The Greater Lansing Food Bank has a new leader. Cara Gabris, a Muskegon native and Michigan State University alumna, will take over as chief executive officer on Oct. 5, the organization announced Thursday, Aug. 20.

Gabris replaces retiring CEO Michelle Lantz, who has led the Bath-headquartered food bank since September 2019. Lantz's last day is Sept. 10, leaving a brief gap before Gabris officially starts.

The hire caps a nationwide search overseen by board chair Mona Deliwala, who also serves as director of enterprise technology at Jackson.

"As a Michigan native and Michigan State University alum, returning home to lead Greater Lansing Food Bank is incredibly meaningful," Gabris said in the announcement.

Gabris brings more than 10 years of nonprofit leadership experience. Before joining GLFB, she served as chief of staff at the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. Before that, she was director of distribution at the Houston Food Bank, which identifies itself as the nation's largest food bank by distribution volume, serving 18 southeast Texas counties.

Her academic credentials include a bachelor's degree in dietetics with a minor in Spanish from MSU, an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a master's in family and consumer sciences from Lamar University.

Lantz, who steered the organization for seven years, praised her successor's food-bank-specific expertise. The outgoing CEO said Gabris's background in nutrition education will "continue to elevate the impact the food bank will have on neighbors' lives across mid-Michigan."

The food bank, founded in 1981, serves a 4,000-square-mile area spanning Clare, Clinton, Eaton, Gratiot, Ingham, Isabella and Shiawassee counties. It partners with more than 140 pantries, meal sites and mobile distribution locations. An estimated 106,560 people in that service area experience food insecurity, according to the organization's most recent data.

In 2024, the food bank distributed more than 99,600 weekend food kits to children, and in 2025 it completed more than 10,000 home deliveries to residents facing transportation or mobility barriers.

Gabris starts Oct. 5. Residents can find GLFB's mobile food distribution schedule, with upcoming sites across all seven counties through September, at greaterlansingfoodbank.org.