FoodHub is a social venture business of Ecotrust led by a talented team with decades of experience on the ground connecting regional food buyers and sellers in the Pacific Northwest.
We’re tech savvy but not so enamored with the information superhighway that we don’t stop at farm stands along the way. We know that vibrant food marketplaces are dependent on deep, personal relationships and trust between those who buy and those who sell food. FoodHub seeks to support and increase real human connections, not to replace them.
Don’t hesitate to be in touch with and rely on the FoodHub team. It’s our job to make sure that you love FoodHub as much as we love wild salmon runs, sun-ripened strawberries, pastries at the farmers market, fifth generation ranchers, and fantastic local food options wherever people eat.
Send any of us an email or pick up the phone for a real live conversation. We’d love to hear from you.
Deborah Kane
Project Director
Deborah Kane is the Vice President of Food & Farms at Ecotrust in Portland, Oregon. Prior to joining Ecotrust, she ran an independent consulting business specializing in sustainable food and farming and served as executive director of Food Alliance, one of the nation’s leading certification organizations for environmentally friendly and socially responsible agricultural practices. In 2003, Deborah was appointed by Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski to the Oregon Sustainability Board, where she served one term. Most recently, she was awarded a prestigious W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellowship in recognition of her exceptional communications accomplishments. As Vice President of Food & Farms at Ecotrust, Deborah has led the creation of FoodHub through business planning, concept and design. She is responsible for ensuring its successful execution.
Contact Deborah with inquires related to business development, bringing FoodHub to your area, or making an investment in FoodHub at deborah@food-hub.org or 503.467.0763
Erika Polmar
Project Manager
Erika Polmar brings an unusual combination of culinary, technology and marketing experience to FoodHub. As the founder of the critically acclaimed farm dinner series Plate & Pitchfork, she is keenly aware of the issues facing the culinary and agricultural communities. Past positions with technology start-ups such as Portland’s Eleven Wireless and her tenure as the Director of Corporate Development at Ticketmaster Online CitySearch contribute to her understanding of online product development and strategy. Erika has managed the FoodHub development team. She is responsible for ensuring overall customer satisfaction and overseeing the development of FoodHub improvements and the implementation of new features.
Contact Erika with inquiries regarding membership in FoodHub, suggestions for new features, or issues with your account at erika@food-hub.org or 503.477.7565.
Susan Wilch
Member Services Manager
Susan Wilch has extensive experience building customer and member satisfaction, working on the front lines for organizations that range from the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Northwest Housing Alternatives to Nordstrom. Have you lost your password? Need assistance using a FoodHub feature? Want us to add “frog legs” to the list of products? Our member services team is ready to assist you.
Contact Susan and our member services team whenever you hit a bump in your day-to-day FoodHub experience at susan@food-hub.org or 503.467.0816.
ISITE Design
Web Developers
ISITE Design, an interactive agency serving global clients from their home office in Portland, Oregon and satellite offices in Dallas, Texas and Boston, Massachusetts, was selected through an open, competitive request for proposal process to build FoodHub. ISITE brings industry insight to the table, having worked with organizations including Farm Aid and Melissa’s Produce. ISITE has also amassed deep technological expertise developing enterprise solutions and complex media delivery for clients including Siemens, MTV, Ringor, MIT and Zipcar. For more information, visit www.isitedesign.com.
Stacey Sobell Williams
School Food Service Coordinator
Stacey Sobell Williams is the Farm to School Coordinator for Ecotrust and Western Lead for the National Farm to School Network. Stacey received her Masters of Public Health from Portland State University with a focus on Advocacy and Social Change. At Ecotrust, Stacey researches, evaluates, promotes, and advocates for farm to school programs at local, state, and regional levels that enable schools to feature healthy, locally sourced products in their cafeterias, incorporate nutrition-based curriculum in all academic disciplines, and provide students with experiential agriculture and food-based learning opportunities.
If you have questions related to the farm to school aspects and functionality of FoodHub, please contact Stacey at swilliams@ecotrust.org or 503.467.0751.
Amy Brown and Seth Walker
Media Relations Representatives
Please direct media inquiries regarding FoodHub either to Amy Brown of SEED Public Relations at amyb@seed-pr.com or 503.341.3795 or to Seth Walker, Ecotrust Director of Communications, at swalker@ecotrust.org or 503.467.0752.
Lola Milholland
Content Manager
Lola Milholland works in the Food & Farms program at Ecotrust and writes for Edible Portland.
If you are a FoodHub member with an appearance in the press to share for our Press page, you have a resource you’d like to share for our up-and-coming Resources section, or you notice any typos, please reach Lola at lola@ecotrust.org or 503.467.0795.
Ecotrust
Ecotrust’s mission is to inspire fresh thinking that creates social equity, economic opportunity, and environmental well-being.
With regard to our Food & Farms program, we improve public understanding of agriculture and the challenges it faces and increase the market share of locally grown, processed, and manufactured foods. Whether by introducing a farmer to a chef or a food processor to an institutional buyer, Ecotrust is a trusted “benevolent broker” that has been making connections between food producers and food buyers in the Pacific Northwest for a decade. And while Ecotrust’s efforts to promote regional food have extended across all product categories and types of buyers, we are nationally known for our ability to develop the school food cafeteria as a viable market for local foods. We envision a time in the not too distant future when all children know that milk comes from cows before it reaches the grocery store. Through publication of the award-winning quarterly magazine Edible Portland, we tell the often overlooked stories of our regional food system and instill in local eaters a sense of place and a taste of home. For more information, visit www.ecotrust.org.
