Emily joined our team in April of 2022. As Director of Programs, she supports FoodCap applicants and borrowers throughout the lending and repayment process and oversees the ongoing refinement of our underwriting process. She works closely with other staff to design, implement, and report on our business support programming, and always has her finger on the pulse of USDA funding opportunities.

Emily relocated from Colorado to Virginia in 2021 to serve as the Managing Director of the Josephine Porter Institute of Applied Biodynamics. Prior to that position, she spent five years directing the Urban Greenhouse Program at Groundwork Denver, an organization with a mission focused on environmental and social justice.

Before transitioning to nonprofit work, Emily spent ten years working in a variety of agricultural areas where she gained familiarity with a wide range of crops and livestock, including time in vineyards, small scale market farms, beekeeping, and three years as a stockman at Capering Goat Dairy, a raw milk cooperative in Boulder, CO. Emily came to agriculture through environmentalism and is motivated to see food systems develop in a way that prioritizes the health of the planet, farmers, and eaters, and which emphasizes local food and small farms. She lives in Scottsville, where she fills her free time raising a toddler, birdwatching, taking photos, and practicing yoga.