staff

Photo courtesy of Erin Hooley for Chicago Tribune

Linda Seyler, Executive Director
Linda Seyler has served as Global Garden Refugee Training Farm’s (GGRTF) Farm Manager since it began in 2012 and took on the additional role of Executive Director in October 2013, when GGRTF became an independent non-profit organization. Ms. Seyler is a former IPM Specialist with Cornell Extension Service. She has extensive experience with teaching across cultural and language barriers as a former Peace Corps volunteer, in supervision and lesson plan development for ESL classes, in providing technical assistance and training for ethnic community-based organizations, and in teaching displaced refugee farmers how to adapt their traditional practices to the United States. Ms. Seyler has been a participating consultant and Project Coordinator to ISED / TSNE MissionWorks, overseeing development of culturally and linguistically appropriate training materials for refugee farmers in cooperation with educators and trainers from across the U.S. She earned B.S. and M.P.S. degrees in Agronomy from Cornell University’s College of Agricultural an d Life Sciences.

Haley LeRand, Program Manager
Haley, a former volunteer with Global Garden, handles the scheduling, outreach and data collection for the farm as well as logistics related to farm events. She graduated from University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelors degree in Psychology and formerly worked as a research assistant with UIC's anthropology department on a project about how community gardens in Chicago contribute to one's physical and emotional well-being. Haley is a hobbyist gardener and organic farming enthusiast and when she is not working at the garden, she is probably playing music gigs or reading.

BOARD

Joanna Michel - President
Shivana Shrestha - Vice President
Karishma Desouza - Secretary
Chris Williams - Treasurer
Matt Gold
Steve Duncan
Amy Dix