Board of Directors
Madelyn George, Chair
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Madelyn George is an entrepreneur, impact investor, and business coach with an MBA from Duke University and a BA in Dance from Columbia College in Chicago. She began work as a small business consultant in 2010 specializing in pre-revenue startups and early stage business growth. With additional prior experience in the spa and wellness industries, Madelyn opened the Valle Crucis Lavender House in 2014. The Lavender House merges spa, retail, and agritourism in one unconventional business model with an internal strategy to nurture entrepreneurship among local creatives. Currently Madelyn is also a full-time lecturer in the management department at App State, and serves as Chief Financial Officer at Hatchet Coffee. Additional board service in the area includes High Country Local First. |
Caroline Stahlschmidt, Vice Chair
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Caroline Stahlschmidt is a nutritionist and Director of Education at the Functional Nutrition Alliance. She has also taught yoga at Neighborhood Yoga for over ten years. She holds an M.S. in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine from University of Western States and a B.S. in Environmental Science from University of Miami. Caroline loves spending time outdoors and you can often find her hiking with her two dogs or mountain biking the local trails. She is passionate about supporting the local food system and getting creative in her kitchen with vegetables from our incredible local farmers and her own garden. |
Lanae Hood, Secretary
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Lanae’s love for local food brought her to the Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP) where she serves as the Director of Virginia Fresh Match. VFM provides monetary incentives for low resource families to shop for fresh, local food and facilitates a network of over 100 farmers’ markets and other retail food outlets. Prior to joining LEAP, Lanae spent a decade as a nutrition professor, food security researcher, and local food systems advocate. She currently serves as BRWIA’s Board Secretary, the advisory board for the High Country Food Hub and King St. Farmers’ Market, and as an ambassador to the Double Up Food Bucks Program. She grew up in rural Appalachia and is a longtime resident of NC. She lives on a homestead situated on the NC/VA border where her family raises fruits and vegetables, laying hens, and heritage breed Kunekune pigs. Her favorite pastime is historic food preservation and canning, especially jam-and salsa-making.
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Amy Roberts, Treasurer
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Amy Roberts is currently the Senior Director of Finance and Systems for Campus Services at Appalachian State University. She has also held the positions of Associate Controller, Assistant Controller, and Director of Special Funds Accounting since 1999. Her university system work experience covers auxiliary enterprise accounting and financial reporting, post-award Contract & Grant administration, endowment and investment accounting, cost accounting for service centers, and management of foundation supported funds. Before joining the university system, she served as CFO for non-profits in the Piedmont. Amy highly values education in sustainability, food security, nutrition. She devotes much time and energy outside of work to cooking, gardening, preserving, and developing an edible landscape on her in town mini-farm. |
Lori Ludwig
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Lori Ludwig is a performance improvement specialist with a M.S. in Industrial Organizational Psychology and Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis from Western Michigan University. She has over 20 years of experience helping clients with strategy execution across different industries, from global Fortune 500s, creative start-ups, human services, non-profits, to local small businesses. She currently serves as a co-founder of Performance Ally, a Trustee of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, and Executive Director of the Organizational Behavior Management Network. Lori is passionate about helping non-profits thrive and is excited to help BRWIA optimize its impact in our community.
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Sydney Phillips
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Sydney Phillips is the administrative assistant for Blue Ridge Conservancy. She and her husband, Taylor, moved to Boone from Eastern North Carolina where she managed projects for a non-profit that focused on improving health outcomes for children. Part of that work was creating a food system value chain to improve food procurement practices for child care centers while positively impacting the local farm economy as well. Sydney and Taylor are empty nesters; they enjoy trail running, biking, hiking and camping in the High Country. |
Laura Graham
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Laura grew up in a home where all the food was homegrown, canned, preserved as much as possible. After moving to Boone in 1963, she has tried to maintain this way of life with her own children during much more modern times. These ideals lead Laura to found the Preserve Heritage Agriculture & Regional Markets NOW! non-profit and later help create The Kids' Corner at the Watauga Farmer's Market. Laura also coordinates the Tuesday Lunch Program to provide free lunch to college students every Tuesday and assists with the Children's Food Bags program to help feed children with low food security as part of her mission to enhance and sustain local food production and consumption. |
Kelly Renwick
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Kelly Ann Renwick is a faculty member in the Global Studies program in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Appalachian State University. She is a Health Geographer with a focus on the social determinants of health. Kelly is passionate about reducing health inequalities and increasing access to food, particularly among underrepresented populations. She has been living in the High Country since 1999 and is excited to bring her knowledge and expertise in the social determinants, food, and health to BRWIA and our beautiful mountain community. |
Ellen Murphy
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Ellen teaches legal ethics at Wake Forest University Law School; she also teaches teachers how to teach online. Ellen grew up in Eastern North Carolina, and her roots in NC agriculture run deep. She made her way west across North Carolina, with a BS in Agri-Business and an MEd in Instructional Technology from NC State, and a JD from Wake Forest. Prior to joining Wake Forest Law, she was a United States federal appeals court clerk, a corporate lawyer, and a nonprofit Executive Director. An avid baker, Ellen’s favorite place is her kitchen. She currently is learning the art of canning, thanks to the BRWIA. Ellen loves winter, and she and her husband, Steve, spend as much time as possible at their cabin in the NC foothills. |
Renata Carneiro
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Renata Carneiro is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Fermentation Sciences at Appalachian State. She is a food engineer with masters and Ph.D. degrees in food science and technology and an MBA in project management. Renata has previous work experience in the food and pet food industries in the areas of quality assurance and research and development of new products. She is passionate about appling food science knowledge, specially flavor chemistry and sensory evaluation, to support the development of high-quality food products with economic benefit. Additionally, she loves trying new recipes and traditional foods from all over the world. |
Kara Dodson
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Kara owns and operates Full Moon Farm just outside of Boone. She and her husband started the produce farm in 2016 and it has grown to be a thriving business serving the High Country Food Hub, area restaurants, and local food banks. Prior to farming, her background is in community organizing to support clean energy and environmental justice. As a lifelong nature lover and human rights advocate, she is grateful for the opportunity to provide nourishing, organically grown vegetables and fruits to her community. She values the long line of ancestral guidance and all present relations that bring balance and healing to this vital work. |
Ann Brown
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Ann Brown is a native North Carolinian who lives on her husband's 5th generation family farm in the Rutherwood community on the crest of the blue ridge. She holds degrees in Food Science, Microbiology, Statistics, and Education from NC State and UNC and has worked in the food safety and regulatory industry. Ann’s passion lies in food preparation and the science behind it, an enthusiasm that was cultivated by her mother at a young age. Ann is CFO of BFR Beef, Inc and co-owner of the business along with her son and daughter-in-law. She takes pride in both the food safety and the inventory systems she has helped implement in the business. You can find Ann making deliveries, serving her family and others, and as the face of the business at local farmers markets. |
Sandra Diaz
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Sandra is drawn to working with communities that value interconnectedness, embodiment, engaged activism, and fun. She moved to the High Country 14 years ago, originally to work for Appalachian Voices for 7 years. Since then, she has been involved in a variety of community projects, including as BRWIA's Community of Gardens Coordinator back in 2018. Currently, she teaches at and co-manages Neighborhood Yoga, does administrative work at the Boone UU, and is involved in facilitation work. |
