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Who We Are
Fair Trade is a unique business model that partners industry,
farmers, and US consumers to promote equitable trade. The TransFair USA
team's experience with producer cooperatives, exporting companies, and
professional development ensures that the needs of our strategic partners
are well addressed.
Senior Management Team
Paul Rice, President and CEO
Paul Rice is the President & CEO of TransFair USA, the only Fair Trade certification organization in the U.S. today. Since launching the Fair Trade Certified label for coffee nine years ago, Paul has helped establish Fair Trade as one of the fastest growing segments of the food industry. This success is rooted in TransFair’s innovative approach which helps companies incorporate social responsibility into their business strategies by igniting consumer awareness and building demand for certified products. The result: a market-based model for poverty alleviation and sustainable development that actually boosts growth, profitability and brand reputation.
To date, TransFair has developed business partnerships with over 650 US companies (including such leading brands as Starbucks, P&G, Green Mountain and Dunkin’ Donuts), launched Fair Trade coffee into 50,000 retail outlets nationwide, certified over 160 million pounds of Fair Trade coffee, and reached $1 billion in retail sales in 2007. TransFair is rapidly expanding Fair Trade certification into tea, chocolate, rice, sugar, bananas, flowers and wine. Fair Trade certification has helped open the US market to over 1.4 million small family farmers around the world who are now getting a fair price for their harvests and making dramatic gains in their living standards.
Paul came to Fair Trade by way of the mountainous Segovias region of Nicaragua, where he worked for 11 years as a rural development specialist. He spent most of the 1980’s working directly in the field with cooperative farmers, creating and implementing training programs aimed at developing small farmers’ organizational and business capacity. This first-hand field experience gave him an understanding of the inherent weaknesses of the classic “development aid” model as well as insight into alternative, market-based approaches to sustainable development.
In 1990 Paul founded and became the first CEO of PRODECOOP, a highly successful Fair Trade organic cooperative representing almost 3,000 small coffee farmers in northern Nicaragua. He led PRODECOOP for 4 years, capturing market opportunities in the European Fair Trade and gourmet coffee markets, and introducing him to the power of Fair Trade as an innovative strategy for grassroots empowerment and sustainability. Subsequently, Paul served as strategy consultant and development advisor to 22 cooperative enterprises in Latin America and Asia. His first-hand experience over the last 25 years in the areas of global supply chain transparency, social auditing, sustainable agriculture and cooperative development is unique in the certification world. Paul is now a leading advocate of market linkage as a core strategy for farmer empowerment and sustainable development.
When the opportunity arose in 1998 to launch TransFair USA and open the specialty coffee market to small family farmers, Paul found his current role to be a natural evolution of his years in the field. Over the last eight years, TransFair has sought to reframe the industry’s conventional wisdom about the most effective response to poverty in the coffee communities, building innovative partnerships for sustainable solutions. Increasingly, the coffee industry is using Fair Trade as a business model that promotes sustainability, delivers value back to farmers and consumers, and builds profitability.
Paul has received numerous prestigious international awards for his pioneering work as a social entrepreneur in the Fair Trade movement, including: the Ashoka Fellowship (www.ashoka.org), the Klaus Schwab Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship (www.schwabfound.org), Fast Company magazine’s Social Capitalist of the Year award (four-time winner), and the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship (www.skollfoundation.org). Paul holds a Political Science degree from Yale University and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
Joan Catherine Braun, Chief Financial Officer
Joan comes to TransFair after spending more than two decades in finance and management positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. She served as the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer for PolicyLink, a national research and action institute, and for the Foundation for National Progress, publisher of Mother Jones magazine. Most recently, Joan served first as Assistant Vice President for Finance and Human Resources and, subsequently, as Acting Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer at Mills College, a leader in women's higher education.
A founding member of the Doyle Street Cohousing Community, Joan has considerable experience with community building and boot-strap funding for innovative projects. Joan continues her commitment to public service by acting as District 4 representative on the Alameda County Measure B Citizens' Watchdog Committee.
At TransFair, Joan oversees the finance, fundraising, human resources, and information technology teams.
