Staff & Board of Directors
Executive Board Leadership Team
Linda Royster
Executive Board President
Linda Royster retired from corporate life recently. Her educational journey started on Chicago's South Side where she graduated from Chicago Vocational High School and the Illinois Institute of Technology. After earning her PhD in Counseling Psychology, she returned to Illinois to work for notable companies such as Arthur Anderson, Trans Union Corporation, and United Parcel Service. Linda is a lifelong gardener, learner, and traveler. She now gardens in Gary, Indiana and travels across the world, spending most of her time exploring Asia.
Favorite Book: Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own
Email: Linda@nwifoodcouncil.org
Rebecca Koetz
Executive Board Vice President
Rebecca has long had a passion for ecological work, earning her Master’s in Forestry and Natural Sciences from Purdue University and now creating a litany of new urban farm programming in her role as Lake County Purdue Extension’s Urban Agriculture Educator. You will often find Rebecca holding her newborn daughter while leading farm tours, teaching elementary students how to garden and running a wide variety of urban farming workshops and projects.
Favorite food: Mushroom saag
Favorite food podcast: Earth Eats
Food systems focus: Supporting local farmers
Email: BeccaK@nwifoodcouncil.org
Cheryl Dornberg
Executive Board Treasurer
As a Culinary Nutrition Expert and Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Cheryl is passionate about using the power of food to achieve optimal health and believes that a healthy lifestyle begins in the kitchen. Her focus is on empowering others to prepare more from-scratch meals at home and to seek out more locally-sourced, nutrient-dense ingredients.
Favorite food: Sautéed greens
Favorite food movie: The Biggest Little Farm
Food systems focus: Food security and accessibility
Relevant links: Mrs. Dornberg’s Culinary Experience, Facebook, Instagram
Email: Cheryl@nwifoodcouncil.org
Amber Zimmer
Executive Board Secretary
Amber was born and raised in NWI, and has lived here most of her life. She is passionate about helping people live their healthiest lives and has extensive experience working in nonprofit management, sales, healthcare, and wellness industries. In her current professional role as a Community Wellness Coordinator with Purdue Extension's Nutrition Education Program in Lake & Jasper Counties, she works alongside partners on many initiatives that help people in the community have better nutrition, physical activity, and food security. Outside of work, Amber loves to garden, play/coach volleyball, learn, and do anything outside with friends and family. She is honored to be part of the Board of Directors for the NWI Food Council and is excited to propel the mission of the organization forward as a catalyst for positive change in our region.
Favorite food: Ice Cream
Food systems focus: Nutrition Security, Food Justice, Local Food, Sustainability
Relevant links: www. EatGatherGo.org
Email: amber@nwifoodcouncil.org
Executive Board
Alicia Pellegrino
Executive Board Member
Alicia has a passion for environmental stewardship and community engagement. She has been involved through her professional and community leadership roles in developing and managing community-based programs, facilitating community engagement, and coordinating partners to achieve successful projects. In her current role at Shirley Heinze Land Trust, Alicia works alongside a diverse set of partners in both rural and urban communities to increase access to resources and further conservation initiatives. Alicia enjoys hiking the trails of northwest Indiana and trying new recipes and restaurants with her husband.
Favorite food: Homemade pasta with sauce made of tomatoes from the garden
Favorite food book: To Boldly Grow
Food systems focus: Farmland Preservation and Land Access, Conservation Practices
Relevant link: https://heinzetrust.org/farms/
Email: Alicia@nwifoodcouncil.org
Alicia Martin
Executive Board Member
Alicia grew up in NWI and graduated from Indiana University with BAs in Communication & Culture and Telecommunications (film/video). She spent her professional career as a Director of Programs for various youth organizations and schools across the country focused on developing inclusive and engaging youth programs, camps and events. She played an integral part in revamping La Porte's farmers' market, Farmed and Forged, and integrating the SNAP program to provide the local community access to healthy, locally-grown food. She currently works with small business owners to scale their businesses with intention and spends most of her time hiking, writing, photographing nature, and practicing yoga.
