Board of Directors:

Natalie M. Kenny Marquez, President, IFMA

Marketing Coordinator &Director of Urbana’s Market at the Square

Natalie is the Director of Urbana’s Market at the Square, a long-standing producer-only farmers’ market located in downtown Urbana.  Although Natalie is newer to the Urbana farmers’ market scene, she’s not new to the community.  She’s proud to represent the seventh generation of her family to reside in Champaign County and enjoys that she can connect working at the Market with her family’s deep Midwestern agricultural roots.  Natalie has a passion for marketing, especially for social media, and tries her best to carry these ideas and concepts over to the farmers’ market.  Natalie holds Bachelor’s degrees in advertising and political science from Southern Illinois University and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

 

Laura Erickson, Treasurer, IFMA

Chicago Botanic Garden – Windy City Harvest

Laura Erickson is the Market Coordinator for the Green Youth Farm, a youth development farm program of the Chicago Botanic Garden. She teaches underserved high school students how to grow, market, and cook with fresh fruits and vegetables. She also manages the harvest, distribution, and sales of the program. She currently serves as the Treasurer of the Illinois Farmers Market Association and participates in the Illinois Farmers Market Task Force. Before working for the Chicago Botanic Garden, Laura apprenticed on organic farms in California and Georgia. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Bradley University.

 

Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, Secretary, IFMA

Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator, University of Illinois Extension

Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant is the Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator serving Logan, Menard and Sangamon counties. She provides educational programs and materials in sustainable local food production, marketing and delivery; organic and Integrated Pest Management plant protection systems, farm to school, food safety, and small farms. With more than 25 years of experience working in sustainable local food systems, Deborah brings a wealth of experience at the local, state, regional and national levels. She is currently involved in several local food and small farm organizations, including the Central Illinois Sustainable Farming Network, Grow Springfield, Illinois Farmers Market Network, Illinois Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Council, Illinois Organic Growers Association, and the USDA Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers.

 

Sylvia Smith,  Past President, IFMA         

 PhD, CHE, Associate Professor, Animal Science, Food & Nutrition Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Dr. Sylvia Smith is a faculty member in the Department of Animal Science, Food and Nutrition at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC). She teaches foodservice management classes at SIUC. Sylvia has over twenty years of restaurant industry experience. Her research interests focus on local and sustainable food systems. Sylvia is published in academic journals and serves as a reviewer, as well. In 2011, she helped form the Illinois Farmers Market Association and currently serves on the board of directors. In addition, Sylvia is a member to: National Restaurant Association, Farmers Market Coalition, and Southern Foodworks.

 

Roxanne Junge, 

Glenview Farmers Market Manager, Member,  Illinois Farmers Market Task Force 

Roxanne has managed the Glenview Farmer Market, which takes place at Historic Wagner Farm, since 2007. In this period the average market attendance has grown from 250 people to 1700 in 2014. She spearheaded the implementation of Link access at the Glenview market in 2011, including Double Value, paid for entirely with local grants.  Roxanne enthusiastically advocates for local food systems whenever possible and enjoys helping the uninitiated to connect the dots between farmers, farming, food and physical, economic, social health of communities. Roxanne has a Bachelors in Elementary Education, was a past Volunteer coordinator for Glenview New Church, is a musician, active in conservation and is married to Mark Jungé with 4 grown children and one grandchild.

 

  

Corey Chatman,  

LINK Up Illinois Program Manager, The Experimental Station                                               

 Corey Chatman is a program manager at the Experimental Station, a not-for-profit incubator of innovative cultural projects and small-scale enterprises.  The Experimental Station runs the 61^st Street Farmers Market, processes LINK transactions at 15 City of Chicago Farmers Markets, and administers the LINK Up Illinois Program.  Corey manages both the LINK transactions for the city markets and the LINK Up Illinois programs.  In 2011 he served as the interim manger for the 61^st Street winter farmers market.  He currently serves on the board of directors of the newly formed Illinois Farmers Market Association.  Corey is also a project partner for the Illinois EBT Wireless Project.

Lindsay Record

Program Director, Illinois Stewardship Alliance

Lindsay has been staff at Illinois Stewardship Alliance since 2006. She has served as an Intern, Program Coordinator, Executive Director and is currently a Program Director since stepping down from her role as Executive Director to spend more time with her family in 2013.  As Program Director, Lindsay reaches out to farmers, consumers, restaurants and retailers in central Illinois to promote locally produced foods and connect local growers and producers to new markets. Lindsay’s passion for locally grown foods began when working on a organic vegetable farm in Arizona in 1999 and has continued her love affair with local food and farmers markets ever since.