Todd W. Stark, Chief Operating Officer
Todd joins TransFair USA with more than 25 years of experience in the consumer goods and produce industries. During over two decades with Procter & Gamble Company, Todd rose through levels of increased responsibility in Sales, Marketing, Information Technology, and Supply Chain. During a five-year assignment in P&G’s Latin America Division, Todd was responsible for the production, transportation, logistics, customer service, category management, and export operations of P&G’s Caribbean operations. He also spent seven years leading the company’s global e-Retailing supply chain ventures in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, working with almost 100 major retailers and start-ups around the world. Subsequently, Todd spent several years with Chiquita Brands International leading the company’s North American fruit ripening and distribution operations. Most recently, he ran the company’s global ocean shipping subsidiary, Great White Fleet, moving fruit cargo, as well as selling and shipping automobiles, resins, papers, and other ocean cargos between multiple continents. In both roles, he gained valuable experience in produce categories, as well as acquisitions & divestitures, inter-country sourcing, and general management. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University.
Business experiences in some 60 countries around the world, many of them developing nations, led Todd to pursue Fair Trade as a career. A proponent of social entrepreneurship that directly benefits the developing world, Todd leverages his strong operations and leadership expertise to lead TransFair USA’s commercial and operational units.
Lynn Lohr, Vice President of Resource Development
Lynn spent eight years as Executive Director of the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity (CGBD), a membership organization of foundations working together to conserve and restore biological diversity. Previously as Philanthropic Policy Analyst for Consumers Union, Lynn advocated for communities as new foundations were formed from the conversion of nonprofit health institutions. Lynn originally moved to California to work for the Foundation for National Progress, publisher of Mother Jones magazine, where she raised foundation and major donor dollars to support investigative journalism. In Minnesota, Lynn produced professional theater doing all new work based on history, folklore, and social issues.
Sarah Pursell, Vice President of Business Development
Sarah brings to TransFair international sales and marketing expertise from the high technology sector. Most recently, Sarah led the global small medium business campaign at Cisco Systems responsible for marketing strategy, channel readiness and new customer acquisition. Sarah also held key business development roles at Cisco in the Asia Pacific and Japan regions as well as technology acquisition and customer advocacy. Prior to Cisco, Sarah led global account management for Advanced Fibre Communications (now Tellabs) and managed international operations for Plant Equipment, Inc (now Plant CML). Sarah has been involved in various global women's rights initiatives and seeks to empower the women and girls in the farming communities she serves through TransFair. She has a BS in International Business and Economics from the University of San Francisco, an MBA from Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management and is conversant in French.
Cate Baril, Director of Business Development, Grocery and Ingredients
Cate brings to TransFair her knowledge as a Brand Development Designer, with ten years of experience creating, marketing and succeeding with socially responsible consumer products. She has gained her expertise in strategic relationships, brand development, sales presentations, public relations, events marketing and direct marketing via catalog and web sales working with groups like McDonald's, Sodexho, Aramark, JetBlue, Amtrak, Ben & Jerry's, Bruegger's. She is also deeply committed to giving back to her community and has served as a volunteer and board member for organizations like Coffee Kids, Ecologic Finance, Grounds for Health and Habitat for Humanities, Let's Talk Coffee, and the Colombian Coffee Federation / ACDI VOCA / USAID.
Jamie Tipton, Director of Marketing
Jamie comes to TransFair from the Outdoor Apparel and Equipment Industry where he successfully managed the brand identity, positioning and strategy of two leading industry brands, most recently with Mountain Hardwear and previously with The North Face. Jamie has over eleven years of experience managing global marketing programs including international and domestic advertising campaigns, new product launches, consumer and dealer websites, consumer events and promotions, e-mail campaigns, product packaging, consumer and dealer product catalogues and retail merchandising programs. When he is not at his TransFair desk, Jamie can be found spending time with his family and introducing his young children to his favorite pursuits of climbing, skiing and biking.
Jennifer Bielman, Global Producer Services Director
Jennifer comes to TransFair with 16 years of professional experience in the cooperative business sector both as a retail manager and as a development specialist. Jennifer began her career as a senior manager at Good Vibrations (GV), a well-known retailer that was also a worker-owned cooperative. At GV, she led the purchasing and inventory departments as well as serving on the Board of Directors and representing the company on trade bodies and at industry events.
