Meet the Team
LEadership Team
|
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. After 12 years at the Jimmy Fund Clinic at Dana-Farber and 2 years at a community health center, Usha decided to make a career change to focus on addressing food insecurity. She is passionate about building resilient, sustainable food systems that can provide access to healthy food for everyone. Usha holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard University and has a wide range of experience including fundraising, financial management, organizational development and as a small business owner (she was a florist). She serves on the boards of the Lexington Education Foundation and the Lexington Food Pantry and is a member of the Health and Research Council at the Greater Boston Food Bank. She has lived in Lexington for over 20 years and finds balance in her life by gardening, cooking, traveling with her son and hanging out with her many pets. |
|
Dylan Frazier, Director of Strategy
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, and was certified in Food Hub Management by the University of Vermont in 2017. He's also a certified Wilderness First Responder and is certified in HACCP for food safety. |
|
Charlotte Border, Operations Director
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! |
|
Momma, Resident Dog
Momma is the Gleaners' greatest cheerleader. She graces the office with a boundless enthusiasm, a love for corn on the cob, and a can-do attitude. What she lacks in opposable thumbs and logistical expertise, she makes up for in pure joy and dedication to every member of the team. While Momma doesn't join us on gleaning trips, she's never too far from her best bud Charlotte's side at Boston Area Gleaners HQ. Momma can often be found lounging in the Operations office, where she welcomes new friends, belly rubs, and treats. |
Management Team
|
Courtney Mussell, Human Resources 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 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 since joining the Gleaners, she has continuously been inspired by our team and volunteers. |
|
Matt Crawford, Data Systems Manager
Matt’s specialty is making sure that all of our systems are in place so that we can accomplish our mission of creating food equity in the Boston area. Specifically, he designs, manages, and onboards new technology systems to ensure accurate and efficient data tracking across all of our programs. He began working with us in 2013, and has held many different roles over the years, including Gleaning Coordinator and Distribution Manager. Matt holds a degree in Spanish and Human Geography from St. Michael's College in Vermont. He also holds a Permaculture Design Certificate from Sowing Solutions in Shelburne Falls, MA. Matt has worked with many other food access organizations and businesses in the Boston area, including Neighborhood Produce in Somerville, Food For Free, and Waltham Fields Community Farm. He maintains a can-do approach to increasing community involvement in food issues, while directly improving food access in the Boston area. |
|
Annie Finstein Broad, Boston Food Hub Sales Manager
Annie is a Massachusetts native and was born and raised in Framingham and educated in Boston at Northeastern University where she studied Environmental Studies and International Affairs. She has spent the past nine years in the food industry and brings to the Gleaners a diversity of experiences including working on a 3-acre vegetable farm, spending a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA at a backyard gardening organization, in addition to managing regional sales for a natural foods distributor, organic salad brand, and most recently a local procurement software start-up. She currently lives in Brighton with her husband, Ben, and 11-year old pup, Jonah. |
Administrative Team
|
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. |
|
Laurie “Duck” Caldwell, Strategic Consultant
Duck began gleaning as a volunteer in 2009, and was our first employee in 2010, hired primarily because she had a pickup truck, when volunteers numbered about 25 and the annual budget wasn't much more. As Executive Director until 2019, organizational capacity increased by 5,000%, and Boston Area Gleaners grew from a small outfit serving a handful of local pantries, to a major supplier to over 500 food banks, meal programs and food pantries across eastern Mass and two contiguous states. She now works as a staff consultant focused on strategy, and is especially passionate about finding innovative solutions that build equity into our food system by bringing more value to farmers and family food enterprises outside of the charitable food system. Duck's work in the nonprofit sector since 1995 includes program and project management, program and curriculum development, and consulting. She is a carpenter by trade, has been a business owner, and has worked with farmers in VT and NH as a produce buyer for natural foods cooperatives across the northeast. She holds an MBA in Organizational Management and Sustainability from Antioch University New England. When she is not working with the Gleaners, Duck likes to draw, paint, garden, and walk, sometimes all at once. She and her wife live in their empty nest in Arlington. |
