President, 2015-2026

I was raised a sharecropper’s son in Arkansas in a family of 15 children. Most of our food supplies came from a very large garden we maintained. After finishing college at Marquette University in Milwaukee, I began moving around the country with the military and later Allstate, where I continued to garden in different environments.

My responsibilities at Allstate included expense management for a department of 1,500 employees, compliance, auditing and group facilitation.

Retiring from Allstate after 31 years, I came to Reno and began gardening in a much more challenging growing environment. I have lived in different parts of the city of Reno where the various micro-climates provide even more challenges. To improve my chances of gardening success, I enrolled in and finished the Master Gardner program through the University Of Nevada Cooperative Extension in 2012. In 2014, I was named one of the two Master Gardeners of the year.

Though I grow many different vegetables, my passion is growing and understanding how to successfully grow garlic here. I have been featured in the Reno Gazette Journal, Edible Reno Tahoe and I have spoken on the topic at Bartley Ranch, and the UNR Cooperative Extension.

I have volunteered the past three years at Great Basin Food Coop in the demonstration garden and currently volunteer at Sun Valley elementary school working with kids and teachers demonstrating how to grow vegetables and the value of healthier food choices. For the past two years, I have served on the Advisory Council for the Master Garden program at the UNR Cooperative Extension.

Treasurer, 2015-2028

I am a Nevada native, born and raised in Reno. Several of the buildings around the Co-op were the homes of my relatives. A couple of the law offices on Arlington and Court Street were where my aunts lived as well as the building that now houses the Reno Fly Shop. My wife and I live in the Old Southwest in the house that my Grandma and Grandpa designed and lived in. Spending my entire life here, I have seen many changes in “The Biggest Little City”. I feel there are so many wonderful qualities of our town. We have quick access to the mountains, lakes and wilderness areas and there are many great events centered around the arts. I am very excited about our food scene, with an incredible energy being focused on sustainability and sourcing local. Many restaurant owners are supporting, promoting and even carrying each others’ products.

Thirty years ago I decided to become vegetarian and later took on a solely plant based diet. With this came a passion about growing much of our own food as well as helping others do the same. Each year I take part in the Co-op Seedling Sale, growing for the community, over 1000 plants to place in their own gardens. I am currently in the process of developing a business to grow sustainable, local food year around.

This brings us to the Co-op. They are all about local and sustainable. They are about community. They are like family. It is their passion and that is why I love the Co-op. I am so excited to be a part of that and I hope to be able to help make this amazing, community-owned grocery store even better.

Secretary, 2022 - 2026

I was born and raised in rural western Pennsylvania in a region (Indiana County) dotted by forests, fields, and small family-owned dairy farms. Living in this area informed my beliefs and values about what farming is and should be. After moving to northern Nevada in 2008, I joined the co-op shortly after its
formation, because I wanted to support local food production in my community and have the opportunity to purchase food that is ethically and sustainably sourced.

I attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where I studied journalism and biology. Thereafter, I earned a law degree at the University of Pittsburgh. I have been a licensed attorney since 2005, and I am currently employed as the Court Administrator for Reno Justice Court. Prior to joining the Court, I worked for a non-profit legal aid organization (Northern Nevada Legal Aid (formerly known as Washoe Legal Services)) as a staff attorney and, later, the organization’s Executive Director.

In my spare time I enjoy traveling (especially international travel), cycling, mountain biking, skiing, and playing ice hockey. I live in Reno with my partner, Evie, and our daughter, Clementine.

Director, 2025-2028

"I am a local business owner, gardener, wife, and mother of two young kiddos. I love to create and aim to foster an environment for creativity wherever I am. After studying nutrition, I spent a decade working with nonprofits, teaching cooking and gardening in partnership with The Edible Schoolyard, as well as managing the Seed to Mouth program with an organization called Community Grows. For as long as I can remember, food and sustainability have been the pillars around which I've built community. I grew up gardening with my grandmother and can still remember the pure magic of pulling my first carrot out of the ground and delivering produce to neighbors. When I was a child, my mom hosted a food pantry and community breakfast on Saturday mornings, helping to ingrain in me the idea that the health and livelihood of the community that I lived in was, at least in part, my responsibility. To this day, it is where I experience the greatest meaning and sense of belonging.

What attracts me to the Great Basin Co-op is that they have made it their responsibility to protect the food-health and sovereignty of this community. From their "Round Up" program to help expand food literacy and access, to their fierce support of the local farmers and producers in our region. They are also, of course, community-owned. Much of what the co-op stands for and seeks to elevate aligns with my own passions and ideologies around the health of a community. As a co-op member-owner, a faithful participant in the farmers market scene, and a producer of local goods, I believe I could offer a broad range of perspectives from these outposts. It would be an honor to join the board that governs on behalf of its members and helps to ensure the co-op's health going forward."

Director, 2025-2027

"A proud Co-Op member since the days of the record store, she is passionate about supporting her community and the farmers who keep food healthy and local. Growing up in Louisiana, where everything grows with little effort, she sees the effort that Nevadans have to put into growing food in the high desert. Having owned a successful small business just down the street from the Co-op's current location, she knows all about grit and strong leadership. Her Hair Studio, Crush operated for over a decade while she was simultaneously raising a son as a single mother. Now that her son is in college and her newest business, Upside Tidying, is running smoothly, she wants to serve in a new way —one that aligns with her values. The Great Basin Community Food Co-Op is the right fit."

Director, 2025 - 2028

As a life-long resident of the Great Basin, I am the 3rd generation to farm and ranch in Nevada's Dayton Valley. After 20 years as a Nevada State Park Ranger, and 15 devoted to conservation efforts on the Middle Carson River, I currently serve as Nevada’s Organic Transition Specialist with UNR’s Desert Farming Initiative and California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). Alongside my lovely wife and our three children we’ve operated Holley Family Farms for 15 years. Now with my wife and oldest son, we raise cattle, sheep and pigs, grass hay and pasture, and we produce USDA Organic vegetables for local food outlets including farmers markets, restaurants, and the Great Basin Community Food Co-op. I was raised on Tahoe's north shore by parents who instilled a love of "all creatures great and small," large natural landscapes, the value of neighbors, the significance of history, the necessity and nobility of agriculture, and the pleasure of good food and delightful company.

Co-ops have long been a part of my life. My mom was a founding member of North Tahoe’s We the People Natural Foods Cooperative (1973). We’ve since frequented numerous co-ops in Montana, Wyoming, and throughout California out of support for local farmers and makers, local food, and the cooperatives who labor to provide local organic food and products. Maintaining an ongoing supply of meats and produce to our co-op continues to be one of the high points of our farming. To know that people are nourished by and enjoy the fruits of our labor is satisfying beyond measure! I hope for the opportunity to serve the co-op and its members, and help further the community that’s been built between producers, small business, and consumers throughout our beautiful foodshed.

He has been designing and constructing hydroponic, aquaponic and traditional greenhouse facilities for over 10 years, and he is passionate about empowering businesses and individuals alike with the ability to produce organic and sustainable products. Recent projects inlcude FSMIP program grant coordination and aquaponic system prototyping with Hungry Mother Organics, commercial facility design and construction management for Dayton Valley Aquaponics, and most recently, serving as VP of Operations for Bonanza Pharms, a certified organic indoor CBD cultivation and processing facility.