Island Grown Initiative
Board of Directors

BOARD OFFICERS

Gail graduated from culinary school in France in 1980 and has worked as a restaurant and private chef since then. After getting her Masters in Elementary Education at Lesley in Cambridge, MA in 2002, she merged her love of cooking with a passion for working with kids, to teach toddlers to cook at ChopChop Family in Belmont, as well as teenagers at Y2Y (Youth to Youth) in Cambridge, and Root in Salem. Gail is passionate about all things food and has been involved with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry and the Martha’s Vineyard Food Pantry, as well as other food equity organizations. Most mornings, you will find her hiking the trails at Cedar Tree Neck, or contemplating what to cook for her next meal.

Claudia was one of Morning Glory Farm’s first employees, where she worked for eight summers in the 1980s. After graduating from New York University in 1984 with a degree in education, she taught at Island Children’s School. Claudia was a founder of the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School and served as the school’s Assistant Director until her retirement in 2017. She and her husband, Steve, live in Edgartown. She is the bookkeeper/office manager for the family business, Aquamarine Dock Builders. Their son Arno is a commercial fisherman in Edgartown, and their son Niko divides his time between Aquamarine and farming on his in-laws’ regenerative farm in New Zealand. Claudia enjoys spending time with her beloved grandchildren.

Steve has been coming to the Vineyard since he and his wife had their first date on the Island back in 1990, and they have spent each summer in East Chop with their family and extended family since 1999. Steve and Sheila moved full-time to Edgartown when he retired in 2020. Steve was an executive with PulteGroup, a national homebuilding company, and continues to do a little consulting in the homebuilding industry. He has been volunteering at the Food Pantry since 2020 and is helping IGI realize their vision for a permanent Island Food Center.

Mark is the co-owner of Lennox & Harvey, a modern-day general goods store in Vineyard Haven. He has worn many hats over the years. A trained chef, he worked for several restaurants in New York City before opening his own café and bar in Brooklyn for a successful five years. He then shifted to a career in the design world, managing the flagship outposts of furniture brands Kartell, Alessi, and Herman Miller. Having visited Martha’s Vineyard for the past 25 years, Mark decided to make Oak Bluffs his home in 2017, trading the fast pace and sirens of New York City for the calm of the Island.

BOARD MEMBERS

Craig Barton, is an architect, educator, and author. He is a Professor of the Practice in Architecture and Urban Studies and holds the PBH Family Chair as University Architect at Brown University, where he works with Brown’s senior leadership to provide strategic design and planning direction for the campus. Prior to this appointment, he was Director of The Design School at Arizona State University and Provost at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is the author of Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race. An alumnus of Brown University and the School of Visual Arts in New York, Craig holds a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University, and was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Craig and his wife Marthe Rowen, an artist and architect, have been coming to the Island with their three children for over 35 years. They now divide their time between Edgartown and Providence. A cyclist, swimmer, and gardener, Craig can be found shell-fishing around the Island when not working on other projects.

Karen graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and worked in the financial services industry until moving to London in 1998 with her family. Her four children attended The American School in London, where she was a member of the Board of Trustees, serving as co-chair of the Development Committee. As empty nesters, Karen and her husband David moved to Madrid in 2013. Currently they reside in Edgartown, where they have owned a home for over 20 years.

Allen is a marketing executive with publishing and high technology experience and is currently a business consultant. He and his wife, Maura FitzGerald, live in Aquinnah. Allen is vice chair of the board of Common Impact, the leading non-profit for skills-based volunteering, and he has done pro bono work with Community Servings, a Boston area non-profit offering medically tailored meals. He currently serves on Island Grown Initiative’s Finance Committee, was engaged in the strategic planning process, and has been working on business planning for Island Grown’s farm.

Rosemary Chalk is a consultant on child and family policy based on Bethesda, MD. She and her husband Michael Stoto spend summers and early fall in their Vineyard Haven home where they enjoy a deep attachment to the Island’s beauty and cultural diversity. Rosemary has directed over a dozen policy and research studies on topics that include child abuse and neglect, child and adolescent health services, and support services for families struggling with substance use and family violence issues. She worked with the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine for over 20 years and serves on an advisory committee for Child Well-Being Program of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Rosemary began volunteering with the Island Food Pantry in 2018 and then chaired the Pantry’s Development Committee in 2020. She believes that access to nutritious food fosters healthy lives for families as well as building healthy communities.  

Elisa Cohen started her career as a commercial artist in Los Angeles, illustrating books, album covers, movie posters, and magazine editorials. A move to NY and an answer to a part time job at Ralph Lauren, pivoted her career to accessory design where she led teams at Coach, Banana Republic and Tumi. She is married to Rick Gilberg, who recently retired after a long career representing labor unions. They have a son and daughter who live and work in Brooklyn. Now, retired from the corporate world, Elisa is enjoying going back to her artist roots, living between the Vineyard and NYC (mostly MV!) and feeling grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to IGI’s indispensable mission on this Island.

With over 15 years of experience as a licensed esthetician, Mary has honed her expertise both on and off the Island. In 2013, she took her wealth of experience and established her own studio in the Tisbury business district. Today, Mary proudly serves as the founder and owner of Miss Mary's Boutique and Spa in Vineyard Haven. Mary lives on Island with her husband and two children.

Cheryl Finley is an art historian, author, curator and critic. She is a professor at Cornell University and Director of the AUC Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective. She won Bard Graduate Center's Horowitz Book Prize for her book, Committed to Memory: the Art of the Slave Ship Icon in 2019.

