Our Team
Executive Director and Co-Founder
Michael is the Executive Director of Local Matters and the owner of The Greener Grocer, Local Matters’ for-profit partner. Michael graduated from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
A trained chef, Michael has studied at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, New York, and at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Piedmont, Italy. He currently also serves on the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission's Agriculture and Food Systems Working Group.
Noreen Warnock
Director of Public Policy and Community Relations, Co-Founder
Noreen is a food justice advocate who has worked on community-based local food issues for fifteen years. Her passion is for ensuring that everyone in our community has equal access to local, healthful and sustainably-grown food—and finding the resources so this can become a reality.
Noreen is one of two Ohio representatives for the National Farm to School Network and served on the Governor’s Ohio Food Policy Council “Healthy Access” subcommittee. She is a member of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission's Agriculture and Food Systems Working Group, Columbus Public Health Department's (CPHD) Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition & CPHD's Columbus Area Healthy Food Access Committee, as well as the United Way of Central Ohio Public Policy Committee.
Todd Mills
Director of Development and Marketing
Todd moved to Central Ohio in late 2009 from the Bay Area of California where he worked in a managerial role in several national non-profit organizations. He is a passionate advocate for sustainable local economic development and worked for several years at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE).
Prior to working with BALLE, Todd worked in the development department of Global Exchange, an international human rights organization. He supported GX’s fundraising efforts through major gift solicitations and grants, and managed communications with more than 12,000 members. He is excited to bring his knowledge of community-based sustainability initiatives to the Central Ohio community. Todd was a 2010 Ohio Political Leaders Fellow with the Center for Progressive Leadership.
Trish Dehnbostel
Program Manager, Growing Matters
Trish brings 15 years of experience as a community organizer to Local Matters. She has used the group process in homeless shelters, hospitals, social service agencies and community gardens, and created an award-winning community gardening program for teens at The Godman Guild.
Trish has been deeply involved with Animals Garden since 2004 and started the Columbus Community Gardening Blog. She has been involved with growing her entire life, and with urban growing since 1989. Passionate about the relationship between collaboration, creativity and gardening, she has led multiple workshops at ComFest and is also our resident photographer.
Lauren Edwards
Program Manager, Cooking Matters
Lauren, a longtime advocate for community betterment through volunteerism, holds a Master’s of City and Regional Planning degree from The Ohio State University. For 10 years Lauren has supervised volunteers for Advocates For Kids; she joins the local food movement out of her passion to educate young people about better food choices for their health and create vibrant, resilient communities.
Lauren lives in Grandview with her husband and two Rhodesian Ridgebacks and enjoys volunteerism, hiking and eating great food.
Laura Robertson-BoydLaura holds a degree in Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University. Before joining Local Matters, Laura was a Chef Instructor at a culinary school in Washington, D.C. where she taught every class in the curriculum and specialized in Nutrition. As Local Matters' Executive Chef, Laura oversees food production for all of our programming, including Food Matters, Cooking Matters, Veggie Van, and community engagement events.
Laura conducts cooking demonstrations at farmers markets in the summer and teaches recreational cooking classes at the Franklin Park Conservatory year-round. Her personal mission is to share her culinary knowledge and experience so she can make healthful cooking easy and accessible to all.
Jessica Roach, LPN
Program Manager, Veggie Van
Jessica comes to Local Matters with sixteen years experience in Health Education and Advocacy. She has been an active volunteer with community gardens throughout Columbus and has coordinated a variety of garden youth programming, including Intergenerational Mentoring and Socially Responsible Entrepreneurial Endeavors at the Godman Guild and Central Community House. Through her experience in clinical health, research, and activism Jessica has had the opportunity to integrate her passion for food and nutrition with her approach to health and wellness. She is also an active urban homesteader on the east side of Columbus.
Elizabeth Bolen
Program Manager, Food Matters
Elizabeth earned an M.Ed in Early Childhood Education from The Ohio State University in 2004 and has worked with children in a variety of educational settings for 17 years. Elizabeth is the Program Manager for Food Matters as well as a Food Educator, and she co-led the curriculum writing for Food Matters' 2010-2011 school year. Elizabeth also helps with adult nutrition education and designs nutrition workshops for children at community events. Elizabeth grew up in a rural area, where her parents grew organic foods and prepared fresh, healthy meals with the foods from their garden. Elizabeth has been passionately learning about nutrition, healthy-eating and healthy living all of her adult life.
