Staff

Kristen Suokko came to the local food movement through her experience working on environmental issues. She spent her childhood and college years exploring the oceans and forests of New England, and the first part of her career in Washington, DC working at the Natural Resources Defense Council and the US Department of Energy.

In 1998 she moved to Charlottesville, Virginia to work in environmental philanthropy for the W. Alton Jones Foundation and the Blue Moon Fund. After a six-month trip to Asia with her family in 2012, Kristen returned to Charlottesville to first chair the board and then become Executive Director of Local Food Hub.

Kristen holds a degree in Russian from Middlebury College, and has served on a number of boards and civic organizations in and around Charlottesville.
kristen@localfoodhub.org

Born and raised in tidewater Virginia, Alan and his young family have deep roots in Central Virginia. After graduating from UVA, he served as the director of operations for Jefferson Vineyards. He then moved to Charleston, SC to attend graduate school, after which he helped found and served as the program director for Lowcountry Local First, a nonprofit organization working to revitalize the agricultural economy, environment, and community in South Carolina.

Alan moved back to central Virginia in the spring of 2009 to help launch the Local Food Hub.  He understands the many pressures faced by our local growers and has expertise in cultivating new markets for local food.  Alan lives in western Albemarle County and enjoys spending his free time with his wife, Erin and two children, Olivia and Henry, gardening, cooking, playing soccer, and enjoying the beautiful outdoors.
alan@localfoodhub.org

Emily credits/blames her mother and grandmother for passing their gardening, culinary and crafting habits to her at a young age. Growing up in the backwoods of Fluvanna County, she spent many childhood hours wandering outside and playing in the dirt, a past time which no doubt led her to a degree in biology and environmental science at the College of William & Mary. Emily also worked at William & Mary’s excellent college radio station, WCWM, for three years, though it’s still up for debate which family member passed on that gene.

After college, Emily moved to New York City and joined a leading conservation organization. As part of The Nature Conservancy’s vibrant marketing and communications team, Emily spent long hours traveling the mountains and beaches of New York State and translating scientist-speak into personal, engaging stories for print and web sources. In 2009, she returned to her hometown of Charlottesville and joined Local Food Hub in an effort to reconnect with the food and farms of central Virginia (and also in order to wear sneakers to work). As Director of Marketing & Communications, Emily manages marketing and community outreach for Local Food Hub, and together with her colleagues works to support the mission and the movement here in Charlottesville and throughout the country.
emily@localfoodhub.org

Adrianna fell in love with the farm life while working on an organic vegetable farm after graduating from college. She went on to work in the horticulture field at Longwood Gardens in PA, Montrose Garden in NC, and the Center for Historic Plants at Monticello. In 2000, she and husband, Steve, bought land in Central Virginia and started a market farm and CSA, where they grew a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, cut flowers, and nursery plants.

Having children underscored the importance of producing fresh, wholesome food, and vegetable production became her primary mission. In 2010 the family moved to Maple Hill to work for the Local Food Hub full-time. While she appreciates living a life close to the land and influenced by the changing seasons, she also loves the constant challenges farming provides and the broad knowledge and skill-base needed to be a successful farmer.
adrianna@localfoodhub.org

Luke grew up on a 278-acre beef farm in Orange County, and spent his summers helping his grandfather work the huge garden, harvesting tomatoes, kale, squash, and rocks. “In the summer months we would eat almost completely from the garden,” he says. Today, Luke uses his many years of experience as an HVAC technician to keep our warehouse running smoothly, while his skills on the road mean our 16-foot truck can maneuver even the smallest Charlottesville parking lot.

Luke is married to a pastry chef and has one son. Together they love to spend as much time outside as possible, camping, swimming, or grilling some of Luke’s famous “beer can chicken.” Luke’s favorite part about working for Local Food Hub? Seeing the food come from the fields right to the people.
luke@localfoodhub.org

Lisa Reeder has been fortunate to work in and around food for nearly 15 years, most of which she has spent in Central Virginia.  She lived in Brooklyn for three years, earning a chef’s certificate from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health and devouring the food culture of the big apple, but eventually longed to be able to go barefoot again — outdoors.  ”I wanted to take a step closer to food, and to live alongside agriculture and food culture both.”  A position at Feast! as foodservice and produce manager was the first step toward becoming a bona fide local foodie, and helped Lisa solidify her devotion to flavorful, vibrant produce.

Since then, she continues to move closer to her food, working now in Farm Services and Operations for Local Food Hub; she also writes and educates on the seasonality and provenance of local food.  Recent food adventures include mustard in a mortar and pestle, pickled shiitake mushrooms with turnips, sweet potato and cranberry (festive, but ya still gotta like mushrooms!), and the passive but pleasant art of making apple cider vinegar.
lisa@localfoodhub.org

Steve spent his childhood wandering the pastures of his great uncle’s cattle farm in Culpeper, and knew, even as a youngster, that his passion lie in the natural world. These interests eventually led him to the College of William and Mary, where he studied geology. After a stint working in the environmental consulting industry, he and his wife, Adrianna, settled in Louisa County, where they purchased a small farm and grew vegetables for 10 years. Today they operate and manage the Local Food Hub’s Educational Farm at Maple Hill. In his spare time, Steve runs a soil consulting and engineering company, and plays music.
steve@localfoodhub.org