Speaker Bios for the 2009

Steve Miller understands farmers' markets from the ground up, literally. Steve has a Masters in horticulture from Clemson and more than 25 years with Cornell Cooperative Extension, working in horticulture production and marketing. His educational film takes a lighthearted approach to "selling your best" at farmers' markets which he knows from experience having spent 10 years managing two municipal farmers' markets. He is Cornell's Farmers' Market Nutrition Program Coordinator and for the past four years he has worked statewide with Cornell developing and implementing education programs for Extension staff, farmers and farmers' market managers.

Greg is President of GSFA Consulting, a business management and marketing consulting firm located in the Dartmouth College region of New Hampshire. GSFA CONSULTING works with a broad range of clients across New Hampshire, New England and the US.

Greg's background includes over 20 years of practical marketing experience. He has specific skills in applying a "systems approach" to marketing and communications, an in-depth knowledge of market and media research, marketing and communications technologies, and more recently, word-of-mouth marketing. The majority of his work today is focused on media analysis, integrated research, strategic planning, agri-marketing and communications planning.

A New Hampshire native, Greg was raised on a small New Hampshire dairy farm, and was active in 4-H activities. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1972 and served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force until 1976. After an in initial career in the printing and publishing industry he returned to graduate school in 1980 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, working towards an MS in marketing.

From 1981-87 he held management positions with National Aviation Underwriters (NAU) in St. Louis, MO, becoming Vice President Marketing. In this position he developed an industry-leading database lead management and communications system that received national recognition in Direct Marketing Magazine. When National was acquired by AVEMCO Corporation, he became Assistant Vice President, Group Marketing, handling special projects for a range of AVEMCO subsidiaries in aviation, marine and travel protection insurance.

Greg returned to New Hampshire joining Whitman Communications Group in 1988 and then formed GSFA Consulting in 1993. He has reconnected to his roots in agriculture, serving on New Hampshire's Rural Development Council, working on rural economic development issues, regional agricultural product identity programs, and tourism issues. For over 5 years he has taught a class on marketing for Maine's "Tilling the Soil" NxLeveL Program for Agricultural Entrepreneurs, and more recently has been speaking on word-of-mouth marketing in agriculture. He also holds the unofficial titles of chief marketing officer, concierge and valet parking manager, donut taster and general factotum at Riverview Farm, a 70+ acre orchard owned by his brother on the scenic Connecticut River in Plainfield NH.

Economist, U.S. Department of Agriculture

After graduating from the University of Maryland, Ricardo Krajewski joined USDA Economic Research Service agency and subsequently transferred to the Agricultural Marketing Service in 1990. Ricardo's expertise primarily focuses on the marketing and transportation of agricultural commodities. He has traveled extensively throughout the Western Hemisphere providing export/import seminars in support of the Foreign Agricultural Service. By virtue of joining the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) team after its grant enactment in 2006, his renewed focus shifted towards grant implementation. In his current capacity, he continues assisting the management of FMPP both in pre- and post-award activities. Ricardo is currently active in a Grants Management Certificate Program focusing on regulation and management of federal grant awards.

Deb Burwell is a grassroots organizer at heart who runs a facilitation business specializing in strategic planning with non-profits and small businesses. She is also a co-facilitator of Paddling the Rapids, a strategic forum for executive directors of non-profits and their boards. Deb is committed to exploring power dynamics and how women use their voices in service of what they care most fiercely about.

Ron Beard is an Extension Professor for University of Maine Cooperative Extension, based in Hancock County, where he focuses on community development and public policy education. He also helps staff and volunteer leaders of non-profit groups learn about how to develop the capacity of their organizations to benefit their communities and the state. Over the last decade, he has assisted some 200 non-profit and community groups.

In 2006, he established Maine Solutions, a program of Cooperative Extension which helps convene and facilitate multi-sector problem-solving (see www.mainesolutions.org ) Over the last twenty years, he has helped coordinate two rounds of a community vision-to-action project called Mount Desert Island Tomorrow (see www.mditomorrow.org ) which is credited with addressing summer traffic congestion with the advent of the propane-powered Island Explorer Bus system serving Acadia National Park and four island towns, and is currently leading to innovative affordable housing solutions to assure that those towns are healthy, year-round communities.

For nearly 18 years, Ron has built a solid partnership between Cooperative Extension community radio station WERU, which serves mid-coastal Maine via 89.9 FM and now beams to the world and shares archived programs via www.weru.org The twice-monthly interview and call-in program Talk of the Towns allows local citizens and leaders to discuss topical issues.

Ron serves as a member of the state-wide Marine Extension Team, a collaborative program of University of Maine Sea Grant and Cooperative Extension. He and his colleagues address a variety of issues affecting coastal towns, industry and ecosystems.

Ron graduated from University of Maine with a BS in Wildlife Management in 1972 and a MS in Agricultural and Resource Economics in 1974.

