Elizabeth Gamsky Rich, Esq. – Acting President
Elizabeth Rich is a Wisconsin attorney who has practiced in the areas of environmental, land use and regulatory law for 30 years. She works for clients who challenge the government. She has lived on a 40-acre farm since 1995 and raises goats for dairy products and chickens for meat and eggs. Over the years she’s kept dairy cows, pigs, ducks, turkeys, guineas, rabbits and geese in addition to a large garden and fruit production. Elizabeth’s goal is to produce as much of her own food as possible, as her 25 years of experience with the governmental agencies charged with protection of our food supply has led her to the conclusion that she is not protected.
Peter Kennedy, Esq.
Pete Kennedy is an attorney in Sarasota, who works on a wide range of food freedom related legal issues, including the right of farmers to distribute raw milk and raw milk products direct to consumers, right-to-farm laws, zoning, and more. He has represented or assisted in the representation of dairy farmers facing possible state enforcement action in Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. He has helped farmers get started in the business of distributing raw milk and raw milk products in many other states. He has written articles for Wise Traditions Magazine on the interstate ban on raw milk products for human consumption and on the legality of selling raw milk interstate for animal consumption. He compiled the state raw milk laws and state raw milk summaries posted at www.realmilk.com. He is currently working with others to challenge the federal ban on the interstate shipment of raw milk for human consumption.
Charlotte Smith
Charlotte Smith is the owner of Champoeg Creamery and Charlotte Smith Pastured Meats, a small, diversified farm in Oregon’s lush Willamette Valley. Consisting of 75 integrated and rotated acres, Charlotte produces raw milk, grass fed beef, pastured pork, pastured poultry and eggs and sells all products out of her Farm Store on the farm. In September of 2012 her dairy, Champoeg Creamery, was chosen to be the first dairy “Listed” by the Raw Milk Institute, an organization that has developed national common standards for safe raw milk production. This “Listing” showcases the excellent standards the dairy must achieve and maintain at all times for raw milk to be safe and healthy.
After seeing and hearing from so many small farmers going out of business, Charlotte also began 3CowMarketing.com, an online marketing training company which is helping save small farms across the U.S.! Charlotte was featured in Food Forward TV’s episode on raw milk. Food Forward is a PBS documentary which aired Fall 2014 on PBS across the U.S. Charlotte is a presenter on stage at the Mother Earth News Fairs and is often a speaker at Wise Traditions conferences. She lives in St. Paul, Oregon, is the proud mother of a United States Marine and works on the farm with her husband, Marc, (a teacher) and her two daughters.
John-Mark Hack
John-Mark Hack is President of Flourishing, Inc., a consulting practice focused on land-based business development. He is the co-founder of the Local Food Association®, a national trade group for those in the business of sustainably produced food for local markets. The LFA® provides business best practice exchange, networking opportunities and public policy advocacy for sellers, buyers and other supportive businesses. John-Mark is a co-founder and partner in Marksbury Farm Market®, operating a USDA-inspected processing facility that slaughters, processes, markets and distributes grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured pork and poultry for the grocery and food service markets. Marksbury also provides custom livestock processing services to local livestock producers. John-Mark has served since 2005 as an adjunct instructor for the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
John-Mark is the founder of the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy, established by Kentucky Governor Paul Patton in 1998. He was named the first President of the Kentucky Tobacco Settlement Trust Corporation in 1999, and in 2000 as the founding CEO of the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund, the Commonwealth’s historic investment of national tobacco settlement revenue into its rural and agricultural business communities. He was a County Extension Agent from 1994–1997, and served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica from 1992–1994. John-Mark attained his BA at Transylvania University and his MA in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Kentucky. He serves on the boards Seed Capital Kentucky, Mission Behind Bars and Beyond, the Local Food Association and Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. He lives with his wife and three children in Woodford County, Kentucky.
Judith McGeary, Esq.
Judith McGeary is the WAPF chapter leader for Austin, Texas. She is also an attorney, a farmer, and the Executive Director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance. The Alliance is a non-profit organization founded to protect the rights of independent farmers, ranchers, and homesteaders, and to help ensure the success of independent agriculture. Ms. McGeary has a B.S. in Biology from Stanford University, and a J.D. with high honors from The University of Texas at Austin. In her legal career, she has practiced administrative law, litigation, and appeals. She and her husband run a small farm with heritage poultry, sheep, cows, and horses.
Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD is known as The Naughty Nutritionist® because she “tells the truth that’s too hot to handle.” Kaayla is coauthor of the bestselling book Nourishing Broth: An Old-Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World (2014) and the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food (2005).
She received the Integrity in Science Award from the Weston A. Price Foundation in 2005, the Health Freedom Fighter Award from Freedom Law School in 2009, and the BadAss Award from the Paleo-Primal-Price Foundation in 2015. Kaayla has been a guest on The Dr. Oz Show, PBS Healing Quest, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy, ABC’s View from the Bay, and Discovery Channel’s Medical Hotseat, and has appeared with Dr. Mark Hyman, JJ Virgin, Gary Taubes, Charles Poliquin, Dr. Joseph Mercola, Joel Salatin, David Wolfe and other prominent health experts. She has spoken at numerous conferences, including Ancestral Health, Paleo f(x), BoulderFest, Wise Traditions, National Association of Nutritional Professionals (NANP), Nutritional Therapy Association (NTA) and Bio-Signature.
Laura Bledsoe
Laura Bledsoe, with her husband Monte, is the owner of Quail Hollow Farm, a small organic vegetable farm in Southern Nevada. Laura was originally inspired to become a farmer by visiting the Founders farms in the Eastern United States and was impressed by the sense of stewardship that they had for the land. Feeling the call to provide wholesome food for her community, she founded Quail Hollow Farm CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Now the farm has grown to service over 100 families, several notable restaurants and farmers markets throughout southern Nevada.
She has been married to her high school sweetheart for 35 years, and is a mother of 5 children with 11 grandchildren. Laura has a Bachelors Degree in Statesmanship from George Wythe University, a 1st degree black belt in Tang Soo Do karate, is active in her church and community organizations, and has successfully worked at the 2013 Nevada Legislature to pass the “Farm to Fork” and Cottage Food bills. Her personal motto is, “Faith, Family, Freedom”; she is passionate about our liberties.
Marti Secondine – Interim Treasurer
Marti Secondine is an accounting professional; her experience has focused on analysis, reporting, operations, capital planning and new program development. Having earned a BA in Accounting and an MBA at Wichita State University, her experience has focused on analysis, reporting, operation and capital planning, new program development. Marti is the mother of three children and has three grandchildren.