Board Officers

Lisa White

Director, Board President

Lisa has lived with her husband, Steve, in Doylestown since 2004 and plans on doing so forever. Their grown children live in DC and in Salt Lake City, and, like Lisa, care deeply about the world in which we live.  Lisa works part time as a Management Training Consultant and an Adventure Team-building Facilitator. Increasingly, her time and energy are spent volunteering as the President of the Doylestown Food Co-op.  Her commitment to the Co-op is grounded in her love of good food.  What started as a selfish search for the tastiest and healthiest food led her to learn more about how food is grown and raised and the impact it has on our health, economy, and environment.   Slow Food International has as it’s vision “We envision a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet.”   Lisa is committed to use her skills and passion to enable the Doylestown Food Co-op to contribute to that vision.

 

Shawn Kaplan

Director, Board Vice President

Shawn was born and raised in Bucks County and has seen the landscape transition from farming community to residential sprawl and strip malls. Supporting the local farming community has never been more important than it is right now and Doylestown is at the heart of Bucks as one of the busiest communities in the area. Along with his wife, Elle, and children Christi and Tyler, they are co-owners of Yogasphere in Newtown where they embrace the holistic wellness and local business communities.

The bulk of Shawn’s time is spent commuting to NYC leaving little time to gather and prepare food. So it occurred to him that in a world which is far too busy and scheduled, it has never been more important to bring healthy eating resources to the people. Sure, people can drive to the farmer’s markets if they have the time…but what if we could bring the farmer’s markets to the people?

 

Jennifer Herring

Director – Treasurer

Jennifer has been a resident of Bucks County for 17 years. She fell in love with the Doylestown area after taking a few train rides from Philadelphia to visit friends. She graduated from Temple University with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration – Accounting in 1999. Much of her professional career has been as an auditor and tax accountant starting at a large firm in Philadelphia then moving to a regional firm in Horsham. In those capacities many of her clients were either small businesses or not-for-profits.

She currently resides in Doylestown with her husband and daughter.

 

Jess Kirwan-Shaw

Director, Board Secretary

Jess lives in Doylestown with her husband and young daughter. She can’t wait to have a Co-Op in Doylestown! Having grown up in the area, Jess values the idea of a practical shopping place where locals can easily access the bounty our nearby farms have to share. She is a school counselor, a blossoming gardener, and also worked in Program Management and Donor Relations for a Philadelphia non-profit. Jess got involved in the Doylestown Food Co-Op because she sees the environmental, economic, health, and social benefits of working together to draw from our own local resources. She was also interested in getting to better know the community of Doylestown area people who share a similar passion.

 

General Board

Neal Carson

Director

Neal, his wife Leslie, and sons Andrew and Harry have gone through the life transformation of realizing the importance of what they eat. Their journey began years ago when they became aware of the empty food the schools serve children. Leslie began and has continued her crusade to bring to Central Bucks what pioneers like Ann Cooper and Alice Waters have brought to other communities: healthy, local food for school lunches. For Neal, personally, reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma was a turning point. As he puts it so beautifully: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

The Carsons are long-time Doylestown residents who think this is the best town anywhere. They want to be able to buy local, healthy food right here, any time. What better place is there for a food co-op than the heart of bountiful Bucks County? The Doylestown Food Co-op will be a wonderful enhancement to the future of this great community.

As a local small business owner, Neal looks forward to contributing his business skills, energy, and passion for sustainable local food to the formation of the Doylestown Food Co-op.

Sara Gordon

Director

Sara is a local, sustainable food advocate both on a personal and professional level. Her life-long love of cooking coupled with her more recent education in food production systems has led to her interest in and passion for conscious consuming.

In 2009, she moved from Westchester County in New York, via a two year sojourn in Connecticut and joined the Doylestown Food Club in January 2010. Sara quickly formed a bond with these other like-minded people interested in local food access and ultimately the opening of a co-op in Doylestown. Her time with the group has afforded her access to Bucks County’s extensive product offerings and to meet some of the farmers and producers first-hand. She eagerly anticipates the opening of the co-op to help provide her and her community with local, healthy, honest and responsibly produced food.

Sara lives in Buckingham with her husband Adam, his two daughters, Sophie and Lulu and their golden retriever, Badger.

Lydia Grossov

Director

Lydia and her husband have been vegetarians, currently vegans, for over 20 years and in the past few years have been transitioning to an organic diet. They’ve lived in the Doylestown area since 1999 and love beautiful and bountiful Bucks County. The idea of having a co-op close by that will sustain their ethical eating habits, support local producers, encourage production of more organic foods in the region and build a stronger community is what enticed them to get involved and keep the main goals moving forward.

A professional graphic and web designer for over 17 years, Lydia is excited to be applying her expertise to this great cause by designing all of the co-op’s promotional pieces and website, and managing marketing and social media efforts to inform and educate the local community.

 

Kira Kraiman

Director, Leadership Committee Chair

Kira is a lifelong resident of Bucks County (except for college), where she lives in Doylestown with her husband and two teenage daughters.  She works as a Health Educator, as well as an artist, homemaker, volunteer, gardener etc.  Kira inherited her love of gardening and interest in local farming from her parents, who worked tirelessly on Farmland Preservation issues in Bucks County.  Her mom is one of the original organizers of the Doylestown Farmer’s Market.  Being so busy, Kira doesn’t have time to drive around to 5 different farms for her produce, meats, eggs etc., but she is passionate about supporting the local farmers and reducing the carbon footprint by buying local.  She really wants one store she can go to for all of her local foods.  She feels that the Co-op is the perfect place to put her energies and interest in eating healthy and doing something good for the community and can’t wait to gather a group of like-minded, Doylestown area residents to share ideas, interests and the bounty that this area has to offer.