|
Paul Franceschi, 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 field but also developed an understanding of what it takes to manage food production behind the scenes. In that space, working in a city with a broadly food-insecure population, he also recognized the power of local agriculture as a critical community resource. Paul is excited to be working for an organization that focuses on amplifying the impact of small farms in our regional 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. |
|
Tessa Lance, Development Coordinator
Tessa is a Stevenson Center Fellow with Illinois State University and her work with Boston Area Gleaners will help her complete her Master's degree in Applied Community and Economic Development. She is originally from California and received her Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science from Humboldt State University. She spent two years serving with AmeriCorps in rural Colorado, working with community and school gardens, affordable housing projects, and in youth development. These experiences furthered her commitment to equity and developed her appreciation of a strong community. Tessa is excited to join the Gleaners' team and support the mission of building a more just food system. For joy outside of work, Tessa enjoys running, mountain biking, and gardening. |
|
Meredith Days, Outreach and Communications Assistant
Meredith is deeply passionate about the intersections between poverty, policy and community. She was born and raised in Massachusetts, and her childhood experiences volunteering at the Arlington Food Pantry shaped her understanding of injustice, but also showed her the critical importance of community support. She brought her interest in community engagement and social justice with her to the University of Michigan, where she organized volunteer trips across southeast Michigan, led social policy advocacy efforts at the local and state level, and focused on studying the systemic roots of poverty and inequality through her major in Public Policy and minor in Community Action and Social Change. While she learned a lot in Michigan, Meredith always planned to come back to Massachusetts. Meredith is thrilled to be joining the team at the Gleaners and is excited to leverage her passion for eradicating poverty and hunger in her home community. In her free time, Meredith loves baking, attempting new craft projects, and planning fun adventures with her friends. |
|
Hannah Symons, Forest Foundation Intern
Hannah is a rising senior at Denison University studying Communications and Political Science. On campus, she serves as the Student Wellness Coordinator whose role is to be the bridge between the student body and the wellness center. Producing “Paws and Relax”, the weekly therapy dogs on campus, is a point of pride for her. Hannah’s passion for food, health and wellness, and sustainability continuously lead her to the nonprofit world—first at Gaining Ground, as a leader of the high school Farm Team, and later as a volunteer at Open Table when sent home from college during COVID-19. These passions also bring Hannah to the kitchen where she regularly cooks fresh, nutritious dinners for the family. Her Vietnamese spring rolls with peanut sauce are always a hit. |
|
Lisa K. Johnson, Ph.D., Consultant
After fumbling around in college awhile, Lisa decided to become a farmer, but didn’t have any land or any money. Way back in the late 90’s, there weren’t any incubator farms or beginning farmer programs, and Lisa was actually laughed out of a loan office. With a degree in Horticulture, but no farm in her future, Lisa shifted focus to support farmers and hasn’t looked back. Lisa has since worked with fruit, nut, and vegetable farmers in California, Oregon, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida, along the way studying and absorbing production practices, marketing successes, technological advances, and generally eating very well. Needing to know more and more about fruit and vegetable production, and now suddenly hooked on the study of postharvest loss, Lisa went back to college and stuck around until being somewhat kindly asked to leave in 2018, at least taking with her a Doctorate in Horticulture. These days, Dr. Johnson collaborates across disciplines and boundaries to achieve a reduction in food loss of 50% by 2030. Her focus sits squarely on finding strategies to reduce food loss that incentivize, benefit, or at the very least, do not harm farmers. Current projects focus on in-field measurement, estimation and analysis of food loss, and they find her partnering with World Wildlife Fund, US Environmental Protection Agency, Society of St. Andrew, Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation, and the Consortium for Innovation in Postharvest Loss and Food Waste Reduction. Lisa is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University, in the Department of Horticultural Science, and she is based in Raleigh, NC. Lisa is a small part of the incredible and very talented development team at Boston Area Gleaners. Lisa has little kids, and works, so doesn’t have too much spare time. She occasionally runs and routinely tries hard to avoid chocolate. If she is in the office rather than working on a farm, she often sprints outside to garden or just look at the sky and soak up the sun. |
