Sustainable Harvest
David Griswold
President and Founder
David Griswold, a former president of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, has been working with smallholder coffee growers for the past 18 years. Griswold has worked extensively in international development with several non-profit organizations and as a journalist in the developing world during his Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Prior to his work as a coffee importer and market builder for organic, fair trade, and shade grown coffees, Griswold served as the Acting Director for Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. He began his work at Ashoka under the mentorship of William Drayton as Ashoka's first Communication's Director, a position he held from 1987 through 1989.
Griswold's coffee career began in 1989, when he began his first importing and marketing office for an Ashoka Fellow who was helping Mexican coffee cooperatives find new markets. With these cooperatives, Griswold co-founded Aztec Harvest, the first coffee importing and marketing office owned by small-scale Mexican coffee growers, which he directed from 1990 to 1995. Aztec Harvest's organic coffee beans were named as a flavor of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and were the featured coffee on United Airlines flights between the US and Mexico.
David has served as a delegate to the International Coffee Organization's Sustainable Task Force, the Advisory Board for Coffee Kids, and the Board of Directors of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. He speaks English and Spanish.
Melanie Lansing
Managing Director
Melanie@sustainableharvest.com
Melanie leads organizational decision-making and oversees
company initiatives by coordinating staff between our Africa,
Latin America, and US offices. Melanie has fifteen years
experience managing multicultural organizations committed to
improving livelihoods, spending much of that time working
directly with farming communities in Mexico and Honduras to
help them develop solid business strategies.
Prior to joining Sustainable Harvest, Melanie managed an IT business and developed partnerships for the World Resources Institute’s Digital Dividends project to apply digital information technology in the developing world. Melanie holds degrees in Latin American Studies and Organizational Management from the School for International Training. She is a Fulbright Scholar and serves on the board of Ten Thousand Villages in Portland. She speaks English and Spanish.
Fernando Seminario
Director of Importing
Fernando@sustainableharvest.com
With extensive experience in the transportation industry,
Fernando manages supply chain logistics between Sustainable
Harvest and our coffee origins. In addition to effectively
improving import procedures, Fernando acts as a liaison
between producers and roasters.
Originally hailing from Guayaquil, Ecuador, Fernando developed an interest in shipping logistics with his Grandfather, a shrimp farmer. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Oregon, Fernando worked as the importing director for Giorgio Fedon in New York City, where he coordinated shipping logistics for containers in China and Italy. With Giorgio Fedon, he also oversaw distribution of goods from US warehouses to stores across the country. In addition, Fernando conducted sales for C.H. Robinson, a Fortune 500 shipping company, and exported construction equipment for American Purchasing and Supply.
Libby Evans
Farmer Development Programs Manager
Libby develops and implements Sustainable Harvest's Farmer
Development Programs across the globe, including the Gombe
Coffee Promotion Project in Tanzania. She also oversees the
organization's grant writing and communications.
Growing up in Grand Canyon, Hawai'i Volcanoes, Yellowstone, and Rocky Mountain National Parks, Libby has an extensive background in environmental conservation. During college, she won various fellowships to study international development and social change in Southern Africa, the Czech Republic, and Vietnam. She also conducted research in the Social Cognition and Emotion Laboratory while at Harvard.
Prior to joining Sustainable Harvest, Libby was an Olympic dressage hopeful and lived in Switzerland to train with one of the world's foremost Olympic dressage riders. Libby has volunteered extensively with CENSEL, a non-profit organization in the Dominican Republic that provides legal aid to women and the Cheetah Conservation Fund. She has also worked as an intern with the Washington Post. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Occidental College and a 2002 Toyota Community Scholar. She speaks English and Spanish.
Katie Gilmer
Communications Associate
As Sustainable Harvest’s Communications Associate, Katie
coordinates green coffee samples from international suppliers
and works on various communications projects to improve our
customer's experience. Katie has previously worked in
organizational management with the Kravis Leadership
Institute.
Katie completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Spanish from Claremont McKenna College, where she excelled in her studies of world economics and examined trade policies in North and South America.
In Portland, Katie enjoys kayaking and dragon boat racing, a unique paddling sport. In 2001, she was a member of the USA Junior Dragon Boat Team, and competed against such countries as Germany, Italy, and China. She has lived in Spain and Argentina, and speaks English and Spanish.
Julie Yuvienco
Accounting
Julie Yuvienco oversees Sustainable Harvests’s accounting, banking, and financial relationships. She works with Sustainable Harvest’s financing agencies to ensure farmers receive the financial support they need.
Julie had a long career in finance as a securities broker and trader when she decided to change direction and follow her love of food. She joined one of Denver’s finest five star restaurants as its accountant, balancing the books as she expanded her specialty foods palette. Julie spent a year in Paris, where she studied French at La Sorbonne and immersed herself in the culture and food of this gastronomic capital.
She speaks English and French.
Marie Schumacher
Member of the Board of Directors
Marie works on operational and administration systems for
Sustainable Harvest and helps guide the company's strategic
planning. Before joining Sustainable Harvest, Marie consulted
to GreatSchools.net (an online guide to California schools),
the Mills College School of Education, and the Developmental
Studies Center. Earlier, as an environmental science teacher
in Berkeley, California, Marie piloted the Edible Schoolyard
curriculum, an innovative school garden program pioneered by
Alice Waters. Marie also spent a year living in Mexico City
as a staff member for the Mexican Foundation for Family
Planning.
Marie is a professional musician with three CDs of original songs. She is also the director of PDX Vox, a singing program for adults. Marie has a B.A. from Harvard and an M.A. from UC Berkeley. She speaks English and Spanish.
