The Michigan Farmers Market Association (MIFMA) is excited to announce its 2018 Board of Directors. MIFMA members nominated a strong slate of candidates and, at the 2018 Annual Meeting held on Wednesday, March 7, members elected Laura Gillis to join the Board.
Laura Gillis is one of the market managers for Growing Hope, tasked with the redevelopment of the Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace. Laura has a long history of nonprofit work, including serving as Executive Director of the Center for Arts Information (New York City) and serving on the board of the Washington Area Community Investment Fund (Washington DC). As a manager with experience in nonprofit organizations and farmers markets, she wants to work with MIFMA to translate organizational opportunities and challenges into plans, strengthen and develop its role, and collaborate on fundraising initiatives. Laura hopes to bring a forward thinking, collaborative approach to supporting markets and market managers across Michigan, extending food security, and developing MIFMA’s role in promoting a healthy sustainable food system.
In addition, reelected board members include Linda Bader, Shane Bernardo, Patrice Brown, Mike Fraleigh, Lisa Oliver-King and Sharon Ostrowski. MIFMA also offers praise and gratitude to retiring board member Julia Darnton. MIFMA’s Executive Director Amanda Shreve provides the following comments:
“If the definition of volunteer is someone who freely offers to do something, in a dictionary written by MIFMA, the name Julia Darnton would be listed as a synonym. Since our association began in 2006, Julia has freely given her time, talent, expertise, and resources to support the work of our association. She has given countless hours to support the educational programming, partnerships, and organizational development activities that have helped establish MIFMA as one of the premier, statewide farmers market associations in the country.
“She began serving on the MIFMA Board of Directors in 2012 and as of March 7, 2018 has reached the term limit for that appointment. We rest assured knowing that Julia’s commitment to the organization has no term limit and know that she will continue to support, advocate for, and champion the work of our association; however, we do want to take pause at this time to recognize her service as a Board member and thank her for all that she has given and continues to give to MIFMA. Please join MIFMA in thanking Julia Darnton for being one of our strongest champions and for always freely offering to support our association!”
For a full list of MIFMA Board members, visit www.mifma.org/aboutus/board/.