The Board
We are currently accepting applications for new Board members! Interested? Click here to learn more.
Karie Trujillo, President
Karie is the Marketing and Business Development Director at Markowitz Herbold PC, a boutique business litigation firm. Karie manages the firm’s marketing and sales activities such as public relations, advertising, website, social media and business development functions. Originally from Idaho, Karie grew up in a rural farming community on the Idaho/Oregon border. Her involvement in Farmers Market Fund, and previously the Portland Farmers Market, allows her to embrace her agricultural roots. Karie received her B.A. in Journalism from the University of Oregon.
Her current professional activities include:
- President, Farmers Market Fund
- Former President, Portland Farmers Market
- Member, President’s Council, Portland Business Alliance
- Member, A Place With No Ceiling Committee, Portland Business Alliance
- Member, Ninety-Nine Girlfriends
Mike Elliott, Vice President
Mike Elliott has nearly 30 years of business experience with national employee benefits consulting firms. He joined the Board of Farmers Market Fund in 2017 following a 27-year career with M Benefit Solutions, a Portland-based national leader in the areas of executive benefits and corporate-owned life insurance (COLI).
Mike brings a wide array of skills and experiences to help support Board operations and financial management. Utilizing his knowledge of financial products and services, in conjunction with systemic and analytical thinking, he played a key role in creating M Benefit Solutions’ marketing strategies and developing new markets, distribution channels, and services. A third generation Oregonian, Mike traveled extensively as a ‘military brat.’ He graduated with a BA from Northwestern University, with majors in Economics and Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences. After returning to Oregon and joining M Benefit Solutions, Mike earned his MBA from Portland State University.
Mike retired from M Benefit Solutions in October 2016 and is excited about giving back to the region in ways that align with his interests in the local community, financial services, the outdoors and food access. To that end, Mike is also a Board Member for Portland Parks and Recreation and a volunteer with Hoyt Arboretum.
Annie Mengis, Treasurer
Annie Mengis is currently a CPA at Peters & Company P.C., a local accounting firm specializing in Individual & Business tax services, Accounting & Auditing services, and Management Consulting Services in Portland. After graduating from the University of Oregon with two BS’s in Accounting and Political Science, Annie took a position with a local CPA firm in Sausalito, California. After four years and the birth of her niece, she chose to return home to Portland where she has worked in Public Accounting, at Human Solutions-a local non-profit that housed over 700 low-income families, and Sagacity Media – the owner of Portland Monthly.
As a Portland native, she he enjoys devoting her time to volunteering, gardening, wine tasting, camping, and the various festivals and outdoor events available in Portland. Current and recent volunteer activities include time at the Portland Farmers Market, the Winter Warming Center, SOLVE cleanups, and financial education classes and coaching for low income individuals and families at Innovative changes. Annie also holds membership on the Finance Committees for the Portland Farmers Market and Rose Community Development Corporation.
David Ray Salerno Owens, Secretary
David was born and raised in San Diego, California. He began his undergraduate studies at UCLA. It was here where David first gained his passion for helping children while volunteering for UCLA Unicamp for nearly 10 years, a camp that focused on helping intercity children who were at or below the poverty level gain exposure to the great outdoors outside of their city lives.
His many years of service in the food industry included management for ASUCLA Catering in California, and locally supervising the restaurants for Russellville Park retirement community and managing the restaurants for Mirabella, an exclusive independent living retirement community.
David returned to school to complete his undergraduate studies at Portland State University, where he graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. David graduated from Lewis & Clark College graduate school with regards to their Education & Counseling program in 2016. Under this graduate program, David is certified with a Master’s of Education & Counseling and has been working as a Response to Intervention Coordinator at Lakeridge High School since 2015 where he’s helping to bridge the graduation gap as well as working with any high risk students. He has been a part of Gaining Early Awareness & Readiness in Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) for Portland Public Schools at Harrison Park and Madison High School, SMART Reading and Big Brothers, Big Sisters; all important in the community involvement of our children.