Mary is an Island restaurateur. She and her husband, Jackson Kenworth, run State Road and Beach Road restaurants. Together they focus on staff and community responsibility, serving food that represents the local foodshed, sourcing from Island farmers, fishers, and food artisans, and inviting hospitality. They live in Vineyard Haven with the loves of their lives, their Irish Terriers, Roberto and Daphne. Mary was on the board of Island Grown Initiative from 2014-2021 and is currently the co-chair on the Capital Campaign Committee.

Mark is a retired consumer-packaged goods industry financial executive, whose career spanned multiple food categories - yogurt, ready-to-eat cereal, juice, baked goods and organic, pasture-raised, grass-fed beef.  He and his spouse Lexi have been coming to the island since the mid-80s, and have been living in Vineyard Haven nearly full-time since his retirement in 2023. Mark looks forward to engaging his passion and experience in helping IGI fulfill its mission to the Island community!

Jennifer is a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah.  She moved to the Island in 2000 to work for her tribal community. It was there she met her now husband Richard Randolph. Together they have raised their three daughters Jada 21, Soraya 16, and Divya 14 in Oak Bluffs. Jennifer is the founding President/Executive Director of The Northeast Native Network of Kinship and Healing, a tribal non-profit providing domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy services. She also serves on the Board of Directors at For A Loving Future with projects that support learning opportunities and community-building experiences rooted in Indigenous and ecological principles. Jennifer is both an affiliate at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School Master’s in Leadership for Sustainability Program as well as their first Dr. Henrietta Mann Fellow. 

Ever since Mitch came to Martha’s Vineyard for a life changing weekend in 1979, the Vineyard has been a meaningful part of his family’s life. After visiting seasonally with his wife, Lisa Berkower, and their two daughters, they now call the Vineyard home.

Mitch retired as the President, CEO, and founder of Applied Information Group after thirty-three years building and managing their marketing automation platform where companies cost effectively communicate with their customers and prospects through email, digital, and direct marketing. His extensive experience in database marketing, software development, technology, and finance has been an asset to his clients’ marketing efforts.

He joined the board in 2024 based on IGI’s support of food equity, education, growing food through regenerative practices, and advocacy on the Island. Additionally, he serves on the board of Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation, serves as the president and treasurer of the Kanomika Neck Association, is a member of the climate change committee of the Great Pond Foundation (GPF), and most recently supported marketing and technology efforts for the Housing Bank (CCMVHB). Mitch is currently a sponsor and was a former board member of the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival (MVFF). In one of his related commitments, he is a grant reader for Echoing Green and is a part of their Brain Trust to advise new fellows regarding their social entrepreneur nonprofits. He has a BA in History from Union College and enjoys gardening, hiking, biking, sailing, tennis, traveling, film, backyard chicken farming, and has a passion for wine.

Elio, born and raised on a farm, is an entrepreneur who moved to Martha’s Vineyard in the summer of 1998. Today he owns Vineyard Grocer, Delicious MV French Bakery, and Bobby B’s Restaurant. He, his wife, and 12-year-old daughter, Amanda, live in Oak Bluffs. Elio became involved with IGI early on by raising broilers for the first run of the mobile chicken processing unit. He believes that a problem is an opportunity in disguise, and lives by the adage: “To whom much is given, much will be required.” (Luke 12:48)

Julianne is a Wampanoag tribal member born and raised on Martha's Vineyard. After twenty years off-Island, she returned with her two children, Ella and Emerson, and started the Orange Peel Bakery. Juli is also the Selectwoman for the town of Aquinnah, an Education Committee member for the Wampanoag Tribe, committee member for both Parks and Rec Department and Community Preservation committees of Aquinnah, as well as a board member of both the Island Housing Trust and Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group. When not serving her community, she can be found foraging for family dinners.

Board Member Emeritus

Randi is a Martha’s Vineyard based editorial and commercial photographer specializing in food, lifestyle and portrait work. For over 30 years, she has used her photographs as a means for communication, education and social change. Her images have received worldwide press attention and she has photographed three cookbooks to date, including WHOLE IN ONE: Complete, Healthy Meals in a Single Pot, Sheet Pan, or Skillet by best-selling author, nutritionist, and James Beard Award winner, Ellie Krieger. Randi has always been a passionate foodie and a champion of food security; she co-founded IGI in 2006. She served as Board president from 2013 to 2019 and remains active and committed to the growth and sustainability of IGI and the greater Island community.

The founding Executive Director of Island Grown Initiative, Ali has returned to food writing and food activism.

Her books include The Mobile Poultry Slaughterhouse: Building a Humane Chicken Processing Unit to Strengthen Your Local Food System and The Food Activist Handbook; Big & Small Things You Can Do to Help Provide Fresh, Healthy Food for Your Community, both from Storey Publishing. About the latter, Michael Pollan tweeted: “Just what the food movement needs now: The Food Activist Handbook, for anyone hoping to build a local food system, by @AliBerlow. Well done!” Civil Eats named it one of the Best Food and Farm Books of 2015. 

A founder of Edible Vineyard magazine, she is a co-host of WCAI’s Local Food Report and is launching The Gleaning, a radio-focused multi-media production company about food. She lives in West Tisbury, MA, and Putney, VT. Ali speaks publicly about food activism, humane slaughter, and what we can do to help create a just, equitable, and fair food system for all. Visit her website for more information about her work.