Prior to joining TransFair USA, Jennifer worked with ACDI/VOCA on the USAID-funded ACE project in Ethiopia, as a technical advisor responsible for designing interventions in support of agricultural cooperatives active in a wide-variety of commodity sectors including coffee. The ACE-project supported the creation and growth of the first Fair Trade Certified coffee cooperatives in the country. Following her assignment in Ethiopia, Jennifer moved to the USAID-funded SUCCESS Alliance project as a Senior Technical Advisor on business development and cooperative management, and Deputy Chief of Party working with small-holder cocoa farmers. Jennifer came to TransFair as the Senior Project Manager for GPS and has recently taken on the role of department director. She received her B.A. in Development Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
James Bullard, IT Director
James comes to TransFair USA from a rich background of IT engagements. Most recently, he served as a consultant to Contra Costa County. Prior to that, he served as the IT Director for several not-for-profit and for-profit organizations including KQED, Shaman Corporation, and The Surplus Line Association of California. He has a strong background in database management, project management, and a wealth of non-profit experience.
James, an Indiana native, transplanted himself to San Francisco in the late eighties, after graduating from the College of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. James is a weekend cyclist and gardener and has strong ties to the environmental, organic, slow food, and labor movements.
Kimberly Easson, Strategic Relationships Director
Kimberly has worked in the coffee industry for fifteen years, including nine years with TransFair USA. She is Founder and President of Java Ventures, which organizes educational tours to coffee-producing regions. Previously, she was international marketing manager for Café Britt, a private coffee export company in Costa Rica. She holds a BS and Masters in International Business from the University of South Carolina. She served four years on the Board of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, and currently serves on the Sustainability Committee leading a project for the Association on the UN Millennium Development Goals. She is also Founder and current President of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA).
Chisara Ehiemere, Director of Certification
Chisara joins TransFair with international procurement management, supply chain consulting and nonprofit experience. She began her career in procurement with Toyota, and later transitioned into management and supply chain consulting with Accenture and A.T. Kearney. Her development and nonprofit experience includes working with farmers through Peace Corps Guatemala, and serving as the Associate Director for the Maura Clarke - Ita Ford Center in Brooklyn. Chisara has a BBA in Marketing from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Business Administration from Duke University.
Caren Holzman, Director of Category Management
Caren brings to TransFair a mix of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), non-profit strategy, and market transformation experience. Before joining TransFair, Caren was a consultant for businesses seeking to improve their CSR performance in Latin America and Africa, and non-profits interested in partnering with corporations. She also worked for ICF Consulting in support of EPA's Energy Star programs. She has a BA in International Relations from Tufts University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin and Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.
Shawn Horton, Director of National Accounts
Shawn brings over 15 years of retail and category growth experience in the hot and cold beverage industry to TransFair USA. Shawn previously served as the Category Growth Manager for beverages for the Western Division of Compass Group North America. Prior to Compass Group , Shawn worked with in the Coca-Cola Bottling system where he managed their mass and retail businesses.
John Keathley, Director of Operations
John has worked in the nonprofit sector since 1995 in both the program and support areas of several organizations. He joined the start-up TransFair staff in March of 2000. John currently directs TransFair's Human Resources and Administrative Services. Two years teaching English in Japan and traveling extensively through the Far East and India led John toward a career centered on making the world a better place. He holds a BA in English and Economics from Baylor University, an MA from Atlantic University, and a Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Management from California State University, East Bay.
Anthony Marek, Director of External Communications and Public Relations
Anthony has a wealth of experience in public and non-profit settings in developing, managing and executing successful media and public relations programs, including roles as the Senior Communications and Media Relations Manager at Stanford Hospital & Clinics, Manager of Worldwide Media Relations at Applied Materials, and Director of Communications roles with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross. He has substantial media training, and has been an active volunteer for a number of community and cause related activities for some time. Anthony earned both a BS in Communications and an MBA from Northwestern University. He lives in Mountain View with his wife and daughters. In his spare time, he enjoys walking, reading, and hanging out with his family.
Kim Moore, Director of Business Development, Coffee and Hot Beverages
Kim brings over 30 years of experience in the coffee, tea, institutional distribution and foodservice industries to TransFair USA. He helped to develop and grow one of the first multi-unit chains of natural food restaurants in the U.S. Kim also served in an executive capacity with one of the largest independent broadline foodservice distributors in Northern California. He ran their coffee roasting operation and directed the design and construction of a state-of-the-art coffee and tea production facility. During his career Kim has focused on promoting origin and value-added (like shade grown or ethically-sourced) coffees and teas. In 1997, Kim took over operations at a specialty coffee roaster with wholesale distribution throughout the U.S. The operation was Certified Organic (California and National Organic Program) and began promoting and selling Fair Trade Certified coffees in 1999. Kim is fluent in Spanish.
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