BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Governance:

Food Works is governed by a seven-member board of directors who operate using a Policy Governance model. This model of accountability empowers organization staff to execute the mission, while empowering its board members to fulfill their responsibilities for accountability. The model has been used extensively with cooperatives and other non-governmental organizations. It creates clarity and focus which reduces the mountains of paperwork boards often feel obliged to review while allowing them to effectively steer the organization’s course. Board decisions are made on a consensus basis so that it speaks with one voice and establishes clear expectations for the organization.

New board members receive an orientation packet which helps explain the process. Food Works board members are continually learning and growing in use of this model.

Board Members:

2017

Jill Rendleman - President   Jill Rendleman owns and manages All Seasons Farm, a biointensive vegetable farm near Cobden Illinois. Following a career in banking, including agricultural finance in commercial and government sectors, and an active partnership in a cash grain family farming operation, Ms Rendleman began All Seasons Farm to produce vegetables using organic and small scale sustainable farming practices. Innovative practices on the farm include the use of rolling high tunnels, raised beds, and intensive natural soil amendments. Holding a Masters degree in Agricultural Industries from Southern Illinois University, she is also a graduate of the Central Illinois Farm Beginnings program and a member of the Southern Illinois Farming Alliance. The Rendleman family was one of the first to settle Southern Illinois and with other early farm families worked to develop it as a major fruit, vegetable, and grain market in the region.

Brad Genung - Vice President Brad Genung is the owner and President of Owl Creek Vineyard, the founding producer of wine grapes in the Shawnee Hills, makers of Owl Creek wines and Apple Knocker Hard Cider. He is a strong advocate of locally grown value-added products with an eye toward sustainable practices and social responsibility to the community. After careers in journalism and capital markets/brokerage, he moved to Southern Illinois in 2002 to help develop the fledgling Shawnee Hills wine region. Owl Creek and the region have flourished, going from a handful of operations to almost 30 wineries and 60 commercial vineyards. Brad holds an MBA in finance and a Bachelor’s degree in English/Political Science from Illinois State University. The Genung family settled in the southern regions of Illinois and Indiana in the 1790s and have been farmers, business owners and trades people that have been engaged in the economic development of the region.

Amanda Pankau - Secretary Amanda Pankau's involvement with Food Works began as a Community Outreach Intern assigned to help organize Food Work's 2010 Documentary Series. Amanda has a masters degree from Southern Illinois University in Wildlife Ecology and currently works as an Environmental Consultant in Murphysboro. Her knowledge and concern for the environment and natural resources led to an interest in sustainable agriculture and local food. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, spending time outside, and keeping chickens.

Courtney Smith   Courtney is an artist, farmer and freelance graphic designer located in Carbondale. Her six acre farm, Flora Bay, offers a diverse landscape of flowers, herbs, hops, fruits and vegetables grown with permaculture and biointensivie practices. After graduating with a BFA in Printmaking from SIU Carbondale, she entered into a graphic design career at Attitude Designs. Years later, Food Works would offer a "Small Dreams Farming Workshop" that would result in Courtney and her partner Steve to be the first to enroll and graduate from the Southern Illinois Farm Beginnings program. With the help of family and the local credit union, Flora Bay Farm will began its first year of production in 2014. Her hope is to help increase the availability of local foods and further strengthen the ties of community to area farmers and producers. In her spare time, Courtney herds cats, renovates small cottages and dabbles in the arts.

Kim Hamilton Miller    Kim Miller holds a Ph.D in Health Education from Southern Illinois University. She retired in 2016 after over twenty years in faculty positions at University of Kentucky and SIUC. A strong focus of Kim’s academic work has been on holistic approaches to health, including the role of community and community design in fostering health. Kim has long been an advocate of local foods and locally produced goods and believes that these are important not only to physical health but also in building strong community alliances. Kim’s husband is an avid gardener and she enjoys finding creative ways to maximize the produce from his garden. Other personal interests include belonging to the Saluki Master’s Swim Club, hiking, and reading.

Marika Josephson Marika Josephson is co-founder and brewer at Scratch Brewing Company, a farmhouse brewery that makes beer and food with ingredients sourced in Southern Illinois, most of which are from the brewery's working farm. Marika is also the author (along with Scratch's co-founders) of The Homebrewer's Alamanac, a book on brewing with farmed and foraged ingredients, released fall 2016 from Countryman Press.

Leslie Duram - Leslie Duram, PhD, is a professor of Geography at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Director of the Environmental Studies Program since 2012. She was a Fulbright Scholar to the National University of Ireland at Galway. An accomplished researcher, she’s explored organic farming systems and environmental sustainability in her academic and professional life. With more than thirty journal articles to her credit, her academic range encompasses local food, alternative agriculture, environmental education, sustainability, water quality, and grassroots participation in environmental management. A frequent lecturer, writer, and speaker, Duram shares her commitment to sustainable food systems development with students, researchers and farmers across the planet.

Duram authored Good Growing: Why Organic Farming Works (2005)and edited books on sustainability: America Goes Green: An Encyclopedia of Eco-Friendly Culture in the United States (2013); Encyclopedia of Organic, Sustainable and Local Food (2010).