Tom Scott retired in 2015 as Vice President and CEO for Oliver’s Markets, which owns and operates four supermarkets in Sonoma County, California. Oliver’s focuses on food produced in Sonoma County and features high quality perishables and a wide assortment of natural and conventional groceries. The National Specialty Food Association recognized Oliver’s with their Outstanding Retailer Award in 2005 and 2013. Tom received his BA in Political Science from California State University San Bernardino in 1984 and his MBA from Sonoma State University in 2005.  He was named the Distinguished Alumni for 2011 by the Sonoma State School of Business and Economics.

Tom began in the grocery business in 1974 as a box boy for Alpha Beta Stores in Riverside, California, working there through high school and college. After graduation he worked for a regional CPA firm for two years. In 1986, he became the CFO for Redwood Empire Markets, an independent grocer that operated two stores in Sonoma County. He came to Oliver’s Market in 1988 as General Manager.

After retiring, Tom opened a consulting practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, assisting independent supermarket operators in California and Wyoming. Tom took the job of SVP/General Manager for one of his clients, Jackson Whole Grocer who he worked for from 2018 to 2020, when Jackson Whole Grocer sold to Whole Foods at the end of 2020. 

Katie Miller, a wife, mother, and proud entrepreneurial farmer and rancher, owns and operates Heritage Belle Farms and the SOCO Virtual Farmers Market. An alumna of Colorado College, where she majored in a self-designed sustainable agriculture study, Katie’s career has always been driven by her desire to be an eco-conscious cowgirl and her love for real food: growing, raising, cooking, and eating it. She teaches others to do the same, as she believes this is the most important thing anyone can do to make a positive impact on the world. Perpetually juggling farm life and home life, Katie also finds time to maintain her Holistic Management Educator Accreditation with Holistic Management International (HMI) by consulting for and working with like-minded farmers and ranchers. She also finds time to work as an Independent on-farm inspector for American Grassfed Association, volunteer as a board supervisor for the El Paso County Conservation District (EPCCD), volunteer as a Colorado Agricultural Council member for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and participate in several area livestock breed associations. In the rare event of spare time, Katie enjoys horseback riding, photography, cooking, reading, and working on fiber arts projects, particularly ones for which she can use the wool from her sheep: Navajo weaving, felting, knitting, and sewing.

Lance Wheeler, his wife Lisa, and their family operate Rafter W Ranch in Simla, Colorado. Rafter W Ranch produces grass-fed, grass-finished beef and lamb, and pastured poultry in a holistically managed grazing program. The full product line is marketed directly to consumers in Colorado and surrounding states. Lance and his family are passionate about building relationships that will ensure the future of locally raised food and vibrant communities.

Margaret holds a master’s in “Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability” from BTH in Sweden and a graduate certificate from University of Denver in Renewable Energy & Sustainability. She worked in Germany for the UNEP and for Friedrich-Alexander Erlangen-Nürnberg Universität. She held the position of Intermountain Regional Sustainability Coordinator for the National Park Service and worked with the National Park Service’s Washington D.C. Office of Sustainable Operations and Climate Change before choosing to stay at home after the birth of her son and operate an organic peach orchard on the western slope of Colorado. Upon moving back to Denver, she started Stella Sustainability. She has the pleasure of working as project manager for the Rocky Mt. Food Collaborative. She dreams of the day she can get back to working on the land and riding her horse on long trail rides.

Eva Moss (she/her) is the Farm Commons Education Program Director and leads the development of Farm Commons’ educational curriculum, ensuring that workshops empower the agricultural community with critical knowledge and skills. Eva has ancestral farming roots stretching from the island of Samoa to Southern Appalachia. She holds a Master’s degree in Food and Agriculture Law and Policy from Vermont Law School and a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Sewanee: The University of the South. She has taught food policy courses at Guilford College for the Sustainable Food Systems department and has operated her own small farm business in central North Carolina. She is passionate about guiding farmers and ranchers nationwide through our programming, connecting them with knowledge and tools that cultivate healthy farm business relationships.