CUESA Board of Directors

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Hans Baldauf
San Francisco, the firm responsible for the design of the Ferry Building Marketplace and Napa’s Oxbow Public Market.  Hans is inspired by the tenets of the Slow Food Movement, leading to his involvement in Slow Food Nation ’08, where BCV coordinated the participation of over 20 design firms to help build this first-ever American collaborative gathering to unite the growing sustainable food movement.  He received his BA in History at Yale and a Masters in Architecture. Currently, Hans serves on the Board of the Friends of the Bancroft Library at the U. of California and as the Chairman of the Board of the Maybeck Foundation, a non-profit organization which is working with the City of San Francisco to restore Maybeck’s Palace of Fine Arts.

Karen Cook, Vice President
Karen Cook is the General Counsel of the Presidio Trust since April, 1998. Prior to joining the Trust, she was a partner at Griffinger, Freed, Heinemann, Cook & Foreman and then at Landels, Ripley & Diamond, LLP, both San Francisco law firms. She has over 20 years of legal experience in the areas of real estate and environmental law. Ms. Cook received her BA from Stanford University and her juris doctorate from Stanford Law School.

Bill Crepps
Bill Crepps is the owner-operator of Everything Under the Sun, growers of certified organic fruits and vegetables specializing in sun drying and dehydrating. Located in Winters, they became certified organic in 2002.  Bill earned both his B.S. in Renewable Natural Resources and his M.S. in Entomology from University of California-Davis. He is also a founding member of the UC Davis Experimental Farm.  Bill has previously served on the Davis Audubon Society Education Committee, as a Dixon 4-H leader, and a Anderson Elementary Outdoors Adventures program leader.

John Dickman, Treasurer
John Dickman, currently an independent consultant, has extensive experience in corporate, educational and specialty venue dining. Over the last five years John was instrumental in guiding growth and food service sustainability at both Apple and Google.  The previous eight years were spent building a foundation of sustainability at the corporate and educational food service leader, Bon Appetit Management Company.  At Bon Appetit, John helped to form the Farm to Fork program at venues such as Cisco Systems, Yahoo and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. John earned his BA in Management from the McLaren School of Business at University of San Francisco.

John Field
John Field is a retired founding principal of San Francisco's Field Paoli Architects. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. John is recognized as one of the country's premier designers of urban in-fill retail and mixed use projects.  He has been a member of the Bay Conservation Development Corps' Design Review Board and has been Chairman of the American Institute of Architects Committee on Design. John’s projects include Stanford Shopping Center, Design of the Capital City for Alaska, Stonestown Galleria, Corte Madera Towne Center, Broadway Plaza Renovation in Walnut Creek, Towne Center Napa, Paseo Nuevo in Santa Barbara and many other retail and mixed use centers. John is also a filmmaker of note with two films about architecture shown on Public Television.  He earned his BA and Master of Architecture degrees from Yale University.

Sally Fairfax
Sally Fairfax is Henry J. Vaux Distinguished Professor, Emerita, at the College of Natural Resources, U. of California, Berkeley, where she taught for 30 years.  She served as the Title IX Coordinator on campus and as Associate Dean of Instruction and Student Affairs, where she worked to develop an Environmental Leadership Pathway to students of color to the Berkeley campus and the science fields.  She has written extensively on administration and management of public and privately conserved resources and won numerous awards for teaching, mentoring, and service to students historically underserved by the University.  Her latest non-fiction work is tentatively titled Indulgence or Innovation, written with her graduate students, and it assesses how the development of high quality and sustainable is and can be related to food justice and security.  Other titles include Buying Nature, Conservation Trusts, State Trust Lands, and Forest and Range Policy.  