Favorite Food: Thai and Indian cuisines
Food Systems Focus: Inclusivity, raising awareness and youth education
Contact: AliciaM@nwifoodcouncil.org
Joe Skibbie
Executive Board Member
Joe Skibbie is founder of JRS Mar/Com and Chief Plowman at Beats, Beds & Browns. Joe's hope is to share the knowledge, joy and wellness that comes from growing his own food via the #100kin10yrs campaign. This ambitious movement aims to connect 100,000 people with agriculture in the next decade. It's not just a number, but a promise to cultivate a community that understands, appreciates and advocates for our food systems. Connecting individuals with Free Seed Kits to connect them with their homestead roots. Whether growing from a cup on the counter or in acres of open fields, growing your own food is a right worth fighting for. Joe hopes to add his gifts to the already impressive efforts of the NWI Food Council.
Food system focus: Food Insecurity
Favorite Food Book: Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch
Email: Joseph@nwifoodcouncil.org
Gina Avila
Executive Board Member
Gina is passionate about cultivating relationships and is excited to foster community connections for NWI Food Council. She is a Community Development Educator with Purdue Extension in Porter County. In her prior role, Associate Director, of NWI Area Health Education Center, she collaborated with community partners to create experiential opportunities to help provide readiness skills for health profession students soon entering the work field. Programming included training on food for health and well-being.
Favorite food: Homemade flautas
Favorite food book: Rotten
Food systems focus: Food justice
Email: gina@nwifoodcouncil.org
Janelle White
Executive Board Member
Janelle White currently serves as the Director of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs at the University of Chicago and as an Associate for the Consortium for Inclusion & Equity, LLC (CIE), an integrated diversity management consulting firm. Her work with CIE has allowed her to work with education professionals, businesses, and nonprofits to explore concepts of justice, inclusion, and equity within their organizational leadership, curriculum development, and community engagement initiatives. Throughout her career, she has been committed to fostering a sense of community and belonging for underrepresented populations, disrupting bias throughout educational systems, and advocating for historically underrepresented communities.
Favorite food: Cheesecake
Favorite movie: The Wizard of Oz
Food system focus: Food Justice & Food Insecurity
https://www.linkedin.com/in/janelle-white/
Email: Janelle@nwifoodcouncil.org
Lucero Martinez-Donato
Executive Board Member
Lucero is a seasoned culinary professional that has moved back to her birthplace in Gary, Indiana from Chicago. She’s closely worked with non-profit organizations to promote local small businesses. Lucero has always been an advocate for good food and feeding our kids a colorful plate. The agriculture oligopoly has made her focus on community sustainability, shop local, support the environment to establish a strong economy that services its people.
Favorite food: Spicy coconut curry anything and chiles rellenos
Favorite food books: The Omnivore's Dilemma and Salt Fat Acid Heat
Food systems focus: A small community of people that aim for a sustainable environment, serving its community for future generations.
Relevant link: LinkedIn
Email: Lucero@nwifoodcouncil.org
Daryn Pobanz
Executive Board Member
As the meatmonger for a 7th generation family farm called Jake’s Country Meats, Daryn travels all over NWI, Chicago and SW Michigan building connections and relationships with farmers, chefs and everyday customers. Daryn believes in the power of raising animals on pasture–that regenerative grazing practices are key to creating healthy animals, healthy people and a healthy environment.
Favorite food: Cubano sandwich
Favorite food movie: Sacred Cow Documentary
Food systems focus: Regenerative Ag
Relevant links: Jake's Country Meats, Instagram
Email: Daryn@nwifoodcouncil.org
Grace Benninger
Executive Board Member
As an urban planning and geographic information systems professional, Grace has a strong background in analyzing spatial data and trends to aid local governments in decision-making processes and achieve regional goals. Living on a llama farm and being an avid beekeeper, gardener, homebrewer, and cheesemaker, Grace understands the importance of fostering connections between those who grow and consume food as well as building equitable and inclusive food systems in Northwest Indiana.
