Board & Advisors

Since 1993, Amy Grondin has worked on boats in the Alaska Salmon industry as a fish buyer, micro-processor of wild salmon and a commercial fisherman. When not on the water, she is a Sustainable Seafood Consultant and Commercial Fishing Outreach Specialist. A long time member of Slow Food and the Chefs Collaborative, she advocates for sustainable local food systems and has great concern for the sustainability of ocean resources

Tessa Peters is the Director of Crop Stewardship at The Land Institute. She has a B.S. in Physics and in Agroecology and a PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics. She works to support the adoption of new perennial grain crops and cropping systems with the goal of creating an agriculture that more closely mimics natural systems characterized by diversity and resilience. She chases her two kids and partner around the hills near their home in Laramie, Wyoming. She spends her other time throwing pots, hiking and being grateful for the wind that quickens her pulse and reddens her cheeks.

Adrienne is the Northeast Organic Product Specialist for Vitalis Organic Seeds. She earned a masters degree in Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics and a doctorate in Environment and Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research included plant breeding for organic farming systems and intellectual property rights for public cultivars. Adrienne is proud to have participated in the breeding and release of Who Gets Kissed?, an open-pollinated sweet corn bred for and with organic farmers. She helped to organize the first Student Organic Seed Symposium in Vermont in 2012, and has been actively involved with the group ever since. Adrienne has been engaged with the organic farming movement as a farmer, organizer, seed saver, and researcher for 15 years.

Angela Day co-founded a feed and farm supply store with her husband in Snohomish, Washington. For 25 years, their work at the feed store supported small-scale and hobby farms, and youth projects in the Puget Sound area. Angela also served two terms as an appointed member of the Snohomish County Planning Commission. Her education includes a Master’s in Public Administration and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Washington. She has developed curriculum and taught university courses in public management and leadership. For the past several years, Angela has provided grant review services for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for various programs that promote local food system development and partnerships. She has also worked to develop grant proposals with a goal of promoting local markets, urban agriculture, and more resilient local food systems.

Benjamin Uchitelle-Pierce was born in Illinois, USA and is honored to be of service to the OSA community. He believes seeds hold the shared story of our past, and the keys to our collective future. Benjamin works with HarvestPlus to build resilient and nutritious food systems by bridging the gaps between agriculture, nutrition, and health. He works collaboratively to tackle hidden hunger on a global scale.

Anjali Vats, JD, PhD is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law with a secondary appointment in Communication. She is interested in issues related to race, law, rhetoric, media studies, and popular culture, with particular focus on intellectual property. Her book, The Color of Creatorship: Intellectual Property, Race and the Making of Americans (Stanford UP, 2020), examines the relationship between copyrights, patents, trademarks, race, and national identity formation. She has published in the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, and Communication, Culture & Critique. From 2014 – 2021, Vats was Associate Professor of Communication and African and African Diaspora Studies at Boston College and Associate Professor of Law at Boston College Law School (by courtesy), where she taught Critical Race Theory. In 2016-2017, while on an AAUW Postdoctoral Fellowship, she served as a Visiting Law Professor at UC Davis School of Law. She was also previously a faculty member in the Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University. Before becoming a professor, Vats clerked for Chief Justice A. William Maupin of the Supreme Court of Nevada.

Ira is a worker/owner of the cooperatively managed Southern Exposure Seed Exchange where she coordinates variety selection and seed grower contracts. She is committed to increasing the number of small organic seed growers and supporting the formation of a southeastern seed growers cooperative. Ira is a member of Acorn Community which farms over 60 acres of certified organic land in Central Virginia, growing seeds, alliums, hay, and conducting variety trials for Southern Exposure. She is also a principal organizer of the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello, was involved with the SARE-sponsored Saving Our Seeds Project and organizes and presents at events sponsored by the Virginia Association of Biological Farmers (VABF), Virginia Master Gardeners, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA), and Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG).