Our Staff
Liz Moran Stelk
Executive Director
Liz is a veteran organizer bringing experience in sustainable agriculture policy and building powerful organizations to the Alliance. Liz previously served as a Regional Organizer with the Western Organization of Resource Councils in Montana where she worked with farmers and ranchers in seven states on local, state and federal food and agricultural policy. She formerly organized health care workers with SEIU Healthcare Illinois and has led field work for a variety of grassroots and electoral campaigns.
Liz rupel
Deputy director
Liz started working for the Alliance as an Old Capitol Farmer’s Market staff member in 2016 and in 2018 accepted the position as Policy Organizer. As the Policy Organizer, Liz engages with members to create change in our local food and farm systems. Liz will recruit and equip potential leaders from among our current membership and engage in strategies to recruit new members to the organization.
Liz has been a Springfield resident for most of her adult life and attributes her connection to local food and farm systems to her work on local farms and at local farm-to-table restaurants. She is an advocate for local and sustainable food and is looking forward to helping Illinois build the same passion. She graduated from the University of Illinois Springfield with a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Environmental Studies with a focus of policy and sustainable development. In her spare time, Liz loves to be outdoors, garden, travel, and experiment in the kitchen.
Molly pickering
Policy Director
Molly joined the Illinois Stewardship Alliance team in January 2014. As Deputy Director, Molly oversees the Alliance’s internal programs and processes and outgoing messaging. Molly also plays a large role in the Alliance’s advocacy efforts, working with members to build relationships with policymakers, state agencies, and partner organizations; draft and negotiate bills; and build campaigns.
Molly was raised on a third generation family farm in Elkhart, Illinois, and has always felt a strong connection to agriculture and the land, and also to travel and art. Growing up she was part of her local 4-H and FFA chapters. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish Education from Illinois State University, and a Master’s Degree in Communications from Purdue. In her spare time, you can find her in the kitchen testing out new recipes, dabbling with watercolors, and playing with her five backyard chickens.
Melissa Frueh
Development Director
Melissa joins the Alliance team after spending nearly a decade in Denver, CO where she completed her Bachelor’s in Communications from the University of Colorado, obtained a certificate in Permaculture Design, championed healthy food for all, and made friends with goats. She has volunteered for various food and urban agriculture based organizations, including food rescues, community gardens, and healthy food access hubs. Melissa also built community in the education sector, working as a development specialist for a K-8 school.
In her spare time, you can find Melissa exploring new trails (binoculars in hand), rescuing houseplants, and creating veggie-inspired artwork. She is eager to be back home in Chicago, where she intends to try every farm-to-table restaurant she can find, and build connections between rural and urban food growers and appreciators.
Nathan Ryder
Communications Coordinator
Nathan has taken a long and twisty country road to get to the Illinois Stewardship Alliance but knows he’s finally found “his fellow farm people.” Born and raised in Arizona, Nathan studied journalism at Arizona State University and launched his decade-long career as a TV news reporter and anchor. Nathan and his wife knew they wanted to be self-sufficient and that would require a move across the country where land was cheaper and rain regularly fell from the sky.
They landed first in Indiana where they grew their homesteading dreams from their tiny but productive urban backyard and worked to win over the local homeowner’s association while sharing loads of fresh vegetables and chicken eggs with their neighbors.
Those homesteading dreams led Nathan and his newly growing family to southern Illinois where they spent three seasons learning the operations of large-scale agronomy farms, cattle rearing, orcharding, and high-tunnels. They finally found their forever farm, landing on 10-acres nestled between the rolling hills of the Shawnee National Forest and the banks of the Ohio River in Pope County.
Nathan recently led a non-profit Beginning Farmer program inside Vienna Correctional Center where he taught incarcerated men how to grow small-scale market gardens and specialty fruits, vegetables, and flowers in the hopes of providing them a means to be self-sufficient as a farmer/entrepreneur after their release from the prison system.
Launching his own farm alongside his wife, Nathan understands the importance of local food growers and consumers first-hand. He hopes to share their stories and help to build an equitable, just food-system that is resilient and continues to grow throughout the Land of Lincoln into the future.
Ed Dubrick
Policy Organizer
Ed started working with the Alliance in September of 2023. His life’s journey took him through a path of agricultural sales roles to get here.
He spent his career helping farmers address their precision farming equipment, row crop input, and insurance needs before finding his true passion in working with farmers to find solutions to their policy concerns. Before coming on staff, Ed was an active member of the Local Food Farmers Caucus and still is a farmer himself growing poultry and produce.
Aside from when he attended the University of Illinois for a bachelor’s degree in Technical Systems Management, Ed has been a lifelong resident of Cissna Park where he stays involved in multiple community organizations. He is an advocate for local, regenerative agriculture and promotes it every chance he gets. He has raised cattle, swine and poultry and has a deep rooted passion for animal agriculture. In his spare time, Ed loves catching up on farm tasks and spending time with his wife and kids.
Trish Schlobohm
operations manager
I am from the Springfield, IL area (raised in Petersburg) but spent 20 years in Portland, OR. My educational background includes a Biology BS and a Master of Science Teaching. Before joining ISA, I worked for UIS from 2017-2024, most recently as Business Operations Specialist for UIS Innovate Springfield (I also served as Office Manager and Program Coordinator during my time there). Additionally, as some of you may know, I own and operate Schlo-Food LLC, an Illinois Cottage Food business that produces live-ferment sauerkraut and kimchi. I generally set up shop at the Old Capitol Farmers Market every last Saturday of the month, but I also do direct-to-customer sales between markets. I am a lover of nature and everything food-related. I love the downtown Springfield community and am overjoyed to be working for an organization that works so hard to make Illinois a better place for everyone.
jeff hake
policy organizer
Jeff joined the Alliance in 2023. He studied horticulture and agriculture at the University of Maine, and acquired a Master’s Degree in agricultural practice and education from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. All along, he was obsessed with growing things, incessantly starting gardens and working in nurseries and on farms whenever possible. He moved from Maine to Champaign in 2014 to take a position as farmer training program manager with The Land Connection, met Katie Funk through that job since she and her brother were working on starting their own farm, and moved to McLean, IL with Katie in 2018.
Katie, her brother Jonathan, and Jeff have been farming together ever since as Funks Grove Heritage Fruits & Grains, growing and processing fruits and grains into value-added products which they sell through retailers around the state. The Funk family is known for its maple sirup farm in Shirley, IL, and Jeff sometimes helps with that operation. He also helped found the Central Illinois Young Farmers Coalition in 2019 and he and Katie were the original managers of FarmFED Cooperative in Mt. Pulaski in 2020 and 2021, where he still serves on the board.
lashawn miller
Policy Organizer
LaShawn Miller is a passionate advocate for equitable food systems and sustainable agriculture, bringing a wealth of experience and dedication to her role as Policy Organizer at the Illinois Stewardship Alliance.
With over 15 years of project management expertise and a deep commitment to addressing systemic inequities in food access, LaShawn is a powerful voice for change in Illinois’ agricultural policies. As the founder of Finding Justice A Flower and Vegetable Garden, LaShawn has worked tirelessly to combat food deserts and diet-related illnesses in her community by providing fresh, locally grown produce and nutrition education. Her hands-on experience in urban farming, community engagement, and educational programming has made her a trusted leader in the fight for food sovereignty and justice.
LaShawn’s ability to bridge grassroots organizing with policy advocacy makes her an invaluable asset to the Illinois Stewardship Alliance. Her work is driven by a clear purpose: to uplift marginalized communities, amplify their voices, and create policies that ensure everyone has access to healthy, sustainable food options. With her leadership, the Alliance is poised to make significant strides toward building a more equitable and resilient food system.
Reese Rathjen Amyx
policy organizer
Reese Rathjen Amyx is a grassroots organizer with twenty years of experience organizing people and resources to build power and create lasting change.
Beginning in 2011, Reese spent several years in Washington, D.C. and New York City, working with national LGBTQ+ and labor organizations. In roles encompassing organizing, fundraising, and communications, Reese supported local and statewide base-building efforts, legislative campaigns, and ballot initiatives, traveling extensively to provide on-the-ground support.
In 2021, Reese and his wife, Alison, and son, Parker, relocated from the New York City suburbs to rural Henry County, Illinois, returning to Reese’s childhood home. Driven by a desire to be rooted in community and family, and with an awareness of the escalating climate crisis, they sought a more sustainable lifestyle and space to begin a family farm operation.
A hallmark of Reese’s organizing approach is the emphasis on building strong relationships. Through thousands of one-on-one conversations and bridge-building between faith, labor, and LGBTQ+ institutions, Reese has cultivated a deep understanding of how to connect with individuals and build coalitions based on shared values.
As a rural Illinoisan deeply committed to community and sustainability, Reese is eager to apply his skills and experience to the Policy Organizer position with the Illinois Stewardship Alliance.
Kiara Jackson
Illinois Food Justice Alliance
Good Food Purchasing Campaign Director
Kiara joined the Alliance in May 2023 after working across sectors in education, non-profit, and government. She is a California native, who moved to Chicago for graduate school, and decided to stay and plant roots in Chicago.
As the director of the Illinois Food Justice Alliance (IFJA), Kiara will work with the IFJA coalition, a multi-sector and multi-racial coalition, to pass the Good Food Purchasing Program at the state level and other policies to improve the Illinois’ food and farm systems. Kiara is new to the agricultural space and looks forward to building power and organizing and supporting stakeholders for the hope of a better tomorrow.
Kiara graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Bachelors in sociology and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy. In her spare time, she is catching up with her family in California, reading or watching her favorite tv shows.
Board of Directors
- Chad Wallace — President
- Warren Bakker — Vice President
- Shari O’Donnell
- Amy Bartucci
- Rachel Berry
- Ryan Smith
- Amy Cook
- Jessica Eder
- Laura Miller Hill
- Dane Holmes
- Kim Ross
- Jason Weedon