Bonnie Fisher
Bonnie Fisher is a Principal of ROMA Design Group, urban designers, architects and landscape architects located in San Francisco. Over the past twenty years, Bonnie has played an important role in the planning and design of the San Francisco waterfront, including the planning for the South Beach neighborhood, the Embarcadero Boulevard, the Mid-Embarcadero Transportation and Open Space Project, the Downtown Ferry Terminal Project and Pier 7.  She has authored numerous articles and contributed to books on the topic of urban waterfront revitalization.  In addition, she has undertaken open space design, planning and landscape preservation projects throughout the west coast and currently is the Landscape Principal for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial to be located on the Tidal Basin in Washington DC.  Bonnie grew up on a third generation family farm along the Colorado River in California and was educated in forestry, environmental planning and landscape architecture at the University of California and Harvard University Graduate School of Design. 

Janet Griggs, President
Janet is co-owner of Taste Catering and Event Planning, a premier full-service off-premises catering company since 1978 whose client list ranges from the Fortune 500 to international dignitaries.  Taste has long been a strong advocate for local purveyors of organic and sustainable food products, promoting the principles of sustainability to its clients and integrating these local products into its menu planning.  As Vice President and CFO, Janet is responsible for strategic and financial planning, financial controls and administration of Taste.  Janet also oversees the operations of the Teatro ZinZanni. She has a BA in Mathematics from Mills College and an MBA from Stanford University.

Desmond Jolly
Desmond Jolly is currently Director of the statewide University of California Small Farm Program. He has served as co-chair of the Roots of Change Council, a San Francisco based consortium of funders and agricultural leaders organized to facilitate the transition to more sustainable food and farming systems.  He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, as well as the National Advisory Council for the UC Santa Cruz Agroecology Program. After receiving his undergraduate degrees in Economics, he earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Oregon.

Ted Loewen, Secretary
Ted is a fruit grower whose grandparents had a cherry, peach, and apple orchard in Ohio. After practicing law for a number of years while living on his in- law's stone fruit farm in Fresno County, the lure of the fruit won out. When his father-in-law reached retirement age, Ted began converting a conventional, 50 acre farm into what is currently a 75 acre certified organic farm. Beginning with 20 varieties for the wholesale market, he now cultivates 150 varieties, mostly sold to niche markets.  Ted graduated from Bethel College in Kansas with a degree in History and from UC Hastings College of the Law with a law degree.  He has served on a number of boards including CAFF (Community Alliance with Family Farmers), the state Farmers' Market Advisory Board, Bethel College, Kings View (a regional provider of mental health and related services) and Sierra View (a local retirement community).

Thomas McNamee
Tom is the author of The Grizzly Bear (Knopf, 1984), Nature First: Keeping Our Wild Places and Wild Creatures Wild (Roberts Rinehart, 1987), A Story of Deep Delight (Viking, 1990), The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone (Holt, 1997), and Alice Waters and Chez Panisse: The Romantic, Impractical, Often Eccentric, Ultimately Brilliant Making of a Food Revolution (The Penguin Press, 2007). His essays, poems, reporting, and reviews have appeared in Audubon, The New Yorker, Natural History, High Country News, Town & Country, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Saveur.  He wrote the PBS "American Masters" documentary Alexander Calder, which won a Peabody Award and an Emmy. Tom has served on the board of directors of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and as its chairperson.  He has also been a director the international conservation group RARE.

Mary Powell
Mary Powell has been the Director of Development for the San Francisco Opera since 2003.  Previously she applied her extensive experience in private and government funding development, and management and marketing skills in the health care industry, working with such industry leaders as California Pacific Medical Center, California Healthcare System, Sutter Health and UCSF/Stanford Health Care.  She currently serves on several nonprofit boards and continues to serve as advisor for several community programs.  Ms. Powell has been an avid Ferry Plaza Farmers Market shopper since its inception.

Stephen Revetria
As Vice President and General Manager of Giants Enterprises, Stephen Revetria is responsible for developing and implementing sales and marketing plans for hospitality events at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.  His duties include managing the use of the park for corporate meetings and conventions as well as producing special events, concerts and sporting events. Mr. Revetria is the past-president of the International Special Events Society of Northern California. He is an involved member in the hospitality community, including, the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, Meeting Professionals International, the Society of Incentive Travel Executives and the Professional Convention Management Association. He is a member of The Olympic Club, The World Trade Club, Rotary International, the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association and current president of the Guardsmen.

