ASLF Staff Team
Susie Cover, Executive Director
Susie Cover is an entrepreneur, operations and logistics manager, chef, and mother of two living in Brooklyn, New York. Most recently she was the Vice President of operations for Butter Beans Kitchen, a food service company providing over 10,000 meals daily to charter and private schools in New York City.
Previously she was the Product Development Chef for Babeth’s Feast, a premium frozen grocery in Manhattan that also ships nationwide. She also founded and was executive chef for an online delivery food service called Susie’s Supper Club, which prepared family friendly meals for customers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. She launched a line of frozen meals under the same brand for Whole Foods and also developed a cookbook, The Supper Club: kid-friendly meals the whole family will love. Earlier in her career, she worked for many years as a caterer and private chef. She is a graduate of Denison University.
Kristina Graeber, Director of Programs
A California native, Kristina grew up snacking on her mom’s home-made granola and farm-fresh produce. She was drawn to hospitality early on, and grew up running restaurants and bars while in school in LA and NY. Before coming to ASLF, she spent time sourcing textiles for Ralph Lauren, mongering behind the counter at Bklyn Larder, and running school food catering operations across New York City. She brings a combined 20 years of experience in program & relationship management, marketing and operations. She has always believed strongly that food is community, and that every challenge has a creative solution. Kristina holds a BA from Claremont McKenna College, and an MA from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and she lives with her husband and 2 sons in Ossining, New York.
Art & Design
Tim Ring, Webmaster
We are proud to introduce the ASLF website, designed and maintained by Tim Ring. Tim works at Heritage Foods as a wholesale associate helping to move heritage breeds of meat nose-to-tail to hundreds of restaurants across the country. He also works on Heritage Foods social media and marketing efforts. Born and raised in Berkeley, Tim loves to eat good, slow food.
Francesca Richer, Designer
In addition to running her design studio since 2002, Francesca Richer has served as art director at Interview magazine and Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, design director for the Aperture Foundation, and creative director for powerHouse Books. She has designed visual identities, installations, social media campaigns, and more than 70 illustrated books, and has guest lectured at ICP, SVA, NYU, and The New School.
Maya Netzer, Illustrator
Maya is a farmer and visual artist with a background in food justice, youth advocacy and nonprofit development. She came on board with ASLF in February 2021 to help launch the inaugural season of ASLF with Patrick and organize the first ASLF Benefit alongside Anna Harrington. She was especially excited about developing the Storytelling arm of the Apprenticeship Program to amplify the voices of farmers and young people, and continues to contribute her illustrations and zine designs for the ASLF Program today while she pursues her freelance career. She has served as the Marketing Director at il Buco, on the Events and Communications team at Edible Schoolyard NYC, and has farmed for five seasons in Vermont, California, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley.
ASLF Fundraiser at Chelsea Market Sept. 13, 2023
Benefit Committee
Kristin and Peter Becker
Jennifer and Johnson Garrett
Cameron Goodyear and JC Chandor
Joie Jaeger-Hyman and Josh Zizmor
Amy Larocca and Will Freares
Lindsay and Emmett McCann
Marji Molavi
Cheyne Munk and Michael Beys
Allison Jaffin and Seth Unger
Dora Somosi and Marc Weinhouse
Brooke Williams and Joshua Liberson
Andy McNicol
Jennifer Sinclair and David Schiff
Michele de Bourbon
Anna and Tim Harrington
Special Thanks
Alexandra Hammond
We are proud to introduce the ASLF logo, designed by Alexandra Hammond, artist, branding consultant, and close friend of Anne's. The logo speaks to Anne's life and work that transformed the food system in America. The infinite shape of the Mobius Strip symbolizes city and country, humans and nature, and the whole cycle of life that contains contrasts and yet is one interconnected system.
Board of Directors
Ralph Bumbaca
Ralph joined TD Bank in January 2010 and is one of their senior bankers in the New York City Market, responsible for leading TD’s commercial banking efforts. He has a dedicated staff of 40 bankers that oversee a large commercial and small business banking portfolio comprised of a broad group of business owners throughout the New York Metropolitan area.
