Staff
Working hard to build more healthy and sustainable communities.
Carla Norwood, PhD (Lumbee)
Executive Director
Carla Norwood founded Working Landscapes in order to make a contribution to the wellbeing of her home community. Carla is a big-picture visionary who is deeply dedicated to advancing a resilient future for all. She led the renovation of the historic Main Street building that houses Working Landscapes‘ offices. She holds a PhD in Ecology from the University of North Carolina and a Master’s in Environmental Management from Duke University. Carla lives on her family’s farm with her husband Gabe, three children, and numerous sheep.
carla@workinglandscapesnc.org
Maeve Broyles
Food Hub Manager
Maeve Broyles grew up on a little homestead in Ashe County, North Carolina. She has a background in food manufacturing, including being the head cheesemaker at a goat dairy before joining Working Landscapes in 2023. Her favorite vegetable is turnip greens, and she spends her time away from work with friends, family, her old man, and geriatric chihuahuas.
maeve@workinglandscapesnc.org
Gabe Cumming, PhD
Director of Strategic Initiatives
Gabe Cumming, PhD co-founded Working Landscapes with his wife Carla, who is a Warren County native. Gabe leads Working Landscapes’ efforts to support the development of a sustainable regional food system, and he currently serves as co-chair of the Kerr-Tar Food Policy Council. He supports research/consulting, partnership development, fundraising, food hub development, and food safety at Working Landscapes. Gabe, Carla, and their three children raise dairy sheep on her family’s farm.
gabriel@workinglandscapesnc.org
Melissa Ferens, MSLS
ByWay Foods Administrative Coordinator
Melissa Ferens is a native of Vance County. Melissa graduated from the School of Library Science at UNC, and first joined Working Landscapes in 2021 as an Educational Coordinator for our food literacy program for kids. Melissa has since come to deeply appreciate the role that sustainable local and regional food systems have on the resilience and well-being of our planet and our communities, and is honored to support their development through community outreach and program administration. Melissa leads the food safety team of ByWay Foods, aggregates and analyzes ByWay Foods’ business data, and provides bookkeeping support. In her free time, she enjoys watching tv shows, playing video games and trading card games, reading, and doll collecting.
melissa@workinglandscapesnc.org
Keri Fogg
Kitchen Assistant - Processing Crew
Working Landscapes
Allen Harris
ByWay Foods Processing Crew
Allen Harris, aka Mr. Allen, is a key member of our processing crew. He is our sweet potato king and joined the crew after retiring from a 40-year career in food service at a hospital in New York City. Mr. Allen has 12 kids and many more grandchildren.
Rachel Kinard, MSFS
Value Chain Manager
Rachel Kinard first joined Working Landscapes as a Climate-Smart Coordinator in 2023. Rachel holds a Master of Science in Sustainable Food Systems from Prescott College. She has over ten years of experience working on small farms in various regions along the East Coast. She also managed her own vegetable farm on leased land for several years, selling to farmers‘ markets and restaurants, and operating a CSA. Rachel’s favorite vegetables are beets and sweet potatoes. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and gardening.
rachel@workinglandscapesnc.org
Jason Maynard
Value Chain Manager
Jason Maynard first joined Working Landscapes as a Climate-Smart Coordinator. He is a passionate gardener and outdoors enthusiast with a degree in horticulture and over a decade of experience supporting Software as a Service platforms. After 14 years in tech, Jason returned to his roots and runs a micro-market garden, selling produce to a few CSA customers. Jason practices permaculture and focuses on sustainable, regenerative methods. In his free time, you will find him brewing beer, baking bread, or exploring the backcountry. Jason’s favorite savory fruit is the tomato, and his favorite sweet fruit is the strawberry. Jason believes garlic improves everything and is committed to living and growing sustainably.
jason@workinglandscapesnc.org
Jenni Rogan, MUEP
Director of Operations
Jenni Rogan started as a Climate Justice Intern at Working Landscapes in 2022 and joined the team full-time in 2023. Jenni has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology, with a focus on ecology and conservation, from Carleton College in Minnesota, and a Master’s in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia. She is passionate about advancing resilience projects and policies that work for rural communities to both strengthen their local economies and protect their environmental assets. When not at work, Jenni loves to read voraciously, get outside often, eat a garden-fresh tomato, and call her cats silly nicknames.
jenni@workinglandscapesnc.org
Josephine Schall
Value Chain Associate
Josephine Schall grew up in rural Wisconsin, then went to college in Chicago before finding her way to Working Landscapes through AmeriCorps. She now enjoys juggling a few part-time jobs: working on produce boxes and communications at Working Landscapes, doing outreach as a local rep for Horizon Solar, and running birthday parties at the Museum of Life and Science. Her favorite part of her job is working on home-delivered produce boxes for Warren County seniors -- she loves working on each step, from sourcing to packing to bringing the boxes directly to folks who can use them. In her free time, Josephine has been learning how to cook and bake with different kinds of local produce, but her favorite will always be a potato.
josephine@workinglandscapesnc.org
Jon White
Climate-Smart Ag Network Lead
Jon White grew up in Durham and developed a love of the natural world by poking around the muddy backyard creeks of the Piedmont. Through work at various schools, environmental non-profits, and farms, combined with an anthropology degree from Davidson College, he studied, lived, and worked at the places where relationships generated new, healthier ways of relating to one another and the land. Jon directed the Working Landscapes’ USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant and now helps coordinate a nationwide network of grantees responding to the cancellation. Jon enjoys sharing local food with others and swimming in rivers, and he is very grateful for the many opportunities to do both in North Carolina.
jon@workinglandscapesnc.org