Favorite Food: Vietnamese Pho
Favorite Food Podcasts: The Bearded Butchers; Business Insider’s So Expensive
Food System Focus: Food Policy and Programming
Email: Grace@nwifoodcouncil.org
Marilyn Catinella
Executive Board Member
Marilyn, a US Army veteran, who found her way to NWI nearly a decade ago, is an actionist committed to the revitalization of community through entrepreneurship, innovation and the arts. A dedicated social justice believer, she is an advocate for cannabis reformation and land reclamation. Leveraging 15 years of combined corporate and nonprofit experience, Marilyn now serves as the Operations Director at Community Food Navigator. In her free time, she immerses herself in writing and collaborates within the NWI community theater network. Her focus is on femme and queer-forward projects which demonstrate inclusivity and diversity. Marilyn is committed to building a better, more vibrant region through a blend of activism, leadership, and artistic expression.
Favorite Food: Roasted root vegetables and tacos
Favorite Food Book: Women, Food and God
Food Systems Focus: Urban + Regenerative Ag
Relevant Links: https://communityfoodnavigator.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilyncatinella/
Contact: Marilyn@nwifoodcouncil.org
Major Rebecca Simmons
Executive Board Member
Major Rebecca (Becky) Simmons received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from St. Louis University with her focus in community development. She and her husband, Dale, are the ministers and administrators of The Salvation Army in Michigan City, IN. The Simmons have five children and four grandchildren. Becky’s passion is to advocate for justice for those in need and to seek creative, healthy, and dignified ways to provide food to those in need and located in food deserts. In her free time she loves to spend time with family, sew and garden.
Favorite Food: Spaghetti
Favorite Book: The Bible
Food System Focus: Food Justice & Food Insecurity
Email: Rebecca@nwifoodcouncil.org
Anna Engel
Executive Board Member
As an Indiana University graduate with a B.A. in Environmental Sustainability Studies and a minor in Geography, Anna’s passions focus on creating sustainable food systems that also cultivate community. With a strong love for cooking and nutrition, it’s no surprise that you will find her in the kitchen during most of her free time. Anna enjoys experimenting with different cuisines and all their fantastic flavors, with the hope of inspiring other at-home cooks to step out of their comfort zones.
Favorite Food: Mushroom Risotto
Favorite Book: Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies by Seth M. Holmes
Favorite Movie: Fantastic Fungi
Food Systems Focus: Vertical Agriculture / Sustainable Food Systems
Relevant Links: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annaiengel
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anna.engel/
Contact: AnnaE@nwifoodcouncil.org
Kat Peters
Executive Board Member
Kat Peters currently serves as the Assistant Director of the Institute for Leadership and Service at Valparaiso University. Prior to coming to Valpo, she taught Spanish at Indiana University Northwest, and worked as market manager of the Coffee Creek Farmers Market (2022) and marketing coordinator for The Off-Season Market (2022-2023 season). Kat lived for nearly a decade in Costa Rica, where she took US university students all over the country to visit small farms (and transnationals), indigenous communities, women's groups, conservation projects, and more. In Costa Rica Kat completed a master's degree in education, and a master's in rural development, focusing on agriculture. Kat loves learning more about where food comes from, and supporting local farmers as we all learn to incorporate more local foods into our diets. She keeps an occasional blog on these topics as well as cross-cultural awareness, "sense of place," and calling and purpose at www.newbackwater.com.
Contact: Kat@nwifoodcouncil.org
Lieda Hernandez
Executive Board Member
As a current Social Services Director and MSW student, Lieda is passionate about mental health and advocating for others that cannot advocate for themselves including those with food insecurities; with over a decade of professional experience working in mental health and trauma-informed initiatives. Lieda loves to spend time with her children, cooking in the kitchen, and lifting weights in the gym. She is always in the mood for a good stand-up comedy special or a trip to a museum.