 

Sheree Moratto

Sustainability Director, Rogers Park Business Alliance

Market Director, Glenwood Sunday Market, Rogers Park Business Alliance

Sheree Moratto is the Sustainability Director at Rogers Park Business Alliance in Chicago, IL.  She works on many aspects of sustainability including economic, environmental and social sustainability initiatives including serving as the Director of the Glenwood Sunday Market, Partner Coach of the Healthy Rogers Park Community Network, Project Manager for the GROW-Food Business Incubator Project, Chair of the Leadership Group of the Rogers Park Arts Alliance and is developing a new Sustainable Business Pilot Project for one of the commercial and arts districts in Rogers Park. Sheree also serves as the Chairperson of the Leadership Committee of the 49^th Ward Participatory Budgeting Program and is a Board member of the Illinois Farmers Market Association. She studied English Literature as an undergraduate and has a post-graduate certificate in Adult Learning and Biographical Counseling

 

Andrea (Andy) Hazzard

Farmer and Owner/Operator of Hazzard Free Farm Grains & Beans

Hazzard Free Farm & CSA .

Andy has been farming for over nine years, she has been a member of the Local Foods Workgroup Winnebago County as well as being the Local Foods Systems Coordinator, Univ. of Il Extension in 2011 and 2012. She presents regularly on topics related to local foods and farming. Additionally, Hazzard Free Farm has worked for over five years with Roots and Wings, an Urban Agriculture Non-profit, as well as Eco-Advocates in Rockford.

 

Dale A. Hazlewood

City of Aurora, Illinois. Aurora’s Farmers Market Manager & Special Event Coordinator

Dale is a Special Event Coordinator for the City of Aurora, organizing city events such as holiday parades and celebrations, as well as managing Aurora’s Farmers Market, Illinois’ oldest continuously operating market. He speaks at special event workshops and conferences on a variety of event planning and destination marketing topics. Known for his endless stream of ideas, targeted initiatives and non-traditional resources, Dale has a proven record of increasing event revenues and patron satisfaction. His creative marketing efforts frequently bring thousands of new faces, as well as significantly defining and expanding an events brand. A life-long micro-farmer, Dale raises a wide variety of poultry, is a self-sufficiency advocate and an award winning vegetable gardener

 

Carson Poole

Urban Planning and Community Development Masters Student at UIC

Carson Poole is a Masters student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, studying the connections between planning, community development, and regional food systems. For three years, he worked as a coordinator for the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest Youth Farm program. Carson was responsible for educating teens about sustainable agriculture and the food system and managed a productive urban farm that supplied a weekly farm stand, produce to a local WIC clinic, and sales city-wide customers. He grew up on a family farm in upstate New York and has worked at many other farms and farmers markets throughout his career. His work now focuses on sustainable food system development and issues around broadening the accessibility of healthy food. He has a Bachelors degree from Cornell University of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

 

 Laurie George, Board Member

Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator 

University of Illinois Extension

Laurie is a Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator serving Bond, Clinton, Jefferson, Marion, and Washington Counties.  She has a background in horticulture, with experience in marketing.  Since 2012, Laurie has developed and delivered face-to-face and online programs that affect small growers, such as growing and harvesting safe food, hydroponics, fruit and vegetable production, Integrated Pest Management, and greenhouse production.  Throughout the years, she has been involved in developing and supporting area farmers markets, and is passionate about promoting the idea of local foods to area communities.  Laurie holds a Master of Science degree in Plant, Soil, and Agricultural Systems from Southern Illinois University (SIU) in Carbondale.

 

 

Janie Maxwell, MS, RDN, LDN, Executive Director, IFMA

Janie is the Executive Director for the Illinois Farmers Market Association. She is passionate about expanding local foods and farmers’ markets. As a Registered Dietitian she believes strongly in the health value of local food and advocates for local food by building systems that highlight the economic value of markets to communities and farmers. In her most recent work with Making Kane County Fit for Kids, as a part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Kids Healthy Communities Grant, Fit for Kids became a nationally recognized leader in creating a culture of health in part by improving access to healthy food through Farmers Markets and community gardens. Janie is a strong advocate for Link acceptance at markets, and worked closely with the Aurora Farmers Market and the Elgin Harvest Market to initiate Link acceptance. Janie brings a background in managing grants and in nonprofit management having managed non-profit initiatives and programs. She is also and nutrition instructor at Northern Illinois University, Department of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences.