Staff List
OMRI Management
Oversight of the day-to-day operations is the responsibility of the Executive Director/CEO. The Executive Director/CEO works in cooperation with the OMRI Management Team, which is comprised of the Executive Director/CEO, the Program Director, the Operations Director, the Information Technology Director, and the Marketing Manager. The Management Team is responsible for review and maintenance of the quality system.
Executive Director/CEO
Peggy Miars (phone extension: 102) came to OMRI in 2010 from California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), where she served for six years as the Executive Director/CEO. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Western Michigan University and completed post-graduate courses in nonprofit management at Regis University in Colorado Springs. Peggy has worked in the organic industry for more than 17 years, previously in marketing and management positions with Earthbound Farm, Whole Foods Market, Granary Market, various nonprofit organizations, and her own marketing consulting business. She completed IOIA inspector training for crops in 2007.
Program Director
Lindsay Fernandez-Salvador (phone extension 117) holds a B.S. from Oregon State University in Natural Resource Management and an M.S. from University of Florida in Geography. She has over 10 years of work experience on both conventional and organic farms in Oregon. Her graduate research thesis examined market conditions that contribute to small organic farm success. Through this research she became familiar with organic standards and issues facing organic farmers. Prior to attending graduate school, she worked as a forest technician and GIS technician. She has lived and worked in Latin America, and is fluent in Spanish. She has been with OMRI since 2009.
Information Technology Director
Brian Basor (phone extension: 108) holds a B.S. from Humboldt State University. He began working in the field of information technology in 1996, including server programming, GIS modeling, website design, and database programming. He helped bring internet and telephone services to the Hurricane Katrina disaster zone using radio transmission. Brian also has experience and education in plant ecology, botany, environmental biology, and organic agriculture.
Operations Director
Eliza Kashinsky (phone extension: 125) received a B.A. in Political Science from SUNY Albany. She served in various operational roles at Freedom House, a nonprofit focused on international democracy. Prior to joining OMRI, she was Chief of Staff for the Secular Coalition for America in Washington, D.C. When not working, she enjoys helping backstage in community theaters.
Marketing Manager
Amy Bradsher (phone extension: 106) graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. She has worked in several environmental and educational nonprofit organizations throughout Eugene and the San Francisco Bay Area, coordinating programs and outreach efforts. She studied organic agriculture while working with Ecology Action, a nonprofit focused on promoting low-input Biointensive farming.
Review Program Technical Manager
Deder Siedler (phone extension: 111) spent three years as a Product Review Coordinator before becoming Review Program Technical Manager in 2011. He came to OMRI after earning a BS and MS in Biology from the University of Oregon where he worked as a Laboratory Manager and Research Assistant. His thesis work involved the intersection of evolution, entomology, biological clocks, and climate change.
Review Program Administrative Manager
Corinne Kolm (phone extension: 126) holds a B.A. in Biology from Wellesley College and an M.S. in Agroecology from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, an international program that includes coursework and organic farm stays in Norway, Denmark and Italy. She has several years of experience in organic certification as an inspector and reviewer for crop, livestock, processing and textile operations to US and international standards. Prior to coming to OMRI, Corinne most recently served as the Certification Manager at OneCert, Inc. She has also worked as a technician for the USDA, and she coordinated the inaugural year of the Buy Fresh, Buy Local Nebraska program.
Inspections Coordinator
Annie Amos (phone extension 116) received a B.S. in Natural Resources with a minor in Adult and Extension Education from Cornell University. She previously worked in the environmental education field and in program management for nonprofit organizations. She has been at OMRI since 2009 fulfilling roles as the Application Specialist, Product Review Coordinator, and now as Inspections Coordinator. Annie successfully completed the Basic Processing IOIA Inspector Course in 2010.
Project Specialist
Tina Jensen Augustine holds an M.S. in soil science from the University of Washington with a thesis on the effects of nitrogen-fixing trees on soil quality and erosion control in small scale, mountainous agriculture. Her experience includes a 3-month internship for an agriculture/nutrition non-profit in Central America and 5 months of work trade on two different organic farms. In November 2006 Tina attended an IOIA basic farm training in Costa Rica, which provided training on understanding and applying the NOP Rule and included a mock inspection of an organic farm.
Application Specialist
Tara Sistrunk (phone extension 105) holds a B.S. in Agriculture and Food Systems, majoring in Organic Agriculture Systems, and a B.S. in Soil Science from Washington State University. She has completed courses and internships on certified organic farms and managed a transitional market garden in Spokane, WA. Since 2005 she has been helping others plan and implement urban organic gardens in and around her community.
Product Review Coordinators
Andria Schulze (phone extension: 112) holds a B.S. in Geology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where she researched the accumulation of PCBs in the Hudson River, worked in the high-pressure/high-temperature geochemistry lab. She has professional experience in many areas including: quality assurance in the food industry, laboratory analysis, and geotechnical assessment. She has been at OMRI since 2009 and successfully completed the Crops IOIA Inspector Course in 2010.
Amber Lippert (phone extension: 119) holds a B.S. in Agriculture from Oregon State University and credit towards a Masters of Agriculture Education. As a student, Amber worked in the OSU horticulture department assisting with breeding, seed saving and field trials of open pollinated broccoli and other field crops. Her professional experience includes seven years of work on organic and transitional farms in Oregon and Washington, including coordinating successful transition to organic certification. She has also worked and studied on farms in Latin America and Hawaii. Amber continues to grow vegetables and raise laying hens on her family farm.