|
Jess Benjamin, Grant Writer
Jess has more than a decade of experience in the non-profit sector, beginning with their time at The Greater Boston Food Bank, where they managed a national portfolio of foundation partnerships. As a consultant, Jess works with nonprofits across the country to raise money and awareness in areas including food security, community health, housing access, and workforce development. They joined Boston Area Gleaners in 2017. Jess is also a photographer, filmmaker, and mindfulness meditation teacher based in Philadelphia, and they serve on the Board of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship - a nonprofit that catalyzes partnerships between social justice movements and Buddhist practitioners. Jess can often be found wandering around urban and natural landscapes alike with some combination of their partner, pup, and camera. |
OPERATIONS TEAM
|
Steven Finley, Operations Coordinator
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 happy to coordinate the Gleaners' efforts in this time of great need for food security. When he is not working, Steven can likely be found out riding his bike, or going for a hike. |
|
Marissa Gabriel, Inventory Coordinator
Marissa is inspired by the inseparable connection between plants and people. She recently graduated from Drexel University where she majored in Environmental Science, learning about tortured ecosystems and the exploitation of the industrial agriculture system. Knowing that we are feeding our landfills as much as we are feeding our country, she is committed to bringing people closer to plants, and worked as an urban agriculture intern with Backyard Growers to help communities grow their own food. She prefers to work outside, get in the dirt and feel life. Motivated to get involved with impactful, values-driven work, Marissa joined the Gleaners' team as an Apprentice in 2020. Now, as Inventory Coordinator, Marissa plays a key role in facilitating the Gleaners' daily work to recover and pack food. She is thrilled to connect with her local food system, fight for food security and continue learning about agricultural systems. |
|
Jess Rivers, Agency Coordinator
Jess is a native of Massachusetts and is shifting her career in event production to supporting the rapidly growing needs of food recovery and distribution. She is an avid fermenter of all types of produce and enjoys wild edible food foraging, eagerly sharing her knowledge with any curious listener. As Agency Coordinator, Jess helps support the distribution of food to pantries and frontline agencies serving food-insecure residents across Massachusetts. |
|
Emily Fenton, Operations Team Leader
Emily is a Northshore native who found her love for food in Culinary school. After she graduated, she yearned to learn where our food was coming from and started her career as an Organic Vegetable Farmer at Appleton Farms in Ipswich, MA. She is now excited to begin her journey with Boston Area Gleaners and their mission of bridging the gap in our food system straight from the fields to families. Emily brings her agricultural skill and knowledge the Gleaners as a Team Leader to facilitate volunteer harvest and packing projects. Look out for her in the field this season! |
|
Elliott McGann, Operations Team Leader
Elliott is a Northeastern University graduate who has worked on & managed farms for the last 12 years. After many seasons of farming in Connecticut, he is excited to return to the Boston area to join the Gleaners' team! He brings to gleaning trips deep and varied experience in leading farm projects, and is excited to collaborate with our volunteers and partners. When he's not doing farm work, Elliott enjoys eating good food, doing outdoor activities of all kinds, and watching submarine movies. |
|
Kate Morse, Food Safety Coordinator
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 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, and gained firsthand experience working in food justice, as well as a broader understanding of the issues presented by our food system. Missing New England, Kate returned to MA, where she discovered the Gleaners' apprenticeship program. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to learn more about local produce and the wider food system as an apprentice, and spend two subsequent seasons with the Gleaners as an Operations Assistant. Now, as Food Safety Coordinator, Kate helps to ensure quality and safety in all of the Gleaners' work. |
