Our 2017 Leadership Slate

By March 3, 2017 September 25th, 2023 News
Slow Food Russian River 2017 Leadership Slate

The Leadership Board of Slow Food Russian River is pleased to announce its 2017 Leadership Slate. The slate will be voted on at the upcoming Membership Meeting on Sunday, March 5th in Sebastopol, CA, in agreement with the Constitution of the Russian River Convivium of Slow Food.

Stepping back from the Board are Max Caruso (Treasurer), Marcia Lavine (At Large), and Tiffany Nurrenbern (At Large). We thank them for their many years of service to our chapter. Max has taken on the governorship for Slow Food USA in Northern California, and Tiffany will continue as President of Slow Food California.

We welcome three new leaders to our Board: Peg Champion, Pamela Letourneau, and Brad Whitworth. Thanks for stepping up!

The 2017 Leadership Slate

Peg Champion (Provisional Leader)

Peg Champion is the principal of Champion Organic Communications, a marketing and communications firm focused on sustainable businesses. A three-time delegate to Terra Madre, Peg has served on the Slow Food CA Policy Committee and the SFRR Media Team. She and her husband, Brad Whitworth, are developing a small, integrated farm on their Windsor property.

Sue Deevy (Leader)

Born and raised in Petaluma of Swiss Italian and Irish heritage, Sue Deevy has 40 years of experience in the natural food business, with a special interest in herbs and supplements. On the leadership team she has emphasized the Gravenstein apple project and the Community Apple Press.

Paula Downing (Secretary)

For 25 years, Paula Downing served as the manager of the Sebastopol Farmers Market. She joined SFRR in 2006 after a trip to Terra Madre. A stalwart believer in the Slow Food mission, she has participated in the Apple Core, the Community Apple Press and the Steele Lane School Garden.

Pamela Letourneau (Provisional Leader)

Pamela Letourneau first became involved with the good and fair food movement in the early 1970s in Berkeley. In the 1980s and 1990s, she and her husband owned and operated an organic garden and supplied produce and eggs to local restaurants and grocery stores. She has worked on the Apple Press and at the Gravenstein Apple Fair.

Sandy Mays (President)

A realtor with Vanguard Properties, Sandy Mays was an adult mentor chef for the Ceres project, where she helped teach teenagers how to cook good, nutritious food for people with life-threatening illnesses. A passionate traveler and an avid gardener, she and her husband Jeff own a five-acre Gravenstein apple orchard.

Karen Preuss (Leader)

A commercial photographer for more than 30 years, Karen Preuss lives at Frogsong, a cohousing community in Cotati. She loves to photograph farmers and sustainable farms. In 2009, she joined SFRR and has been on the leadership team for four years. Her photos of Sonoma County apples and apple growers graced a local exhibit.

Paula Shatkin (Leader)

A community social worker, Paula Shatkin has been an active member of the SFRR leadership team for 16 year. An advocate for local biodiversity, she started the Gravenstein Apple Presidia, the only Slow Food Presidia project in California, and one of only two Presidia in the U.S.

Brad Whitworth (Provisional Leader, Treasurer)

Brad Whitworth and his wife Peg Champion settled in Windsor three years ago. Since then he has worked on the heritage turkey project and has been a member of the SFRR media team. A marketing and communications executive with a B.A. in journalism and speech, he also has an MBA and has served on the boards of several non-profits.

Beth Wyatt (Leader)

Beth Wyatt and her husband Mark live in Santa Rosa. She joined SFRR and has worked on the 2012 Picnic, the Three Sisters School garden project and the heritage turkey auction dinners. She has three daughters, loves the outdoors and aspires to become a home gardener.

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