Doug Currier (phone extension: 113) holds a BA in Geography from the University of South Florida and an MSc in Organic Farming from the Scottish Agricultural College where his dissertation focused on public sector procurement and the organic sector, specifically identifying and overcoming barriers to the procurement and supply of organic produce in schools in the English County of Cornwall. Prior to joining OMRI, Doug worked on a small organic holding in East Lothian, Scotland as an assistant grower and bookkeeper and also as a shop assistant at a certified organic whole foods retailer.
Sam Schaefer-Joel (phone extension: 127) holds a B.S. in Biochemistry from Western Washington University and a M.S. in Plant Biology from the University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist Program, where he developed and taught a class on nutrient cycling in agro-ecosystems. He has worked on organic farms in Washington, Oregon, California, Vermont, and Mexico and has additional professional experience as a laboratory technician, ecological consultant, and college instructor. Sam is competent in written and spoken Spanish.
Taryn Kennedy (phone extension: 109) holds a B.A. in Agroecology from Prescott College and an M.S. in Soils and Biogeochemistry from UC Davis, where she evaluated greenhouse gas emissions from tomato cropping systems. Her research demonstrated that the practices of drip irrigation and fertigation significantly reduced nitrous oxide emissions compared to furrow irrigation and sidedress fertilizer application. Prior to joining OMRI, Taryn worked as the Outreach and Education Coordinator for the Agroecology Lab at UC Davis and as a consultant for the California Climate and Agriculture Network.
Jason Stein (phone extension: 114) holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Western Washington University and an M.S. in Chemistry from Washington State University. While a student, he performed research in the synthesis of hydrogen sulfide donor molecules. Professionally, he has interned at both the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, working to analyze the composition of lunar regolith from the Apollo 16 mission, and the NASA Langley Research Center, tracking and monitoring tropospheric pollutants in the Hampton Bay region. He has also performed volunteer work monitoring soil and atmospheric pollutants in Eugene.
Review Program Assistants
Tony Selvey (phone extension 120) received a B.S. in Sociology with a minor in Economics. He has worked and interned in several capacities in the nonprofit sector, including administrative support, fundraising, and community organization. He is also a writer and an avid book collector.
Sarah Shmigelsky (phone extension: 104) holds a B.A. in Communications from Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo. Her experience includes working at various corporate and non-profit organizations where she provided project coordination, marketing support and administrative expertise. Sarah hails from Kansas City, Mo. where she helped organize community food system projects including a food buying club, a food policy council, and a chapter of Food Not Lawns. She has completed several extension and community courses about agriculture. She has enjoyed working at organic farms in Minnesota and Kansas.
Jessica Southwick (phone extension: 118) graduated from Central Washington University with a B.S in Primate Behavior and a B.S. in Biology. She originally comes from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Jessica has worked on organic farms in New Zealand and Central Washington, and her interests include ecology and wildlife conservation.
Renewals Coordinator
Cindy Coachman (phone extension: 101) has completed 2 years of college and has had specialized on-the-job training in customer service, business procedures, money handling, security procedures, credit approvals, document management, and processing of many types of transactions. Cindy has over 20 years experience in business offices and 13 years experience as a small business owner.
Software Programmer
Tim Sawyer (phone extension: 128) received a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Oregon. His information services experience includes database and application programming, business and systems analysis, and user support. Tim worked in environmental science, specifically air quality, for nearly 15 years and has experience ranging from building pollution monitoring devices to performing air dispersion modeling.
Information Technology Specialist
Todd Ziglinski (phone extension: 115) received a B.S. from the University of Oregon in Journalism/Telecommunications. He has been in the information technology field since 1990 with a focus on infrastructure, networking, telecom, OS support, and help desk. He previously worked for organizations that focus on IT research as well as education.
Jim Speakman (phone extension: 129) holds an M.A. in Education and a B.S. in Information Technology with an emphasis on Operating Systems and Programming. He has most recently worked as an elementary school teacher, and he continues to stay involved with the community and educational programs in the area.
Marketing Assistant
Nancy Henderson (phone extension: 122) graduated from Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR with a B.S. degree in Speech Communications. Her career in marketing has taken her from Seattle to San Francisco and back to Eugene where she grew up. Nancy is experienced in the design and layout of marketing and sales materials, events coordination, and administrative assistant duties. One of her favorite volunteering experiences was delivering meals to the elderly for the American Red Cross “Meals-on-Wheels” program.
Bookkeeper
Melody Carr (phone extension: 103) holds an M.A. and a B.A. in the Humanities from Western Oregon University and performed work toward a Ph.D in English at the University of Oregon. She has also completed accounting and computer programming classes at Lane Community College. Melody was the bookkeeper for Surata Soyfoods Cooperative from 1989-1995 where she programmed their manual accounting system onto a computer system using dBASE and Lotus 123. She worked as an independent bookkeeper and copy editor for several years for various publishers and for Peralandra Bookstore. She began work as OMRI's bookkeeper in 1998.
Administrative Supervisor/Bookkeeping Assistant
Blyss Hansen (phone extension: 121) holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of Wyoming with emphasis on human and multi-media communications. She has over ten years experience working with the public and over five years experience in the nonprofit sector. Blyss has completed internships in the public relations and education fields and served as the Director of Operations and Development for a science museum in Wyoming.
Administrative Specialist
Ginger Morton (phone extension: 100) attended Rogue Community College where she earned an AA in Accounting. She later attended the University of Alaska Southeast, focusing on law and computer science. She has over 20 years of office experience, much of which involved public interaction, and one year of experience working with nonprofit agencies. Ginger retired from the State of Alaska in 2009 after serving ten years as the Executive Director of a state regulated professional licensing board.