|
Tim Offei-Addo, Operations Assistant
Tim has a background in agricultural development, specifically conducting research in Ghana evaluating the efficacy of climate change policies in subsistence food systems. He lives on a homestead with his parents and sister, where they grow most of their own food for their Ghanaian diet. Through growing his own food, Tim developed a passion for agriculture and food justice. After a season as an Apprentice, Tim is joining Boston Area Gleaners as an Operations Assistant. In his free time, Tim enjoys cooking, gardening, and watching futbol: the beautiful game! |
|
Drew Blazewicz, Operations Assistant
Drew’s interest in farming and love for the natural world began at a young age as a camper at Drumlin Farm Day Camp. Helping to care for, harvest, and prepare food gave him an early appreciation for the work that goes into getting food to our plates and developed a sense of interdependence with the natural world. Along with an early love of nature, Drew developed an interest in technology and music production. Drew received an undergraduate degree in computer science from Case Western Reserve University with a minor in music. Through these varied interests, there is a common thread; a love for learning and understanding complex interdependent systems. He also has an interest in how this interdependence and shared experience can be used to build and strengthen communities. Drew is excited to apply this passion to working with the Gleaners and developing more efficient and sustainable local food systems. |
|
Alfred Duroyon, Driver
Growing up on a vineyard in France during his teenage years, Alfred has always had a respect for fresh fruits and vegetables. Over the course of his career he has gained years of experience trucking heavy freight across New England, and most recently has assisted organizations involved directly in plant and vegetable work—in the process reconnecting with the smells of soil and freshly cut grass that he missed from his childhood. Committed to lending his skills to a socially-driven mission, Alfred found his way to the Gleaners this year. He now serves as a critical link in all our distribution efforts, getting tens of thousands of pounds of produce from farms and distributors to relief agencies across the region each week. |
|
Jared Sheehan, Driver
Jared has a background supporting inventory and operations for both small businesses and the nonprofit sector. He's excited to return to the nonprofit world to help the Gleaners with food distribution! In his spare time, Jared enjoys watching movies, composing music, and playing the piano and guitar. As a Driver, Jared connects the dots in our supply chain to get food where it's needed most, trucking produce from farms and partners to relief agencies all over the Eastern Mass region. |
APPRENTICES
|
Gabby Batista Oliveira
Gabby is a student at Brandeis University studying Environmental Studies and Public Health. She is a part-time farmer at Drumlin Farm and former farm intern at Community Harvest Project. She's excited to continue working towards food justice and strongly believes collective compassion is necessary for collective liberation. In her free time she enjoys playing rugby, spending time with her 6-month-old puppy, Luka, and discovering new spots to hike and hammock! |
|
Chris Bischoff
Chris is thrilled to start his apprenticeship at the Gleaners this season. Originally from Connecticut, he grew up working on an orchard in his hometown, and has been working with food in one way or another ever since. Most recently, he's been working at an indoor vertical farm in Baltimore (and would love to tell you all about it). In his free time, he enjoys tubing down a river, running through the woods, or laying on the beach—anything that involves soaking up the sun. He's excited to be farming outdoors again, and making a difference in the greater Boston community. |
|
Nick Boyd
Nick is pumped to join the Gleaners' team as an apprentice for the season! After volunteering with the Gleaners throughout his undergrad at Northeastern University, Nick has been dreaming about the apprentice program, and is glad it finally worked out. He spent the winter sailing around the Florida Keys and the Bahamas with friends, and before that worked as a solar design engineer. He’s excited to work in the sun, learn a lot, and get fresh food to folks throughout Massachusetts! |
|
Ana Hurka-Robles
Ana spent many years working in video production and digital design, but in recent years has shifted to work that addresses the systemic problems of food and housing insecurity. Ana enjoys rock climbing, walking around Cambridge, listening to new music, and learning about the past, present, and future of labor in the United States. |
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mark Johnson, Board President, 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.
