Staff & Board

Louie Cabral supports OSA’s California field research. Louie has been growing crops professionally for nearly 20 years throughout California, being involved in all aspects of production from plant disease management to machinery operation to crop quality control. Louie is an avid sport fisherman and lives in Eureka, CA.

Susana is a program manager of all trades with a career spanning across Information Technology to Food Systems. Susana has dedicated the last decade to sustainable agriculture, seed histories, and supporting small scale growers. Susana uses her insatiable curiosity, strategic mind, and love of people to build impactful projects and co-create collaborative programs. Joy is a must, Susana brings play, wonder, innovation, and creativity to the challenge of building a just food and seed system. Wholeheartedly believing that everyone has the right to their cultural seeds and practice is what guides her work. Based on the Olympic Peninsula, you will find Susana scampering through the woods, reading an epic fantasy novel, or deep diving into another crafting project. Connect with Susana to dream up potential collaborations!

Kiki grew up with farmers, musicians, and artists on Bainbridge Island and has lived in the Northwest most of her life, settling in Port Townsend in 2020. Before coming to OSA, Kiki provided operational logistics, financial management, and grant work for a local Black-led nonprofit, where she helped the organization grow from a $200,000 annual budget when she started in 2016, to a $5 million budget in 2023. Prior to that, Kiki was instrumental in developing one of the largest and most prestigious yoga teacher training programs in Washington state. Kiki went to Smith College and earned a bachelor’s degree with High Honors in American Studies. Kiki loves to cook organic food, share meals with friends and family, dance, backpack in the Olympics, and find ways to disrupt white supremacy culture, both inside herself and in her community.

Ana C. Galvis-Martinez joined OSA’s staff in 2022 after several years of working in collaboration with the education team. She is an educator that holds a bachelor degree in Biology, a MSc in Sustainable Development, and a MA in Latin American Studies with an emphasis in food justice. Ana is deeply interested in agroecology as an agricultural production alternative to produce nutritious food, conserve natural resources, and strengthen social movements. For over 15 years she has worked within the food justice and food sovereignty movements in the non-profit and in the academic sector, in Mexico, Colombia, and the U.S. Ana is originally from Colombia, single-mother of a young man, immigrant to the U.S. and has a deep love, respect, and admiration for ancient cultures and Indigenous cosmovision. She has extensive experience teaching sustainable agriculture to people of different socio-cultural backgrounds, ages, and genders.

Lex Helbling (she/her) is a Farm Research Field Assistant, where she spends most of her days in the field. Lex has lived and farmed in Jefferson County, Washington, for the last 18 years, after moving west from her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at 18.

Lex’s path in agriculture began with eight seasons at Dharma Ridge Farm, where she learned the full scope of organic vegetable production. She went on to run her own livestock farm for six years and now stewards a small, collectively run free food farm project rooted in community care. As a returning generational farmer with roots in southern Italy, where her relatives still farm today, Lex brings a strong sense of ancestral connection and passion to her work. She tends to culturally significant seeds that have been with her family for many generations. She is dedicated to a place-based food system and sees seed work as essential to ecological and cultural resilience.

Jess Hughes supports OSA as Communications Assistant. She works to expand our reach and build OSA’s brand across all communications platforms

Jess brings eight years of experience in marketing communications and design. Her recent work (Dandeline Design) has centered on helping purpose-driven small businesses grow digitally through web design and content strategy, with a focus on the health and wellness space. 

She holds a B.A. in Business with a concentration in Marketing from the University of Maine, is a certified herbalist through the California School of Herbal Studies, and is currently studying holistic nutrition at Bauman College.

Jess’s commitment to healing foods, regenerative food systems, and community-based advocacy guides her work at OSA.

Outside of work, Jess is most likely connecting with her community, cooking, or exploring the natural world.

