Our Team
Sally Miller (MA/ PhD; MES), is the Project Manager for the Fair Finance Fund. She has worked in sustainable food and agriculture and co-ops for over twenty-five years, including the Local Food and Farm Co-ops, Ontario Natural Food Co-op, Organic Meadow, Fourth Pig Worker Co-op, West End Food Co-op in Canada, and Finger Lakes Organic Growers’ Co-op in the U.S. She sits on various Boards. Publications include Edible Action: Food Activism and Alternative Economics (Fernwood 2008); and Belongings: The Fight for Land and Food (Fernwood 2016) and numerous research reports.
Sally Miller | Project Manager & Executive Director
Afua is a Sustainable Farmer with over 10 years of experience working in under-served communities in Canada and Ghana. In Toronto, she began her food security work with Afri-Can FoodBasket, then with FoodShare Toronto as the Senior Good Food Program & Community Engagement Coordinator and Food Secure Canada’s Indigenous & Black Peoples Food Sovereignty Project. At FoodShare, Afua implemented Toronto’s pioneer produce Mobile Market and Public Health’s Grab Some Good subway produce markets. Afua is a founding member of the Pan-African Canadian Food Sovereignty Network, which is pursuing equitable participation of African-Canadians in the agriculture sector and emerging national school food policy.
Afua Asantewaa | Inclusive Prosperity Project Manager
With a Master's in Environmental Studies, Michelle has been recognized for her research on decolonizing local food culture and for her contributions to expanding two campus Good Food Markets. Her experience includes roles with marketcityTO, Local Food and Farm Co-ops, and the Ontario Co-op Association’s Principle 8 working group, and as previous board member for Et Al Co-op Café. Michelle is dedicated to promoting equitable change in food systems through policy and advocacy. She has experience in conducting workshops and presentations on decolonizing food culture, and furthering equity in the local food and farm sector.
Michelle Chin-Dawe | Nourish Fund Coordinator
With a passion for food equity, local economies, and social and environmental justice, Rebecca comes from a background in environmental governance, international development, and social geography. She has over 10 years of experience working in public outreach, marketing, and communications in the non-profit and food social enterprise sectors. Rebecca’s work has taken her from farms in southern Ontario to Mexico, Ecuador, and Zanzibar, where she works to facilitate storytelling direct from the farmers to wider audiences in Canada and beyond.
Rebecca Jacobs | Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Johanna is passionate about empowering entrepreneurs and enterprises with the resources and access to the capital they need to start, grow, and thrive in the Northern Ontario local food and farm sector. Her experience includes northern value chain coordination, remote community capacity building, and business technical assistance for BIPOC youth. Johanna has a degree in Environment & Business, where her studies focused on combining environmental and social impact metrics with profitability and economic growth. She was born and raised in northern Ontario, where she grew up on a family farm; today, Johanna is based in Timmins.
Johanna Mercedes | Northern Social Finance Coordinator
Sarah Bakker | Board Member
Sarah Bakker is the Vice President of Operations for the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices. She brings her 18 years of experience in marketing and fundraising multi-million dollar projects in the non-profit sector to the Board of the Fair Finance Fund. She previously served on the Board of the West End Food Co-op as Treasurer and the Organic Council of Ontario as Vice Chair. She also co-owns Field Sparrow Farms with her partner Henry where they raise pastured livestock on 100 acres in Bobcaygeon.
Sophie Duncan | Board Member
Sophie Duncan (MBA) is the Director of Programs and Operations at the New Farm Centre for Climate Action, where she works on the organization’s strategic direction, program design and implementation, and operations. Her previous work as a consultant, researcher, and project manager has been at the intersections of social, economic, and environmental justice issues, taking an interdisciplinary approach to food systems, DEI, and leadership development work. Her food systems experience includes work as a Fulbright Researcher in Morocco, collaboration on development strategies for a farmworkers rights organization, team coaching related to food justice in the GTA, behavioural insights research on Canadian food policy, and food access programming in Vermont. Sophie is also a project coach for the Leading Social Justice Collective and holds an MBA from U of T’s Rotman School of Management.
Courtney Miller | Board Member
Courtney Miller is the Business Enterprise Centre Manager for Grey County. Through her role at the BEC, she offers consulting and business development support to local entrepreneurs, many of whom are in the ag and food sector. Courtney is passionate about supporting local social enterprises and currently sits on the Social Enterprise Sector Development Group for Grey County. Courtney and her husband own Creamery Hill Farms in Owen Sound, raising grass fed beef using regenerative practices.
Mike Degagne | Board Member
As a Metis-Algonquin father, husband and homesteader I am solely committed to regenerating land and creating equitable opportunities for my family and the generations to follow. Nearly a decade of off grid living and regenerative agriculture to the development of the Black River Worker Cooperative, while 8 years in and around non-profits/community support organizations inspired the creation of an alternative economic platform (bartering) and the alternative ownership program (Indigenous housing).
Client Testimonial
“As a social worker and special education teacher, we founded Split Rail on the principles of social responsibility. We were excited to learn about the Fair Finance Fund and we are very appreciative to be partnering with a funder with aligned values. The financial and mentorship support from the Fair Finance Fund will be transformational to Split Rail’s next phase of growth.”
Andrea Smith & Eleanor Charlton | Split Rail Brewing Company Founders