About Us
Ag Innovations Network (AIN) was founded in 2000 to build a better future for farmers, consumers, and communities. In the years since we have worked across California and across the United States to bring together unusual partners to support change in the food system. We are a 501( c)(3) not-for-profit California corporation.
AIN staff includes:
Joseph McIntyre, Executive Director
Joseph joined AIN in 2001 as a facilitator on our Santa Barbara County Technical Advisory Committee for Rural Resource Protection project. From there Joseph’s role expanded until he became the lead facilitator for the Ag Futures Alliance project and senior consultant for strategic planning and organization change. In 2006 he took on the Executive Director role.
Joseph brings a diverse background to AIN, which includes holding leadership positions in business, not-for-profit organizations, and academia. Originally trained as an economist (MA, Economics, University of Rhode Island), he has taught environmental economics at New College of California and history of economic thought at University of Rhode Island. His business career has focused primarily in marketing, management, and conference development. He is an experienced nonprofit organization manager, having spent 7 years as Executive Director of Resources for Creativity, an organization that trained group facilitators. He also holds a MA in Psychology, Organization Development focus, from Sonoma State University, which he uses extensively in his facilitation and managed change work for AIN.
Joseph came early to sustainability through his interest in systems thinking and steady-state economics cultivated as an interdisciplinary studies student at the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, California (BA in Liberal Arts with Honors). Living in Stockton placed him in the heart of California Delta agriculture and left an indelible impression of the bounties and the risks of the current food system. He lives in Sonoma County, is the parent to two daughters, and is an avid bke rider.
You can contact Joseph at joseph ‘at’ aginnovations.org.
Katy Mamen, AFA Project Manager
Katy leads our efforts to make AIN and the Ag Futures Alliance an effective vehicle for change. She supports our California Roundtable on Ag and the Environment and the Yolo County AFA. Katy is a sustainable food systems writer and educator based at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Sonoma County. She is a Fellow of the Oakland Institute. She previously coordinated the Local Food Program at the International Society for Ecology and Culture. She is co-author of Ripe for Change: Rethinking California’s Food Economy and numerous articles and public education tools promoting healthy food and agriculture. Katy has worked with farmers in Europe, Latin America and Asia to promote farmers’ rights and their viability in increasingly globalizing markets.
Katy holds a BS in Physical Geography from McGill University in Montreal, and an MS in Holistic Science from Schumacher College in the UK, a groundbreaking international program that focuses on understanding and working with complex systems.
You can contact Katy at katy ‘at’ aginnovations.org.
Karen Schmidt, AFA County Coordinator
Karen is the County Coordinator for the Ventura and Santa Barbara Ag Futures Alliances (AFA). Karen has been an AFA member since 2004 and serves on the Ventura AFA’s land use and stewardship committees. She coordinated a major regional AFA summit on agricultural stewardship in 2006. She is also executive director of SOAR (Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources), a major Ventura County land conservation advocacy group, and former director of the Ventura County Civic Alliance, a regional collaborative of business, environmental, and community leaders aimed at promoting a sustainable future for the Ventura County region. She holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and an MS in biology and BS in biology and environmental earth sciences from Stanford University.
You can contact Karen at karenjschmidt ‘at’ aginnovations.org.
Lisa Wasilewski, FSA County Coordinator
Lisa is the County Coordinator for the San Mateo Food System Alliance. Lisa is a founding member of the San Mateo Alliance and is also the director of the award winning HEAL program at Hatch Elementary School in Half Moon Bay. HEAL, which stands for Health Education and Agricultural Literacy, brings a comprehensive health and nutrition eduction program to first through sixth graders.
You can contact Lisa at lisahellerich ‘at’ aginnovations.org.
The Board
Ag Innovations has a four member Board of Directors.
Joseph McIntyre, President, Ag Innovations Network
Martha Guzman Aceves
Martha is a Legislative Advocate with California Rural Legal Assistance.
Martha works in Sacramento, where she is becoming the leading voice on farm labor and related issues. She is a graduate of the California Ag Leadership Program, Class XXXII, and a former member of the Roots of Change Council. She worked for the United Farm Workers prior to CRLA where she gained the respect and admiration of many in the ag community (even from her political foes) for her intelligence and effectiveness in communicating the needs and aspirations of farm workers. She lives in Sacramento with her husband and daughter.
Rex Laird, is the former CEO of Ventura County Farm Bureau.
Rex is among the most, if not the most, innovative and paradigm-busting leaders in the California Farm Bureau Federation. He was at the helm in Ventura for well over a decade and remained vibrant and ever changing. He is also a cofounder of the Ventura County Ag Futures Alliance (AFA) and has been a powerful advocate and spokesman in support of the AFA process and its ability to reshape community thinking and dynamics related to agriculture. He lives in Ventura County with his wife Susan.
Jake Blehm
Jake was a founding member of the Ventura County Ag Futures Alliance and a leader at Buena Biosystems in Ventura, California. He has recently moved to Sonoma and has focused on curriculum development for the California Ag Leadership program.