Sustainable Harvest / Portland, Oregon

David Griswold
President and Founder

David’s coffee career began in 1989, when he was helping organic coffee cooperatives in Mexico find new markets for their coffee. David and a group of farmers co-founded Aztec Harvest, the first coffee importing and marketing office owned by small-scale Mexican coffee growers. David directed Aztec Harvest from 1990 to 1995. Aztec Harvest’s organic coffee beans were sold to specialty coffee roasters across North America and named as a flavor of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. They were also the featured coffee on United Airlines flights between the U.S. and Mexico.

Prior to his work as a coffee importer and market builder for organic, Fair Trade, and shade grown coffees, David had extensive experience in international development as a journalist in the developing world during his Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, and 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 Communications Director, a position he held from 1987 to 1989. He also worked as Director of Coffee Programs for Conservation International.

David served as President of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCAA) from 2003 to 2004 and led the association in its first Sustainability Conference. In 2008, David received the SCAA's Outstanding Contribution Award in recognition for his contribution to the SCAA and the specialty coffee industry.

David has served on the International Coffee Organization's Sustainable Task Force, the Advisory Board for Coffee Kids, and the Board of Directors of the SCAA. He is currently the Chair of the SCAA’s International Relations Council.  He speaks English and Spanish. 

Elizabeth (Libby) Evans
Director of Farmer Development Programs

Libby implements Sustainable Harvest’s farmer development programs across the globe, including the Gombe Coffee Promotion Project, a six year livelihood security and reforestation initiative. She leads the organization's development strategy and grant writing, and manages development projects in 11 countries with origin staff.

A Richter International Fellow and a Lilly Endowment Fellow, Libby has extensive background in community-centered conservation and poverty-conservation initiatives in southern Africa. She has also conducted research in the Social Cognition and Emotion Laboratory at Harvard.

Libby has worked with The Washington Post and with CENSEL, a non-profit organization in the Dominican Republic that provides legal aid to women. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Occidental College and a 2002 Toyota Community Scholar.

She speaks English and Spanish, and is a certified "Q" Coffee Grader, certified by the Coffee Quality Institute.

Adam McClellan
Relationship Coffee Manager

As a Relationship Coffee Manager for Sustainable Harvest, Adam helps facilitate the journey of the coffee to the hands of specialty roasters. Adam is also responsible for quality control in the Portland office and leads the cuppings there. He is a certified Q Grader, accredited by the Coffee Quality Institute.

Adam comes to Sustainable Harvest through a diverse career path in the food industry. After graduating from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA with a B.A. in sustainable agriculture and food systems, he moved to the Big Island of Hawaii to manage an organic ginger farm that exported ginger and turmeric to the mainland U.S. Returning to the Pacific Northwest, he has worked as a barista, chef, cellar hand in a winery, and, most recently, in the produce department for New Seasons Market in Portland. Through these various channels, Adam developed a strong passion for food and flavor that is reaching new heights in the world of specialty coffee. His favorite coffees include Honduras Marcala, Rwanda Butare and Colombia Cauca. 

Outside of work, Adam enjoys traveling, cooking, surfing, hiking, and riding his bike. Adam has spent time living in Chile on a small family vineyard and has also traveled to Argentina, Japan, India, and Ireland. He speaks English and Spanish.

Fernando Seminario
Director of Importing

With extensive experience in the transportation industry, Fernando manages the supply chain logistics between Sustainable Harvest and our many coffee origins. In addition to effectively improving import procedures, Fernando strives to act as a liaison between producers and roasters at Sustainable Harvest.

Originally hailing from Guayaquil, Ecuador, Fernando developed an interest in shipping logistics with his grandfather, a shrimp farmer. Fernando spent two years studying in Santiago, Chile before transferring to the University of Oregon, where he studied economics and business administration. Fernando then occupied transport management positions in San Diego and New York City. As the Importing Director for Giorgio Fedon, Fernando coordinated shipping logistics for containers in China and Italy. He also oversaw distribution of goods from U.S. warehouses to stores across the country. In addition, Fernando has conducted sales for C.H. Robinson, a Fortune 500 shipping company, and exported construction equipment for American Purchasing and Supply. He speaks Spanish and English and is a licensed Q Grader, certified by the Coffee Quality Institute.

Katie Gilmer
Relationship Coffee Manager

As a Relationship Coffee Manager, Katie works closely with coffee growers, bringing the best coffees to the specialty market and ensuring successful long-term relationships between roaster and grower. She also forms part of Portland's quality control team, and is a licensed Q Grader, certified by the Coffee Quality Institute.

Katie completed her B.A. in International Relations and Spanish from Claremont McKenna College, where she studied world economics and trade policy in North and South America. She speaks English and Spanish.

Laura Tilghman
Director of Communications

As Director of Communications for Sustainable Harvest, Laura oversees the coordination and distribution of supply chain information for the company’s roaster clients, suppliers, and partners. Laura also manages several of the company's farmer training initiatives. Before moving to the Portland office, Laura spent two years working with Sustainable Harvest in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Prior to her work with Sustainable Harvest, Laura spent several years working for the not-for-profit Pan American Development Foundation in Washington, DC. She coordinated community development programs in South America and the Caribbean, and contributed to the Foundation's new business development and communications. Laura has also worked in news and documentary production for community radio stations in Washington, DC and Providence, Rhode Island. She graduated from Brown University with a degree in development studies. She speaks English and Spanish fluently.

Debra Rosenthal
Director of Technology Development

As Sustainable Harvest’s Director of Technology Development, Debra works with stakeholders throughout the supply chain to expand and improve the company’s Relationship Coffee tracking system.

Debra’s connection to Sustainable Harvest began while she was living and studying Spanish in Oaxaca City in 2008. She was drawn to the unique approach of Relationship Coffee, and its clear benefit to farmers and consumers alike. Upon returning home to Portland, she was thrilled to find a way to combine her IT project management expertise, Spanish skills, and interest in international development into a position at Sustainable Harvest's headquarters.

Debra completed her B.A. at Brandeis University in Boston, MA, after spending a semester studying in Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil. She comes to Sustainable Harvest after four years of communications and project management at Stand for Children. Debra speaks English and Spanish, and dabbles in Portuguese.

Wynne McAuley
Communications Associate

Wynne came to Sustainable Harvest in the summer of 2009 as a part of the company’s summer internship program. Inspired by the work of Sustainable Harvest and the dedication of its staff, Wynne found it impossible to leave; she currently works on the communications team, managing the company's social media and working to tell the rich stories of every facet in Sustainable Harvest's supply chain.

Wynne graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Occidental College with a degree in economics. There, she focused on international development issues, researching topics such as the cotton industry, sustainable agriculture, and environmental innovation in small businesses.

Originally from Rhode Island, Wynne is happy to have the chance to explore Portland and the Pacific Northwest. She especially loves the incredible food and farmers' markets.

Mack Stilson
Controller

As Controller for Sustainable Harvest, Mack is responsible for the accounting, finance, banking, and human resource relationships for the company. He was attracted to the company because of its Relationship Coffee Model that helps African and Latin American farmers earn better livelihoods.

Prior to joining Sustainable Harvest, Mack held financial leadership positions at companies such as Norm Thompson Outfitters and Pamplin Communications. He has considerable background in accounting controls and procedures, finance systems, and human resources. Although he grew up in Canada and Alabama, he has been an Oregon resident since 1976.

When not at work, Mack spends his time with his wife, Renée, and enjoys sailing, running, bicycling and playing bass guitar in a local band.

David Lippoff
Managing Director

With roughly 40 years of communications business experience, (the other) David joined Sustainable Harvest in 2010. His background includes more than 35 years in broadcasting, including television news reporting, producing and management positions in Portland, Detroit, San Francisco and Atlanta, and running CBS and ABC television stations in Dayton, Orlando and Portland. Most recently, David was a vice president for Edelman PR/Communications in the global agency's Portland office. His responsibilities included new business development, marketing, providing strategic counsel and media training for clients and serving as chief of staff to the office's general manager.

David was initially drawn to Sustainable Harvest by the mission-driven Relationship Coffee model. His work with the communications team focuses on helping create strategic plans involving public relations and media programs to enhance the company's brand management.

David has a B.S. in journalism from the University of Oregon, so Fernando has a fellow Duck alum in the office. A native Portlander, David plays soccer, tennis and basketball, enjoys fly fishing, photography and travel, and is endeavoring to learn Spanish.

Ezra Spier

Director of Technology Solutions

Ezra's role as Director of Technology Solutions is to envision and build software solutions that connects all the coffee stakeholders—farmers, cooperatives, roasters, certification agencies, and consumers—throughout the coffee importing process. Much of his work centers on building cloud-based applications to collect critical farm and market data using the web-based Relationship Information Tracking System that Sustainable Harvest uses to connect with its customers with its supply chain partners. Ezra also develops educational and geo-spatial applications for the iPhone and iPad. 

