David Brenner, President
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David is a germplasm Curator at the North Central Region Plant Introduction Station, part of the Agronomy Department at Iowa State University. He maintains the collections of Amaranthus, Celosia, Chenopodium, Coronilla, Dalea, Galega, Melilotus, Perilla, and Spinacia, miscellaneous Umbelliferae, and the millets: Echinochloa, Panicum, and Setaria. He distributes seeds worldwide for breeding and other research projects. His duties include seed regeneration, improving methods for growth, and controlled pollination in seed regeneration. To improve communication among breeders and other users of these seed collections, David participates in Crop Germplasm Committees. For the crops he curates, he maintains publicly available electronic data on the Germplasm Resources Information Network. He conducts plant breeding research involving dwarfing, reduced seed shattering and male sterility in amaranths. He also corrects taxonomic identifications. http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=8642&page=2 

Alan Weber, Treasurer
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Mr. Alan Weber serves as staff economist for the Jefferson Institute, a non-profit corporation working with farmers on crop diversification. In this role, Weber provides economic analyses of alternative crop profitability and helps to develop market opportunities for producers growing alternative crops in Missouri and other parts of the Midwest. Weber is also a founding partner of MARC-IV, a consulting company that specializes in the development of industrial products from agricultural resources. Some of Mr. Weber’s current MARC-IV responsibilities include positioning biodiesel in the US alternative fuels marketplace. Active with biodiesel commercialization activities since 1991, Mr. Weber assisted with the establishment of the National Biodiesel Board’s Washington, DC office and continues to provide economic & technical support to their efforts.

Weber is a recipient of the 2007 National Biodiesel Board's Outstanding Service Award and the NBB Industry Outstanding Commitment Award in 2000. He was also selected for the Columbia, MO Business Times “Forty Under Forty” Class of 2005 Award. Weber has served as President of the Board of Directors for the Agricultural Leadership of Tomorrow Foundation and currently serves on the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Ag Alumni Association Board. Weber completed his undergraduate training in agricultural economics at the University of Missouri, graduating with honors, Summa Cum Laude.

Katherine Lorenz, Board Member
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Katherine Lorenz co-founded Puente a la Salud Comunitaria in 2003, serving as Co-Director and later Executive Director until 2008. Katherine returned to the US in September 2008 and now is Deputy Director for the Institute for Philanthropy (www.instituteforphilanthropy.org), whose mission is to increase effective philanthropy in the UK and internationally. Through offices in London and New York, the Institute for Philanthropy provides education and advisory services to donors, builds philanthropy networks in the UK and around the world, and works to raise the awareness and understanding of philanthropy.

Before founding Puente, she spent two summers living and working in rural, poor communities in Latin America with the volunteer program Amigos de las Américas and now serves on their Program Committee and is a trustee of the Amigos de las Americas Foundation. Additionally, she serves on the Boards of Directors of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation and the Endowment for Regional Sustainability Science, and she is the President of the Amaranth Institute. Along with her family, Ms. Lorenz is a member of the Global Philanthropists Circle (through the Synergos Institute) and is an active participant in the GPC Next Generation subgroup. Ms. Lorenz holds a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Davidson College.

Gerónimo Watson, Board Member
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Gerónimo joined the Instituto de Agrobiotecnología Rosario (INDEAR) at the end of 2005 as a member of the Amaranthus research team. The team undertook an extensive germplasm evaluation across several Argentine provinces, initiated a breeding program, developed management practices and coordinated the production and commercialization of amaranth for a network of farmers. As of march of 2009, he is the head of Development of INDEAR.

Pete Noll, Board Member
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Pete Noll serves as the Executive Director of Puente a la Salud Comunitaria since June 2008.  Beforehand, he worked for two years as the Deputy Director, for the Democracy without Borders Foundation, located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He graduated from the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University in 2006. His senior thesis project focused on technology and development related to ‘continuity of healthcare’ in rural Haiti. From 2002 - 2004, he acted as the Executive Director of a nonprofit organization (CORAL, A.C.) in Oaxaca, Mexico. He was a micro-enterprise development coordinator for the Peace Corps in Guatemala from 1998 – 2000 and a Logistics Manager & Social Outreach Promoter with the Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF) in El Salvador following the 2001 earthquakes. Pete joined Puente in June of 2008.

Jason Avent, Board Member
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Jason Avent is a geneticist using amaranth as a model system for the epigenetic control of betalain pigmentation.  He has bred amaranth for 8 years to increase the concentration of pigment and the variations of pigment patterns.

Jason successfully invented, marketed, licensed, and patented the technology for the betalain colorimetric indicator of oxidation.  The invention uses natural pigments from beets to provide a direct color-changing indicator of a product's oxidation status.  This brings the wisdom of the produce aisle to other consumer goods with a simple comparison to the color standard- red is good and brown is bad.  This system could eventually replace expiration dates on a wide variety of products enhancing consumer safety and reducing unnecessary waste. The patent application is # 20080268547 “Systems and Methods for Indicating Oxidation of Consumer Products”. 

Jason helped perform experiments and author the following article which used betalain pigments to sensitize dye solar cells (DSC).  These photovoltaics operate in a manner similar to photosynthesis and the utilization of betalains as sensitizing dyes may offer the opportunity for homegrown photovoltaics.

Enrique Kaufman, Board Member

Dorothy Nakimbugwe, Board Member