Ron has two grown children, Chris, a 2007 graduate in education and political science at the University of Maine, and Alana, a 2003 graduate of College of the Atlantic. Ron makes his home with his wife, Sandi Read, in Bar Harbor, where he served a number of local organizations and town government. In 2004, he was elected to the Board of Trustees of College of the Atlantic, where he has served on as an adjunct faculty member since 1989. Ron maintains close friendships and professional connections in Scotland, where he focused two sabbatical leaves on rural community development practices there.

For the last 25 years, he has averaged two trips down the Allagash River each year, and confirms that it really is never the same river twice.

Contact Information: University of Maine Cooperative Extension Office (Ellsworth) 207 667 8212 Email Address: ude.eniam.txemu@draebr

Amber Lambke has lived in Skowhegan, Maine since 2001. She grew up in Brunswick, Maine and has a Masters Degree in Communication Disorders from University of New Hampshire. Amber has worked as a speech-language pathologist for the last 11 years, until giving up this work last year to pursue a business plan in milling locally grown grains into flour. Living in town in Skowhegan, and unable to grow large quantities of food on their small parcel of land, Amber and her husband came to know the Farmers Marketers quite well as avid customers. When downtown Skowhegan's revitalization became a point of focus in 2003, there was interest in expanding the market as a downtown attraction and community gathering place. Amber began her work facilitating connection between municipal groups and the market at that time. As a result of expanding the number of vendors, adding entertainment and a children's nutritional outreach program, and changing location, farmers have reported a tripling in attendance and sales in the last 2 years."

Joe Slocum is from a big family which means that he grew up in an atmosphere of open diversity within a broader respectful community. He is a dad, a lawyer, a writer, a Registered Maine Guide, a storyteller and a firm believer in the importance of every little piece. He is currently enjoying the position of City Manager of the great City of Belfast. He says he is more impressed by his responsibilities than his title. His overriding goal is to "find a way" to foster common ground and he promotes the use of communication and reassurance as positive tools to cultivate that environment. He is currently working with the Belfast Farmers Market and the Belfast merchants to enhance their respective interests.

Dave Milan works for the Town of Bucksport as the Director of Economic Development. He works with businesses already located in Bucksport as well as attracting new businesses that will diversify the tax base in Bucksport and provide good jobs for Bucksport citizens. He assists companies with business plan development, identifying funding & employee training opportunities, regulatory hurdle jumping, and other challenges that businesses face in their quest for success. www.bucksport.biz.

Prior to becoming the ED Director in 2001, Dave retired as the Deputy Chief of Police at the Bucksport Police Department. After spending 26 years as a police officer, Dave has brought his talents as a criminal investigator and problem solver to the business world. Graduating from Bucksport High School and Eastern Maine Vocational Technical Institute, Dave went on to graduate at the top of his class at both the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and the FBI National Academy located in Quantico, VA.

Dave serves on the Board of Directors for the Hancock County Planning Commission and Eastern Maine Community College as well as serving as the President of the Bangor Region Development Alliance.

Dave has been married to his wife Vicki for 28 years and they have four grown children and one brand new granddaughter.

Graphic designer and illustrator Gabe McPhail lives on Vinalhaven where she operates Workshop31, a promotional services company offering a wide range of marketing services to small-scale businesses and non-profits.

For ten years Gabe administered "Image Building Concepts" (IBC) a program of Coastal Enterprises Inc. and the Maine Farms Project. IBC served over 200 Maine farms, farmers' markets and farm organizations, providing graphic design and promotional services, including logo illustration and marketing consultation. Samples of Gabe's work can be seen at her website workshop31.com.

I am a designer with more than a dozen years of experience behind me, heavily influenced by my background in public relations, marketing, and journalism. I use the skills I've gathered in those areas to enhance my design work so each piece communicates to its audience with captivating clarity.

A Maine native, I have chosen to live and work in Maine. Like many, I left and returned with a deeper appreciation for my home state, and for those who choose to make this state the home of their business or service. Working with small businesses and nonprofit organizations is a great passion, and I have had the good fortune to have worked with both in my private life and my career.

Prior to starting Monique Bouchard Design, www.mbouchard.com, I have been designing for the Maine nonprofit community as the graphic designer for BHC Consulting Group, LLC and Gary Friedmann & Associates (both firms specializing in fundraising and development for nonprofit organizations) designing web and print pieces for many organizations and working with the media to promote events.

It has been my great privilege to have worked in Down East Maine both for, and in collaboration with, the Washington Hancock Community Agency. As part of WHCA's resource development team (now Downeast Business Alliance), I have advised and assisted dozens of small business owners with graphic design, marketing plans and assessments, media kits and public relations strategies.

A member of the University of Maine Honors College, I'm proud to have graduated with highest honors from the University of Maine at Orono in Mass Communications, with course concentrations in advertising and children's media. My honors thesis was a production of radio drama for children.

If I look familiar, it may be that you've seen me on the stage of the Grand Theatre, Penobscot Theatre, Maine Masque Theatre, Orono Community Theatre or singing with the St. John's Chamber Choir, Leafy Greens & Mutton or singing with the sea-chantey and madrigal trio, Port o' Call (available for weddings, bar mitzvahs and parties of all kinds!)

