Breakout Session Speakers

Harper has been counseling business owners for the past 20+ years in various capacities with the SBDC network and through several Chambers of Commerce across North Carolina. In his spare time, he enjoys his vegetable garden and Dutch oven cooking.

Gray Harris is Senior Adviser for Food Systems at USDA Rural Development, where she helps develop and oversee food supply chain programs and the overall food system strategy at the Agency. Prior to this role, Gray developed and led the agriculture and food system finance and business strategy for a rural Community Development Financial Institution, growing a portfolio from $200,000 to over $45 million in loans and investments, including an early stage place-based equity fund for emerging food businesses that sourced from local/regional agricultural and seafood producers. In addition, Gray created impact programs providing Federal Covid-19 relief funding to farmers and food supply chain businesses in partnership with public and private partners. Gray has contributed strategic leadership on many boards to build a strong and resilient local food economy that benefits farmers, supply chain businesses and consumers.

James Harris grew up in inner-city Houston. After both parents died, he moved-in with relatives in rural Louisiana. Those two places (the city and the countryside) were both communities of color considered food deserts. At 15, James landed a job at a grocery store, and never looked back. Working his way up against all odds, he became a grocery executive with a national brand. Now living in Alabama, his focus is a nearby broken company town suffering from hunger and lacking adequate grocery access. For this, he left corporate America to follow his dream, and is in the process of opening his own independent grocery store.

Maura Henn is a local food systems specialist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology. Her work focuses on coordinating the Grow Montana Food Policy Coalition and the Double SNAP Dollars Program at sites in Southwest and Central Montana. Maura also advises on the Montana Harvest of the Month program, and co-leads the Montana Farmers Market Network, with an emphasis on market manager success and capacity building. Maura holds a BA in English from the University of La Crosse-WI where she worked for a cooperative grocery store for over a decade. She now resides in her home town of Butte, MT.

Jon Henry is the proprietor of Jon Henry General Store in New Market, VA. Since 2018, they've been building up their independent grocery store with a focus towards produce and local sourcing. They, now, work with over 200 folks from the Commonwealth to keep their shelves, coolers, and freezers stocked up throughout the year. They collaborate with various local, regional, and government organizations like Virginia Fresh Match Incentives, Virginia Co-operative Extension, ShenGo Transit, SNAP Ed, Common Grain Alliance, and school systems to offer educational programs, fundraising collaborations, incentive programs, and internships.

Rachel Hoh is the Senior Manager of Nutrition Incentives at Fair Food Network. Rachel is based in Detroit and has led food access work across Philadelphia and Boston. They are proudly from Lancaster, PA, and a graduate of Penn State and Tufts.

Gene Holland is the Interim Director of the SBTDC's Capital Center based in Raleigh, NC. Gene has a BA and MBA from UNC-CH, along with an EDFP certification, and he has a background in athletics, retail, commercial banking, and luxury travel. When he isn't crunching numbers for a client, Gene enjoys following his Tar Heels along with his wife, three grown children, and his two mischievous Labradors.

Cindy Houlden is a Cooperative Development Specialist with the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center in the Agricultural Economics Department at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Ms. Houlden uses her background in economic development and business ownership to empower rural communities to develop their communities through cooperative business efforts. Her focus area includes rural cooperative best practices; ensuring cooperative efforts enhance their communities’ economic development and quality life.

Billy Ivey is a 30-year successful advertising veteran whose clients included Chick-fil-A and other national chains. But having tired of getting people to buy things that they might not actually want or need, he opened Small Stories Studio to raise up community voices and local heroes.

Aaron “AJ” Johnson is the Owner & CEO of Oasis Fresh Markets and Oasis Fresh Foundation. Before Oasis opened in 2021, North Tulsa, near Historic Greenwood’s Black Wall Street district, had been labeled a ‘food desert’ for over 14 years. AJ became passionate about contributing to long term health for residents in underserved communities when he learned that the life expectancy was 11 years shorter than other parts of Tulsa. Now his vision to create an Oasis in the middle of a food desert has become a reality. Oasis exists to eradicate food deserts by providing fresh and healthy access to all. Oasis Fresh Market aims to change the narrative of America’s underserved populations by bringing grocery innovation to food deserts across the nation. Oasis offers vital resources to families and connects them with local assistance programs that will exponentially increase their livelihoods. AJ is honored to build bridges for customers, community residents, and employees with valuable resources to improve health and wellness from a holistic lens. “The word Oasis means refuge, safe place, shelter,” AJ says. “We offer more than just groceries. We’re equipping people for life!” AJ is a graduate of The University of Tulsa and was nominated Distinguished Alumni in 2022 for his work in North Tulsa.

Duane Johnson is a native of rural Iowa who graduated from Iowa State University with degrees in accounting and economics. His career at Iowa State University began with the Small Business Development Center, before moving to Farm, Food and Enterprise Development five years ago. Johnson currently manages the Enterprise Development Team and provides consulting and financial analysis to small businesses throughout Iowa.

Alan engages with food system leaders across the country to help smallholder producers and young brands understand the challenges they face. He believes that in overwhelming adversity there is hope and opportunity.

Marilyn Logan has been the General Manager of The Marmaton Market for the past 4 years. She also serves on the Iola Public Library Board of Trustees, Iola Public Housing Board of Directors, Allen County GROW Food and Farm Council, and the South East Kansas Community Action Agency Board of Directors. Marilyn is a Master Food Volunteer for the Extension Service and participates in several groups within the State of Kansas that address the needs and challenges of getting food from the fields to the tables, such as the Kansas Food Action Network, KC Healthy Kids, Hunger Action Team, and more.

