Attorney at Vinson & Elkins.

 

In the fall of 2011, Lisa and her family took part in a weekly fruit and vegetable co-op, and she watched her children’s eating habits transform.  So much so that Drew rejected a piece of cake at a birthday party for being too sweet, asking instead for fresh fruit.

 

She was inspired to replicate this type of positive change in underserved communities where obesity was high and access to fresh produce was low.  Lisa’s vision was to bring a produce co-op to schools in these neighborhoods that included an educational component while also making it fun. In partnership with Dr. Shreela Sharma at the University of Texas School of Public Health, they launched Brighter Bites in 2012.  Fourteen years later, Brighter Bites has delivered over 90,000,000 pounds of fresh produce and 100,000s of education materials to more than 1M individuals (including teachers!) in twelve cities across the nation.

 

Lisa has received many awards for her work with Brighter Bites, among them: the Humanitarian of the Year from the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, Newcomb College at Tulane Community Service Alumni of the Year, Kinkaid Alumna of the Year and Business Insider named her to their list of top 100 Coolest People in Food and Drink.  In addition to being on the Board of Brighter Bites, Lisa also serves on the Boards of The Kinkaid School, City of Houston Civic Events and Buffalo Bayou Partnership.  Lisa received her JD Magna Cum Laude from the University of Houston Law Center and her BA Cum Laude from Tulane University.