2012 22.3 Tilth Producers Welcomes New Executive Director
Amy Besunder joins Tilth Producers Team
Tilth Producers of Washington has hired Amy Besunder as its new Executive Director. Some members may have met Amy at last year’s conference, where served as the wine tasting coordinator. When she is not sampling organic wines and ciders, she spends her time advocating for food security and healthy communities.
Amy holds an Executive Master’s degree in Not-for-Profit Leadership from Seattle University and is an active member of the Northwest Development Officers Association. She has extensive fundraising and volunteering experience for organizations such as Compass Housing Alliance, the Moyer Foundation, Girls on the Run, and Real Change News. Amy will be working with Nancy Allen, who will move from Managing Director to Program Director.
In her most recent role as Executive Director of North Helpline Food Bank and Emergency Service Center, she designed, implemented, and completed a $5.6 million capital campaign, which enabled the organization to transition from a 600 square foot city-owned office to an 8000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility. Additionally, she led the effort to triple programmatic capacity and kept pace with a 35% increase in service demands over a three-year period.
Amy shares our enthusiasm for Tilth Producers’ bright future. “I am thrilled to be the new Executive Director of Tilth Producers of Washington. It will be enormously fulfilling to work with our member farms, volunteers, board, public and private funders, elected officials, and stakeholders who care so much about sustainable, environmentally sound agriculture and supporting local food systems.”
On a personal note, Amy and her husband Pete are in the process of opening Populuxe, a nano-brewery in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Amy adds, “[w]e’re always looking to source ingredients locally, so if you have organic hops for sale, drop me a line.”
