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Our Team

Board Members of the Regenerative Organic Alliance

Paul Lightfoot

Board Chair

Patagonia Provisions | patagoniaprovisions.com

LaRhea Pepper

Board Vice Chair

Textile Echange | textileexchange.org

Rachel Dreskin

Board Treasurer

Plant Based Foods Association | plantbasedfoods.org

Sarela Herrada

Board Secretary

SIMPLi | eatsimpli.com

David Bronner

Board Member

Dr. Bronner’s | drbronner.com

Robyn O’Brien

Board Member

Sirona Ventures | sironaventures.co

Jeff Tkach

Board Member

Rodale Institute | rodaleinstitute.org

Elizabeth Whitlow

Board Member

Regenerative Organic Alliance

Our Team

Christopher Gergen

CEO

The Regenerative Organic Alliance’s CEO, Christopher Gergen, has over 25 years of experience building, scaling, and supporting systems-based solutions in communities globally. With a passion for the positive impact that food can have on our local economies, the health of families, and our warming climate, Christopher is deeply committed to…

Paul Alvarez

Program Director

An advocate for organic, social, and environmental sustainability, Paul comes to us with more than 15 years of experience in designing and implementing strategies, project management, creating frameworks, and external and internal stakeholder management. He is bilingual with cross-cultural and multi-category experience in international contexts.  Paul resides in Northern California…

Daniel Araujo

Standards & Quality Assurance Manager

As an agronomist, Daniel has spent 10+ years working with international certifiers dedicated to various organic, social and environmental programs. His experience as an auditor, certification officer and operations manager enable Daniel to constantly improve ROA Standards & Assurance. Based in Brazil, he brings a global south perspective on agri-food…

Ross Aglialoro

Office Administrator

After getting an education in accounting and starting his career in corporate risk consulting, Ross more recently professionally pursued his lifelong passion of cooking. He has lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina since 2018 where, through cooking, he has immersed himself in the incredible local food system. Prior…

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Angela Jackson

Quality Assurance

Angela is a certified organic farmer in the USA, advocate, educator, and international lead auditor with more than 15 years of experience in organic inspection, production for crops and livestock, quality assurance, and lead auditing across many organic, environmental, and animal welfare programs for national and private certification programs. Angela…

Haley Tardiff

Communications Coordinator

Haley came to the ROA with years of experience in strategic storytelling for environmental non-profits and agriculture media outlets. She has used thoughtful messaging as a tool to enhance mission driven organization goals, ultimately building organization awareness and fostering communal connection. Haley is an advocate for strengthening our food and…

Ulyana Ary

Administrative Assistant

Growing up in Sevastopol Crimea, Ulyana was taught to value how our food is grown and the importance of protecting the natural world. She is an advocate for environmental remediation and is currently finishing up her B.S. in Environmental Science. Prior to ROA, Ulyana gained valuable experience from a decade…

Cris Comezana

Certification Specialist

Cris has deep experience as both an agronomist and a quality assurance specialist.  She was the ROC Program Manager for Organización Internacional Agropecuaria. Prior to that, she worked for over a decade at IOAS as a lead assessor and auditor. She has worked as a lead auditor with international certifiers…

Alania Cowie Lindquist

Operations Coordinator

Alania joined ROA in 2022 when she learned about the incredible work being accomplished through regenerative agriculture and wanted to combine her passion for ecology, nutrition and agriculture to be a part of the amazing solutions and working toward the current and future benefit of our planet. She comes with…

Headshot of Charlotte Martin

Charlotte Martin

Certification Operations Specialist

Growing up on a small farm in rural Massachusetts, Charlotte learned the importance of regenerative organic agriculture and stewardship of the environment. Prior to the ROA, she worked for an organic certification agency, supporting organic audits, and worked on farms internationally, where she gained extensive knowledge of agricultural practices. Her…

Maíra Severo

Certification Specialist

Passionate about all aspects of agriculture, Maíra has dedicated more than a decade of working with organic certification, small family farmers and social environmental education projects. Her primary focus has always been on sustainable agriculture, with the aim of making our world a fair and healthy place. Maíra brings strong…

Claire Smith

Standards & Quality Assurance Coordinator

Claire holds a Bachelor’s degree in Food Science with a minor in Nutritional Science and a Master’s in Agribusiness. Over the past 12 years, she has built a career in the food, beverage, and wine industries, specializing in food safety, quality assurance, and compliance. Her extensive experience in quality assurance…

Benjamin Fahrer

Project Manager Regenerative Organic Learning Centers

Benjamin Fahrer has over 25 years of organic farming experience and is specialized in designing and building integrated ecological farming systems as a contractor and consultant. He has brought innovation to urban agriculture by designing, building and operating highly productive integrated urban rooftop farming systems in the SF Bay area…

Hilary Butler

Consulting Brand & Marketing Liaison

Dr. Bronner's

Cristina Rodriguez

Certification Specialist

Cristina has spent the last decade working in South America in agricultural supply chains and operations. Based in Peru, she brings a global Latin America perspective on certification systems.  She has supported smallholder farmers in achieving various organic, regenerative, and social fairness certifications across Central and South America. Cristina earned…

Elizabeth Whitlow

Elizabeth’s role at the ROA is the culmination of over 20 years working in the field of organic agriculture. She began her career as an advocate for shade-grown, fair-trade, and organic coffee growers in Central America. Since then, she has worked across the spectrum of elevated certifications, both in farming and…

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