Board of Directors
| Mr. Mark Austin | Chair/Canada | ||
| Mark Austin, a wild blueberry farmer in Cumberland County, NS, was recently named Executive Director of Rural & Coastal Communities Network, an organization focused on rural sustainability in Nova Scotia. Mark’s career has included university teaching; work in the film industry; and consultancy work on social policy. |  |
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| Rev. Allison Barrett | Secretary/Canada | ||
| Rev. Allison Barrett is retired from the First Unitarian Church of Hamilton as parish minister, where she served from 1996 to 2008. |  |
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| Ms. Joan Baxter | Director/Canada | ||
| A writer and journalist, Joan Baxter splits her time between Nova Scotia and West Africa. She has written four books about Africa, including her latest about the impact of Western policies there. She recently finished a two-year term as Executive Director of the Nova Scotia – Gambia Association. |  |
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| Mr. Daniel Brisebois | Director/Canada | ||
| Mr. Daniel Brisebois is president of Canadian Organic Growers and a member of Tourne-Sol cooperative organic farm in Les Cèdres, Quebec. He co-authored the book Crop Planning for Organic Vegetable Growers and writes a blog on growing seed. |  |
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| Ms. Abra Brynne | Director/Canada | ||
| Abra Brynne is a food systems consultant, working on a broad range of projects from regulatory change to developing regional farm marketing materials to mentoring farmers and food security groups. She has been involved in grassroots rural community development for more than 20 years. |  |
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| Mr. Mamby Fofana | Director/Mali | ||
| Mamby Fofana has worked with USC, both as Director of our Mali program and our SoS West Africa Program. He is now using his knowledge of development and environmental issues – particularly those relating to desertification – in his work with the Swedish Development Corporation. |  |
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| Dr. Harriet Friedmann | Director/Canada | ||
| Dr. Harriet Friedmann is Professor of Sociology, Geography, and Planning at the University of Toronto. A recipient of a Lifetime Achievement award from the Canadian Association of Food Studies, she has published in international and interdisciplinary journals on many dimensions of agriculture and food, and is a member of the Toronto Food Policy Council as well as several editorial boards of journals related to food and agriculture. |  |
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| Mr. Kenton Lobe | Director/Canada | ||
| Kenton Lobe spends winters teaching International Development and Environmental Studies at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg. He has spent the last three seasons on small-scale farms and is currently working with students on an urban farm as a part of the University. Kenton spent six years working on food policy issues with Canadian Foodgrains Bank, an international NGO. |  |
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| Ms. Wilhelmina ‘Ditdit’ Pelegrina | Director/Philippines | ||
| Wilhelmina R. Pelegrina, an agronomist by training, has served as the Executive Director of SEARICE, a Philippines-headquartered network of organizations from South East Asia working for social justice and the sustainable use of the earth’s natural resources. |  |
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| Mr. Wayne Roberts | Director/Canada | ||
| Wayne Roberts, a food policy analyst and writer, is widely respected for his role managing the Toronto Food Policy Council (2000-2010). Roberts is author of seven books – most recently The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food (2008) – and since 1989 has written a weekly column for Toronto’s Now Magazine on themes that link social justice, public health, and green economics. |  |
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| Mr. Marcelo Saavedra-Vargas | Director/Canada | ||
| Mr. Marcelo Saavedra-Vargas is Professor of Aboriginal Studies at the University of Ottawa. He has worked for IDRC (the International Development Research Centre) and The North-South Institute, specializing in indigenous issues and co-authoring their 2008 Canadian Development Report. Marcelo is National Coordinator of the Bolivia Action Solidarity Network. |  |
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| Mr. Martin Settle | Treasurer/Canada | ||
| Martin Settle, the finance officer for the Ottawa Community Housing Corporation, is a Certified General Accountant with a background in ecology and food issues having spent time with the Bridport Centre for Local Food. |  |
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| Mr. Gopal Siwakoti ‘Chintan’ | Director/Nepal | ||
| Gopal Siwakoti ‘Chintan’, a prominent human rights defender, is the Coordinator of the Water and Energy Users’ Federation Nepal (WAFED). He has been active in environmental campaigns in Nepal and abroad since 1993. |  |
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| Ms. Robin Tunnicliffe | Director/Canada | ||
| Robin Tunnicliffe is a full-time farmer, and owner of Feisty Field Organic Farm in Victoria, BC. She is also co-owner of Saanich Organics, a cooperative marketing business for certified organic produce. |  |
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Executive Director |
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| Ms. Susan Walsh | Executive Director, USC Canada | ||
 Susan initially worked at USC as a Program Officer in the late 1980’s, and in the interim, helmed the World Food Day Association and worked for over a decade with Canadian Lutheran World Relief as that agency’s Director for Latin America Programs. USC drew her back to Ottawa in 2004, this time as the agency’s Executive Director. During these past two decades, Susan has spearheaded strategies designed to promote the legal, cultural, and livelihood rights of indigenous peoples and marginalized farmers, strengthened though the completion of a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology at the University of Manitoba, and a year of SSHRC-sponsored field research on the biodiversity conservation and resilience strategies of indigenous potato farmers in Bolivia’s southern highlands. |
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COMMITTEES OF THE USC CANADA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
| Mr. Mark Austin Mr. Martin Settle Rev. Allison Barrett Ms. Susan Walsh Ms. Francine Longtin |
Chair of the Board & Foundation Chair of Finance Committee / Treasurer Secretary Executive Director Director, Finance and Administration |
FINANCE & AUDIT COMMITTEE
| Mr. Martin Settle Mr. Mark Austin Vacant Ms. Susan Walsh Ms. Francine Longtin |
Chair of Finance Committee / Treasurer Chair of the Board Ad Hoc Member Executive Director Director, Finance and Administration |
USC FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
| Mr. Mark Austin Mr. Martin Settle Mr. Douglas Cousins Ms. Lucy Grossmann-Hensel Mr. Dale Huntingford Ms. Pauline Port Ms. Susan Walsh Ms. Francine Longtin |
Chair of the Board & Foundation Chair of Finance Committee / Treasurer Director Director Director Director Executive Director Director, Finance and Administration |
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