Contact: Lieda@nwifoodcouncil.org
Michael Madsen
Executive Board Member
As a pediatric physical therapist and certified GAPS Practitioner, helping others is always at the forefront of Michael’s mind. Starting Restorative Roots Therapy & Wellness has allowed him get to the underlying cause of many chronic health ailments and find solutions centered around food and environmental changes. He has also built great relationships with NWI farmers, growers and producers to offer truly local fermented and preserved foods to the region. Living, local food full of flavor complexity and microbial diversity is his ultimate passion. He believes in educating people on how to appropriately source, cook, ferment and preserve the food around us in order for them to slowly take their health into their own hands.
Favorite food: Steak
Favorite food book: Gut and Physiology Syndrome
Food systems focus: Sustainability
Email: michael@nwifoodcouncil.org
Jeremy DeBold
Executive Board Member
Bio Coming Soon!
Email: Jeremy@nwifoodcouncil.org
Staff Members
Anne Massie
Co-Executive Director & Immediate Past Board Executive President
Anne has a tenacious appetite for all things local food. From owning and operating her own diversified vegetable farm to leading significant non-profit work on food insecurity and farm viability, Anne has fully committed herself to changing our local food system as we know it.
Favorite food: Cabbage
Favorite food movie: Kiss the Ground
Food systems focus: Policy
Email: info@nwifoodcouncil.org
Dr. Virginia Pleasant
Co-Executive Director
Virginia loves food systems work so much, she earned her PhD studying it from Purdue University. From urban homesteading with her husband and 3 young children, to her role as Interim Director of Food Systems Initiatives at Purdue Northwest, Virginia has committed herself to dozens of initiatives for the council, the community and across the state. She works to weave networks along the food value chain- from farmers, to eaters, and all points in between to build capacity, collaboration, and community resilience.
Favorite food: Tomatoes fresh off the vine
Favorite food book: Eating the Landscape: American Indian Stories of Food, Identity, and Resilience
Food systems focus: holistic systems, food justice
Email: virginia@nwifoodcouncil.org
Anna Martinez
Region Roots Hub Coordinator
It all started with making small batch kombucha in her home, and next thing she knew Anna was bottling and boxing hundreds of jars of locally made “booch” in Gary, Indiana each week, supplying small businesses throughout NWI and eventually even opening her own cafe and kombucha bar in the Miller Beach neighborhood. Anna is deeply committed to improving healthy lifestyle options for families in NWI, and lifting up local food entrepreneurs in the process!.
Favorite food: Seafood tacos
Favorite food books: Anything by Dr. Perlmutter
Food systems focus: Food Security
Email: anna@nwifoodcouncil.org or info@regionroots.org
Becca Tuholski
Local Food Access Coordinator
Becca Tuholski has an undeniable passion for local food systems, resilient community building, and community education. From her time as an Agricultural Science Teacher at LaPorte High School, to her ongoing career as a beginning farmer alongside her husband on their farm (Tuholski Produce), to her current role as the Local Food Access Coordinator with the NWI Food Council—Becca is dedicated to strengthening our food system from the ground up.
Favorite food: Homemade pizza with farm veggies!
Favorite food book: The Power of a Plant: A Teacher's Odyssey to Grow Healthy Minds and Schools
Food systems focus: Food justice, farm to institution
Email: becca@nwifoodcouncil.org
Veronica Jalomo
Farm to School Coordinator
Having grown up as a child migrant farm worker, Veronica has a special connection to and understanding of the importance of equity in a food system that so often overlooks both the farmers and the food insecure. As a food system value chain professional, she currently leads farm-to-school initiatives in the northwest region of Indiana in her role as Farm to School Coordinator for the NWI Food Council. She also leads efforts with the new Lake Michigan Food System Innovation Hub, a multi-state collaboration with Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Veronica has cultivated a career in sustainable food systems serving vulnerable communities and underserved populations. Through her previous role as Community Wellness Coordinator and Local Foods & Community Garden Specialist with Purdue Extension Nutrition Education Program, she had the unique opportunity to build local coalitions to enact equitable initiatives impacting two regions of the state of Indiana. Through the years she has learned how to traverse complex communities to cultivate shared visions and execute successful initiatives. She has established a solid record of impact. She has experience in the development and evaluation of policy, systems, and environmental strategies—including food system policy development. She has been instrumental in helping create community and urban gardening networks in both Lafayette and East Chicago, Indiana; as well as introducing and growing the Great Lakes Apple Crunch in secondary schools and after-school programs. With her background in addressing food access and food systems, she supports and guides community agencies, schools, and farmers in the creation of a more sustainable and equitable food system.
