Meet the Team
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Usha Thakrar, Executive Director
Usha has a background working with non-profit healthcare organizations and comes by her interest in food security through many years of volunteering at the Lexington Food Pantry. She holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard University and has a wide range of experience including fundraising, financial management and organizational development. She finds balance in her life by gardening, cooking, traveling with her son and hanging out with her many pets. |
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Laura Mixter, Office Manager
Laura’s interest in food systems started after working for a community-driven, locally-sourced wine bar in Somerville. After nearly 10 years in working in the arts, arts administration, and restaurants, she decided to lend her energy to a different mission. She is excited to have this chance to support her colleagues at Boston Area Gleaners in their important work supporting farmers and unserved communities. When not pushing papers, Laura loves to get outside by gleaning, taking a swim, or having a delicious, funky glass of wine. |
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Dylan Frazier, Director of Operations
Dylan's been keen on amplifying our work since 2014. He's been working in and studying food systems for more than a decade. His experience includes growing, harvesting, post-harvest processing, distribution and retailing food. This experience comes from working as a lobsterman in the Gulf of Maine, milking dairy cows, growing and harvesting organic vegetables, and managing the quality assurance and food safety programs for a national produce processor. Dylan graduated from Saint Joseph's College of Maine where he studied Environmental Science, Philosophy and Business. He earned his master’s degree in sustainability and environmental management, with a focus on sustainable food systems, through the Harvard University Extension School in 2016. He's also a certified Wilderness First Responder and certified in HACCP for food safety. |
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Charlotte Border, Operations Manager
Charlotte leads gleaning trips with gracious warmth, farm savvy and work ethic that matches her great humor. She has a degree in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems from the University of New Hampshire and a professional certificate in Food Hub Management from the University of Vermont. She has firsthand experience in a variety of areas within the food system including managing small farms, working in farm-to-table restaurants, conducting research on agricultural development in Costa Rica, working in food co-operatives and other nonprofits. Charlotte believes the biggest shifts in the food system will come from improving the system itself by finding new ways to collaborate, increasing efficiency, and minimizing waste. Outside of work, Charlotte loves to cook new dishes inspired by seasonal produce, garden and explore new places with her lab/ great pyrenees pup, Momma. In 2018, she completed her Wilderness First Responder Training so you can be sure you're in good hands while out in the fields! |
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Courtney Mussell, Assistant Operations Manager
Courtney has been exposed to the restaurant industry since she was a child. Around age 10, she stood on a milk crate to reach the cash register in her parent’s deli, ringing up customers for fresh coffee and sandwiches. Since then her passion for food and cooking has only grown, but she was also fascinated by buildings, interior architecture, and art. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design, Courtney began working at high-end design firms in the Boston Area. Meanwhile, she was volunteering for the Boston Area Gleaners and Back on my Feet, an organization that combats homelessness through running. She developed a passion for nutrition and well-being, and a significant interest in how to minimize the process of getting food from farms to our plates. She soon decided to make a career change and joined the Boston Area Gleaners Operations Team with great enthusiasm and excitement to learn about local farming and how to get fresh produce to families efficiently. She recognized that the Boston Area Gleaners perfectly brought together the two ideas that she wanted to pursue – helping underserved communities and working with local food. She believes that everyone should have access to healthy food and the BAG mission makes that possible. Since joining the Gleaners, she has continuously been inspired by our team and volunteers. |
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Leah Costlow, Outreach Coordinator
Leah is thrilled to be exploring Massachusetts through its farms and farmers. She brings a colorful spectrum of farming experience to her gleaning trips. She got the farming bug as a teenager working for a CSA in central Maine, and spent the next decade learning as much as she could—the highlights including pasture and livestock management, grain growing, draft horse field work, low-impact forestry, and four-season organic vegetable production. She’s excited to work with an organization that brings healthy local food to a broader audience than the small farm movement is typically able to reach. Leah graduated from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM, where she studied philosophy and the history of science in a discussion-based Great Books program. When she’s not gleaning, she’s usually singing classical music, reading a long novel, or riding her bike to the closest swimming hole. |
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Tess Tomlinson, Operations Assistant
