OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
anne adams
BOARD PRESIDENT
Anne is the owner and publisher of The Recorder, a weekly newspaper serving Allegheny, Bath, and Highland counties. She’s been a resident of Highland since 1990, where she and her husband raised six children. She currently serves as president of the Virginia Press Foundation, a member of the Virginia Press Association board, and on the board of Dare to Dream Therapeutic Horsemanship Center.
Wendy gray
vice PRESIDENT
Born and raised in Staunton, VA, Wendy spent a lot of her time in Highland County where her mother was born and her Grandfather taught in a one room schoolhouse. After attending VCU School of Arts in Richmond, she later returned to the mountains to raise her daughter. She is now working with Doniga Markegard from Kiss the Ground as part of a team hired to restore the land through soil remediation while growing medicinal herbs and mushrooms and developing products wild foraged from the land.
noah goldstein
Treasurer
Noah Goldstein is a Doctor of Chinese Medicine, somatic coach, and facilitator whose work centers on embodied healing and helping people deepen their connection to what matters most. Through his practice at Heartseed Health and as founder of Council of Fathers, Noah guides individuals and communities toward greater presence, authenticity, and relational wholeness.
Noah's commitment to ecological consciousness and place-based community runs through all his work. He lives in Boulder, CO, where he tends a small plot of land with his wife Rachael and their three children, practicing the kind of intimate relationship with soil, season, and bioregion that he believes is essential for our collective healing.
Noah has returned from serving on AMI's founding board from 2014-2018.
laurie berman
founder
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Laurie moved to Virginia in 1975 as a homesteader to live within nature and become food self-sufficient. Her commitment to protecting natural systems and improving her community led her to take a leading role in local environmental protection and community development as a Founding Board member of Highland County Arts Council, The Highland Center, Highlanders for Responsible Development, Allegheny Mountain School/Institute, and later as Board member of Valley Conservation Council and Virginia Food Systems Council. Laurie's passion for seasonal eating for optimum health and well-being has recently shifted her focus to inspiring others to enjoy 'Farm to Table' as the proprietor of Newtown Baking & Kitchen. She is an avid naturalist, music maker, wild-crafter, and mother of three grown daughters who all share her love of gardening, earth stewardship, fresh cuisine, and the vision that if we nurture our land and our watershed appropriately, we can provide well for ourselves and our communities.