In addition to her current role, Veronica serves on the Indiana AgrAbility Advisory Team, and Indiana Grown for Schools Network Steering Committee, and is a member of the Indiana Value Chain Network.
Favorite food: Arroz con pollo (chicken and rice)
Favorite food book: Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) by Laura Esquivel
Food systems focus: Food access and security, food chain workers rights and well-being
Relevant links: Purdue Extension Nutrition Education Program, Facebook
Email: veronica@nwifoodcouncil.org
Porchea McGuire
Equity & Engagement Coordinator
Porchea owns and operates Shiloh Divine Farms, with deep experience in farming, community gardening, and youth education. She plays a major role in developing our programs to reach deeper and further into communities that often lack access to fresh foods and she works to support more culturally relevant value chains that increase opportunities for BIPOC farmers.
Email: porchea@nwifoodcouncil.org
Allyssa McAley
Farm-to-Chef & Logistics Coordinator
My love for food started at a very young age. I began working in the restaurant industry and attending culinary classes in high school. After moving to Chicago and experiencing shopping at farmer's markets I learned just how diverse real food actually is. I now live on a homestead of my own growing and preserving a large portion of my family's food and raising ducks and chickens for eggs. My passion now is cooking with seasonal whole foods either grown by myself or locally sourced,
Favorite food: Anything Asian or Indian inspired
Favorite food book: Ball Book of Canning and Preserving.
Food system focus: Food security and supporting local farmers
Email: allyssa@nwifoodcouncil.org
Alyssa Meehan
Operations Associate
Alyssa has taken on the monumental task of managing Accounts Payables and Receivables for Region Roots and the NWIFC during a major growth period. She can help answer any questions you have around accounting, plus she’s a long time CSA-member and local food lover.
Favorite food: Cheesecake
Favorite food movie: Julie and Julia
Food system focus: Food Insecurity and supporting local farmers
Email: accounts@nwifoodcouncil.org
Sherri Wilson
Warehouse and Delivery Associate
Sherri joined the council in the height of high season during Local Food for Schools distributions. She has taken a lead role as a delivery driver and fulfillment specialist. Sherri loves supporting programs that get fresh food out to kids and families. She has her CDL, extensive training on warehouse equipment and is studying Logistics at Valparaiso University.
Email: warehouse@nwifoodcouncil.org
Advisory Board Members
Nupur Aurora
Advisory Board Member
Nupur was instrumental in the exponential growth of the Food Bank of NW Indiana, transforming the small non-profit into a highly functioning organization. She has an intense passion for feeding the community and addressing some of the toughest challenges of systemic poverty especially now in her role as Director of Finance & Operations at Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County.
Gabrielle Biciunas
Advisory Board Member
Gabrielle has been shaping the way our communities develop for the better for over several years as the Long Range Planner for the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission and now as Business Development Manager for Commonwealth Engineers. She’s always recognized food and farming as some of the most important pieces of successful, long range community planning built on equity and resilience.
Matthew Wells
Advisory Board Member
As the Director of External Engagement and Partnerships for Purdue University NW, Matt has built his career on weaving together relationships and projects that build capacity and accelerate progress. He has a clear vision to build on burgeoning resources of Northern Indiana to create a farm-to-table ecosystem that benefits students and attracts families to the region for generations to come.
Favorite food: Doro Wat
Favorite food book: Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Food systems focus: Economic development