Adam Fazio
Grants and Research Coordinator
Adam comes to Local Matters by way of Minnesota, Vermont, and, most recently, Oakland, California. His primary background is in sociological research, and he holds a B.A. in sociology/anthropology from Middlebury College. An avid cook and baker with a long-time interest in food-policy issues, Adam moved to Columbus in 2010 and is thrilled to take part in securing funding for Local Matters' mission to promote access to healthy, local foods.
Rachael Smith
Food Educator
Having grown up on a family farm, the intersection of food and community has long been an interest of Rachael’s. Since graduating from The Ohio State University in 2001, she has been invested in the local food system. She has worked at the Clintonville Community Market in several capacities, including purchasing and food preparation, and has also worked at the Greener Grocer in the North Market. In 2006, Rachael earned her teaching license and began substitute teaching in the Columbus City Schools and several suburban school districts throughout central Ohio.
Monique McCoy
Food Educator
Monique's experience with children spans 25 years. She's owned a own daycare for over ten years, has more than 15 years working with developmentally disabled adults and 18 years of experience running a family-owned catering business. Monique grew up on a farm in North Carolina where she experienced the satisfaction of self-sufficiency through her family's large food garden and farm animal husbandry. She is active in her community, church and schools.
Jesse Hickman
Food Educator
Jesse graduated from The Ohio State University in 2006 and has worked with Columbus youth in a variety of ways. He was substitute teacher for Columbus City Schools, and a manager for the Juvenile Court Community Garden in Olde Town East, where he oversaw young people completing their court-ordered community service hours. Because members of his family have sensitivities to gluten and other ingredients in conventional foods, Jesse has been a long-time member of the food movement. He and his wife have gone to great lengths to make healthy and informed food choices for their three children.
Jessica Heddleson
Food Educator
Jessica grew up on a beef farm in Southeast Ohio and was gardening before she could walk. In 2002 she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and began working as a nanny and a preschool teacher. Her experience managing the childcare center at a fitness facility ignited Jessica’s passion for health and nutrition, which she now channels into her jobs as a Food Educator, teaching young children about their bodies and healthful foods through the Local Matters programs.
Christine Annarino
Food Educator
Christine grew up gardening and mentoring neighborhood children in the Toledo area. She comes to Local Matters with a degree from the Ohio State University in English, and also has a Naturalist certificate from Antioch University and a substitute teaching license. Her professional background is in alternative education, and she has helped facilitate programs ranging from outdoor education to academic enrichment to job coaching. In addition to her position as a Food Educator with Local Matters, Christine is a Managing Partner & Educator at Green Thumb Revolution, a local Columbus based company that provides employee-operated workplace gardens and energy conservation workshops. Her mission to empower others to live more environmentally sustainable life styles fuels her to continue avid community outreach efforts and Local Matters food systems work.
Colleen Yuhn
Manager of The Greener Grocer
Colleen graduated from University of Michigan, where she concentrated in French and ran track and cross country; she holds a certificate in the Culinary Arts from Boston University. She has been a caterer, chef and server at restaurants in Michigan, Illinois and Boston. A devotee of good fashion, she spent time in the retail world including Barney's New York.
In addition to her position as Operations Manager of The Greener Grocer at the North Market, Colleen is the co-founder of the Columbus chapter of Slow Food USA. She's inspired by the superior tastes and quality of food when it's in season, and by the rewarding pleasures of slowing down and savoring a meal.
Annia Light-Brown Wolfe
Food Hub Coordinator
alightbrown@thegreenergrocer.com
Annia grew up in a farming community in northern Ohio and holds a B.A. from The Ohio State University. After having lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, and Austin, Texas, she and her family are proud to have built their nest here in Columbus, the center of a blossoming local food movement.
Before her current position coordinating volunteers and logistics for all activities based at the Food Hub, Annia co-founded Yeah, Me Too Coffee in Clintonville. She has also worked as an organic garden craftsman, educated children as the Nutrition and Gardening Specialist for the Compass School in Powell, Ohio, and was the Produce Manager for Green B.E.A.N. Delivery.
