David Darr Joins Vanguard Renewables as Chief Sustainability Officer

Vanguard Renewables, a U.S. leader in farm-derived renewable natural gas, announces the recent appointment of David Darr as its Chief Sustainability Officer. Darr joins Vanguard Renewables from Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) in Kansas City, KS.

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David Darr, Chief Sustainability Officer | Photo: Vanguard Renewables

“For more than twenty years, David has worked to enhance sustainable and regenerative farming practices across the United States. At this time of expansive growth for Vanguard Renewables, it is a tremendous opportunity to bring David to our team,” said Neil H. Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Vanguard Renewables. “David’s knowledge, expertise, and energy will be instrumental in guiding our sustainability initiatives and solutions internally and for our farm and food industry partners.”

Before joining Vanguard Renewables, Mr. Darr served as Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at Dairy Farmers of America. Dairy Farmers of America is a farmer-owned cooperative with more than 12,500 members producing ingredients for cheese, butter, ice cream, fluid milk and more under well-known, quality national and regional brands.

Mr. Darr provided leadership and strategic direction for DFA, and many of its customers. He worked alongside farms to develop viable, sustainable, and cost-effective processes to enhance income streams and herd health and production. At Vanguard Renewables, Darr will work across all areas of the business to lead internal and partner sustainability initiatives to meet the needs that the climate crisis demands.

“I've been passionate about sustainability, food, and farming my whole life. Joining Vanguard is an opportunity to even more deeply ‘talk the talk and walk the walk’ expanding sustainable initiatives for agriculture and the food industry, and producing renewable energy,” Darr said. “Developing projects and establishing partnerships and relationships that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support local farmers and their communities is incredibly important at this moment in time.”

Mr. Darr holds both a BS and MS in Agricultural Economics from Ohio State University and an MBA from Rockhurst University. Darr assumed the role of Chief Sustainability Officer at Vanguard Renewables on January 4, 2022.

Please visit our media room for Mr. Darr’s photo. You can find the link below.

About Vanguard Renewables

Vanguard Renewables is a national leader in the development of food and dairy waste-to-renewable energy projects. The Company, based in Wellesley, Massachusetts, is committed to advancing decarbonization by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farms and food waste and supporting regenerative agriculture best practices on partner farms. Vanguard founded the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance alongside food industry leaders Dairy Farmers of America, Unilever, and Starbucks; the Alliance now includes Cabot Creamery, Stonyfield Organic, and Smithfield Foods. The Alliance commits to developing a circular solution for food waste reduction and recycling and decarbonization of manufacturing and the supply chain. Vanguard Renewables owns and operates six on-farm anaerobic digester facilities in the northeast and plans to expand to more than 100 sites nationwide by 2025. Vanguard’s established relationships and renewable natural gas offtake agreements with national utilities including Dominion Energy, Enbridge, ONE Gas, National Grid, and Eversource, and its strategic alliance with 12,500-dairy member cooperative Dairy Farmers of America, position the Company to significantly increase U.S. production and delivery of renewable natural gas to commercial and residential customers across the country. Vanguard is a 2020 Energy Vision Leadership Award recipient and its Farm Powered anaerobic digester at Goodrich Farm in Salisbury, Vermont earned the 2021 Outstanding Dairy Sustainability Award from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. Please visit https://vanguardrenewables.com/ to learn more.

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