Kayla Ierlan is the farm manager for Organic Seed Alliance’s research farm in Chimacum, Washington. After graduating from the University of Washington with a bachelors degree in philosophy and human rights, she transitioned into farming and hasn’t looked back. Since then, Kayla has farmed in Hawaii, Washington, and Oregon and have spent the bulk of her career focusing on seed production. She has over 8 years of professional experience as a commercial seed grower and has managed several seed production farms including her own, Honey Bloom Farm, in southern Oregon. Over the span of Kayla’s career she’s grown a diverse range of seed crops for High Mowing Organic Seeds, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Fedco Seeds, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Baker Creek, Uprising Seeds, Sow True Seed, and more. She’s most passionate about connecting others to seed work and supporting fellow seed growers.

Katie Jagger helps with field research and education at OSA. Katie has been farming since 2004 and working with seed since 2005. In addition to her responsibilities at OSA, she co-owns and manages Saltwater Seeds, a certified organic seed company producing and selling maritime-adapted seeds. From 2006-2015, she managed a small-scale, no-till, intensive CSA farm in Rhode Island, and has worked with seed on the Olympic Peninsula since 2016. She lives and farms in Sequim, WA.

Aba Kiser (she/they) is the Assistant Director of Outreach for the Organic Seed Alliance. Born in the ancestral lands of the Piscataway Conoy people near Washington, D.C., Aba has spent over a decade developing sustainable agricultural initiatives across the Pacific Northwest and beyond and is thrilled to be joining the staff after many years of collaboration as an OSA Field Intern, grant collaborator and contractor. With a background in theater from the University of Washington and a Bachelor’s in Integrative Media from The Evergreen State College, her journey to OSA has been as diverse as her interests. Aba’s work is a tapestry of regional value chain development, culturally relevant frameworks, and groundbreaking events like the Cascadia Grains Conference and the International Quinoa Research Symposium. In 2020, she earned recognition as Capital Press’ Western Innovator for her unwavering commitment to data equity and participatory frameworks. Extending beyond the fields and conference halls, Aba moonlights as a performer and media producer and during the George Floyd uprising she founded Watershed Productions to blend her love for media production with her dedication to culturally relevant food and farming projects. A grateful resident on Chimakum/S’Klallam land in the Olympic Peninsula, Aba finds solace in tending her cover crop garden when she’s not orchestrating transformative events or planning her next international adventure.

Publications

• Sarah M. Collier, Alan Ismach, Victoria Jansen, Aba Kiser, Holly Henning, Laura R. Lewis, Marie L. Spiker, Jennifer J. Otten. (2024) A call for collaboration among food systems programs in higher education to train the future workforce. Frontier Sustainable Food Systems 05 January 2024 Volume 7 – 2023.
  
• Assessing WA Food Systems Through an Equity Lens (2021)

Michael Lordon began working with Organic Seed Alliance in 2021, supporting the research and education program. He has over five years professional experience in the organic seed industry working with Nature & Nurture Seeds, helping to grow the business, the seeds, and the community. Michael has a master’s degree focused on conservation ecology from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment, a bachelor’s degree in biological science from DePaul University, and is the co-author of multiple peer-reviewed articles in the field of population and community ecology. Currently, he’s involved with several Midwest-based seed projects, including growing the organic seed breeding network in the region. Michael wants to create accessible spaces for learning and exchange while exploring research questions involving agroecological data and human stories. He is committed to helping seed growers make decisions when confronted with both environmental and social dilemmas.

Cathleen McCluskey was appointed Executive Director of Organic Seed Alliance in 2025. She brings over 20 years of invaluable experience in seed systems, including serving in a number of positions with OSA since 2010, most recently as Policy and Advocacy Director.

Cathleen is an interdisciplinarian, and her research on the ways in which context influences the relationship between humans and seed has informed OSA’s work during her tenure. Her expertise and leadership skills position her to guide the organization in further stewarding equitable, inclusive programs rooted in participatory methodologies and aimed at putting the power of seed in the hands of growers. Cathleen holds a PhD in Environment and Resources and an MS in Agroecology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and currently serves on the National Organic Standards Board.

Selected Publications

• McCluskey, C. and Tracy, W.F. (2024). Data blanks by design: Intellectual property and restrictions on genetic diversity assessments of the maize standing crop in the USA Upper Midwest. Plants, People, Planet, 6(6), 1372-1380. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10531.