Joel Schirmer
In 1997, Joe Schirmer began working for Dirty Girl Produce and in 1991 he took the helm from the original “dirty girls” who started the farm in 1995.  Joe graduated from the UC Santa Cruz Farm and Garden apprenticeship program with a certificate in ecological horticulture.  Inspired by the French Intensive gardening method, he has adapted tractor farming to incorporate its principles.  Dirty Girl Produce has been CCOF Certified Organic since 1995.

June Taylor
June Taylor was raised in a London home where her father grew most of the family food. She studied sociology in college. After a career in social science research in British universities she moved to California in 1981.  June Taylor Company was conceived after working in two restaurants as a baker.  The company is dedicated to the revival of traditional hand made preserves, and June and two assistants work year round with sustainably grown fruit from local family farmers.  Inspiration for her products comes from an historical study of British confectionery and preserving work, and June produces a variety of citrus, herbs and flowers for the preserves in her own garden.  June teaches her craft to students at the Still-Room, consults with small business owners, and trains young entrepreneurs from developing countries.  She is in the preparation stage for writing a book on preserving and confectionery.

Susan Walter
Susan Walter is a chef with 25 years experience as a cookbook author, caterer, restaurateur and culinary consultant. Currently she divides her time between working as a private chef for a Woodside family, consulting for commodity boards and restaurants and event planning.  For ten years Susan was a partner in the acclaimed Ristorante Ecco in San Francisco and Cheese Please Catering on the Peninsula.  She wrote two cookbooks for the prestigious California Culinary Academy series, Seasonal Vegetarian Cooking and Entertaining Made Easy, a James Beard Book Award nominee. She developed recipes for the award-winning food encyclopedia, Cooking A to Z.  Susan served on the board of the San Francisco Professional Food Society for 10 years, twice as President, and is a Founding Board Member of the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market.  Walter currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Wine & Food, a national culinary and viticultural educational organization founded by Julia Child, Robert Mondavi and Richard Graff.

Apolinar Yerena
Apolinar Yerena was born in San Juan Cosala, Jalisco State, Mexico.  His family immigrated to Watsonville in 1968, where they began working picking berries at a local farm.  They next started growing strawberries for the large Driscoll Company, before deciding to lease their own farm in 1982.  They began growing strawberries conventionally, but in response to market demand converted 5 trial acres to organic. The organic fruit sold so well they eventually decided to transition the entire farm to organic.  Presently, 10 acres of Yerena Farms are certified organic by MCCO (Monterey County Certified Organic) with the remaining 12 completing their transition period in June 2009.  They have also expanded from strawberries into growing a wide array of other berries and specialty crops such as squash blossoms and cactus fruits. 

Advisory Commitee

Fitzgerald Kelly
Fitzgerald Kelly was raised in Davis and graduated from Santa Clara University. He entered the Teacher Corps, which placed him in an internship in a rural Tulare County High School. After four years in the education field, including a summer in the Forest Service and running an adult school, Fitz stumbled into farming in 1972 when he bought 20 acres of tree fruit and raisin grapes in adjoining Fresno County. Over the next 12 years, he experimented with various farming techniques, stopped the traditional heavy reliance on pesticides in 1984, and now farms 35 acres of fruit trees. He was one of the first farmers to plant many of the varieties now so popular, such as white peaches and nectarines, low acid yellow fruits, pluots and plumcots. Fitz believes he uses the most sustainable methods possible to grow all 146 of his stone fruit varieties. Over the years, Fitz has also spent several terms on the California Farmers’ Market Advisory Committee.

Beverly Mills
Beverly Mills is a founding member and past president of CUESA. She is an artist and civic activist. Her career has included managing a marketing and business development department for a major corporation and directing the creation of the corporate museum. She also worked as a consultant, specializing in strategic planning for midsize companies reorganizing or merging operations. She has served as president of SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research), Friends of the Port of San Francisco and Russian Hill Neighbors. She was a member of Leadership San Francisco and served as Vice President of the San Francisco Planning Commimssion. She has a degree in Political Science.

