SARAH CLEMENS, CFRE - Development Director (2012)
Sarah served as Development Associate at the Maine Sea Coast Mission in Bar Harbor, Maine for the past six years and now serves as the Development Director at SHI. In 2011, Sarah was one of only 20 individuals in Maine to receive the Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) certification. She received her B.Ed. from the University of Maine at Farmington and her M.Ed. from the University of Houston. She enjoyed teaching elementary school for 9 1/2 years and served as fundraising chair for the Air Force Spouses’ Clubs in South Korea and North Dakota. Presently, Sarah lives in Bar Harbor, serves on the MDI YMCA Program Committee and enjoys spending time with her three children.

DEBRA GROSS-LARRABEE  - Bookkeeper (2012)
An experienced office manager and bookkeeper, Debra worked for the Town of Stonington, School Union 76 and private businesses before joining SHI. She also worked for Penobscot East Resource Center, a non-profit for the sustainability of the fisheries, where she developed the Center’s first employee wellness program. Recently she has been running her own part-time business, Offshore Bookkeeping Solutions and Bridge to Whole Health. She also designs monuments for Larrabee granite. Debra is a graduate of the University of Maine at Augusta in Mental Health and Human Service and a graduate of a 2-year program at the National School of Whole Health in Boston. She is a former pilot with instrument rating, Reiki III Practitioner, and enjoys oil painting.  Debra lives on Deer Isle with her husband; they have four grown children, six grandchildren and a cat named Stormy.

RENÉE JOHNSON - Executive Director (2008)
With nearly 15 years in various development, marketing, IT and finance roles, and as an entrepreneur, Renée brings her past experiences to her position as Executive Director. She feels fortunate to have a career where she can use her business and project management skills to direct SHI, supporting the important work being done by SHI's talented staff in the US and Central America. Although Renée grew up in Maine, she lived in Massachusetts, Indiana, England, Greece and attended the University of Washington in Seattle before deciding to return to Maine. She now lives in Stockton Springs with her partner Chris and their three rescued dogs, Baxter, Sabine and Finch.

FLORENCE REED - President & Founder (1997)
Florence Reed believes that when people work together, things change for the better. This belief led her to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama in the early nineties and work for a number of nonprofit organizations. In 1997, Reed founded Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with rural Central American communities to implement sustainable land-use practices. As president of the organization, Reed spends her time guiding SHI forward with Central American farmers, Central American staff, Board members, US staff and supporters, bringing together a wide variety of individuals to create a better future. In recent years she has received an honorary doctorate, along with many awards such as the Yves Rocher Women of the Earth award, Garden Club of America Distinguished Service award and etown e-chievement award. In 2009, Florence was painted by artist Robert Shetterly as part of his renowned Americans Who Tell The Truth portrait series. In November 2011, Florence was named a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow by The Council of Independent Colleges and in June 2012, Florence was presented with the National Peace Corps Association's prestigious Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service. (Related: Speaker Profile)

JUSTIN TREZZA  - Field Program Director (2008)
Since 2008, Justin has overseen SHI’s four country programs in Central America (Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama), developed and mangages an on-line monitoring and evaluation system to assess short and long-term impacts, and continues to contribute to grant writing efforts. Prior to SHI, Justin honed his management and agroecological skills with Greenpeace USA and as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras.  During his three-year term as a volunteer, Justin worked with farmers to improve soil fertility with a variety of green manures and implemented small-scale biogas projects with individual families.  Following Peace Corps, Justin worked as a fundraising consultant with Community Counseling Services (CCS). When not traveling to Central America, Justin enjoys enhancing his permaculture knowledge in the garden, brewing beer, and taking his road bike out for centuries. Justin holds a Bachelor of Arts from George Washington University in International Affairs and Anthropology. (Related: Speaker Profile)

AMANDA ZEHNER - Smaller World and Field Coordinator (2012)
Amanda joins SHI as the Smaller World and Field Coordinator following several years of experience with the non-profit and development community in both the United States and internationally.  After receiving her B.S. degree from Virginia Tech, Amanda served for over two years in The Gambia, West Africa with the Peace Corps.  Through her active involvement with reforestation, agriculture, and education initiatives in West Africa, Amanda believed that many traditional approaches to planning and implementation of development programs could be improved to increase the enduring benefits to the participants, as well as to better utilize scarce resources.  To this end, while pursuing a Masters degree in Sustainable International Development at Brandeis University, Amanda worked closely with SHI’s Honduras affiliate to strengthen organizational learning and reporting processes, and increase the effectiveness of SHI's monitoring and evaluation systems.  In addition to her academic and field work in monitoring and evaluation, Amanda brings to SHI valuable program management experience in Central America through her previous responsibility for programs in Guatemala with the NGO Pueblo a Pueblo.