• McCluskey, C. and Tracy, W.F. (2021). Engaging Farmer Stakeholders: Maize Producers’ Perceptions of and Strategies for Managing On-Farm Genetic Diversity in the Upper Midwest. Sustainability, 13(16), 8843. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168843.

• Colley, M., Dawson, J., McCluskey, C., Myers, J., Tracy, W., & Lammerts van Bueren, E. (2021). Exploring the emergence of participatory plant breeding in countries of the Global North – a review. The Journal of Agricultural Science, 1-19. doi:10.1017/S0021859621000782.

• Op-ed: How Patents Threaten Small Seed Companies (Civil Eats, 2020)

• Dawson, J., Healy, K., and McCluskey, C. (2017). Organic Vegetable Trials and Plant Breeding Needs Assessment and Strategy for National Collaboration. University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. (Accessed November 2018)

Molly Travis is supporting the research and education program in California, based in Humboldt County. 

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies with a focus on agroecology from the University of California Santa Cruz, and also earned a Permaculture Design Certificate. 

While working for land management agencies across the Pacific West and Southwest, Molly spent extensive time in the field performing ecological and recreational data collection. This data was instrumental in developing funding priorities and analyzing visitor use impacts on wilderness areas.  

After gaining more financial and administrative experience working for non-profits, Molly wanted to return to her agricultural roots. She is excited to coordinate projects and develop partnerships with members of the seed growing and organic farming communities.

Heather Zornetzer is the Development Associate for Organic Seed Alliance. She supports fundraising and donor engagement strategies across the organization. 

Heather has 20 years of experience in participatory research, program coordination, fundraising, grants management, and impact evaluation in international agricultural development (MS from UC Davis) and rural community health (MPH, UC Berkeley). She was a program director with the Sustainable Sciences Institute in Nicaragua for nearly a decade,  where she helped to strengthen networks for public health research capacity across and between the Americas,  Africa, and Asia. Following a move to France with her family in 2018, Heather pivoted towards food systems research and supported a range of sustainable and healthy diets projects around the world with the CGIAR Alliance of Bioversity International-CIAT and the social enterprise, Glocolearning. She has learned Spanish and French along the way and gained a deep appreciation for exploring cultures through food. Now based in the Pacific Northwest, Heather loves to hike and cook with her husband and three kids, problem-solve in the garden, and get to the wild Oregon coast as often as possible.

Selected Publications

• Mason-D’Croz, D., C. Kugler, R. Remans, P. Thornton, J. Vervoort, H. Zornetzer, H. van Meijl and M. Herrero. “Rigorous anticipatory governance is needed for responsible food system transformation.” Nature Food. Manuscript accepted September 2025. 

• Remans, R. and H. Zornetzer, D. Mason-D’Croz, C. Kugler, P. Thornton, C. Pedersen, F. Cattaneo, D. Samantaray, L. Nyamongo, I. Brouwer, D. Bosch, T. Haile Bekele, Y. Ivanova, J.Mockshell, B. Sainepo, M. Misiko, and M. Herrero. “Backcasting supports cross-sectoral collaboration and social-technical innovation bundling: case studies in agri-food systems.” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 8. August 2024.

• Thornton, P., D. Mason-D’Croz, C. Kugler, H. Zornetzer, R. Remans, and M. Herrero. “Enabling food system innovation: accelerators for change.” Global Food Security, Vol. 40:100738, March 2024. 

Jared Zystro is Organic Seed Alliance’s Director of Programs. He has an M.S. and Ph.D. in plant breeding and plant genetics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he studied efficient methods of developing new organic sweet corn varieties. Jared has worked in the organic seed industry for over 15 years, managing seed production at two farms and conducting research and education projects with OSA. He currently manages OSA’s regional development in California, conducts participatory breeding projects and variety trials, and teaches farmers about seed production and plant breeding at workshops, conferences, and field days. He lives in the coastal town of Arcata, CA, with his wife and son.

Selected Publications

• Zystro, J., T. Peters, K. Miller, and W. Tracy. 2021. Classical and genomic prediction of synthetic open pollinated sweet corn performance in organic environments. Crop Science 61:1698-1708.

