Board of Directors

Kim Jordan grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and received her BS in Biology at the University of California, San Diego. Kim moved to Philadelphia to enroll in a PhD program in Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in spring of 2010. Kim has been volunteering with the Philadelphia Orchard Project since its inception and attributes the organization with deepening her civic engagement in the city of Philadelphia. Her interests include sustainability, the local food movement and science education. Kim serves on the orchard and events committees.

Landscape Architect and Lecturer in Urban Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Michael Nairn is a landscape architect and avid gardener as well as a faculty member in the Urban Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania where he teaches courses in public space and urban sustainability. He is currently working on The Heresy of Sustainability. In the summer of 2008 Domenic Vitiello, Penn Design and Past President of POP, and Michael surveyed over 700 community garden sites in Philadelphia to measure how much food was produced in community gardens and how it was distributed. This summer, joined by Dr. Jeanne Ann Grisso from Penn Medicine and Penn Nursing, they surveyed gardens in Camden and Trenton. The produce from Michael’s garden goes to his parish’s food bank at 56th and Chester in Kingsessing.

Ph.D. Student in Economics & Founder of BioNeighbors

Sustainability advocate, scholar, and green roofing leader, Cory Suter resides in urban Philadelphia where he currently is working toward a Ph.D. in Economics from Temple University. Growing up in a Mennonite community on his family's homestead that included numerous fruit trees, berry bushes, grape arbors, and animals, Cory couldn't imagine life without fresh local food. He is committed both personally and professionally to learn and teach methods of good stewardship. Having parents who serve as board treasurers gives Cory a great resource, in addition to having earned a bachelors in business administration from James Madison University. The Founder of a successful roofing company, BioNeighbors Sustainable Homes LLC, Cory has also managed hundreds of different projects including multi-unit vegetated roof installations. He continues to teach green roofing part-time at the Metropolitan Career Center. Cory once published a book on migrant conditions, and is known in Norristown for having more than quadrupled the revenue of a non-profit, Crossroad Gift & Thrift, during his two and a half years as their Executive Director. Cory has served on the board of the Philadelphia Orchard Project since early 2007, and is proud to be a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Tree Tender.

Landscape Architect, CLR Design

Lisa McDonald Hanes is a landscape architect and gardener living and working in Philadelphia. With a land ethic formed in her early years in Oklahoma, she is dedicated to creating spaces that connect people to natural systems, improving quality of life while cultivating the green side of life. Educated at Purdue University, with a Bachelor’s of Science in Landscape Architecture, she has worked directly with community groups, municipal agencies, community development corporations, as well as wide range of design professionals in the dual aim of improving community and planet.

Program Director, Agua Fund

Cecily Kihn manages the Agua Fund, a family foundation which concentrates on environmental protection in the Shenandoah River watershed in Virginia and on social services for the vulnerable elderly in Washington, DC. She is the on the Steering Committee of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders and is chair of the Ag Workgroup of the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network. Over the course of her career, she has worked in the US Senate, the US Department of Interior, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and Island Press. She has a Masters in Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Harvard. She is a longtime resident of Center City, a Democratic committeeperson in Ward 8, a Board member of the Philadelphia Orchard Project, and a Master Gardener-in-training. She serves on the Advisory Committee for Pennsylvania Voice, a collaborative that aims to build progressive power statewide.

Watershed Planner, Philadelphia Water Department

Stephanie Chiorean grew up enjoying produce from her grandparent's garden alongside their communist era high rise in a metropolitan city and savoring sour cherries and grapes from her great-aunt's yard in a small town in Romania. Stephanie's interest in urban agriculture and greening, and their role in connecting communities to nature and providing habitat, is embedded in these experiences. After finishing her BS in Biology, Ecology focus, at the Pennsylvania State University, she moved to Philadelphia wanting to live in a city again. She began working at a University of Pennsylvania research lab, and learned about the local food movement and greening initiatives. While working at the University of Pennsylvania, Stephanie earned a Master's of Environmental Studies degree, exploring her interest through her classes and extracurricular activities, joining the Philadelphia Orchard Project board as she graduated. Out of graduate school, the Philadelphia Water Department hired Stephanie as an outreach coordinator and planner, working on green storm water management projects. Her day job and her volunteer work often overlap, making these early years in her career filled with rich experiences and opportunities to learn.

Annie Rojas’s lifelong love affair with food has been driven by the role food plays in strengthening families, creating cultural ties, and building community. She began her career as a Public Health Nutritionist for the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program in San Francisco and later directed the Cape May County Healthy Community Coalition. Annie has a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Nutritional Sciences and a Masters in Public Health Nutrition from the University of California, Berkley, School of Public Health. She is a registered dietitian and a certified prevention specialist.

Clerk, U.S. District Court

Anne Taylor currently serves on the Board of Philadelphia Orchard Project as the organization's legal advisor. Having started her career in Philadelphia as a corporate litigator, Anne currently works as a term clerk for a Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Anne earned her B.A. in history and economics from Yale University, and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. Her interests include reading, cooking, and the intersection between food and environmental issues.

Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance

Farming and Sustainable Programs Manager, Greensgrow Philadelphia Project and Farmer, Preston’s Paradise

Ryan Kuck has lived in Philadelphia for the last 10 years after a short stint in the Architecture Department at the University of Pennsylvania, and currently lives in the Belmont neighborhood with his partner Suzanna. He has worked with numerous food justice initiatives locally and nationally including currently serving as the Farming and Sustainable Programs Manager at Greensgrow Farms, and as a coordinator with Preston's Paradise in West Philadelphia. Ryan also is a member of the PHS Grower's Alliance and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Permaculture Guild.

Brian Olszak is a graduate student in the Communty and Regional Planning department at Temple University, and is concentrating in Sustainable Communities Planning. As part of his University Fellowship there, he'll be working in Temple's Center for Sustainable Communities for the 2012-2013 school year. Having lived in the Philadelphia region all his life, he began volunteering with POP in March 2010, and fell in love with their mission soon after. Serving as an AmeriCorps*VISTA before graduate school inspired him to want to work more with communities. Some of his interests include community and economic development, environmental justice, and folk and blues music. Brian is also becoming a Penn State Master Gardener with the Philadelphia County Extension in 2012.

Urban Agriculture and Facilities Director at the SHARE Food Program

Bill Shick is the Urban Agriculture and Facilities Director at the SHARE Food Program, a non-profit food distribution center serving food cupboards, soup kitchens, and residents of low-income neighborhoods. SHARE is developing a community based vegetable garden resource center in partnership with PHS. The center will serve both the City Harvest/Growers Alliance program and SHARE’s garden outreach, promotion, and education program. SHARE is also a partner with POP, with approximately 20 fruit trees and countless berry bushes incorporated into the SHARE “farm.” Bill graduated from West Virginia University with a BA in Environmental Protection, with graduate work in plant and soil microbiology. In addition to environmental consulting, Bill has experience as a landscaper, tree farmer, vegetable farmer, and orchardist. Other interests include environmental sustainability, mountain biking, trail maintenance, hiking/camping, and wildlife.