Ismail Samad, 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.
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, worked as a pediatrician in Cambridge for over 35 years prior to her retirement, including serving as Assistant Chief of Pediatrics at Cambridge Health Alliance. 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 do not have access to knowledge about nutrition, and often rarely eat together. Margie considers hunger relief programs like these a godsend for a lot of the families she has cared for. Margie attended Cornell University and Stanford School of Medicine, and trained at Massachusetts General Hospital. She has two grown daughters and two sons-in-law, and loves to travel and cook.
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. Will hopes to develop a farm that provides at-risk populations with fresh vegetables and employment through agriculture.
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.
Brian Danner currently serves as an analyst for the Center for Health Information and Analysis with a background in public health and program management. Prior to moving to Boston in 2017, he graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC with a BS in Healthcare Management, and worked as the Food and Nutritional Services Department Assistant at BridgePoint Hospital for both the Capitol Hill and National Harbor locations. This role allowed him to develop metrics that were used to report food quality in both hospitals for senior leadership and the Department of Health while also ensuring each meal has been served for each patient within the hospital. Upon relocation, he attended and graduated from Boston University with his Master’s degree in Public Health with concentrations in Program Management and Epidemiology/Biostatistics. While in school, he served as the Secretary for the Students of Color for Public Health while also working at the Boston Public Health Commission as a Public Health Advocate at the city’s first engagement center for recovery services. During his free time, Brian enjoys bike riding throughout the Greater Boston Area, hiking trips, fruit picking, juicing, and (as a native of New Jersey) pizza. He currently resides in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston.
Greg Voss, a retired software engineer, was introduced to the Gleaners by a friend and dedicated volunteer. From there, he himself became a frequent gleaner, and, in 2020, was named one of the Gleaners' "volunteers of the year" for his service! He has been involved in three food cooperative startups and is currently part of The Assabet Co-Op Market. As an Acton resident, Greg is thrilled to have the Gleaners as a new neighbor and as conscientious stewards of Stonefield Farm. When Greg is not gleaning, he enjoys traveling, woodworking, camping, hiking, biking, skiing, and building stuff. Greg enjoys these activities with his wife, 3 daughters, and 4 granddaughters.
Katie Kritzalis started her career managing public events for New York City’s Bryant Park, one of the busiest outdoor spaces in the world. Prompted by her developing knowledge of unsustainable and unjust practices in the industrial food system, she moved to a small farm in Connecticut and was soon immersed in all aspects of the business. Her experience there included growing specialty produce, raising heirloom-breed livestock, direct marketing to chefs, CSA management, coordinating farm-based dinners and workshops, and partnering with a local gleaning organization. Katie moved to Boston to pursue a Master’s degree in Gastronomy at BU, focusing her studies on sociological aspects of food systems and working simultaneously on the development of Daily Table, a non-profit designed to address food insecurity, nutrition, and food recovery through retail markets. As the fourth member of the startup team, she helped open Daily Table’s pilot store in Dorchester and learned of the Boston Area Gleaners while cold-calling food producers across New England to establish Daily Table’s sourcing plan. During that time, Katie also earned a certificate in Leadership for Sustainable Food Systems at the University of Vermont. She currently works on the three-person management team of Threshold Foundation, a non-profit that supports a network of philanthropists who strive to align their resources with their values.
Ismail Samad, 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.
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, worked as a pediatrician in Cambridge for over 35 years prior to her retirement, including serving as Assistant Chief of Pediatrics at Cambridge Health Alliance. 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 do not have access to knowledge about nutrition, and often rarely eat together. Margie considers hunger relief programs like these a godsend for a lot of the families she has cared for. Margie attended Cornell University and Stanford School of Medicine, and trained at Massachusetts General Hospital. She has two grown daughters and two sons-in-law, and loves to travel and cook.
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. Will hopes to develop a farm that provides at-risk populations with fresh vegetables and employment through agriculture.
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.
Brian Danner currently serves as an analyst for the Center for Health Information and Analysis with a background in public health and program management. Prior to moving to Boston in 2017, he graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC with a BS in Healthcare Management, and worked as the Food and Nutritional Services Department Assistant at BridgePoint Hospital for both the Capitol Hill and National Harbor locations. This role allowed him to develop metrics that were used to report food quality in both hospitals for senior leadership and the Department of Health while also ensuring each meal has been served for each patient within the hospital. Upon relocation, he attended and graduated from Boston University with his Master’s degree in Public Health with concentrations in Program Management and Epidemiology/Biostatistics. While in school, he served as the Secretary for the Students of Color for Public Health while also working at the Boston Public Health Commission as a Public Health Advocate at the city’s first engagement center for recovery services. During his free time, Brian enjoys bike riding throughout the Greater Boston Area, hiking trips, fruit picking, juicing, and (as a native of New Jersey) pizza. He currently resides in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston.
Greg Voss, a retired software engineer, was introduced to the Gleaners by a friend and dedicated volunteer. From there, he himself became a frequent gleaner, and, in 2020, was named one of the Gleaners' "volunteers of the year" for his service! He has been involved in three food cooperative startups and is currently part of The Assabet Co-Op Market. As an Acton resident, Greg is thrilled to have the Gleaners as a new neighbor and as conscientious stewards of Stonefield Farm. When Greg is not gleaning, he enjoys traveling, woodworking, camping, hiking, biking, skiing, and building stuff. Greg enjoys these activities with his wife, 3 daughters, and 4 granddaughters.
Katie Kritzalis started her career managing public events for New York City’s Bryant Park, one of the busiest outdoor spaces in the world. Prompted by her developing knowledge of unsustainable and unjust practices in the industrial food system, she moved to a small farm in Connecticut and was soon immersed in all aspects of the business. Her experience there included growing specialty produce, raising heirloom-breed livestock, direct marketing to chefs, CSA management, coordinating farm-based dinners and workshops, and partnering with a local gleaning organization. Katie moved to Boston to pursue a Master’s degree in Gastronomy at BU, focusing her studies on sociological aspects of food systems and working simultaneously on the development of Daily Table, a non-profit designed to address food insecurity, nutrition, and food recovery through retail markets. As the fourth member of the startup team, she helped open Daily Table’s pilot store in Dorchester and learned of the Boston Area Gleaners while cold-calling food producers across New England to establish Daily Table’s sourcing plan. During that time, Katie also earned a certificate in Leadership for Sustainable Food Systems at the University of Vermont. She currently works on the three-person management team of Threshold Foundation, a non-profit that supports a network of philanthropists who strive to align their resources with their values.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Charlotte Milan (former Board President) 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.
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 the Gleaners.
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.
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 the Gleaners.
For more detailed contact information and to reach out with general inquiries, please visit our Contact page.
BOSTON AREA GLEANERS DIVERSITY STATEMENT
We expect that the board and staff of our organization will consist of people who are committed to addressing food insecurity. Given the diversity of people impacted by food insecurity, we aspire and make every reasonable effort to develop a board, staff, and volunteer base that reflects that diversity. We believe that such diversity will strengthen our organization, enhance our decision making and accountability to the mission, and build and broaden the community of volunteers and funders, whose participation is so essential to our shared success.
We expect that the board and staff of our organization will consist of people who are committed to addressing food insecurity. Given the diversity of people impacted by food insecurity, we aspire and make every reasonable effort to develop a board, staff, and volunteer base that reflects that diversity. We believe that such diversity will strengthen our organization, enhance our decision making and accountability to the mission, and build and broaden the community of volunteers and funders, whose participation is so essential to our shared success.