• Zystro, J., T. Peters, K. Miller, and W. Tracy. 2021. Inbred and hybrid sweet corn genotype performance in diverse organic environments. Crop Science 61:2280-2293.

• Zystro, J., T. Peters, K. Miller, and W. Tracy. 2021. Classical and genomic prediction of hybrid sweet corn performance in organic environments. Crop Science 61:1698-1708.

• Zystro, J. Efficient Methods to Develop New Sweet Corn Cultivars for Organic Systems. PhD Dissertation, The University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, WI.

• Lyon, A., W. Tracy, M. Colley, P. Culbert, M. Mazourek, J. Myers, J. Zystro, and E. Silva. 2018. Adaptability analysis in a participatory variety trial of organic vegetable crops. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems: 1-17.

• Zystro, Jared, Micaela Colley, and Julie Dawson. 2018. Alternative Experimental Designs for Plant Breeding. Plant Breeding Reviews 42: 87-117.

• Hoagland L., J. Navazio, J. Zystro, I. Kaplan, J. Vargas and K. Gibson. 2015. Key Traits and Promising Germplasm for an Organic Participatory Tomato Breeding Program in the US Midwest. HortScience 50:1301-1308.

• Buttala L., J. Zystro, M. Colley S. and Siegel. 2015. The Seed Garden. Seed Savers Exchange, Decorah.

• Lyon, E. Silva, J. Zystro and M. Bell. 2015. Seed and Plant Breeding for Wisconsin’s Organic Vegetable Sector: Understanding Farmers’ Needs. Agroecology and Food Systems 39: 601-624.

• Zystro, J., N. de Leon, and W. Tracy. 2012. Analysis of Traits Related to Weed Competitiveness in Sweet Corn (Zea mays L.). Sustainability, 4:543-560.

John has been active in the organic community and industry for 30+ years. He spent 12 years working in organic inspection and certification throughout North America and 11 years with Earthbound Farm, starting with the founders and ending his time there as the Director of Supply Chain Strategy under ownership by Danone NA. John has served on various industry Boards and Committees since 2000 and served on the National Organic Standards Board as a Handler Representative from 2010-2015. In the last several years, he has consulted in Strategic Business Development, Change Management, Organic R&D, Carbon Sequestration, and Climate Change Mitigation. In 2020, he partnered with Bill Wolf and Wolf & Associates to build out the capacity and reach of the firm’s business. John is best known for his un-stereotyped problem-solving skills, thirst for applicable knowledge and esoterica alike, appreciation for absurdity and abstraction in all their forms, and squeezing in quotes from The Big Lebowski into everyday conversations. He revels in bringing the benefits of organic theory and practice to as many as possible and serving as a catalyst for positive change.

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

Edward Johnson, an award-winning creative strategist with over 20 years of enriching storytelling experience in nonprofit marketing, is celebrated for his comprehensive approach spanning multiple platforms, from digital to print. With a democratic leadership style, Edward stands out as a transformative business leader, adept at harnessing creativity, design, branding, and digital strategy to achieve impactful and measurable outcomes. His fervor for positive change is palpable in all his ventures. In his role as the Communications and Marketing Deputy Director at Oregon Tilth, Edward’s strategic insights have been pivotal in advancing the organization’s mission. He’s championed initiatives that aim to make food and agriculture biologically sound and socially equitable through organic certification, education, and advocacy.

Being a proud recipient of the Graphic Design USA Health + Wellness Design Award underscores his professional prowess. As he aligns with Organic Seed Alliance, Edward’s values deeply resonate with their mission to foster a diverse supply of organic seed. Eager and committed, he envisions a future where growers maintain the power of seed, seamlessly aligning with OSA’s vision.

Joelle Mosso is an entrepreneurial scientist with a passion for pathogenic food microbiology, risk assessment, and working towards practical solutions for the food industry. Joelle currently is Western Growers Assoc. VP of Science Programs, working alongside growers to develop improved approaches to food safety and sustainability challenges. She has a background in Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA), building microbial testing laboratories, evaluating and designing microbial diagnostic tools/approaches, and firsthand produce experience, managing food safety for complex international supply chains. Before Western Growers, she was Sr. Director of Technical & Regulatory Affairs for the Organic Trade Association (OTA), was the chief scientific officer for the Eurofins Produce, and held food safety and business leadership roles at Earthbound Farm and Olam Spice & Vegetable Ingredients. She holds a B.S. from the University of Maryland in Microbiology with honors in Molecular Biology and a M.S. in Food Science focused on pathogenic food microbiology from the University of California, Davis. Joelle has served on numerous industry technical groups including the Center for Produce Safety Technical Committee, the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) Food Safety Council, USDA National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF), and the USDA National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).