Tess heard tales of gleans over the years from family who adore the program and when she moved back home she began to volunteer as much as she could with her dad. The apple does not fall far, so to speak, and soon she was hooked and interested in learning more about the process, the people involved and in helping behind the scenes. From there came an internship with BAG in the 2017 season and a winter of cleaning and stacking banana boxes in the Field Station’s auditorium. The last ten years of Tess’s life have been in restaurants and farmers markets upstate and in Brooklyn, New York. Her path took her to places that were invested in sourcing locally, from small farms that cared lovingly for their produce and animals and farmed their land sustainably. On the rare occasion that she got to escape the noise, she spent time with Hudson Valley growers on their fields and pastures and loved every minute. She spent a season on The Neighborhood Farm crew and at their weekend markets, feeling ever more energized and inspired by the good people who work hard to get healthy food to their fellow beings. Tess is also excited to have recently completed The 300 Hour Professional Yoga Teacher Training at the Down Under School of Yoga in Brookline. |
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Kate Morse, Operations Assistant
Kate grew up locally in Massachusetts, surrounded by a family passionate about food and cooking. She completed her undergrad at the University of Delaware, where she earned studied Psychology, Biology, and Public Health. She found her calling in her public health coursework, and was particularly interested in studying the social and behavioral determinants of health. After graduating, Kate completed an internship with The Food Trust in Philadelphia, an organization committed to ensuring that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food. There, she gained first hand experience working in food justice, as well as a broader understanding of the issues presented by our food system. Missing New England, Kate decided to move back to Massachusetts, and began looking for jobs in food justice when she discovered the Boston Area Gleaner's apprenticeship program. She was immediately excited by the organization, and thrilled to have the opportunity to learn more about local produce and the wider food system as an apprentice. Kate now returns for her second season as Operations Assistant. |
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Steven Finley, Driver
Steven began his foray into the world of agriculture at his childhood home in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania where he would (begrudgingly) help his mother care for a small summer garden plot in their backyard. But something about the hot and humid and dirty days in the garden must have clicked, because when he began studying at Dickinson College, he soon found himself volunteering often at the College’s own organic farm. Volunteering led to a full-time position and soon bloomed into a passion for growing and sharing delicious produce. Steven has spent the last 6 years working in organic vegetable production at various scales on several farms between Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. He is excited to join BAG in this time of great need for food relief. When he is not working, Steven can likely be found out riding his bike, or going for a hike. |
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Paul Franceschi, Development & Outreach Coordinator
Paul has been interested in growing food from the day he experimented with planting cucumbers in the kitchen windowsill of his childhood home in suburban Massachusetts. Since then, he has found himself on farms and field crews across New England, New York, and North Carolina. While completing a degree in Environmental Studies and Photography at Wesleyan University, Paul worked as a managing member of the campus farm, where he not only spent long days working in the dirt but also developed an understanding of what it takes to manage food production behind the scenes. It was there, working in a city with a broadly food-insecure population, that he recognized more than ever before the power of the small farm as a critical community resource. Paul is thrilled to be working for an organization that focuses on amplifying the impact of small farms in our local community. Outside of work, he likes to go for walks in the woods with his camera, tend to his heirloom tomatoes, and hang out with his two pups. |
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Richard Lin, Forest Foundation Intern
Growing up in a small restaurant, food has always been a part of Richard’s life. Going to college and seeing the push and pull between dining hall food abundance, subsequent waste from that abundance, and efforts by the students and administration to reduce that waste has really helped focus his attention toward issues of food relief and insecurity. During the semester, he works with the Food Literacy Project as a Food Recovery Fellow, and helps direct the Family Meals Program, which captures and donates leftover dining hall food. Outside of work, he likes to try out new recipes and has been working on his handstand. |
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Fred Berman sees the Gleaners as a robust intersection of human services, political activism, civic engagement, and love of the outdoors. Fred has been working in housing and homelessness for the past 25 years, most recently as a senior associate with the National Center on Family Homelessness, as a planner in Cambridge, where he helped found a local food pantry delivery program and with the Mass. Legislature's Human Services and Elder Affairs Committee. As a former Boston Cares board member, he led volunteer projects at local charitable farms. As a board member for Waltham Fields Community Farm in its early years, Fred helped obtain funding for its children's garden. He has been active on behalf of local and state progressive political campaigns and issues, and even ran (unsuccessfully) for local office a few years ago. He enjoys bicycling, hiking, kayaking, snow shoeing, gleaning, gardening, and squeezing in a play, movie, or concert when time allows. He is lucky to be married to Lori Segall, who shares many of his interests and brought chickens into his life.
