CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS:
Letters to any board member should be addressed to: [Name], Board of Directors Harvest Co-op Market 581 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139; for email, please click the names below.
Christina Lively – President 2012
Term: through 2013Wendy Holding - Vice President 2012
Term: through 2013Christian West - Treasurer 2012
Term: through 2014Annette Ghelfi — Secretary
Term: through 2012Rebecca Nemec
Term: through 2012Scotland Willis
Term: through 2012Andrew Kessel
Term: through 2013Stephanie Golas
Term: through 2014Matthew Auerbach
Term: through 2014
Meet the BoD:
Dr. Annette Ghelfi
is a Chiropractic Physician at her own practice, Move! Chiropractic and Sports Rehabilitation.
Located inside of Prana Power Yoga, Annette specializes in sports medicine, as well as pre- and post-natal treatment of the spine.
Her focus is on whole-patient wellness.
She lives with her husband and two daughters in East Cambridge.
She began shopping at grocery cooperatives in Olympia, Washington in 2001, and was delighted to find a co-op in Cambridge, when she moved there three years ago.
Annette holds a Doctorate in Chiropractic Medicine from Logan College of Chiropractic, a B.S. in Human Biology, and an A.A. in Political Science. She is a member of the Massachusetts Chiropractic Society, the Chiropractic Research Alliance, and a former member of the Student American Chiropractic Assocation, where she gained experience lobbying to improve benefits for active duty and veteran soldiers.
She enjoys travelling, gardening, cooking, soapmaking, exercise, and spending time with her family.
Christian West
Christian first became a member at Harvest in 2011 and is a native of greater Boston.
He first developed an appreciation for organic food while living in Denmark, his mother’s native country.
Christian has spent the past four year at America’s largest lender specializing in helping retail companies grow their businesses, including a variety of grocery chains, and prior to that was an accountant at commercial real estate management company.
He believes strongly in the importance of healthy, safe and environmentally friendly food as they relate to everyone in our society.Christian has been involved in several charities including co-directing a bicycle ride to Florida and volunteering at Habitat for Humanity.
He has an MBA with a concentration in finance from Bentley University and a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from the same school.
Stephanie Golas
Stephanie Golas is currently an Elementary Instructional Technology Specialist for the Winchester Public Schools.
In this constantly evolving field, she instructs students in weekly technology literacy classes as well as works hand-in-hand with teachers to help integrate technology into their classrooms. The best part of this job is the opportunity to work with teachers, students and community members in the district to help move technology initiatives forward and advance the concept of "21st Century Learning".
Stephanie received her Degree in Educational Media and Technology from Boston University in 2009. She also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Management Information Systems from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY.
Prior to coming to Boston, Stephanie worked for a local credit union in Albany, NY as an Assistant Manager of Member Services and a Customer Service Representative.Stephanie moved to Jamaica Plain in 2008 and has been a member of Harvest Coop ever since. She was excited to find a coop in her neighborhood after leaving Albany, NY where she had been an active member of her local coop since 2004.
In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys gardening, vegan cooking and baking, soap making and learning to sew. She is a frequent volunteer for Stillman’s Farm at the JP Farmer’s Market and with Birthday Wishes, an organization that throws birthday parties for children in homeless shelters in the Boston area.
Wendy Holding
Wendy is a Trustee and Portfolio Manager at The Sustainability Group, a wealth management practice that works to align clients’ investments with their values.
Prior to this, she spent six years at Wellington Management, focusing on high yield bonds. Her career began in Bozeman, Montana, where she worked at Wild Forever, a grizzly bear conservation group.
After witnessing the role economics play in driving conservation policy, she decided to pursue a career in finance as a means of achieving social change.
Wendy graduated cum laude from Princeton University, is a graduate of the National Trust School, and is a CFA charterholder.
Matthew Auerbach
Matthew has been a Co-op member since first moving to Jamaica Plain in December 2010.
A biologist and avid linguist proficient in English, Russian, French, and Spanish, Matthew is currently studying marketing and business management at the Hult International Business School in Cambridge, MA. He hopes to become a spokesperson in the organic foods industry and believes that the growing sustainable food economy will become an essential element of our culture.Previously, Matthew worked as assistant to the marketing director at California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), one of the primary organic certification agencies in the USA. As a CCOF representative, he spoke at public events on such topics as organic agriculture and nutritional comparisons of organic and conventional produce. In addition, he served two years on the UC Santa Cruz Campus Sustainability Council, a grant-giving entity that funds student-led projects that measurably increase the sustainability of the UCSC campus community.
Besides taking great interest in the sustainable food movement, Matthew also has a profound love for music. He has played piano and harpsichord for nearly twenty years, most recently opening the 2010 New York Piano Society Gala Recital at Carnegie Hall.
Matthew graduated cum laude from UC Santa Cruz with a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Plant Sciences) with Honors in the Major and membership in the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Academic Society.
Andrew Kessel
Andrew has been a member at Harvest since the beginning of 2007. He first got involved with Harvest by joining the Harvest Membership and Social Concerns Committee (MSCC) a few months after becoming a member and joined the board in December 2009.
Andrew graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota where he majored in Economics and minored in French.
Since moving to Boston Andrew has become a worker-owner at Equal Exchange, a local Fair Trade and organic food company, where he works in sales with natural food stores and food co-ops in the Mid-Atlantic and South-East.
Andrew has a deep interest in cooperatives and promoting social entrepreneurship. Some of his hobbies include: playing soccer and tennis among other sports, musical instruments such as the piano and bagpipes, and traveling internationally. His work with Equal Exchange and social justice led to a connection with Harvest Co-op.
Andrew is also a committee member with the Boston CISPES chapter (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) and he volunteers at Catholic Charities as an assistant English as-a-second-language-teacher with Catholic Charities in Dorchester.
Christina Lively
Christina Lively works as a Research Associate in public health.
She also performs music around the Northeast (solo and with the duo Chris & Meredith Thompson).
She has volunteered in educational settings with Cambridge School Volunteers, Cyclekids, the Bridge Program, and The Food Project.
Rebecca Nemec
Rebecca is Operations Manager for Canto 6 bakery in Jamaica Plain.
In her former job as a Policy Analyst for The Food Project, Rebecca Nemec headed up policy efforts on issues of school-food reform, Food Policy Council development, sustainable agriculture, community food security, and farm-to-school program development in the Boston Public Schools.
She authored reports, grant proposals, and articles, including a report titled, Reinventing the School Lunch Line in the Boston Public Schools: Assessing the Feasibility of a Farm-to-School Program in the Boston Public Schools.
She was a panel speaker at several agricultural forums, most notably the panel series for the Yale Sustainable Food Project.
"I am very committed to working on issues related to the sustainable food movement," she says. "That said, I wanted to gain experience in the food industry, to understand it more fully. I am also very passionate about reforming the school food system in the United States, and I thought working in a small food business would be a great start to understanding how the school food system works".
Scotland Willis
Scotland Willis provides management consulting services that range from colleges, to community supported housing (CSH in Connecticut), working with for profits and non-profits. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Northeastern University and a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society with a degree in sociology and anthropology.
He is a Board member of the Harvest Co-op where he is also VP on the Executive Committee; Mr Willis is on the Board of United South End Settlement, where he sits on three committees(Strategic Planning, Finance, and Governance). He was strategic director and is part of the planning committee for Boston GreenFest.
He is a Board member of a Boston Public Library branch and is Vice Chair of Help-a-Poor-Child. His community commitments range from master planning projects to project review committees including Roxbury Neighborhood Council. Scotland made the ballot for Boston Council running a sustainable campaign. He was a Cambridge Sister City Delegate to El Salvador. Scotland is working on an environmental literacy project and serves as a motivational speaker(guest panelist Green For All, with Van Jones] and New England Sustainable Energy Association;) he's served a management consultant for large and small organizations, including The Food Project . His businesses experience includes a non-profit start up, as well as restaurant ownership. He now heads up Boston Green Scene blending environmental needs with business development. His favorite sustainable activities include sailing, hiking, diving, cycling, and reading. He single parented for 15 years and is currently a Big Brother in Boston as of 2010.
