Board of Directors

Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania

Domenic Vitiello is a professor of city planning at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches community development and food systems planning. With Michael Nairn and public health professor JA Grisso, he has studied community gardens in Philadelphia, Camden, and Trenton, quantifying their production and tracing formal and informal distribution of fresh food. Domenic is an associate of MetroAg: Alliance for Urban Agriculture, serves on Weavers Way's Farm Committee, and has advised city governments in the Northeast and Midwest on food and agriculture policy.

Administrative Director, A Chance To Heal

Danie Greenwell is a founding board member of the Philadelphia Orchard Project and currently serves as the Board Secretary drawing on her experience in nonprofit management, development, event planning and social media marketing. Danie also sits on the board of directors and the leadership development committee of Philadelphia's Young Non-Profit Leaders (PYNL). Danie earned her BA in religious studies from the University of Pennsylvania and her interests include children's education, local food, women's issues, and environmental causes.

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.

Civil Engineer and Environmental Planner, Philadelphia Water Department

Laureen M. Boles is a civil engineer and environmental planner with more than 20 years of environmental program management experience in the implementation of sustainable community development projects. Ms. Boles has authored and co-authored programs for more than $12 million in state- and federal- funded projects for community and economic development, environmental planning, stormwater management, and public education and outreach. As a member of the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change and the Greater Philadelphia Green Economy Task Force, she recently presented Philadelphia’s green economy success stories at the Executive Offices of the White House. Ms. Boles is also a board member of the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, the Pennsylvania Governor’s Climate Change Advisory Committee, and the Pennsylvania Environmental Justice Advisory Board.

Watershed Planner, Philadelphia Water Department

Landscape Architect, CLR Design

Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance

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.

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.

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.

Dietician and Grants Manager, Fair Food

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. She was the co-founder and coordinator of the San Francisco Breastfeeding Promotion Coalition and served on the State of California WIC Branch Subcommittee for Model Breastfeeding Polices. Annie later directed the Cape May County Healthy Community Coalition, and served on the national Advisory Committee for CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America). She worked as the project manager of the Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance, and is currently consulting with Fair Food, managing grants and helping to build organizational capacity. 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.

Founder, BioNeighbors Sustainable Homes

Clerk, U.S. District Court

Anne Taylor currently serves on the Board of Philadelphia Orchard Project as the organization's Treasurer and 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.