National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture announces the selection of its next executive director

For immediate release:
April 27, 2005

The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture is pleased to announce the selection of Deborah M. Burd, of Strong, Maine, as its next Executive Director, effective June 1.

“We’re excited to bring Deb’s experience with issues affecting rural America to the Campaign,” say Thomas Forster and Archer Christian, co-chairs of the National Campaign. “She has worked for twenty years building connections between organizations which represent the breadth of rural communities.”

Deb Burd has served for the past ten years as Executive Director of the Western Mountains Alliance, an organization that serves four counties in western Maine. She’s been involved in many aspects of community development including agricultural policy, helping to create a loan fund for small farmers and building local market opportunities throughout the region. Deb has also been a leader in developing policies that affect rural communities, serving as a board member for the Maine Rural Development Council and the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

The hiring of Deb Burd is the conclusion of a nationwide search and selection process, which began late last year. She will succeed Kathy Lawrence, who has served as the Campaign’s Executive Director since 1998. Kathy plans to pursue personal interests in music after she concludes a current project focused on developing alternative commodity policies.

Burd is a graduate of the University of Maine. She currently serves on the boards of Coastal Enterprises, Inc., a community development finance corporation; the Washburn-Norlands Living History Center, Maine WoodNet and is a founding board member of GrowSmart Maine.

The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture is an alliance of hundreds of organizations from across the country that work together to build a sustainable agriculture. The Campaign brings together
interests ranging from farmers to farmworkers, building the links that tie urban and rural communities together.

“We are excited about the skills Deb brings to expand the connections between agricultural, rural development, food security, and environmental justice organizations across the country, and to significantly strengthen the essential national grassroots advocacy network we have been building”, says Archer Christian, Campaign co-chair. “We are ready to go to work with our dynamic new executive in fully realizing the National Campaign’s unique and critical role in bringing about positive systemic change in food and agriculture policy in the years ahead.”

National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture Inc.
P.O. Box 396, Pine Bush, NY 12566
845.361.5201  845.361.5204 fax
campaign@sustainableagriculture.net
www.sustainableagriculture.net