John LaSala

Director

John and his son, Bryan, have been residents of New Britain Twp for over 16 years.  John is a healthy omnivore who leans heavily vegetarian, and who loves fresh local food.  After leaving the world of global corporations behind, John has become very involved in volunteer and professional activities that promote the local community and the environment.  The Co-op is a perfect blend of these two heartfelt themes, helping families enjoy nutritious, fresh, flavorful food, and helping our farmers make a living on the land, thus making it more likely to preserve that land for future generations.

John volunteers with the Co-op on the Board and the Fund Raising Committee, and also with the Heritage Conservancy, Buy Fresh Buy Local, and the Women’s Business Forum.  He has established his own consulting business as a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor.

 

Charles Malley

Director, Planning Committee Chair

Charles is retired from Lucent Technologies after a career holding various managerial assignments in the “Bell System”. After living seventeen years in West Trenton, New Jersey, he, his wife Teresa, and their Golden Retriever, Arthur, moved to Buckingham Township.

They were attracted to the natural beauty and opportunities offered in Bucks County. He joined the Doylestown Food Co-op to help the community take the next logical step after successfully preserving so much land. That next step is preserving the small farmer which will improve the environment and lifestyle of the community. And of course, access to high quality, fresh, local products for use at home and by local chefs will improve the dining experience and provide the recognition Bucks County deserves.

 

Peter Reiss

Director

 

Kelly Scotti

Director, Membership Committee Chair

Kelly Scotti, CHHC, AADP, RYT200, is Founder and Director of Flying Dragon Wellness. She is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and is board certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners as a Holistic Health Coach. She also has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from DePaul University, and certificates in Clinical Investigation and Level II Usui Reiki Method of Natural Healing.

Kelly served as a nutrition expert for the ezine The Family Groove from 2005 to 2007, a Holistic Health Expert on Planet Thrive, a healing community, in 2007, and as a Holistic Coach for MindFormula from 2007 to 2008.  She currently teaches yoga classes and private sessions in the Saraswati River Tradition, mixing vinyasa flow asana with mantra, pranayama, and long, delicious svasana, in addition to seeing private nutrition clients, doing pantry makeovers, and leading healthy food store tours.

Kelly serves on the Co-op’s Board of Directors, and as Chair of the Membership Committee.

Steph Walker

Director

Steph lives in Doylestown borough with her husband of over 20 years and two young sons. She is an avid bread baker, school counselor, teacher, and local food lover and advocate. Steph is also a founder and coordinator with the Doylestown Food Club. She dreamed for years of having a local food co-op in Doylestown and began working to make it happen in the fall of 2009. Steph is thrilled to be a part of the talented and committed team who are making the  dream a reality!

 

Board Advisors

Ryan Youngman

Advisor

I was born and raised in Seattle Washington. During my youth I was surrounded by the grocery industry as my Father and Grandfather were both in retail and distribution. I can still remember a couple of nights I would sleep in the back of my father’s store on a bed of MD 4-roll toilet paper as he worked the night shift so I could be with him during the tough inventory times of year.

When I turned 15 I started my own career as a courtesy clerk for a small independent called Food Giant in Wallingford, a first ring suburb going north from downtown Seattle. I remember bringing in the first natural products (rice cakes and the first soy milk) in 1985. We were the first 24 hour store in Washington State and the first with scanners.

Well, I was only 15 then and the industry, my career and the world has changed a ton since then. From the first years of working for conventional to the very first BIO (being in one with the earth), sections we put into Larry’s Market in the late 80’s and early 90’s, there have been many changes that I have put my stamp on, in the northwest and all of the western US. I went from retail to wholesale in the late nineties because of a desire to broaden out my set of skills and carry forward on a larger scale the fundamentals of sustainability, organic, local, environmental and ethical food choices.

As my career took me past conventional and on to wholesale and distribution I began my journey into the greater understanding of “farm to fork” or how I at least defined that for myself. I began to start to impart my knowledge and research, (from a personal and professional level) in the areas of this personal confirmation, through world travel and personal choices. I started to work to find suitable career choices that I could enact change on larger levels. This allowed me to lead, not only as a person who is a manager of people, but as a person who leads as a true believer of the very concepts from which the teaching comes from (what a powerful combination).

I now know how to create farmers’ markets, local retail grocery stores, distribution and logistics to facilitate true “farm to fork” and how to teach and mentor the process to everyone from all backgrounds and walks of life.

My mother is a conference minister and I consider myself spiritual in nature, but one of the many things I take from her journey is a good local store should nurture all peoples from all walks of life. I believe that your grocery store should be there, not just for food, but teaching and developing peoples relationship with their planet and sources of nourishment.

I have worked for companies from Whole Foods to United Natural foods and I have been blessed with a wonderful family that now has a life partner Jennifer, a teenager Sierra and dog Dexter and even a horse and a hamster. We have lived on the east coast for almost four years and have much enjoyed our Journey.