Board of Directors

Helen Voogd (Bean North)—President

Larry Larson (Larry’s Beans)—Vice president

Larry Larson, CEO of Larry's Beans believes business should be a force for good and leads his company accordingly. Larry's Beans sells 100% Fair Trade coffee and was one of the first roasters to work with an ISO 65 certifier to guarantee its own certification practices -- and then raised the bar on transparency by enabling customers to access full farmer-to-roaster documentation to track their specific lot of coffee (this model has now been adopted by Cooperative Coffees with its FairTradeProof.org program). He spearheaded SustainabilitySchool.org as an "introductory portal" to sustainability education.  And he has made Larry's Beans an laboratory for sustainable practices. All local deliveries are made by vehicles converted to run on straight vegetable oil collected from area restaurants. Larry's hosts the city's only pump for Biodiesel 100 (all refined locally from mainly waste resources).  They are completing a 100% conversion of all pre-packed coffee to a what may be the coffee industry's first genuinely biodegradable plastic bag.  Their passive roasting facility is a showcase for "green-o-vation" -- integrating rainwater harvesting, zone lighting and heating, radiant floors, dual flush toilets, and wind-powered ventilation.

Linda Burnside (Alternative Grounds) —Secretary

Bill Harris (Coop Coffees)—Treasurer 

Bill Harris, founding president Cooperative Coffees,

as well as Café Campesino, a Fair Trade roaster based in Americus, Georgia.  Both businesses share the mission of helping disadvantaged farmers receive a fair price for their product through mutually beneficial, long-term trade partnerships.  Before “fair-trade enlightenment,” Bill was the president of a food distribution company, a trust portfolio manager, and a business consultant.  He currently serves on  the Board of Directors of Glover Foodservice.

Monika Firl (CoopSol)—Manager 

Monika Firl, Cooperative Coffee’s producer relations manager,

has worked with a variety of locally based development projects, while living in Central America and Mexico from 1991 to 2000. Her experiences range from founding and directing a center in San Salvador for the exchange of information on alternative technology, to direct participation in technical training and marketing development with coffee producers’ cooperatives in Chiapas— including Mut Vitz and Maya Vinic from whom Cooperative Coffees maintains a relationship.  From 1996 to 2000 she coordinated a regional program within the Campesino a Campesino network for information exchange on production practices for organic coffee and viable market alternatives among farmers from Chiapas and the rest of Central America.