Sarah Bither found the Gleaners back in 2016 at a volunteer fair and has been harvesting with them ever since. Her interest in food systems stems from her experience living in Japan, where she taught English for two years. Japanese culture highly values sustainable food practices, and the lessons she learned while abroad sparked her interest in managing food waste. As a product manager in supply chain systems at Wayfair, she sees the growth potential of the Gleaners and is excited to tackle the challenge of scaling the organization's operations.Sarah is at her happiest when traveling and learning about a new country, trying out a new restaurant, or curled up with a good book. She lives in Somerville with her partner John and their devious cat, Tybalt.
Joan Blaustein joined the board after a career as Land Resources Planner. She has worked on issues of land use, development, natural hazards, and open space planning. Over the years, she has volunteered as a bicycle and ski trip leader for the Appalachian Mountain Club, served on Watertown's bicycle and pedestrian committee, and on the board of a start-up affordable housing non-profit. She is also active in a Watertown organization that successfully passed an ordinance banning single-use plastic bags in the town. Gleaning combines Joan's love of the outdoors and desire to play in the dirt with the opportunity to make a significant contribution to the problem of food insecurity.
Margie Coleman, Clerk, has been a pediatrician in Cambridge for over 35 years. She has seen first-hand the challenges that many families have meeting nutritional needs. Aside from the baseline issues of financial stress and obesity, many families have only a rudimentary knowledge about nutrition, and often rarely eat together. Margie currently works as Assistant Chief of Pediatrics at Cambridge Health Alliance, which provided seed money for Food For Free's Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program - sending Cambridge Public Schools students home with backpacks full of healthy meals--including gleaned produce--on the weekends. Margie considers hunger relief programs like these a godsend for a lot of the families she cares for. Margie attended Cornell University and Stanford School of Medicine. She trained at Massachusetts General Hospital. She has two grown daughters and two sons-in-law, and loves to travel and cook.
Nancy Goodman is Vice President for Policy at the Environmental League of Massachusetts. While it was her love of nature that moved her to become involved in environmental issues, she found she was spending most of her time indoors at a computer so six years ago she began volunteering at Powisset Farm, a Trustees of Reservations property in Dover that has 300+ CSA members. She is drawn to our mission of making nutritious, local food that otherwise would go to waste available to those who need it and offering volunteers a chance to be active outdoors. She is a novice gardener and likes to bike, make art, and listen to live music.
Matt Gray comes to the Boston Area Gleaners with a background in food insecurity, waste reduction and locally produced foods. He moved to the Boston area from Montana where he worked as the Perishable Buyer at the Good Food Store, a local nonprofit grocery store. In this position he was able to help develop many small local farms and businesses. Later, through his work at the Greater Boston Food Bank, Matt was introduced to the Gleaners. Matt is currently the owner and founder of Neighborhood Produce - a small-foot-print, produce-centered, community-based grocery store. The goal of the store is to help increase people's accessibility to fresh food.