Lawrie Mott
Lawrie is a consultant specializing in environmental health issues. She is a scientist, with a MS in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and until 2001 was a senior scientist in the San Francisco office of the Natural Resources Defense Council. After nearly a decade of work on pesticide issues at both state and national levels, Lawrie launched a new project to safeguard children from environmental health threats. She has authored and coauthored several books and reports. She has served on many government advisory committees and nonprofit boards. Lawrie currently is on the boards of the Marin Horizon School and Resource Media. Her past memberships include the US EPA’s Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, Statewide Advisory Committee of California’s Comparative Risk Ranking Project, US EPA Administrator’s Pesticide Advisory Committee, UC’s Advisory Committee for Public Education on Food Safety, and the Board of the Children’s Environmental Health Network.

Michael Pollan
Michael is a Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley and a contributing editor to the New York Times Magazine. His extensive journalistic experience includes work as the Executive Editor for Harper’s Magazine and series editor for Modern Library Garden Series. In addition to many articles and speeches, he has published four books – Second Nature, A Place of My Own, The Botany of Desire and The Omnivore's Dilemma. He has a Masters degree from Columbia University and his professional affiliations include the Stegner Circle of advisors for the Trust for Public Land.

Sean Swezey
Sean is a senior Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Studies at UC Santa Cruz, where he teaches organic agriculture and integrated pest management. He also has a research appointment as Specialist, Farming Systems Research and Extension, at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research emphasizes on-farm trials for improvement of pest management methods in organic strawberries, apples, artichokes, and cotton. He is a Technical Representative to the California Organic Products Advisory Committee, and past president and current board member and trustee of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. He has a PhD in Entomological Sciences, UC Berkeley and has received many academic honors, fellowships and grants.

Patricia Unterman
Patricia has been a restaurant critic and food writer in San Francisco for over 30 years. She currently writes restaurant reviews and food columns for the San Francisco Examiner and articles for Gourmet, Food and Wine and Bon Appetit magazines and other publications. The fourth edition of her highly popular San Francisco Food Lovers Guide was released in March, 2005. She also publishes a bi-monthly newsletter called Unterman on Food. Wearing a second hat, Patty is chef and co-owner of the Hayes Street Grill in San Francisco, now celebrating its 26th anniversary. Vicolo Pizzeria has been in operation since 1984. Patty grew up in Evanston, Illinois and graduated from Stanford University. She attended the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.

Alice Waters
Alice Waters, chef, author, and owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California, pioneered a culinary philosophy based on using only the freshest local, organic products, picked in season. Chez Panisse was named best restaurant in the country by Gourmet Magazine. In 1995, Alice founded The Edible Schoolyard, a one-acre garden and kitchen classroom, which incorporates her ideas about food and culture into the core public school curriculum. The School Lunch Initiative, a landmark agreement between The Berkeley Unified School District and The Chez Panisse Foundation, will be responsible for the district-wide expansion of this program, with the goal of bringing children into a new relationship to food. Alice is also Vice President of Slow Food International, a non-profit organization that promotes and celebrates local, artisanal food traditions with members in over 100 countries.

Peter Wilson
Peter Wilson is an architect. Working with his brother Anthony and sister Sara, he developed and continues to expand the Rockridge Market Hall, which opened in 1986. The Rockridge Market Hall was inspired by the European food hall experience of shopping daily for fresh ingredients purchased from individual purveyors. As the design principal of Wilson Associates, Peter has designed and developed a number of other food-related projects in the East Bay, including Cactus Restaurants, Uzen Restaurant, and the Pasta Shop in the Fourth Street retail complex. Early in his career, he established his architectural office in New York, after graduating from UC Berkeley with a Masters in Architecture. He has taught at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York and in 1981 was selected for the New York Architectural League's Young Architects Program. His Peitzke House was published and exhibited in the United States and Europe and was selected as an Architectural Record 1982 House of the Year. Peter grew up in Wellington, New Zealand.