Board of directors
Message from the Board
We are honored to be co-chairs of the Board of Directors leading Green City Market. The heart of the Market is the farmers and the work they do to bring delicious, seasonal, carefully raised food to our tables. Our job is to help make that food available to everyone in Chicago and continue the momentum begun by our founder, Abby Mandel.
We have made great strides this year with initiatives that support the growth and expansion of local food and its abundance in Chicago.
- We have completed a successful year with Lyle Allen as Executive Director of the Market. We appreciate his positive energy and ability to connect the Board, the volunteers and the farmers. His vision has helped create and facilitate the Market's growth.
- We have continued steps towards third-party certification for our farmers. They all will be certified “organic,” “sustainable” or “humane” by 2012. In addition, the application committee has crafted a food policy dictating that only local foods can be sold at the Market. The locavore selections that are avilable show off Midwestern meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables.
- We have hired Mark Psilos as farm-to-chef forager. In the new position, Mark will connect farmers, chefs and the public in order to increase the flow of local food to restaurant tables.
- We have created an action plan to increase availability of heirloom and heritage meats, fruits and vegetables at out Market.
- On an educational front, we have expanded the Edible Garden program at Lincoln Park Zoo to further influence the next generation of food lovers. We want children to know where their food comes from and how it grows.
The farmers you see every Wednesday and Saturday at Green City Market are the core of all these initiatives. Without them there would be no food and there would be no Market. We know you will be pleased with the foods they produce.
We appreciate your support of the Green City Market.
John Berghoff and Sarah Stegner, Co-chairs
| Jerry Adelmann | Executive Director, Openlands | Bio |
| Rick Bayless | Chef/Owner, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo | Bio |
| Portia Belloc-Lowndes | Co-founder, Slow Food Chicago | Bio |
| Dana Benigno | Owner, ChicagoCooks.com, Sweetgirl Desserts, LLC | Bio |
| John Berghoff | Partner, Mayer Brown, LLP | Bio |
| Shaun Block | Former Board Chair, Openlands | Bio |
| Dave Cleverdon | Organic Farmer, Kinnikinnick Farm | Bio |
| Peggy Crowe | Vice President, Victory Over Cancer | Bio |
| Vi Daley | Alderman, Ward 43 | Bio |
| Beth Eccles | Farmer, Green Acres | Bio |
| Virginia Gerst | Secretary, Food Writer | Bio |
| Rita Gutekanst | Chef/Owner, Limelight - food illuminated | Bio |
| Cindy Kurman | President, Kurman Communications | Bio |
| Bill Kurtis | President and Executive Producer, Kurtis Productions | Bio |
| Donna La Pietra | Executive Producer, Kurtis Productions | Bio |
| William Moore | Finance, The Four Seasons | Bio |
| Carrie Nahabedian | Chef/Owner, Naha | Bio |
| Don Newcomb | Founder, Chicago Gourmets & Chicago Culinary Historians | Bio |
| Elizabeth Richter | VP of Marketing & Communications, Chicago Community Trust | Bio |
| Judy Schad | Owner/Cheesemaker, Capriole Farmstead | Bio |
| Bruce Sherman | Chef/Owner, North Pond Restaurant | Bio |
| Holly Sherr | Writer, | Bio |
| Sarah Stegner | Chef/Owner, Prairie Grass Cafe | Bio |
| Doug Zell | President, Intelligentsia Coffee | Bio |