Nicholas Comerci
Board President. Nick is a soil conservationist with an animal science degree from Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture, and a Masters in Vocational Agricultural Education. He has been active in natural resource and farm planning for 20 years. Nick is employed by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and works with farmers in the northeast kingdom of Vermont on manure management and water quality issues.

Fletcher Dean
Secretary of Board. Fletcher earned his B.A. from Middlebury College. He teaches at the U-32 High School Apartment Program, specializing in independent living skills for transition and employment for students with developmental disabilities. He started the school gardens and helped initiate the cafeteria composting program with students and staff. He is a strong supporter of efforts to integrate sustainability concepts into the curriculum. He brings his experience of eight years as a Board member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, as well as eight years of public relations at Ben and Jerry’s, where he was active in carrying out their Social Mission. He has been a passionate backyard gardener for over thirty years, homesteading with his wife for 20 years in their Calais solar home. He also enjoys volunteering in the community.

Grace Gershuny
Board Member. Nationally known in the alternative agriculture movement, having worked for over thirty years as an organizer, educator, author and consultant, as well as a local organic market gardener.  She has written several books and numerous articles on soil management and composting, including "The Soul of Soil", coauthored with Joe Smillie, and "Start with the Soil", published by Rodale Press.  She was the editor of "Organic Farmer: The Digest of Sustainable Agriculture" for its four year existence. In the seventies and eighties Grace worked for the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) in many capacities, including developing its first organic certification program in 1977, and was a founding member of the Organic Trade Association. 

From 1994-99 she served on the staff of USDA National Organic Program, and was a principal author of its first, much maligned proposed rule.  She is now consulting for the organic industry, doing a few inspections here and there, and working on a book about the real meaning of organic. Grace has taught about gardening and agriculture issues at various schools and colleges, including Goddard, Sterling, Burlington College, and now Prescott College in Arizona.  A long time faculty member at the Institute for Social Ecology, she continues to serve on its Board.  She lives, gardens and composts in Barnet, VT.

Susan Alexander
Susan is an Agricultural Resource Specialist with the Winooski Conservation District.   She earned her degree in Soil Science from Cornell University and has done graduate work in hydrology.  She brings her keen interest in sustainable agriculture and viable communities to the board.  Susan has extensive professional experience in soil science, hydrogeology, water quality, regulations, solid waste management planning, as well as working directly with farmers.  In her work for the Conservation Districts Susan concentrates on water quality outreach and education to farmers/landowners and is writing the agriculture chapters for the Winooski River and Lake Memphremagog Watershed Plans.

Susan conducts outreach to farmers on Accepted Agricultural Practices, connects them with resources and programs to meet regulatory standards, and works with them nutrient management planning.  Each fall and winter she works with individual farms to site stacking/spreading areas if they are unable to contain their manure during the spreading ban.  Through the Farm*A*Syst program she collects water samples for nitrate, herbicide and bacteria and advises farmers/landowners on mitigation of non-point source concerns.

Previous to working for the NRCD Susan spent 15 years working with a small environmental consulting firm managing over $1 million in projects and leading a team of 10-12 scientists, computer modelers, and GIS spatial analysts.  This often included long negotiations and on-going liaison work with the EPA, clients, and landowners.  The projects she worked on included ground and surface water registration studies across the US.  Susan wrote the Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District’s first comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan, encompassing 34 communities, in 1990.  She has volunteered as an ELF teacher, school board member, Cabot Waste Water Commission member and Cabot Coalition Board member.