Who We Are

Staff

Staff support the Council and work groups. They convene, communicate, coordinate, and fundraising for high priority implementation projects that they implement in partnership with core partners across the state and region, as well as state agencies.

Isaac Bearg

Food, Climate and Environment Program Director

Isaac Bearg

Food, Climate and Environment Program Director

 Isaac Bearg, Program Director – Food, Climate and Environment: Isaac is excited to join the RIFPC to focus on the myriad of ways we can make our food systems more sustainable from seed to soil. Prior to joining RIFPC Isaac was a founding member and Vice President of the NJCC. He received an MBA in 2017 from Boston University Questrom School of Business in Energy and Environmental Sustainability. After receiving his degree, he completed a research project for Impact Venture Capitalists Mission Point Partners on investments supporting the anaerobic digestion and composting industry understanding the challenges and opportunities to supporting the industry. 

Moving back home to NJ with a new understanding of the organics space he helped form and serves as the VP of the NJCC and chair of the advocacy committee. He traveled frequently to the state capital to advocate for better policy and served as a compost and organics diversion educator across the state. Isaac was also instrumental in the NJCC being awarded federal USDA, statewide Department of Environmental Protection, as well as private foundation grants. Serving on the project team for these grants he helped teach backyard composting, completed university-wide waste audits, wrote official progress and final grant reports, and worked collaboratively on university-wide educational programs designed to increase food scrap diversion. To further his education in the field he has taken and is certified by the NJ Compost Operators Training Course and the USCC Principles of Manufacturing Course. 

Isaac is working to form the Waste Food Solutions Action Network and Plan as well as promote municipal composting and advocate for better food waste reduction and recycling policy in RI. 

Josh Daly

Associate Director

Josh Daly

Associate Director

Josh helps build the capacity of the organization: managing and overseeing internal operations, coordinating the Council, and serving as the secondary liaison to the Board. His work is central to RIFPC’s strategic growth and sustainability.  He served as an active Council Member for four years (the maximum term), and was a founding board member and treasurer. Most recently serving as Director of the Southern Region for the RI Small Business Development Center at URI, Josh specialized in small business development and smart economic growth. His tenure as a Council and board member has given him a deep understanding of the impacts of food systems advocacy, legislative engagement, and network resilience. Josh holds an MBA from Loyola University New Orleans and honed his professional skills in great cities like NOLA, San Francisco, and Ottawa, Ontario, before returning home to Rhode Island. He’s community-minded and passionate about creating social change and benefits for our communities through social enterprise and shared entrepreneurship/employee ownership.

Matthew LaBelle

Network Impact Evaluation Intern

Matthew LaBelle

Network Impact Evaluation Intern

Matthew LaBelle, Network Impact Evaluation Intern: Matthew is a dedicated sustainable food systems advocate. He is currently in his senior year at Johnson & Wales University, pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Food Systems. During his time in Providence, Matthew has been involved in multiple sustainability and food security projects, including working with the Johnson & Wales Energy Conservation Office, volunteering with Save The Bay and the Providence Neighborhood Planting Program, as well as serving 2 years as the secretary for the Johnson & Wales-based club, the Student Activist Supporting Sustainability. Matthew will graduate in May 2025 from Johnson & Wales University and hopes to continue working throughout the greater New England area to support the development of healthy, safe, and equitable food systems. As Network Impact Evaluation Intern, he will be helping RIFPC think about how we measure and report on the impact of our work, particularly how we can show the connection between our activities and movement toward our mission of creating an equitable, accessible, economically vibrant, and environmentally sustainable food system in Rhode Island. In his spare time, Matthew is an avid chess player who enjoys practicing the piano and guitar as well as exploring New England’s abundant forests and mountains.

Kalliana Marek

Local Food Economy Intern

Kalliana Marek

Local Food Economy Intern

Kalliana is a dedicated environmental advocate and a double major in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems and Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island. She got her start in environmentalism while in high school, serving as co-group Leader of the Rhode Island Citizens’ Climate Lobby and volunteering with several other non-profits. Kalliana served as former RI State Senator Cynthia Mendes’s Chief of Staff for the 2022 Legislative Session and worked at Flux Marine, a start-up company developing electric outboard boat motors, as their Operations Coordinator throughout a gap year. She will graduate from URI in May of 2026. In her spare time, Kalliana loves reading (especially Tolstoy), baking, and trying new coffee shops.

Max Mason De Faria

Policy & Civic Education Manager

Max Mason De Faria

Policy & Civic Education Manager

Max is food justice researcher and policy advocate, based in Pawtucket, RI. They recently completed a Master of Food and Agriculture Law and Policy at Vermont Law School. Before coming to RIFPC, Max worked with the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School, researching food safety for donation laws, legal requirements of SNAP access at farmers markets, and equity in USDA agricultural programs. Prior to Vermont Law School, they served as an Emerson National Hunger Fellow with the Congressional Hunger Center, advocating for greater inclusion of people with lived experience in research, advocacy, and program implementation based on their own experience with childhood hunger and poverty. Max earned their B.A. in Geography and Spanish with a minor in Political Science from Clark University in Worcester, MA. They have also worked on urban farms and organic farms domestically and internationally. In their free time, Max enjoys cooking, reading, and learning languages.