Briana Arnold
Briana Arnold grew up in small rainy town in the Pacific Northwest, participating in small town activities like showing her dog and cat in 4-H shows at the county fair. Growing up, she relished stories about her parent’s travel stories, so after graduating from Washington State University with a bachelor’s degree in Animal Sciences with a minor in Spanish and a minor in Global studies, Briana took off abroad. Her travels took her to work on dairy farms in Ireland and Norway and eventually led her to a small Indigenous community in Panama where she was a Sustainable Agriculture Volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps. Returning to the US, Briana supervised a commercial organic chicken, duck, and turkey farm just south of Portland in Aurora, OR. Having seen the experiences of individuals trapped in an inequitable food system, Briana decided to pivot her career and is now studying for her Master’s in Public Health, focusing her experiences in food systems. She hopes to work in food justice after graduating in June 2020.
Briana currently works for the Portland State University’s Learning Gardens Lab as the Capstone Coordinator, has recently started her own business evaluating food data, volunteers with Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered by leading local support group meetings, and interns with Familias en Acción in their nutritional resiliency program, Abuela, Mamá y Yo.
Tayler Brisbin
Tayler Brisbin is a wordsmith, yoga teacher, entrepreneur and creativity enthusiast. As the Communications Coordinator for the McMinnville Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) She has a passion for storytelling and local businesses. She graduated from Linfield College in 2007 with a degree in Creative Writing, and spent several years focusing on marketing and event planning in the Oregon Wine Industry. Her event planning experience lead to several volunteer opportunities with the McMinnville Downtown Association, helping behind the scenes with fundraising dinners and community events, and in 2018 she was named Volunteer of the Year. Her involvement with the Downtown Association eventually lead to full-time career managing communications and events for the organization, which included Managing the McMinnville Downtown Farmers Market. Her experience running this market is where she really noticed an alignment of her passions and values, and she felt so energized each week connecting with the market community, building relationships with new and longtime vendors and the weekly shoppers. During her time there she saw the redemption of SNAP benefits almost double, and was thrilled to be able to help facilitate growth for small farmers as well as food equality for the community. Now as a Market Volunteer and FMF Board Member she is excited to continue building these relationships in her community and cannot wait to see the Double Up Food Bucks program expand to markets state-wide! Her interests outside of the office include cooking, pretending she knows what she is doing in the garden, pickling and canning interesting things, (thank you Sarah Marshall for being an excellent teacher) adventuring around the Willamette Valley with her Bulldog Toby, and of course, yoga.
Bonnie Gee Yosick
Bonnie is principal of an independent firm specializing in economic and policy analysis. She has over 25 years of experience conducting economic, demographic, fiscal, and land use analyses for public- and private-sector clients, including state and local governments, corporations, individual property owners, development organizations, and other professional service firms. Prior to starting her firm, Bonnie conducted projects as an economic and land use consultant with other professional service firms in Portland and previously served as Publications Manager for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She earned a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Wellesley College and an M.B.A. with a certificate in Public and Nonprofit Management from Boston University.
Bonnie is committed to a range of community service activities, currently serving as Vice Chair the Portland Parks board, and on the board of FMF’s sister organization Portland Farmers Markets. She also volunteers for Oregon Swimming, the local USA Swimming affiliate, and fosters guide dogs in training for Occupaws Guide Dog Association, through which her family’s foster animals have made the world more accessible for 10 people who are blind or severely sight-impaired.
Kelly Streit
As a Senior Instructor for the OSU Extension Service, Clackamas County, Kelly delivers engaging and innovative programs that address a wide variety of priority needs, from the field to the plate. She also manages a team of dedicated volunteers who extend the reach of educational programs through the Family Food Education (FFE) and Master Food Preserver (MFP) programs.
Science, industry research, and experience as a farmer informs Kelly’s delivery of research-based knowledge and skill-building workshops on farm direct marketing, meal planning, food label literacy, quick & healthy meals, food preservation, food safety, emergency preparedness, and reduction of food waste.
Collaborations with local food banks, CCOs, DHS, WIC, the Public Health Division, local school districts, businesses, farmers and residents help increase access to an affordable, nutritious, culturally appropriate and safe diet for individuals, families, and adults.
When she’s not out in the field, you will find Kelly out and about at the farmers market, out on the hiking trail, running with the dog, or watching the surf at the beach.
Trudy Toliver
Trudy’s role as Executive Director of Portland Farmers Market sets her as an ex-officio member of the Farmers Market Fund (FMF) board. She is also the founding and former Executive Director of FMF.
