Staff & Board
Staff
Rebecca Burgess is the Executive Director of Fibershed. She has two decades of experience working at the intersection of ecology, fiber systems, and regional economic development. 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 taught at Westminster College, Harvard University, and California College of the Arts. She also holds a new board position at the Livestock Conservancy and is serving on the leadership council of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at Chico State University.
Michael Conover is Fibershed’s Climate Beneficial™ Technician. He collaborates with the 70+ land stewards within our Climate Beneficial Agriculture program, local and regional technical assistance providers, and partnering organizations to promote land-based carbon drawdown and soil regeneration. Michael assists producers in having Carbon Farm Plans developed for their land, access funding sources to implement carbon farming practices, learn about their soil through soil sampling, and become Climate Beneficial Verified. He holds an M.S. in Ecological Design from the Conway School and has spent the past decade studying and practicing regenerative agriculture and sustainable land-planning. He sees carbon farming and regenerative agriculture as essential strategies to address global climate change, rebuild healthy soils, and create more resilient regional economies around food and fiber.
Lexi Fujii is the Membership & Learning Center Coordinator for Fibershed. She supports Fibershed’s producer and affiliate networks, and coordinates Fibershed’s Learning Center in Point Reyes Station. Lexi holds a BS in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems from UC Davis, where she fell in love with the whole agricultural system. She has worked on small-scale production farms and has taught sustainable farming and environmental education; along with working at her local agricultural land trust. Lexi’s work at Fibershed is rooted in community and connectivity — both in uplifting our regional Fibershed producers, supporting our affiliate Fibershed groups, and coordinating a space for folks to (re)connect with fiber and place.
Heather Podoll is the Partnership & Advocacy Coordinator for Fibershed. She manages communication and outreach relating to public grants and other core Fibershed projects. Heather holds an M.S. in Agricultural Ecology from UC Davis. She has spent the past 20 years involved with research, practice, promotion, and teaching of sustainable and organic agricultural systems, working with a range of nonprofit, philanthropic and educational organizations. As an avid knitter, she is delighted to bring together her background in ecological research and agricultural systems with a holistic and local perspective on fiber arts and textile systems.
Fibershed works with a talented team of consultants and project leaders, all of whom conduct specialized services for the organization. For a full list of contractors, please contact hello@fibershed.org.
Board of Directors
Rebecca Burgess, M.Ed, Chair
Rebecca is an indigo farmer, author, and community organizer. Her work is focused on natural dye processes and regenerative agriculture, textile education and public speaking. She is the executive director of Fibershed.
Kat Anderson, Ph.D
Kat has a Ph.D. in Wildland Resource Science from UC Berkeley and is the author of the book Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources. The book was recently chosen by the celebrated permaculture designer Ben Falk, as one of the most important books to read in order to permanently solve food security. Kat has worked with Native Americans for over 25 years, learning how indigenous people judiciously gather and steward native plants and ecosystems in the wild. Her interests are to learn, celebrate, and restore the similar plant uses, gathering and tending practices, and ethical stances towards nature that are in multiple local cultures here and around the world.
Marlie de Swart, Treasurer
Marlie is a fiber skills educator and small business owner, as well as a fiber and ceramic artist. She has been involved in creating fiber works from local sources since childhood. She grew up in Holland, graduated from the Sorbonne in Paris and Occidental College in Southern California, and met her husband while attending Art Center College of Design. Currently Marlie has a local fiber arts cooperative store, Black Mountain Artisans, in Point Reyes Station. She recently published a book of her knitting designs called Knitting Woolscapes, Designs Inspired by Coastal Marin Wool.
Dustin Kahn, Secretary
Dustin has been a graphic designer for nearly 40 years, currently working primarily in publication and website design. She also grows dye plants and is a natural dye instructor, having studied natural dyes since 2009, with a special interest in indigo. For three years, Dustin was a partner in West County Fiber Arts, a fiber arts school in Sonoma County, and she is currently organizing fiber arts classes for the Fibershed Learning Center.
