Meet the thought leaders who advise us
Thank You Advisors
Steven I. Apfelbaum
Senior Ecologist, Founder, & Chairman, Applied Ecological Services, Inc. – WI
Dayna Burtness
Farmer, Nettle Valley Farm – MN
TJ Callahan
Owner, Farmhouse Taverns – IL
Liz Carlisle, PhD
UC Santa Barbara
Casey Dahl
Farmer, Feral Farm (Jefferson, WI) – WI
DD Danforth Burlin
Founder, Sustainable and Local Food Investment Group – IL
Aissa Dearing
Regenerative Economy Program Manager at Sustain Our Future Foundation
David Drew
Engineer & Conservationist – WI
Omar de Kok-Mercado
Midwest Regional Manager, MadAg – WI
Syovata (Vata) Edari
Chocolatier & Lawyer, Cocovaa – WI
Narimah (Nimi) Ehr
Senior Analyst, Micron Technologies – WI
Jen Filipiak
Driftless Area Land Conservancy – WI
Jose Franco, PhD
Research Agronomist/Agroecologist, U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center – WI
Leslie Freehill
Attorney, Pines Bach LLP – WI
Paul Gaynor
Owner, White Oak Savanna Events Farm and Sanctuary; Principal, G&R Public Law & Strategies – WI
Meghan Giroux, MSC
Owner, Interlace Agroforestry LLC; Director, Interlace Commons Inc.
Michael Gold, PhD
Professor, The Center for Agroforestry at the University of Missouri – MO
John Graham, PhD
Professor of Environmental Science and Biology, Madison College – WI
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquín
President-CEO, Tree-Range® Farms – MN
Brooke Hecht, PhD
President, Center for Humans and Nature – IL
Randy Jackson, PhD
Professor of Grassland Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison – WI
Shibu Jose, PhD
Associate Dean for Research, University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources – MO
Margaret Krome
Policy Director, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute – WI
David LeZaks, PhD
Managing Director, Food System 6 – WI
Jon Lightner, PhD
Lightner Associates – WI
Theresa Marquez
Mission Executive (retired), Organic Valley – WI
Diane Mayerfeld, PhD
Sustainable Ag Outreach Specialist – WI
Erin Meier
Director, Green Lands Blue Waters – MN
Curt Meine, PhD
Senior Fellow, Aldo Leopold Foundation – WI
Allison Miller, PhD
Danforth Plant Science Center – MO
Dave Miller
Co-Founder, Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT – IL
PK Nair, PhD
U of FL (emeritus)
Gary Nabhan
W.K. Kellogg Chair in Southwest Borderlands Food and Water Security, University of Arizona – AZ
Theresa Ong, PhD
Dartmouth College – NH
Beverly Paul
Davenport Policy – DC
Valentin Picasso, PhD
Associate Professor in Forages and Grazing, University of Wisconsin-Madison – WI
James (Jim) Pines
Managing Director, Provenance Capital Group – WI
Odessa Piper
Food Advocate and Chef (former), Founder, L’Etoile – WI
Lindsay Rebhan
Partner & Designer, Ecological Design – MN
George Reistad
Food Policy Coordinator, City of Madison – WI
Abby Rose
Podcaster, Farmerama – UK
Rachel Schattman, PhD
U of ME
Kathy Schmitt
Bureau Chief, Wisconsin Farm Center, WI Department of Agriculture – WI (retired)
Liz Stelk
Illinois Stewardship Alliance – IL
Betsy Taylor
Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions, Inc – VT
Susan Cookie Tikalsky
Resource Solutions Inc. – WI
Eric Toensmeier
Author, The Carbon Farming Solution – NY
Severine von Tscharner Fleming
Founder and Director, The Greenhorns & Agrarian Trust – NY
Tom Wahl
Farmer, Red Fern Farm – IA
Richard Omar Warner
Past Director, Green Lands Blue Waters – WI
Sarah Wentzel-Fischer
Executive Director, Quivara Coalition – NM
Sandra Williams, PhD
Professor, Northeastern Illinois University; Partner, Fields Restored Farm – IL
Rep. Kristin WhiteEagle
Ho Chunk Nation
Don Whittaker
Attorney (retired) – NJ
Wendy Yang, PhD
Professor of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – IL
Aaron Zell
Matthew Zell Family Foundation – IL
Gary Zimmer
Founder, Midwestern BioAg – WI
See Our Programs
A one-stop shop for research, education, outreach, technical service, demonstration farms, and commercialization efforts, the Savanna Institute is working to scale up agroforestry so farmers can draw down carbon for generations to come.