Willamette Valley Sustainable Foods Alliance

Board members serve 2 year terms and remain in office until their successors are properly elected, designated, or appointed. Board members are required to attend monthly meetings and an annual full day retreat as well as be active in events hosted by the alliance.

The officers of the WVSFA will be elected by the Board of Directors. Officers serve one year terms. However, unless they formally resign or are removed from office, directors will remain in office until their successors are properly elected, designated or appointed. There is no limit to the number of terms, successive or otherwise, an officer may serve.

The officers of the WVSFA must carry out the policies and decisions of the Board of Directors as directed by the board. The officers include a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer.

Board members are elected at our annual Banquet. If you are interested in representing your company on the board of directors, please review our “Board of Directors Expectations” and download the “BOD Application” below.

Mail to:
WVSFA
1430 Willamette St, Box 101
Eugene, OR 97401

(800)879-3337 ext:113
or you may email any questions, comments or concerns to
Felicia (at) MountainRoseHerbs (dot) com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT
Felicia Colden
Mountain Rose Herbs
Felicia lives in rural Pleasant Hill and has been in the surrounding area since 1991. Working in the natural foods/products industry, set in motion her path in organics and vital living.
While she is mother to 3 beautiful children, she also studies and practices herbalism, With a focus on Ayurvedic therapies. Her passions are digging in the dirt and foraging in the woods.
She went to LCC majoring in Romance Languages (specifically French), before moving down to Ashland to live off the grid, learning about cooperative living and sustainability. Sustainability has always been a concern and primary focus in her personal life as well as professional life.
She has been with Mountain Rose Herbs for more than 7 years, growing the Wholesale/Terms department and co-creating and strengthening their sustainability department and social outreach. While thoroughly enjoying the opportunities that have risen up from being part of Mountain Rose Herbs, she is also involved with numerous organizations and alliances in our surrounding community that are focusing on sustainability.
Felicia has recently been re-elected onto the Board of directors. She is honored to be working side by side with so many wonderfully brilliant, motivated individuals.

Vice President

Tobias Schock
Valley Vintner and Brewer
Tobias was born and raised in North Dakota farm country, which gave him a solid foundation of working hard to provide for his family and himself. However, he was searching for a more meaningful local community embracing organic food and supporting each other in a strong local economy. Upon moving to Eugene in 2006, he was delighted to find the opportunity to be so involved in the local food economy. We are blessed to live in a place with so much bounty, and conscious people to share it with.
Through working in a Do-it-yourself business, he continues to gain valuable appreciation for all those who strive to cut out wasteful industry and distribution, and support their own needs with hand made goods and products. “Homemade and homegrown” is his passion; not only relating to home fermentation, but to all areas of life. He is excited to be involved with WVSFA, and look forward to meeting and working with you all!

Secretary

Kristie Steele
Hummingbird Wholesale
Kristie grew up in San Diego, CA. Unbeknownst to her, she began her career in the natural foods industry when she got a part time job at Whole Foods Market while she was in college studying Communication. She quickly became a connoisseur of good quality, delicious foods. However, it wasn’t until she moved to Los Angles of all places, that she really began to learn about the value and importance of organics and buying direct from farmers. She was spoiled while living in Venice Beach- farmers markets a bike ride away four days a week, a coop in the next town, raw food restaurants, and fresh young coconuts delivered to her front door! After graduate school, Kristie moved back to San Diego and found it very difficult to find good food. A year later, she moved to Eugene and joined Hummingbird Wholesale at the beginning of 2007. She was hired as the Office Manager, but quickly earned her official title of “Multi-tasking Dynamo” as she wears many hats there. Best of all, she no longer has any trouble finding good food!

TREASURER

Norma Grier
Cafe Mam, Non-Profit, independent
Norma Grier has extensive experience working with non-profits, both on staff and with boards of directors. For 25 years, Norma was the executive director of the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, a position she retired from in 2008. She has served on the boards of a national group as well as state and local organizations in Oregon. Norma is committed to helping WVSFA effectively serve its members. She is passionate about sustainable and local foods. She lives on an organic blueberry farm and enjoys growing much of the produce she eats. Norma believes that small and mid-sized businesses are important to the well-being and economic health of our communities and state.

