Regional Fiber Manufacturing Initiative Advisors
The Regional Fiber Manufacturing Initiative (RFMI) is made up of advisors of local and international experts to focus on core issues throughout the soil-to-soil cycle.
Regional Fiber Manufacturing Initiative: Roles
The Regional Fiber Manufacturing Initiative (RFMI) is made up of a Stewardship Committee, Chiefs of Staff, and advisors of local and international experts to focus on core issues throughout the soil-to-soil cycle.
Stewardship Committee
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Co-Chair: Adrian Rodrigues is a Co-Founder and a Managing Director of Provenance Capital Group where he helps develop blended capital structures that catalyze resilient biological systems and businesses. Before Provenance, Adrian co-founded the boutique consulting firm Hyphae Partners where he helped companies finance and build regenerative business models. Additionally, he worked at Patagonia within its Venture Capital arm Tin Shed Ventures, helping author a standard for Regenerative Organic Agriculture and exploring Regenerative Organic Land Funds. He is an experienced asset allocator, fundraiser, and business model innovator. Adrian spent six years at Morgan Stanley helping long time horizon investors manage their asset allocations and diligence investment opportunities across asset classes and sectors. He has also lectured on food innovation at the University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business and designed and taught an entrepreneurship intensive for farmers at the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture. Adrian is a graduate of Berkeley Haas’ full-time MBA program. At Haas, Adrian was a Portfolio Manager of the Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund and a Member of the Center for Responsible Business’ Student Advisory Board. He received a B.A. in English from Williams College, studied English literature at Exeter College, Oxford University, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He’s an avid chef, backyard farmer, and budding yogi. |
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Co-Chair: Nicholas Wenner works as an engineer to design production and manufacturing systems for regenerative industries. Past Fibershed projects include designing indigo dye production systems with the True Blue project, leading R&D for locally-produced hemp/wool blended textiles, and developing visualizations of regenerative cycles for natural fibers with the Fiber Visions project. Previously, Nicholas led R&D engineering for MycoWorks to create a leather-inspired material from fungi, authoring 8 patents. He earned a B.S. in Earth Systems and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on manufacturing from Stanford University, where he taught design and manufacturing at the Product Realization Lab. Other experiences include crafting natural animal leathers in the mountains of Washington and designing modern products with 3-D modeling and CNC machining. He aims to bridge the wisdom of the past with the possibilities of today to foster mutually supportive relationships between modern humans and the world that sustains us. |
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François-Jérôme (FJ) Selosse is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Provenance Capital Group, where he works to enable the deployment of mission-aligned capital towards regenerative businesses and projects. Prior to PCG, he co-founded Hyphae Partners, a boutique consulting firm helping regenerative pioneers refine their business models and raise funds in order to scale their impact. As a former Fellow at the Environmental Defense Fund and a member of the sustainability team at TPG Capital, he has helped private companies design and implement numerous sustainability strategies. He is an experienced investor and business strategy expert. Prior to his MBA, FJ spent seven years working for investment banks, including Barclays Capital, and investment funds with over $2Bn in AUM to manage and invest capital across industries and asset classes, with a particular focus on high yield and distressed opportunities. He bore responsibilities spanning the entirety of the investment process including designing new investment strategies, developing deal sourcing pipelines, researching macro and idiosyncratic value drivers, performing deal due diligence, structuring deals, executing, and managing investments, and managing risk at the portfolio level. FJ is a graduate of Berkeley Haas’ full-time MBA program where he focused on researching and designing blended financial structures that catalyze and align development, conservation, and agricultural stakeholders. He also holds an M.S. in Financial Engineering from NYU and a B.A. in Economics and Statistics from the Ecole Polytechnique in France. |
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Natasha Mehta is a strategist, researcher, and designer dedicated to creating responsible textile supply chains. Her work explores the intersections of slow design, equitable climate resilience, and the complex dynamics of global production systems. Building on five years of corporate design experience, she now works with brands and nonprofits to develop everything from regenerative packaging to new methods of factory governance. She has a Master of Development Practice (MDP) from UC Berkeley and a BS in Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati. |
