Meet Our Team
Dave Walker
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Interim Executive Director
dave@brwia.org 
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Dave grew up in the North Carolina Piedmont and would visit his grandparents' home places in Watauga County each summer to camp and hike. Dave previously worked as the Program Manager and Grant Writer of High Country Local First's entrepreneurship program, Ascent Business Network.
He holds a MA in Appalachian Studies and Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Sciences from AppState and a BA in American Studies from Sewanee: The University of the South. Dave's Masters Thesis concerned how first-generation farmers become successful in Blue Ridge Appalachia, and he counts himself amongst them as he started Daffodil Spring Farm, in the spring of 2017. Dave also held an internship with AppState's Edible Schoolyard where, he mapped Watauga County's community gardens and encouraged a network amongst the shared growing spaces. When he is not working with BRWIA, you may find him in his garden, fly fishing in Wilson's Creek, or spinning really, really fast at a contra dance. |
Shannon CarrollHigh Country Food Hub Director
shannon@brwia.org 
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Shannon grew up in the Piedmont area of NC and moved to Boone in 1983 after spending a year teaching Biology on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.
She has 30+ years of experience providing leadership and support for instructional technology for Watauga County Schools. She retired from Watauga County Schools in 2013 and is currently dividing her time between three part-time positions - being the High Country Food Hub Coordinator, the Lettuce Learn garden coordinator for Parkway School, and helping her husband, Terry, with his SunCatcher Passive Solar Greenhouse business. She also recently earned her Master Gardener certification. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, traveling to visit her sons, and going for long walks. |
Rebecca GummereHigh Country Food Hub Assistant
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Rebecca grew up living in six different states and two other countries, all before she was eleven years old. After that her family settled for the next decade on eighty acres of beautiful rolling farmland in northeastern Ohio. She moved from Ohio to North Carolina in 2000 and to Boone in 2003. Rebecca loves travel, hiking, snowshoeing, reading, animals of all kinds, and adores cooking (and eating!) and playing in the kitchen. In another earlier life, Rebecca worked at OASIS, Inc. as Associate Director and before that at Grace Lutheran Church as Associate Pastor. Now she is a writer, with essays appearing in national and international publications as well as literary journals. She is currently working on a memoir about her nine-month cross-country journey in a small RV with her two dogs. She holds a BA in American Studies from Wittenberg University, an M.Div. from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. She is thrilled to join the BRWIA team as Food Hub Assistant and is excited about the strong networks developing to support local farmers and to make sustainably-produced food available to more and more people. Rebecca believes in the power of food to bring people together, to deepen community, and to build lasting friendships.
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Christina BaileyFarmers' Market Manager
farmersmarkets@brwia.org 
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Christina grew up in Charlotte, NC and found her way to Boone in 2005 to complete her B.A. in Health Promotions with a minor in Biology at Appalachian State. Soon after, she attended massage school at Caldwell Community College and has been a licensed massage therapist ever since.
Beyond her schooling, Christina always knew that she wanted to stay in the mountains. She loves her mountain community, her work as a massage therapist, and giving her free time and energy into her local food system. Having served on the Watauga Food Council since 2017, Christina enjoys collaborating with other community members that are invested in the local food system. She has also created and directed Village Vision, a grassroots community volunteer project that organized events and service projects to support our local from 2015-2018. Christina has enjoyed her various roles within BRWIA over the years as a volunteer, collaborator, board member, and now as a staff member, and is passionate about the work that BRWIA is accomplishing. |