Mark Johnson joins the board of the Boston Area Gleaners after a career in finance and a lifetime of interest in the outdoors, local agriculture and land conservation, and food security. Over the years, Mark has served as chair of the board of the North Shore United Way, an important supporter of local food pantries in the communities north of Boston, and has been a tree and trail steward and program volunteer at Appleton Farms in Ipswich, an active participant in the Gleaners farm network. Mark lives in South Hamilton with his wife Tracy and border collie mix Gretel, and is an avid trail runner, hiker, kayaker, cross country and downhill skier and backyard gardener.
Cathy Konicki, Treasurer, was introduced to the Gleaners through her involvement with The Philanthropy Group, a women’s giving organization, who provided a grant to the Gleaners. She is very interested in helping to overcome food insecurity. Cathy has spent her career in investment consulting and is a partner at NEPC, LLC, an independent investment consulting firm. At NEPC, Cathy heads their Endowment and Foundation consulting practice helping non-profits invest their endowment assets while meeting spending needs for grantmaking. Cathy has B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from Boston College. Cathy and her husband, Hayes Miller, live in Winchester and have three adult children. Cathy loves to ski, bike, hike and travel.
Will Morningstar has been growing vegetables in Massachusetts for the past 12 years. He got his start at Siena farms in Sudbury as a farm hand and years later was elevated to the Head Grower. He has been working with the Gleaners ever since. Will has a passion for providing vegetables to those in need sees the Gleaners as a perfect conduit to do so. He has spent time working with adults and adolescents with psychological and developmental disorders. He is currently a manager at Allandale farm, in Brookline MA, and has been working to get vegetables to the Gleanteam as much as possible. Will hopes to develop a farm that provides at-risk populations with fresh vegetables and employment through agriculture.
Lissa McBurney, Vice President, has worked with natural foods companies and mission-driven organizations for over 20 years in all aspects of operations. Her enthusiasm for the Gleaners comes from a commitment to equitable food access, love of feeding people and deep appreciation for those who grow our food.
Ismail Samad, Board President, Director of Contract Manufacturing at Commonwealth Kitchen, is a Chef-advocate for the establishment of local and regional closed-loop food systems that not only properly resource food surplus but provide community relevant food-delivery systems and urban and rural farm connections needed for a just and resilient community, no matter the size. He has contributed his expertise in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. He is the Co-Founder of The Gleanery, a restaurant in Putney, Vermont that specializes in the use of post-farmer's market produce and the unwanted seconds and/or “ugly” foods that are habitually discarded within the many levels of the food chain. Ismail was pivotal in the planning, launch and early expansion of Daily Table, nonprofit food markets in the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts, designed to simultaneously address the issues of food insecurity, nutritional health, and wasted food. He is a BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) Fellow, a contributor to the EPA's Web Academy Webinar Series on Sustainable Materials Management and a founding member of Windham Farm and Food, a farm-to-institution aggregation and delivery service, providing easy access to healthy food produced in Windham County Vermont.
Pallavi Singh is an entrepreneur and aspiring farmer, with a passion for nutrition, food security and local agriculture. Pallavi has spent her career in the Intellectual Property world, and ran a successful global company that provided in-depth research solutions to corporate and law firm attorneys. She coaches startup CEOs to help them with their product and revenue focus. She has dedicated years to teaching entrepreneurship to high school students, and has been involved with multiple small business incubators, teaching finance and revenue strategy. Pallavi lives in Boston with her husband and young son.
Kathleen Walker retired from her position as Site Acquisition and Commercial Lease Negotiator from the US Postal Service ten years ago, has been heavily involved in volunteer work, primarily for the Town of Charlton. She is currently the Treasurer for ChipIn, a local food bank, member of the Recycling Committee, Chair of the Old Home Day Committee, Board member of Fay Mountain Farm (town owned farm), and Volunteer Coordinator for Blessings Farm. She is currently serving on the Charlton Board of Health and previously served on the Charlton Selectboard for twelve years. She ran for State Representative (unsuccessfully) in 2012 and thoroughly enjoyed the endeavor. She enjoys hosting Woofers (Worldwide Organization of Organic Farmers), Help Exchange (HelpX) and Workaway Helpers; these are people from all over the world who stay for a few weeks and help with the garden and house in exchange for room and board. Her main interests revolve around studying nutrition, feeding horses on a local farm, surfing the net, biking, hiking, and learning piano. Her best time is spent with her eight grandchildren; since they all play sports, there are continuous games to enjoy with her best friend and husband, Mike.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Charlotte Milan (former Board President and current Development Committee member) is an avid volunteer in environmental issues, and works for the Town of Arlington Department of Public Works as the recycling coordinator.