A life-long Oregonian, Trudy believes that eating healthy food changes people lives. Her career has been all about sustainability. She built her management skills in public transit and with environmental groups. At TriMet, Portland, Oregon’s transit district, she held several positions over 16 years in areas such as transit planning, community relations, and marketing. Her favorite project was being TriMet’s liaison with the community to assure that bikes were welcome on buses and trains. Her final years there were spent on the leadership team as Executive Director of Human Resources.
In 1999 Trudy shifted her career to environmental non-profits starting as Development Director at Friends of Virgin Islands National Park on St. John in the US Virgin Islands. After returning to Portland in 2002, she joined EarthShare Oregon as Executive Director. At EarthShare she led a federation of 70 conservation groups for the purpose of fundraising in the workplaces of 100 Oregon public agencies and businesses.
Her Bachelor’s degree is in Geography from Portland State University. She got her Master’s in Business with focus on organization development at Marylhurst University. Trudy teaches yoga, keeps a small veggie garden and loves to cook.
Steve Zeiden
Steve Zeiden moved to Portland, OR in 2015 from Denver, Colorado “with a three-and-a half-year layover in Ohio in between”. Having seen oranges being sold at farmers markets in Denver (and knowing oranges aren’t native to Colorado) and having shopped the Portland Farmers Market (PFM) for years when he visited Oregon, Steve knew he wanted to become involved in the farmers market community when he moved to Portland. He’s been a regular volunteer at PFM since he landed in town.
His professional experience as a marketing communications and creative development leader has led him to help many notable companies achieve their goals. While most of his career experience is in the telecom industry, Steve has been part of the team at Standard Insurance Company (The Standard) since 2017. His role allows him to help plan, develop and execute marketing strategies, campaigns and initiatives to drive enrollment and retention for the company’s largest account.
Steve also volunteers his time in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Beyond School Walls program at The Standard. This mentoring program connects elementary school youth to opportunities to access and learn about the corporate world. Roughly twice a month, Littles visit their Bigs at The Standard for lunch and activities.
Staff
Molly Notarianni
Executive Director, Farmers Market Fund
Molly joined Farmers Market Fund in 2018, bringing fifteen years of experience at the intersection of food, justice, and community. Her work is informed by her time as a farmer, an educator, a community organizer, a nonprofit consultant, and manager of farmers markets in both Michigan and Oregon. In 2019 Molly led a statewide coalition of organizations that successfully secured a $1.5 million appropriation from the State of Oregon to support the expansion of Double Up, laying the groundwork for a new era of the program. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Policy & Behavior from the University of Michigan, serves as the Vice President of the Oregon Farmers Market Association’s Board of Directors, and loves gardening, meeting her neighbors, going by bike, and waking up to see that it has snowed.
Mallory Watson
Program Coordinator, Farmers Market Fund
Mallory Watson is a Northwest native, and she has been living in Oregon for the past 10 years. With a background in nutrition, administrative work, and improving food access though urban farming, coming to FMF just made sense for her! Since moving to Portland in 2012, she has volunteered with multiple garden and nutrition education organizations around town, and she loves teaching kids about growing nutritious food in the garden. Her passion for food justice and local agriculture led her to pursue a master’s degree in holistic nutrition at the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland in 2017. In her free time, she loves gardening, being outdoors, developing new recipes, and spending time with her family
Special Acknowledgement
Rosemarie Sweet, Co-founder & Former Board President
Rosemarie co-founded Farmers Market Fund and served as Board President through 2015. She was also on the Board of Portland Farmers Market from 2006 to 2011, serving as its president for two years.
Rosemarie organized and co-chaired the Portland/Multnomah Food Policy Council from August 2001 through Dec. 2004. This Council advised the City of Portland and Multnomah County on policies promoting a healthy and sustainable regional food system. She also worked with the Healthy Eating by Design program on food access and regional food planning. Other consulting work included facilitating the development of the Zenger Farm project and working with stakeholders in Lincoln City to improve their farmers market and to connect local growers with the area’s institutional purchasers.
Prior to working on sustainable food system issues, Rosemarie Sweet was the founder and executive director of Sustainable Communities Northwest (SCNW). This non-profit corporation provided affordable housing to people of low and moderate income in the Portland area, with an emphasis on ecologically sound building and promoting sustainable lifestyle choices. Prior to that, Ms. Sweet practiced law for 17 years.