Advisors
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Teju Adisa-Farrar is a Jamaican-American writer and geographer. Her work centers on climate and environmental justice, adaptive responses, ecological resilience, and cultural equity. To date, Teju has done projects in Israel/Palestine, Denmark, Panama, the USA, Botswana, and several more on myriad issues spanning urban exclusion to regenerative economies to Black geographies. Her approach encourages us to connect the dots between space, place, and identity. Teju supports artists, activists, initiatives, collectives, and organizations who are mapping/making alternative futures. |
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Stacie Chavez is located in Central Oregon where she enjoys raising Huacaya Alpacas and Rambouillet sheep. Stacie’s herd is focused on growing fine fibers for making clothing and textiles utilizing the American Supply Chain. Stacie’s company Imperial Yarn, LLC has been working with American Brands to provide luxury natural fiber goods made with Climate Beneficial fiber. Stacie was raised in New Mexico and graduated from the University of New Mexico. She has been working with supply chains turning raw commodity goods into marketable jewelry, clothing, and textiles for over 25 years. |
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Brittany Cole Bush, AKA Cole is a creative entrepreneur, educator, and advocate working in the fields of regenerative agriculture, prescribed grazing, and land stewardship. She is the co-owner-operator of Shepherdess Holistic Hides, a value-driven business purveying mindfully sourced sheep hides, producing luxury home goods made from the sheep and goat hides, leather, and Climate Beneficial wool. Shepherdess values supporting regional farmers and ranchers who share aligned values, as well as diverting waste of raw pelts, byproducts of the meat industry by taking the raw hides through the tanning process to then become beautifully finished products. Cole is also the owner-operator of Shepherdess Land & Livestock Co., a prescribed grazing business with sheep and goats in the Ojai Valley, performing fire prevention and land management services, as well as providing vocational training, public education, and technical assistance for public agencies and private landowners. |
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Positioning sustainable practices within innovative brand strategies, Beth Miles delivers creative solutions that allow for scale within an organization’s end-to-end process.She possesses a unique blend of left & right-brain thinking that allows her to craft creative strategies for purpose-based organizations. “Good” can shift culture; creating opportunity & lasting change. “Good” notices the climate and pivots to reinvent. “Good” is sustainable & requires the modern alchemy of innovation, technology & data to make it work. Clients include Habitat for Humanity, Greater San Francisco; Fibershed; Athleta; Erica Tanov; RSF Social Finance; Google & Arete Advisors. Early in her career, Beth learned best practices within apparel design/manufacturing from leading industry brands Ralph Lauren, Esprit, and Limited Brands. As an entrepreneur, Beth founded Ses Petites Mains in 2006–a collection of Better Childrenswear with a commitment to producing the brand within the USA. In 2008, the traditional wholesale model was transformed to meet the needs of a next-generation, omni channel, D2C model. WGSN referred to Ses Petites Mains as “one of the strongest American collections” within the Childrenswear category. In 2017, Beth launched Girls Up Front, Predator Not Prey collection — a conversational capsule line rooted in Girls’ Empowerment, as a reaction to the Brock Turner rape case. She was instrumental in the storytelling & product development that reminded consumers that girls deserve fierce feminist imagery similar to that which we provide our boys. Girls Up Front pierced through the #Metoo movement and was featured as the cover story of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Style section. An advisory member of the Interactive Ad Bureau; Steering Committee Member of La Casa de Las Madres and the Parent Coalition of Bay Area High Schools. In her off hours, Beth is a long-boarding, surfer mom who believes that personal growth is directly related to her professional success–she applies this principle in the waters of West Marin on many a weekend. |
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Anh-Thu Nguyen leads and supports innovations, market development, and strategic partnerships for worker cooperative creation, scale, and growth. She supports DAWI’s Rapid Response Cooperative program and NYC-based work through the NYC Council-funded Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative, providing consulting, education, and technical assistance to emerging worker cooperatives and developers. Her work has encompassed international human rights, social enterprise, and sustainable fashion. She began her career with the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT), and has launched and consulted on several conscious beauty and fashion brands, including being on the founding team of MAKE Beauty. She studied Classics and Government at Georgetown University and received her JD from the University of Texas School of Law. |