Greg Foudray works as Adjunct Professor of Management Information Systems at Salem State University, as a Farmland Investor, and as a Farmer. He is an avid gleaner and is helping us deploy Salesforce apps and improve our IT systems.
Jeanie Gruber joined the BAG family last season when she began exploring the farming scene in the Greater Boston area. A Louisiana native and long time owner/operator of Miss Jeanie's Catering, she brings a deep love for food, creativity and community with her wherever she goes.
Deishin Lee works as an assistant professor at Boston College. She is an expert in supply chain management and technology and operations management.
Helene Newberg is an attorney at Update Legal. She has supported locally-grown agriculture for several decades. She brought her passion for healthy food and food access to our Board, where she served as President from 2011-2016.
Kristen Ploetz is a writer and former land use/zoning attorney. Kristen was a board member from 2012-2015, and she joined the Advisory Council in January 2016.
Theresa Snow is the founder and Executive Director of Salvation Farms in Morrisville, VT. She has served as a mentor for us since 2007.
Heli Tomford is the director of the Belmont Food Collaborative. She has a long-standing interest in the success of Boston Area Gleaners, and was instrumental in making sure our gleaned crops were part of Belmont’s food security plan.
Oakes Plimpton, Emeritus Board Member, founder of Boston Area Gleaners, has been working with farms and hunger relief programs since the 1970s. In 1995, he founded Waltham Fields Community Farm, which donated half its produce to food pantries and shelters. In 1997 he helped start the Arlington Farmers Market. In 2004, he began going to area farms to glean surplus crops for charity and in 2007 established the nonprofit organization Boston Area Gleaners. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School, and is the author of several books on local history. Click here to learn more about Oakes' story and his founding of BAG.
Greg Foudray works as Adjunct Professor of Management Information Systems at Salem State University, as a Farmland Investor, and as a Farmer. He is an avid gleaner and is helping us deploy Salesforce apps and improve our IT systems.
Jeanie Gruber joined the BAG family last season when she began exploring the farming scene in the Greater Boston area. A Louisiana native and long time owner/operator of Miss Jeanie's Catering, she brings a deep love for food, creativity and community with her wherever she goes.
Deishin Lee works as an assistant professor at Boston College. She is an expert in supply chain management and technology and operations management.
Helene Newberg is an attorney at Update Legal. She has supported locally-grown agriculture for several decades. She brought her passion for healthy food and food access to our Board, where she served as President from 2011-2016.
Kristen Ploetz is a writer and former land use/zoning attorney. Kristen was a board member from 2012-2015, and she joined the Advisory Council in January 2016.
Theresa Snow is the founder and Executive Director of Salvation Farms in Morrisville, VT. She has served as a mentor for us since 2007.
Heli Tomford is the director of the Belmont Food Collaborative. She has a long-standing interest in the success of Boston Area Gleaners, and was instrumental in making sure our gleaned crops were part of Belmont’s food security plan.
Oakes Plimpton, Emeritus Board Member, founder of Boston Area Gleaners, has been working with farms and hunger relief programs since the 1970s. In 1995, he founded Waltham Fields Community Farm, which donated half its produce to food pantries and shelters. In 1997 he helped start the Arlington Farmers Market. In 2004, he began going to area farms to glean surplus crops for charity and in 2007 established the nonprofit organization Boston Area Gleaners. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School, and is the author of several books on local history. Click here to learn more about Oakes' story and his founding of BAG.