Abby is an economist in USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) Local and Regional Foods Division (LRFD). At AMS she manages research cooperative agreements with a focus on improving operations in local and regional wholesale and intermediated market channels. She has worked in produce distribution in North Carolina, managed a school lunch program in Alaska, and co-founded a food hub in Pennsylvania. Abby holds a Masters degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Colorado State University.

Courtney Long, PhD, is the Director of the Agricultural and Marketing Resource Center, and Manager of the Food Systems program at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Courtney has worked in food systems since 2010. She seeks to understand the intersectionality of community and food systems, ranging from production and value-added businesses to food access and placed-making through food. Much of her work connects to initial assessment and understanding of the underlying aspects of community in relation to food. Her work includes facilitation and community support for developing community food systems as well as research related to identified priorities and creating dynamic teams for technical support.

Faye Mack (she/her) serves as the Executive Director of Food Co-op Initiative (FCI), and brings a background in food systems, advocacy, and community development to the role. FCI is a national nonprofit organization that partners with communities to build a more just food system, providing critical support as they organize and open community-owned grocery stores. Prior to joining FCI, Faye worked at the state and federal level to end hunger with a focus on policy and advocacy.

Erion Benjamin Malasi is responsible for managing Illinois coalition work, including crafting policy proposals and campaigns to make Illinois’ tax system more equitable and to expand direct cash and income supports. Erion is bringing his legislative experience as a House Budget & Research Staffer and his organizing skills as a former community relations manager for University of Chicago’s Law Clinic on Entrepreneurship. He is a graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for Political Science and a Running Start student at Southwestern Illinois College.

Rhonda Mann has been with VOICES for more than 20 years and has worked on all aspects of advocating to improve child well-being. For 14 years she served as the Alabama Kids Count Director that publishes data and research on the state and county level creating very close working relationships with all child serving state agencies and statewide coalitions that focus on children’s issues. During her time with VOICES she has worked on children’s issues including children in poverty, child passenger safety, child care, teen driving, child health, early learning and the importance of the first five years for brain development as well as child hunger, to name a few.

Laura has managed operations at Argus Farm Stop since its inception in 2014. This currently includes 3 store locations and a staff of over 60 local food enthusiasts and annual sales of $6.6 million. Laura believes there is a strong need to localize our food systems.

Matzen is an experienced project manager working in the grant and nonprofit space with a passion for the food industry. She has helped multiple organizations apply for and win their first Federal grants and worked on multiple $4 million+ grants. Matzen oversees all programs of the NGA Foundation providing leadership, guidance, and strategy. She manages the Foundation’s budget, fundraising, and events. Prior to employment with NGA, Matzen worked with the National Farmers Union and the consulting firm, Corner Alliance.

For RGI, Jacob works on case studies (e.g.), the 2021 Kansas rural grocery survey, cooperative development, and local sourcing innovations. He primarily researches the socio-economic impacts and political barriers to farmers’ adoption of regenerative practices and how farm structure impacts community wellbeing. He is a 6th generation Kansan.

Ms. Minton is a research associate who has performed needs assessments, qualitative interviews and more with local farmers and others working in the food space.

Jay Mitchell is Vice President of Retail Operations at Mitchell Grocery Corporation and President of JMBL, a 21-store group with locations in Colbert, Lauderdale, Cullman, Marshall, and Jefferson Counties in Alabama. He grew up in Albertville, Alabama and has a bachelor’s degree in management from Auburn University. Jay grew up working in Foodland stores. He started as a sacker at the age of thirteen at Boaz Foodland. He has also held the roles of co-manager, store manager, supervisor, and Director of Retail Operations.

Ms. Morrison is a legal fellow at CREW where she works at the intersection of law, research, and policy.

Mark Mulcahy is a member of Columinate and the founder and owner of Organic Options, which provides transformative leadership and consulting services for co-op’s and independent natural and organic retailers, businesses, farms and distributors. An award-winning consultant, educator, mentor and organic advocate, he has spent more than 38 years working with retailers leading, guiding and inspiring others to their fullest potential. Mark is well known for his creative merchandising, effective training techniques, unique and creative approaches to leadership, successful sales growth and promotion strategies, as well as his deep-seated passion for produce and dedication to sustainable agriculture. A connoisseur of workplace joy and inspirational retail operations, Mark works with managers at every level to reimagine their workplace so it can grow and thrive in the changing marketplace. Mark is an avid baseball fan, Pun Enthusiast®, and lover of Pie!

After working at Omaha's finest independent grocery store for 2 decades and building a reputation as Omaha's best meat-cutter, Tom became the 4th generation owner of Mulholland's, after it had been out of his family for 17 years. Over the next 15 years, he won numerous awards on a regional, state, and national level, and was widely recognized for his experiences and expertise, before a fire destroyed the business in 2021.

Ms. Muskett is a citizen of Navajo Nation, born to the Ute clan and the Weavers-Zia clan. Her maternal clan is the Towering House people and her paternal clan is the Red-Running into the Water and has been working in health initiatives serving Navajo Nation over the past 30 years. She has worked with COPE for 10 years. She is on the national steering committee for the National Produce Prescription Collaborative.