Jim Myers is recently retired after serving 29 years as the Baggett-Frazier Endowed Professor of Vegetable Breeding and Genetics in the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University. He has a long-time interest in sustainable agriculture and its influence on plant breeding. Before coming to Oregon in 1996, he spent 10 years at the University of Idaho Kimberly Research Station, where he released 13 dry bean varieties. At OSU, he has studied and bred several crops, including snap bean, edible podded pea, broccoli, tomato, pepper, winter, and summer squash. His main interest has been to improve vegetable and field crop varieties for disease resistance, human nutrition, and organic production systems. Internationally, he has been involved in bean improvement programs in Eastern and Southern Africa, where his bean seed weevil-resistant dry bean lines are currently being deployed. He was director of the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC), a 12 year federally funded multistate project to breed and trial vegetable varieties adapted to organic production systems. He has been involved in several other organic breeding projects, currently including the Tomato Organic Management and Improvement (TOMI) project. At OSU, he has released several vegetable varieties, including ‘Legend’ tomato with Dr. Jim Baggett, and five “Indigo” tomato cultivars. Other releases include ‘Cascadia’ broccoli, ‘OSU5630’ green bean, ‘Patron’ Peruano dry bean, and ‘Sweet Gem’ snap pea. His work with Indigo tomatoes has been disseminated around the world, and germplasm from his program has been used to create more than 50 Indigo type tomato varieties. His latest releases are ‘Mild Thing’ and ‘Notta Hotta’, mild habanero peppers and two popping bean varieties (‘Poporito’ and ‘Noche Nuña’). Tromboncino summer squash, snap peas and beans, and more tomatoes are next in the pipeline for release. His engagement with Organic Seed Alliance goes back to the early 2000s.

For over 20 years, Natalia has dedicated her career to sustainable agriculture, weaving together research, education, production, and advocacy. A proud supporter of OSA since 2012, she is honored to serve the brilliant, passionate, and talented OSA staff by being on their board, drawing daily inspiration from their work. Natalia’s journey has taken her from analyzing soil microbes at the Rodale Institute to wrangling goats as the owner of a micro-dairy, harvesting a mind-boggling variety of vegetables as a farm worker, feeding worms and microbes as a compost maker, marrying mycorrhizae with their vegetable symbiotes as a mycologist at USDA-ARS, designing permaculture systems that recycle human waste to grow food in the tropics, and advocating for Latin American agroecology through activism across Central and South America, including her homeland of Colombia.

As co-founder of Farmer Campus, Natalia develops award-winning multimedia education programs that blend online learning with on-farm practices. These programs help farmers confront climate uncertainty, ensure economic viability, and build resilience by connecting them to peer networks and providing practical tools to navigate an unpredictable future. Currently a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Davis, she collaborates with geoscientists to harness climate models and co-create decision support tools tailored to the needs of small and diversified farmers. Natalia is committed to advancing ecological and equitable farming systems that empower growers to thrive in a tumultuous economic and environmental landscape.

Mary is an agroecologist and regenerative farmer based in Black Mountain, NC. She and her partner run a small, diverse farm and grow seeds as members of the Appalachian Growers Seed Collective. With academic training in farming systems, crop genetics, and ethnobiology, Mary conducted research on buckwheat diversity in China and no-till cover crop management in the US. She worked for 10 years as an agriculture professor, teaching courses, mentoring student research, and managing campus farms. She currently works for NC State Extension in the Department of Horticultural Science. Mary enjoys singing and playing music, spending time in nature, and sharing food and fun with family and friends. Mary reveres the seed keepers and ancestors, following the invisible threads that connect us through space and time.

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.