Our Leadership

Rowen White

Chair of the Board

North San Juan, CA

Rowen is a seed saver, farmer and educator. She is from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne and curates an extensive collection of rare northeast native seeds. Rowen is co-founder of the Sierra Seeds Cooperative.

Neil Hamilton, JD

Vice-Chair of the Board

Waukee, IA

Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of Agricultural Law Center at the Drake University Law School, Neil has taught agricultural law for 30 years and is the author of numerous books and articles for farmers and lawyers.

Jovan Sage

Board Member

Brunswick, GA

Jovan has over 15 years of experience as a grassroots organizer and describes herself as having "a deep interest in food justice." Her professional resume includes work as director of community engagement at One Hundred Miles, a Georgia organization working to preserve natural resources, and as the director of network engagement for Slow Food USA.

Beth Lynch, PhD

Board Member

Decorah, IA

Dr. Lynch is an Associate Professor of Biology at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. She holds a Doctorate in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior from the University of Minnesota. Prior to coming to Luther in 2001, she worked as a botanist at Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission and later taught at Loras College and Northland College. Her research over the years has been in plant ecology, with a focus on the conservation of native plant communities in the upper Midwest.

Sean Sherman

Board Member

Minneapolis, MN

Sean is a successful chef, educator and entrepreneur, who is very committed to his Native American community. Founder of the company The Sioux Chef, Sherman’s main culinary focus has been on revitalizing indigenous food systems in a modern culinary context. He also sponsors a food truck (Tatanka Truck) with the Little Earth Community of United Tribes in Minneapolis.

Denise E. Costich, PhD

Board Member

Denise is a passionate defender of maize genetic resources, devoting the past 18 years to research topics related to its taxonomy, evolution, and conservation. She recently retired from CIMMYT, the international Wheat and Maize genebank near Mexico City, where she curated their maize collection and focused part of her research on community conservation of landrace varieties. Photograph by Teake Zuidema.

Amy Goldman Fowler, PhD

Special Advisor to the Board

Rhinebeck, NY

Amy is a gardener, author, artist, philanthropist and advocate for heirloom fruits and vegetables. She is the author of The Compleat Squash, Melons for the Passionate Grower, and The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table—all three books were recipients of the American Horticultural Society Book of the Year awards.

Diane Ott Whealy

Special Advisor to the Board

Decorah, IA

Diane co-founded Seed Savers Exchange with Kent Whealy in 1975. She has been a national leader in the heirloom seed movement and a strong advocate for the protection of the earth's rare genetic food stocks for over 36 years. Diane retired from SSE in 2015 and remains an advisor to the organization.