She is a graduate of Bucknell University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science (1989) and from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University with a Master of Public Administration (2023).

She became the Executive Director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) in late 2005. VSJF’s mission is to nurture the economic prosperity, ecological health, and social connectivity of people, businesses, organizations and communities in Vermont for the benefit and well-being of all who live here. The organization provides business assistance, supply chain coordination, network development, and industry level strategic planning in the sectors of agriculture and food systems, forest products, waste management, renewable energy, and environmental technology.

For her work in promoting Vermont’s food system, Ellen was inducted into the Vermont Agriculture Hall of Fame in August, 2024 in the category of Ag Innovator. Ellen currently serves on the Boards of the Working Lands Enterprise Fund and the University of Vermont College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Board of Advisors. She also serves on the Advisory Committee of the Center for Agriculture & Food Entrepreneurship based at the VT State University – Randolph campus. She served on the Governor’s Vermont Workforce Development Board (2018-2024) and the Governor’s Commission on the Future of Vermont Agriculture (2021-2023).

She is the Director of Partnerships & Community for Liberation Ecosystem. A former chef and outdoor educator, she is an enthusiastic supporter of local food and serves as the Vice President on the Board of Directors for the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op. Samantha lives on a small farm in Addison County and credits her love of natural history to a childhood spent in Vermont.

Grace is the Executive Director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, working to promote organic practices to build an economically viable, ecologically sound, and socially just Vermont agricultural system that benefits all living things. NOFA-VT builds grassroots power for change in the food system with our farmer and farmworker - led board and committee leaders, 2,400 members, 40 staff, and many local, and national and international coalition partners.

Grace currently serves on the boards of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Rights and Democracy, the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, and National Family Farm Coalition. Grace leads regular community sings, and recently obtained rabbinical ordination, both to deepen her spiritual grounding as she works for a verdant, delicious and just future.

She is the Executive Director of the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC), a federal-state partnership which invests in rural communities in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. The Commission, one of 10 in the United States, focuses on state and local economic and community development priorities and works to provide federal funds for critical projects throughout the northeast.

Prior to NBRC, Waring was the State Director for USDA Rural Development (RD) for the states of Vermont and New Hampshire, managing a 200+ million dollar portfolio of loans and grants for rural communities and serving on the UVM College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Board, Vermont Council on Rural Development board, and the board of SUSU CommUnity Farm. She has also served as Vice President for Grants and Community Investments at the Vermont Community Foundation, from 2019-2022, and previous to that as Executive Director at the Center for Agricultural Economy in Hardwick, VT. In this role, she managed a 14,000 sq ft food business incubator, launched a farm to institution vegetable processing program, created a local farm to school educational curriculum and a working-lands community commons. Waring co-created the Vermont Food Hub Collaborative, and participated in the Vermont Food Funder's Network during this time. Waring previously served as Program Manager for the Council on the Future of Vermont, at VCRD, which led to the creation the Working Lands Enterprise Board (WLEB), and has served various roles in Vermont's Farm to Plate network.