His technology work is part of the company's social enterprise strategy to invest in mobile technology solutions that are sustainable and scalable, and can sustain themselves after initial donor support, helping to improve smallholder farmers’ productivity and incomes.  A Portland, OR. native, Ezra is a graduate of Oberlin College, where he majored in East Asian Studies. He speaks fluent Japanese, and serves on the Oberlin College Board of Trustees. 

Dane Loraas

Quality Control Manager

Dane originally came to Sustainable Harvest as a volunteer in the summer of 2010. Now, as a member of the quality control team in Portland, Dane prepares cuppings, does sample roasting, and manages the cupping lab. Dane also aids Sustainable Harvest’s coffee operations team by processing and organizing coffee samples.

In March 2011, Dane will graduate from Portland State University with a B.A. in International Studies and a minor in Spanish. He has spent 11 months studying in Rosario, Argentina, focusing on human rights, history and the spanish language.

Dane is originally from Vashon Island in Washington. Coming from a family of coffee people, he has been involved in coffee for most of his life--he even spent one summer on a coffee machine assembly line in Switzerland.  He is enjoying his work here at Sustainable Harvest, and loves living in Portland.

Dalila Aguirre-Portillo

Accountant

Originall from Los Angeles, Dalila possesses experience in finance and accounting as well as volunteering withing the non-profit sphere. Dalila graduated from Portland State University with a major in Business Administration, and has worked as a periodicals secretary at a bookstore as well as an accountant in several capacities, most recently at a local CPA firm.

Dalila also served as a volunteer director at a Canby Community Service Center, overseeing operations distributing suppliers with her three daughters.

At Sustainable Harvest, Dalila is responsible for balancing and overseeing the different accounts, along with attending to the coffee inventory and office finances. She is happy to be a part of the Sustainable Harvest team, and appreciated her new perspective on coffee and the coffee industry. Dalila speaks Spanish and English.

Oscar Canseco Magro

Chief Technology Officer

Oscar manages the quality control systems for all of Sustainable Harvest's coffee cupping evaluations. Prior to joining Sustainable Harvest, Oscar designed and implemented technology-based organic coffee control systems for farmer cooperatives in Mexico and several other Latin American countries. In addition, Oscar has worked in corporate image design for several organizations in Oaxaca, has served as network manager for a local ISP, and has done IT consulting. Oscar has a degree in information technology and a master's in computer science from Guadalajara Autonomous University in Mexico. He speaks English, Spanish, and French.

Midori Niikura Hartford

Trade Service Specialist

As the Trade Service Specialist, Midori facilitates the transportation of coffees from Sustainable Harvest's suppliers to our roaster customers in North America. She is also part of Portland's quality control team, which allows her to ensure the quality of our coffees as it undergoes many processes and long journeys before handing them into the hands of our roaster customers.

From 2006 through 2007, Midori worked for Sustainable Harvest in our Peru and Mexico offices, as well as in Guatemala and Costa Rica, where she helped establish and strengthen supplier relationships and collect supplier information for our roaster customers. She also coordinated Let's Talk Coffee in Guatemala and Costa Rica. She left Sustainable Harvest for a while to tie the knot with her fiance of a few years, and is delighted to be back working in the Relationship Coffee model again.

Midori's extensive international experience throughout her life helps her work as a liaison between coffee suppliers and roasters. As a Japanese national, she was born in Colombia, grew up in Ecuador, Japan and Hawaii, and studied in Chile and Costa Rica. With a passion for social justice and the environment, she graduated from Occidental College with a degree in Urban and Environmental Policy. She speaks Japanese, English and Spanish.  

Sara Morrocchi
Supply Management Director

Sara manages Sustainable Harvest’s supply team, overseeing the team across all offices responsible for quality and logistics of coffee shipments. Prior to her work with Sustainable Harvest, Sara spent three years in Kenya with two non-profit organizations, providing advocacy and training on labor rights for workers and working as the assistant program manager for the HIV/AIDS project, "Tumaini Children's Home."

Sara holds a master's in peacekeeping management from the University of Turin and a bachelor's in philosophy and politics from the University of Warwick, in the United Kingdom. She speaks Italian, English, Spanish, and Kiswahili and is a licensed Q Grader, certified by the Coffee Quality Institute.

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