Jesse Barrett has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from William Paterson University of New Jersey. Soon after college, Jesse spent over fifteen years as a high-volume kitchen and farm-to-table, fine-dining restaurant manager. His experiences as a restaurant manager led him to the realization that there were major flaws in how our food system operates. Passionate to make a change, Jesse is now a Farm Operations Specialist and looks forward to improving our local and national food system through regenerative organic agriculture. Most recently, Jesse has been training as a compost production specialist for Rodale Institute. This includes the management of the compost yard and maintaining the compost production in accordance with the National Organic Program standards.

Lily Means is the assistant farm manager at the Rodale Institute, a non-profit organization whose focus is to conduct agricultural research and improve soil health through the implementation of regenerative organic farming practices. At Rodale, Lily works with several research projects, as well as the on-site composting operation. She has been farming in the southeastern region of Pennsylvania for 10 years, with a focus on organic vegetable production.

Hayly Hoch, Allegheny County Conservation District's Natural Resource Outreach Educator, manages the Urban Soils Program and provides Urban Grower Technical Assistance in the Pittsburgh region. Her background in urban agriculture, green infrastructure, youth education and community development provides a solid foundation for working to protect, restore, and preserve Allegheny County's soil and water resources. 

Margaret Sams holds a master’s degree in soil science from Penn State University, and is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist. While working at an environmental consulting firm to revegetate strip mines and landfills, she was asked by the firm's archaeologists if she could determine the relative age of soil profiles in areas where they were finding Native American artifacts. This resulted in the marriage of two disciplines - archaeology and soil science, to identify soils with a high potential to hold prehistoric occupation sites, which has kept Margaret busy since 1985. Thirty-three years later, she wanted to get back to the basics of actually growing plants, so she joined the Washington County Master Gardeners in 2018 and has climbed back into the science of gardening!  

Dr. Elsa Sánchez’s extension program is focused on the production of vegetable crops with a particular focus on environmental sustainability. The goal is to develop and disseminate science-based information to assist gardeners in making informed nutrient decisions. She works in both organic and conventional vegetable systems. Her focus is on studying production issues including cultivar evaluation, nutrient management with organic nutrient sources and cultural pest management strategies. 

Dora Walmsley, Grow Pittsburgh’s Director of Community Projects, supports the Community Projects team in starting new and supporting established community gardens while working to protect land use in our region for the long-term. Dora's work over the past two decades has largely focused on food security, community development and entrepreneurship. She currently serves as co-chair to the Three Rivers Agricultural Land Initiative Steering (TRALI) Committee and is an appointed board member of the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County (RAAC).