Deb Bentzel, Senior Program Officer of the Regional Foundation, is an experienced nonprofit leader committed to creating systems change through collaboration with the goals of building people power and advancing equity.

Deb most recently supported the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations in their Member Services department, working with community development corporations and allied organizations from across the city. Before her time with PACDC, Deb spent 15 years in non-profit program development and management, including 7 years with The Food Trust as Associate Director of Community Food Systems where her work focused on equitable food and farming policies and practices on the local, state, and federal levels. 

Deb also worked in food systems and public health sectors at Fair Food Philadelphia, Harvard University, and the Veterans Administration in Boston. While Deb has a long career in the non-profit and academic sectors, she is also a trained baker, and has worked in several Philadelphia bakeries, crafting pastries and bread. 

 Deb supports mutual aid and community organizing efforts in West Philadelphia, where she lives. She soaks up time with her nieces and nephews, gardens her little front yard, runs the occasional road race, develops sweet recipes, and is a voracious reader of books.

She earned her BS in Biology from the College of William and Mary and her MPH from Boston University.