MEET OUR TEAM
fred gifford
farm manager
Fred brings years of hands-on experience in sustainable agriculture to his role as Farm Manager at Allegheny Mountain Institute. He oversees daily farm operations, including managing the market garden and coordinating with local farmers markets and food pantries to support AMI’s mission of food access and community resilience. His background includes managing CSA programs and working with small-scale, regenerative farms across western Maryland and West Virginia. He holds an academic background in Wildlife and Natural Resources with a focus in Agroecology, which informs his land-conscious approach to farming.
lindsey hayes
farm assistant
Lindsey Hayes has lived in the higher Allegheny mountains of WV for the last 22 years. She moved here to work on stream restoration projects on the Monongahela NF, and has since fallen in love with these mountain ecosystems. She spends her time immersed in all things organic farming, enjoying constantly learning from the earth, growing fruits, vegetables, chickens and homeschooling her two girls. She has experience with local farmers markets, CSAs, and preparing and selling herbal remedies.
jamie sauNders
programs coordinator
Jamie manages community and farm programming events. Her experience encompasses over a decade in Appalachian food systems, finance and creating systems where healthy, sustainable choices are available to rural communities. She believes extending the knowledge of growing, and preparing Folk Foods is an act of resiliency demonstrated by the Appalachian region. In her free time you can find her swimming, reading, taking plant cutting to propagate, gardening, cooking, and hiking with her dog, Murph.
emma fawley
farm Assistant
Emma joins the team at AMI with a heart for empowering rural community through knowledge of generational folk resilience. Her background includes teaching fora conservationist gardening summer program, where she educated elementary school-aged children about sustainability and preservation efforts. She believes that good food for all should not be a radical concept, and wants to be active in her part of this mission by stewarding the soil to supply good food for the belly and soul. In her free time, she can be found gardening on her family's regenerative farm, fermenting anything and everything, and trail running around the beautiful Allegheny Highlands.
Sarah fitzgerald
communications assistant
​
Sarah manages Allegheny Mountain Institute's website. She has experience in administrative work, technology and social media presence, and a million other unrelated things. When she's not working, she enjoys quad skating, playing with her cat, tending to her own garden, and enjoying live music with her husband Cameron.
RICK GATLIN
Administrative Assistant
and Bookkeeper
Rick comes to AMI with over 30 years of accounting and business management experience. He worked with grants, capital budgets, and accounting software implementation at the University of Virginia. He also put in many years of corporate accounting at the former Rocco, Inc, poultry company in Harrisonburg. A graduate of James Madison University, Rick originally hails from Tidewater, Virginia, but has developed deep roots here in the Shenandoah Valley. When not trying to get on the golf course, his other passion is training, showing, and loving his herd of English Springer Spaniels.
farm pest management team
​​
murph
fin
cora