Herbert Eisenberg
Herbert is a founding member of Eisenberg & Schnell, LLP. He has practiced for over 35 years representing employees in all aspects of employment law. He focuses on individual and class litigation involving discrimination, equal pay and sexual harassment. He has expertise with financial, academic and professional institutions and practices.
Catherine Greeley
Catherine is currently a co-owner and Vice President of Heritage Foods overseeing retail marketing, e-commerce, and distribution of heritage breed meats nose-to-tail. She works directly with small independent farmers and artisans across the country who foster a culture in which animals are raised humanely, outdoors, on-pasture, and with traditional farming techniques.
Dr. Joie Jager-Hyman
Dr. Joie Jager-Hyman is an activist, educator, and entrepreneur. She is the Founder of College Prep 360, a purpose-driven educational advising firm with an unrivaled track record of success.
Joie is also an active philanthropist who fundraises for numerous political candidates and organizations that promote economic justice, including the New York Women's Foundation, Groundswell Community Mural Project and Swing Left. She has also served on the Boards of UAspire, a nonprofit that promotes college affordability, and Syrian Youth Empowerment, an NGO that supports high achieving students in Syria in gaining acceptance to American universities.
As a graduate of Dartmouth College, Joie served as Assistant Director of Admissions for her alma mater. She then completed a doctorate in education policy at Harvard University, researching the transition from high school to college, and has collaborated with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence on a curriculum on college admissions and transitions.
Joie lives in Brooklyn with her partner, 2 children, and an adorable mutt that they adopted from Waldo's Rescue Pen who is aptly named HOPE.
Joseph Kaiser
Joseph Kaiser enjoyed a 22-year career as an operatic tenor. He sang numerous roles with The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, The Paris Opera, The Bayerissche Staatsoper and The Vienna Staatsoper. Mr Kaiser is also a partner at Oriole (2 Michelin Stars) and Kumiko (recently ranked the 25th best bar in the world), both located in Chicago. Mr. Kaiser is a board member with the illustrious New York Festival of Song. He lives in Katonah, NY, with his wife Jeanne.
Patrick Martins
Patrick works with an excellent team to run Heritage Foods, a mail-order and distribution business for dozens of farms raising heritage breeds of livestock and poultry, the last vestiges of pre-industrial agriculture in America, the kind you must eat to save! You can order online or enjoy these foods at hundreds of the finest restaurants and markets from coast to coast. He sits on the Board of the Good Shepherd Conservancy, an agri-tourism center in Kansas that is a training ground for farmers to learn how to farm and breed non-factory-farm poultry; a professional kitchen; and a living museum. Patrick is a founder of Slow Food USA and the Heritage Radio Network and author of the Carnivore's Manifesto published by Little, Brown.
Emily Pearson
Emily, after working for a boutique public relations firm in New York for several years, followed her gut — or rather her stomach — and went to work with Tuscan Italian celebrity chef Cesare Casella. Emily was Cesare's assistant from 2013 to 2016 overseeing all communications, partnerships, product development and branding. She went on to join Batali & Bastianich for the opening of La Sirena at The Maritime Hotel and in late 2016 joined the Heritage team as Director of Wholesale. Emily oversees relationships with over 150 restaurants, artisan butchers and curemasters as well as managing a network of farmers and processors. She is also actively engaged in marketing and social media for the company. In 2019, Emily became a co-owner of Heritage Foods.
June Russell
June successfully develops innovative solutions to regional foodshed challenges. Since 2009, she has been working to restore a diversity of small grains and field crops to New York agriculture, actively assisting New York farms and processing businesses with market entry by identifying and connecting value chain participants and providing market access. June spent 17 years with GrowNYC’s Greenmarket. In 2007 she became the organization's Manager of Farm Inspections and Strategic Development and oversaw the Producer Compliance program. During her tenure she traveled extensively within the Northeast region visiting hundreds of farms and production facilities.
Pam Saxelby
Pam was a preschool teacher in Libertyville, Illinois for 25 years. She is the author of 3 children’s books and is writing 3 more. She has a Bachelors of Science in Education from the University of Wisconsin.