Allison Montagnon

Engagement Manager

Allison Montagnon

Engagement Manager

Allison supports the Council’s growth, leading activities that strengthen capacity, foster learning and collaboration, uplift advocacy actions, and drive results and successes of partners and other stakeholders across our projects and initiatives. She has been a part of the local hospitality, food, and nonprofit sectors for over 18 years, including work with Hope & Main, local farmers markets, small food businesses, and WaterFire Providence. Allison is a Connecticut native, but after graduating from Johnson & Wales University she remains a proud Rhode Islander and currently lives in Warren. She is also an ambitious home cook, a spirited Bully breed advocate and owner, and a hopeful porch gardener.

Rachel Newman Greene

Food Access & Nutrition Security Program Director

Rachel Newman Greene

Food Access & Nutrition Security Program Director

For nearly two decades, Rachel has been working with policymakers, community-based organizations, and under-represented communities to increase equitable access to and control of the resources we need to live healthy lives. Food policy and food equity have been strong threads throughout Rachel’s career, from developing and managing community gardens in Boston and Providence, serving as the founding staff member of Sankofa World Market in Providence’s West End, and most recently driving health policy and programs as Acting Director of the City of Providence’s Healthy Communities Office. Rachel earned her MA in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University and lives with her family on the South Side of Providence.

Isaac Reid

Program Associate - Food, Climate, & Environment

Isaac Reid

Program Associate - Food, Climate, & Environment

Isaac Reid, Program Associate – Food, Climate, & Environment: Isaac has been passionately involved in local food systems since they were a child through an interest in local produce and culinary science and is thrilled to be growing that passion at the RIFPC! While in undergrad at Indiana University, Isaac worked at FARM Bloomington as a cook and pastry chef. Isaac also received their 200-hour yoga teaching certification. This led them to take a postgrad internship in Ayurvedic medicine with Banyan Botanicals at their regenerative herbal farm in Williams, Oregon. They spent days tending to the farm, nights learning, and weekends exploring the natural beauty of the Applegate Valley. Isaac couldn’t leave the West Coast just yet, they did a year of service with FoodCorps in Klamath Falls, Oregon teaching kids to cook. For Isaac’s second year of service with FoodCorps, they journeyed across the country to Providence, RI, serving in Providence Public Schools. There, Isaac and their counterpart teamed up with the RI School Recycling Project to empower kids to compost in school cafeterias district-wide. While at FoodCorps, I was selected to be a member of the Service Member Action Committee (SMAC). As the senior member of SMAC, Isaac led the committee in presenting to the executive team at FoodCorps for their Regional Equity Project. Isaac then went on to administer the Child and Adult Food Program (CACFP) and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) at the Rhode Island Department of Education.

Isaac is excited to be joining the RIFPC as the Food, Climate, and Environment Program Associate! Isaac is working to expand municipal outreach, empowering local communities to build and expand compost infrastructure statewide. Provide educational resources and proven compost infrastructure frameworks to municipal leaders. Educate community members on foodways that prevent wasted food from making it to our landfill. Isaac is also thrilled to be helping grow the Annual Rhode Island Compost Conference!

Nessa J. Richman

Executive Director

Nessa J. Richman

Executive Director

Nessa leads the Council in achieving its mission to promote a more accessible, equitable, and sustainable food system in Rhode Island. Externally, she represents the network in a variety of settings. Internally, she cultivates leadership within each of the organization’s staff. She works closely with Rhode Island’s Director of Food Strategy and other state leaders to advance good food policy and implement the Rhode Island food strategy, Relish Rhody, which is a comprehensive five-year plan unveiled in May 2017 to grow and sustain markets for locally grown food for the good of communities, the environment, and the economy. Nessa is a native Rhode Islander who returned to her hometown of South Kingstown ten years ago after living and working in Austin, Texas and the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Nessa has earned a self-designed degree in Political Economic of Natural Resources from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Rozie Schleinig

Food Business & Economic Development Program Director

Rozie Schleinig

Food Business & Economic Development Program Director

Rozie leads Council activities that support the success of Rhode Island farmers, seafood businesses, and processed food entrepreneurs. Her love for food supply chains and growing local and regional capacity has developed through her work with food hubs, including both Red Tomato and Farm Fresh RI. In addition to working in New England food systems, and at one point serving as a member of the RIFPC, she also completed her Masters in Global Finance, Trade, and Economic Integration at the University of Denver and most recently worked as a federal government consultant in Washington, DC. Rozie now lives in Narragansett and is making her way through every nature walk Rhode Island has to offer.

Kolya Sheilds

Storytelling & Engagement Intern

Kolya Sheilds

Storytelling & Engagement Intern

Kolya recently graduated from Brown University, where they studied Modern Culture and Media. As a writer, editor, and video artist, they are interested in community engagement, building more equitable, sustainable state food systems, and place-based artistic and journalistic practice. Kolya is looking forward to meeting people from across the state, working to feed Rhode Island! Kolya currently works at Small Format, a queer cooperative cafe in Providence. When not working, you can find Kolya DJing, playing basketball, or drawing.

Blong Yang

Seasonal Outreach Coordinator

Blong Yang

Seasonal Outreach Coordinator

Blong supports outreach efforts to farmers related to accessing technical assistance service providers and USDA programs. He has held many positions in the past, including engineering, commercial fishing, insurance, financial advising, and farming, and is also on staff at the Southside Community Land Trust as the Community Gardens Associate. Blong has extensive ties to Rhode Island’s Hmong Community, enjoys working outdoors, and connecting with community members.