Our Mission

PRESIDENT

Sarah is the Project Manager for the Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County. She gained experience in both restaurants and rural economic development while working as a chef and pursuing her Economics degree at Eastern Oregon University. Sarah currently resides in Siletz with her significant other who fishes on the FV Northern Ram. She also serves on the board of Strengthening Rural Families and is passionate about community service and helping rural communities thrive.

VICE PRESIDENT

Since 2015 Kristen has actively participated in several of Oregon’s fisheries as a boat owner, commercial fisherman and seafood entrepreneur. Over the past five years, she has also worked as a Food Systems Consultant, providing services to Columbia Pacific Economic Development District of Oregon, Ecotrust, Kitchen Sync Strategies, and the Oregon Coast Visitors Association where she is currently engaged as the regional value chain coordinator for the Ocean Cluster Initiative Project. With a background in hospitality, Kristen is certified in Community Food Resource and Hub Management and Sustainable Food Enterprise Financial Planning and Management from the University of Vermont, and holds a Hospitality and Restaurant Management degree from Western Culinary Institute. She co-founded the successful Winter Waters event in Oregon and is a member of the Oregon Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Council.

SECRETARY/TREASURER

Lorissa joined the board as a producer in March 2024. She is a Lincoln County native and grew up working on her family’s farm in Siletz. She left home to pursue a degree in Biology and returned to spend a year working at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in a marine fisheries genetics lab. She went on to get her MS in Conservation Biology in fisheries and aquatic sciences and worked as a genetics lab manager for the University of Minnesota.

Summer time always found her back at the farm, helping with berry harvest and hay. She has always been passionate about providing high quality, responsibly grown, affordable, locally produced food to the people who work and live here. To that end, she transitioned back to her family farm with her husband in 2013 where they currently manage Gibson Farms and produce blueberries, grass-fed beef, and meadow hay.

FOUNDER, ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Laura is from a multi-generational commercial fishing family, the founder of Local Ocean Seafoods, an Independent Systems Seafood Consultant, and at the forefront in Oregon’s sustainable fishery movement. She has an M.S. in Marine Resource Management from Oregon State University. Laura served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines, where she helped a village start to restore its coral reef fishery. After returning to the United States, she earned an M.S. in Marine Resource Management from OSU in 2000 and became a consultant to nonprofits trying to improve the coastal fish industry through ecological restoration, salmon marketing and community-based fisheries management. In Port Orford, Laura co-founded a highly visible effort that sought to give local fishermen a greater voice and more responsibility in figuring out how to restore depleted fish stocks.

Laura and her husband purchased the Yaquina Lab in 2020 and began developing the facilities to provide critical infrastructure to local food producers. Laura serves on the Board of Directors for Local Ocean Seafoods, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Oregon Ocean Science Trust and the Nature Conservancy of Oregon.

Bob Kemp has been fishing crab, salmon, and tuna for 35 years. Although he has had several careers throughout his life, fishing came easily thanks to his comfort around the ocean from an early age. Now, he owns his own operation and represents the fishing industry as the Newport Sea Grant Fisherman Representative, a Fisherman Representative at Science and Fisherman Exchange Meetings, and the secretary of the Newport Fisherman’s Crab Association. Previously, he served as the Fishing Representative to the Mid-Coast Watershed Council from 2000 to 2012. Throughout his career, he has been dedicated to providing his perspective and ocean observations to the scientific community.

Julie Kuchepatov (she/her) is a proven thought leader in two global movements: sustainable seafood and fair trade. She has spent her career working directly with a variety of stakeholders in the seafood sector to address some of the most pressing environmental and social challenges in global seafood production.  

Her current efforts to build gender equality in the seafood sector rest on a foundation of more than two decades of experience working in sustainable fisheries, specifically Russian salmon fisheries, to improve their environmental performance. Her career in Russian salmon began in 1994 as part of a team running one of the most successful Atlantic salmon sport fishing lodges in the Russian Arctic for 13 years.

Pami Monnette moved to Oregon in 2003 from a small ranching community in Northern California and has always been connected to the natural world. She has a B.S. in Geography and a Masters in Public Policy. After school, she worked for OSU Extension for ten years in the Master Gardener and Small Farms programs teaching horticulture, coordinating projects and developing research programs.

Working with farmers in Lincoln County inspired her to leave OSU and try her hand at farming. For four seasons, she grew cut flowers and operated an agritourism business. Life's priorities have shifted and she now only operates the floristry side of the business in Philomath. She is doing her part to create a market for local products and has always been passionate about food, farming and rural economies. Pami is proud to advocate for the needs and perspective of folks who work in the farming, forestry and fishing industries. 

Enrique is the Local Ocean Seafood Executive Chef and the head of the fillet and processing operations.

Local Ocean Seafoods specializes in buying fish directly from the local fishers that dock in Newport, Oregon.

The wonder of Oregon’s ocean bounty and local food has influenced Chef Enrique’s culinary career. After 16 years in the business, he is constantly inspired by a diverse, seasonal selection of fresh ingredients that allows him to design mouth-watering combinations of flavors for the palate, as well as pure beauty on the plate. His love of cooking was inspired by his mother and grandmother.

Evie is the Small Farms and Master Gardener Program Coordinator for OSU Extension in Lincoln County. She works closely with the farming community by providing educational opportunities, answering agriculture-related questions, and conducting applied research on coastal farms. In her role with OSU, she also co-leads and annual study abroad program focused on sustainable food systems in Ecuador. She is passionate about local food systems, and excited to support the work of the Central Coast Food Web!