Laury Hammel, Executive Director, SBN
Laury founded the Sustainable Business Network (originally the Responsible Business Alliance) in 1988, and has been leading the sustainable business movement in Massachusetts ever since. He is the owner and president of The Longfellow Clubs - a group of health and recreation clubs in the Greater Boston area- considered to be among the greenest health clubs in the U.S. Laury has been the Executive Director of SBN since 2008 and provides overall leadership and visioning for the organization and its programs. Laury has been instrumental in founding numerous additional regional and national networks including Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE).
Joe Grafton, Founder and Executive Director, Somerville Local First
Joe is the founder and Executive Director of Somerville Local First, a leading network of Locally Owned and Independent businesses creating sustainable local economies. He is also a steering committee member of the New England Local Business Forum, a board member of SBN Boston and the Chief Operating Officer for the Together Music Festival. Joe is a Huffington Post Blogger, social media expert, published journalist and advocate for local economies across Greater Boston, New England and beyond.
Janneke House, Executive Director, Cambridge Local First
Janneke relocated to Cambridge from Salt Lake City to become the first Executive Director for Cambridge Local First in 2010. She received her Bachelor’s and Masters Degree in Urban Planning from the University of Utah. She served as the Senior Policy Advisor for the Mayor of Salt Lake City prior to her work with Local First. She moved to Cambridge because it was her dream to work with local entrepreneurs who are striving to build the local economy and designing a more sustainable community. Under her leadership, Cambridge Local First has grown to over 300 local businesses with a very active advisory board offering more programs and projects to benefit the members.
Katrina Kazda, Managing Coordinator, SBLP and Membership Director, SBN
Katrina received her Bachelors degree in Visual Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her Master’s degree in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University in 2010. Prior to joining SBN she worked on a variety of international development initiatives, including the Lighting a Billion Lives campaign - a rural solar lighting program led by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) based in New Delhi, India. Katrina was the first ever recipient of the Maynard Town Committee’s “Think Globally, Act Locally” Award (2009) for voluntarily undertaking a municipal energy audit for the Town of Maynard. Katrina has been with SBN since October 2010.
Jamey Lionette, Consultant, Boston Local Food Committee, SBN
Jamey Lionette was part owner with his family of Garden of Eden Cafe (1996-2008) and owner of Lionette’s Market (2003-2010). Both were located in Boston’s South End, and were famous for being the leading market and cafe of local and sustainable food. Jamey has written many articles on line and in print, as well as an article in the Manifestos On The Future of Food and Seed (Edited by Vandana Shiva, including other articles written by Carlo Petrini, Prince Charles and Michael Pollan). Jamey is currently consulting for a group from Quebec interested in opening an all-local and sustainable market in Montreal. He is also assisting with City Growers in Roxbury, a for-profit urban farm growing organic food in the heart of the city. Jamey regularly speaks at sustainable food events, on panels and in Universities (B.U., Northeastern, MIT, and Tufts, to name a few) in and around Boston, and has organized over a dozen Slow Food events in the past decade.
Adritha Subbiah, Program Coordinator, SBN & SBLP
Adritha received her B.S. in Environmental Science, Chemistry, and Zoology from St. Joseph’s College in Bangalore, India. Adritha has been involved in environmental projects focusing on resource and waste stream management as well as species diversity studies. In India and the U.S. Adritha holds an M.A. from the Integrated Marketing Communication program at Emerson College, Boston and has worked in the field of Advertising and Public Relations. Adritha has been with the SBLP since September 2009.
Fan Watkinson, Project Director, Boston Local Food Committee, SBN
Fan has had a career in consumer marketing and corporate education in addition to her work in community building. She co-chairs the SBN Local Food Committee with its the bi-monthly ALLocal dinners. She has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Concord Independent Business Alliance and President of the Board of Codman Community Farms. Fan has consulted with The Food Project, chaired Annual Giving for parents at Concord Academy and served as Treasurer for The Global Classroom. She has worked at Hutchins Farm and volunteered at Gaining Ground and Open Table in Concord. Having lived in Germany’s Black Forest for three years, Fan is interested in creating closer connections between local farms and daily food choices. With a background in homeopathy and whole health studies, she is enthusiastic about the health benefits of eating fresh food, grown and prepared at home or within the local community.
Nicola Williams, Producer & Marketing Director, Boston Local Food Committee, SBN
Nicola is the Principal of The Williams Agency, an award-winning full-service marketing, event planning, and business strategy firm based in Cambridge, MA that creates marketing solutions that make a difference for livable communities and a healthy environment. The Williams Agency is producer and marketing agency of the Boston Local Food festival and leads on marketing communications, sponsorship development, and logistical operations development. The Agency works with government agencies, associations, and nonprofit organizations, offering a full range of marketing and “green events and marketing” services. Nicola has over eighteen years of marketing experience and is passionate about community. Nicola is also an active board member of SBN.