Natalie Reitman-White
Organically Grown Company
Natalie Reitman-White the Sustainability Manager at Organically Grown Company, the Northwest’s largest distributor of organic produce where she works with cross-departmental teams to integrate sustainable practices across the organization. She also serves as the Executive Director of the Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association (FTSLA). Launched in 2008, the FTSLA focuses on research, education and collaborative problem-solving across the organic food supply-chain to develop innovative sustainable models. For two years she was on the faculty of the Institute for Sustainable Environment at the University of Oregon.
In 2008, Natalie was named by Fast Company Magazine as a “leading executive making the food supply cleaner, greener, and healthier.” Natalie’s passion for sustainable agriculture runs deep. In the last 10-years she has been a manager of the Lane County Farmers Market, she has served on numerous advisory boards including the Willamette Food and Farm Coalition, helped to launch a regional Food Policy Council, and was active in Oregon’s GMO labeling campaign. She holds an M.S. in Environmental Sociology from the University of Oregon.

Nome McBride
Under the Yew/Pharmacopeia Herbals
Nome brings to the table an experienced and richly diverse background in all aspects of production, as well as a strong foundation in herbal medicines and their clinical uses and indications. Much of Nome’s free time is spent reading the Eclectics’ texts from yesteryear in search of modern day insights and reinforcing what he’s learned through his clinical practice. Nome not only understands which herbs to use when, but also makes invaluable connections about which herbs to combine, which herbs our society’s qualms will demand next, and how to do it all to further the health of the environment and the society. Nome grew up farming and has had extensive experience and education specifically on organic and sustainable farming practices. Nome teaches extensively in the Northwest at herbal fairs, conferences, and as a guest teacher in many reputable herbal schools and naturopathic universities. He is respected in the herbal community for his concise and relevant approach to herbal healthcare. He has been trained in the use of European herbs by The Academy of Scottish Herbalism, and trained in field botany and native plants of the Northwest by The Columbine’s School of Botanical Studies. Nome has also had personal training in pharmocognosy, phytochemistry, clinical and physical assessment skills, herbal formulating, and anatomy and physiology. Nome was formerly a Co-Founder of Under the Yew Botanicals, est. 2004 and is also a Co-Founder of the Institute of Contemporary Ethnobotany, est. 2005 and the Northwest Sustainable Wildcrafter’s Guild, est. 2005.

Ron Leppert
Sundance Natural Foods
Ron was born in Portland Oregon in 1959. He attended both Portland State University and the University of Oregon. He moved to the Eugene/Springfield area in the early 80’s and has lived here ever since. His passion for clean food germinated in 1983 in Springfield when he first started to shop at the Springfield Food and Pool natural foods store. There he was introduced to Genesis Organic Carrot juice, and he hasn’t been the same since.
In those days he worked for United Parcel Service, and is particular proud of the fact that he was a “Shop Steward” for the Teamsters local 57 in his last four years as a UPS employee. He organized, mediated, and fought for workers rights with the same fire that he now works and advocates for local, organic food. While still working in the shipping industry, Ron started working at Sundance Natural Foods. Eventually making a choice of conscience to give up the “big pay” in the shipping industry, and put his heart into something more real and relevant, namely clean, healthy food. He has worked at Sundance for 17 years, working his way through the ranks to his position of Grocery Manager/Grocery Buyer, which he has held for the last five years.
In his tenure at Sundance he was given the opportunity to attend the yearly Provender Alliance educational conferences where he started to find his voice and solidify his commitment in advocating for the advancement of organic food. He served on the Provender board of directors for 3-plus years. His peers have bestowed upon him the nickname of Gatekeeper for his stringent standards, integrity, and commitment to all that is clean, green, local and organic.

Marc Donofrio
Coconut Bliss
Marc first was introduced to the Organic Food industry in 1997. He was 21 and procured a job with Rising Moon breaking up frozen ravioli. Just back from a trip to Alaska where he was the cook on a boat for a 72 year-old Norwegian captain that had him cooking meat three times a day, he was ready for a big change. In 1998 he started working with Genesis Juice Co-op doing some production (carrot and citrus shifts mostly) but mainly he was running juice up I-5 to the Portland contingent and delivering to stores south in Salem and Corvallis. This was a wonderful launch pad into his almost seven year stretch with Café Mam. As the main delivery driver from Portland to Ashland he was able to continue the relationships with people in the stores and learn more about the organic food industry and fair trade practices. He was able to help other amazing local companies to get their wares to the stores he was already going to including Herbal Junction, Hummingbird Wholesale, and Coconut Bliss. In June of 2007 he made an exciting transition to work with Coconut Bliss where he has grown both personally and professionally in ways Ihe could not have imagined. The people in this industry are inspiring visionaries and he is blessed to be a part of it all.

John Karlack

Sweetwater Foods/Good Food Easy

Board Assistant

Megan Hinkle