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Lesley Roberts is currently the principal of Oceanparkstudio, a marketing and strategy firm that believes in the power of thoughtful ideas, creative vision, and clarity of purpose to achieve meaningful change and growth. Oceanparkstudio operates with a focus on social enterprise, emerging brands, and community building. Lesley is also a principal of licensing agency Count the Chickens and the co-founder and executive director of Textile Arts | Los Angeles. She is the lead for Southern California Fibershed, an affiliate of Fibershed, and a member of Textile Society of America, American Craft Council, and Surface Design Association. She received a BFA in Art History from UCLA and a certificate from UCLA Anderson School’s Executive Education program. Lesley is a native Angeleno. |
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Angela Wartes-Kahl, Co-founder, Fibrevolution LLC, has been an organic farmer for the last 15 years, managing, Common Treasury Farm with her husband and business partner. They currently grow fiber flax, blueberries, and annual vegetables as well as raise cattle, hogs, and sheep. Angela is the co-owner of Independent Organic Services, Inc. (consulting and contract inspection work). She has been an organic inspector for crops, processing, and textiles since 2011. She is the former Fiber and Textile Coordinator of Oregon Tilth, having managed their Global Organic Textile Standard program and promoting organic certification for textiles from 2016-2020. In 2017, Angela and Shannon Welsh (of PNW Fibershed) founded Fibrevolution LLC to rebuild the fiber flax industry in Oregon. Angela serves as the vice-chair of the Fiber Council for the Organic Trade Association. She attended College of the Atlantic (Human Ecology) and Oregon State University (Merchandise Management and Agricultural Sciences). |
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Shannon Welsh has called Oregon home since the age of 5. For over 20 years she has promoted fiber, textile, and apparel design through raw fiber development, regenerative agricultural production, textile systems revitalization and innovation, community organizing, outreach, and education. Shannon has spent over 4 years researching and reviving the historic linen industry of Oregon and is the Co-founder of Fibrevolution Bast Fiber Producers. She is also the Founder and Affiliate Organizer of Pacific Northwest Fibershed, a Fibershed Affiliate Program, which promotes the development of regional regenerative fiber systems that build soil and protect the health of our biosphere. Shannon has a BFA in Apparel Design from The Art Institute of Portland, a BA in History from Lewis and Clark College, and a Teaching Certification from the Association Montessori Internationale. |
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James Welstead, a Scottish textile designer, is CEO and founder of the textile consultancy and production company, Olaf McTarn, SARL, based in France. James has gained, through an international career in the textile industry, a wealth of experience in every aspect of the supply chain. He is known as a highly accomplished textile expert, directing product development from concept to market. He is particularly known for his ability to generate unity and understanding between different disciplines and functions, combining creation and development of beautiful and relevant textile products with industrial efficiency and implementation of essential eco-friendly and ethical strategies. James has worked extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and the USA, and has many valuable contacts in the international textile community. He is particularly interested, at this stage in his career, in doing everything he can to contribute to the essential drive towards the goals he shares with Fibershed, meaning the regionalization of textile production and the encouragement of a more intimate understanding and respect on the part of the consumer regarding the land, and the stewards of the land, who produce the fibers that go into making the clothes they wear, and the textiles they use. He believes that key elements in this movement are community, reduced and thoughtful consumerism, longevity, and respect for our planet. |
Chiefs of Staff
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Marisol Valles is the Deputy Director for Fibershed. She is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience in non-profit and hospitality management graduating with a BA from San Francisco State University. Through her solid management, a keen eye for detail, and consistent application of policy, Marisol oversees the operations and human resources for the organization. |
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Rebecca Burgess is the Executive Director of Fibershed. She is the author of the best-selling book Harvesting Color, a bioregional look into the natural dye traditions of North America, and Fibershed: Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy, released in 2019. She has built an extensive network of farmers and artisans within our region’s Northern California Fibershed to pilot the regenerative fiber systems model at the community scale. |
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