In my spare time, I re-enact medieval times with the Society for Creative Anachronism (an international nonprofit organization dedicated to recreating the best the medieval times had to offer); and am proud to be the graphic designer for BangPop! a new organization bringing events from the pop culture fringe to the Bangor area. And last, but by no means least, I enjoy time with my husband and son!

Linda Edgerton started a very successful Farmers' Market in Gardiner in 2008. A dozen vendors participated offering a wide variety of local veggies, fruits, breads, berries, baked goods, soaps & lotions, goat milk, cheeses, eggs, beef, poultry and pork and more. Edgerton is an avid market-goer for the past 30 years and she and husband, Jon, enjoy the offerings of their own orchard and gardens.

Mark Guzzi owns and operates Peacemeal Farm in Dixmont Me. After apprenticing on farms for a few years he attended the University of Maine Sustainable Agriculture program. There he worked on the Black Bear Food Guild a student run CSA and market garden and got his start in Orono Farmers Market.

After graduation he and two friends moved to Peacemeal Farm where they started their own market gardening business. Mark now owns Peacemeal where he grows ten acres of mixed vegetables. The produce is marketed at farmers markets in Orono, Belfast, Camden and Waterville. Mark is currently the chair of the Orono Farmers Market.

Amy Carrington is the Project Director for The New American Sustainable Agriculture Project at Coastal Enterprises, Inc. http://www.ceimaine.org/content/view/115/164/ She coordinates the planning and development of NASAP programs and services and is directly involved in delivering trainings and technical assistance to participating farmers. She facilitates the farmer committee and other community based leadership development initiatives within the NASAP. Carrington brings extensive agricultural production expertise to the NASAP.

After receiving a B.S. in Environmental Conservation with a focus in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of New Hampshire Carrington worked on a diverse array of independently-owned New England farms and has experience in sustainable vegetable production, small fruit crop production, agricultural marketing, animal husbandry, and greenhouse management. She served as the market manager and was a grower/ vendor at the Lowell Farmers' Market in Massachusetts.

For three and a half years Carrington worked with immigrant farmers in Massachusetts as the Farm Site Coordinator for the New Entry Sustainable Agriculture Project at Tufts University. She has also served as a member of the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Research Staff investigating small fruit crop research experiments.

Sarah Smith and her husband Garin own and operate a diversified certified organic farm in Skowhegan, Maine. Primarily, the farm milks a mixed genetics herd of 40 cows and sells to the CROPP Cooperative. Sarah manages two acres of mixed vegetables, retails raw milk in glass bottles, and attends four farmers' markets year round while also raising her three year old daughter and new baby arriving in April 2009. The farm also raises organic beef, pastured broiler chickens, and offers seasonal CSA shares. In her spare time, Sarah is the market manager of the Skowhegan Farmers' Market, which has been actively involved in the local community and made it a priority to work with interested consumers and other businesses and non-profits in Skowhegan. She is also sits on a variety of organizational boards including the MOFGA Board of Directors, The Kneading Conference, and Somerset Cooperative Extension. Sarah has been farming for seven years and has owned her farm since 2007. Prior to coming home to Maine she co-managed the garden at Warren Wilson College and worked as student crew boss of the pork operation on the farm at the institution.

John has 22 years experience working as a farmer advocate and resource contact for the Maine Department of Agriculture. Prior to that John spent a total of 12 years as a farmer and small fruit researcher, managing the 256 acre Highmoor fruit research farm for the University of Maine and Cornell’s 20 acre grape research farm in Fredonia, New York.. He currently manages grant programs in agricultural marketing and water source development and administers a low interest loan program for the department. He teaches a farm business planning class and advises farmers on bookkeeping and financial management. He is involved in ag marketing policy development and recently completed a major market report on Maine’s local agricultural sector. John’s passion is small fruits and has a degree in horticulture from Penn State and a master’s from Cornell. In his spare time he runs a cranberry nursery/greenhouse business with his wife Deb, in Mount Vernon.

Marshall Piper is the Consumer Protection Inspector for the Department of Agriculture. He inspects licensed facilities to make sure they are in compliance with the State food code. His area of expertise covers licensure and code compliance including the implementation process. His position relates to those in who deal in Retail Food, Commercial Processors, Mobile Vending, Home Food Manufacturing, HACCP investigations (FDA), Meat Processing, Maple Syrup, and Honey.

Kayla Colby is the Vendor Manager for the Maine WIC Nutrition Program. The focus of her position is to communicate with the over 300 vendors authorized to accept WIC as well as the vendor community to provide them information about the WIC program and to assist WIC authorized vendors. As the Vendor Manager she also runs the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program for Maine.

Michael O'Connor is the EBT project manager for the state of Maine. Since the program's inception in 2003, he has handled the contracts of merchants who have EBT transactions at their sites. He is also responsible for answering merchants' questions about EBT.