Our Team

Executive Director

As the child of refugees growing up in Alabama, Annie Nguyen’s passion for human rights started early. She has been working with nonprofit organizations in education, conservation, and social justice on the local, state, national, and international level for more than 20 years. After graduating from the George Washington University with a BA in Political Communication, Annie started her career in teaching, fundraising, and management. She has served as an afterschool writing/soccer coach for America Scores (DC), a Program Coordinator for the International Visitor Program (DC) and National 4-H Council (DC), a grant writer for the National Forest Foundation (MT) and Refugee Women’s Alliance (WA), the Maryland Branch Manager for BPSOS (MD), the Director of Grant Funding for St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore (MD), and the Grants Manager for Seattle Jobs Initiative (WA).

 

 

Annie fell in love with the Northwest while earning her MFA at the University of Montana and moved to Seattle in 2015. She believes a more just world begins on the local level, by valuing diverse voices among stakeholders. As she has furthered her career, she has kept true to her belief in service as an active volunteer. She has volunteered as an Americorps Literacy Corps member, as a mentor for Asian American LEAD, a teacher trainer in Thailand, and most recently, as a moms group facilitator for PEPS and as a mural artist with Friends of Little Saigon. Annie joins City Fruit excited to increase access for all to Seattle’s urban fruit orchards, reducing food waste, and creating more community one fruit tree at a time. She would love to hear from you at annie@cityfruit.org.

 

 

Jordyn Egbert

Development and Fundraising Specialist, Americorps VISTA

Jordyn Egbert grew up in Leavenworth and Seattle, Washington. After earning a degree in Environmental Studies from Western Washington University in June of 2019, she returned to Leavenworth for the summer to pursue a position as an AmeriCorps Vista Summer Associate. Jordyn worked for the gleaning program of the Leavenworth non-profit, Upper Valley MEND. She spent her time leading volunteer groups to glean thousands of pounds of produce from local orchards and farms, delivering the produce to food banks in the Leavenworth area. This experience sparked Jordyn’s interest to work with organizations dedicated to addressing food insecurity and reducing food waste. She believes access to healthy food is a human right and should be available to every member of our community. Jordyn is currently pursuing a certificate in Fundraising Management from the University of Washington. She is very excited to bring her passion for gleaning and knowledge of sustainable fundraising to her position at City Fruit. To get information about our special events and fundraising efforts, contact Jordyn at jordyn@cityfruit.org.

 

 

Julian Garcia

Fruit Tree Specialist and Harvest Manager

Julian is originally from San Antonio, Texas, where he spent many of his early days out at his grandparents’ house among fig, citrus, peach, and loquat trees. He moved to upstate New York to study International Agriculture & Rural Development at Cornell University, and worked on an apple orchard during his time there. Upon graduation, he joined the Peace Corps in Panamá working with smallholder farmers to improve the sustainability of their agro-forestry systems and home gardens. In his third year as a regional coordinator, Julian trained and supported volunteers in their own community projects, as well as collaborated closely with Panamanian ministries and Peace Corps office staff.

 

 

He recently joined City Fruit and is excited to help to improve our urban food system for all of Seattle through connecting communities of diverse backgrounds. He believes that a love of learning from others and an emphasis on teaching by doing are essential for community engagement. In his free time, Julian enjoys hiking, foraging, learning new recipes, and spending time with his puppy. For information about fruit tree care or to register your fruit tree and schedule a harvest, contact Julian at julian@cityfruit.org.

 

 

Tiare Gill

Community Growth and Impact Manager

Tiare was born and raised on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, but Washington has been an important home-away-from-home for the past 6 years.  She originally moved to Tacoma, WA to pursue a bachelors in Biology and Environmental Policy & Decision Making from the University of Puget Sound.  Following graduation, she spent two years as an educator and volunteer mentor at the Slater Museum of Natural History, where her love for inquiry-based learning, natural history, and community building took flight.  She recently graduated with a MA Ed. in Urban Environmental Education from Antioch University Seattle, and she hopes to use this degree to be a more equity-minded and community-rooted educator.  She comes to City Fruit with the knowledge that food is not only a vital component of individual identity, but also community identity, and hopes to be able to contribute to food sovereignty efforts in the community. For information about our volunteer events and educational programming, you can reach Tiare at tiare@cityfruit.org.

 

 

Natalie Place

Assistant Harvest Manager

Natalie is currently residing on Duwamish land and joined City Fruit in 2014 with a curiosity about how land, food, and people come together. A fruit enthusiast with degrees from Bastyr University and James Madison University, Natalie has since worked on different projects for sustainability, systems change, and local innovation in the Seattle area. In the future she hopes to learn more about geography, community design, and how we identify our sense of place. She will always be passionate about the City Fruit harvest, a healthy planet, and happy people. Natalie loves meeting and working with amazing City Fruit volunteers and is also excited because she hasn’t yet met a new fruit she didn’t like! Contact Natalie at natalie@cityfruit.org.

 

 

Board of Directors

Patrick Gordon

President

Raised in the Greater Seattle Area, Patrick grew a fondness for our local environment through enjoying the great outdoors of the region. Working for the U.S. Peace Corps, he learned the value of subsistence farming and food preservation, growing his belief that access to food, despite one’s situation, should be a human right. Returning from abroad and hoping to make a career in the non-profit sector, Patrick attained a master’s degree in Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. He discovered City Fruit when his family was looking for a way to donate extra fruit from their small family farm and gardens.

Joining the Board in January 2018, Patrick loves working with City Fruit and is driven largely by the organizations goals of feeding those in need and protecting the Emerald City’s unique urban orchard. He works as a Project Manager at Seattle University and brings his experience in organizational management, process improvement and board staffing to his work with City Fruit.  In his spare time, Patrick enjoys making cider from his family’s trees, mountaineering around the Pacific Northwest, and spending time with his family, partner June, and cat Squash.

 

 

Lamai Cox

Vice President

Lamai has always enjoyed sharing in fruit harvests. Whether enjoying sun-warmed goods in her grandma’s garden or sharing recipes with friends. During travels abroad, she reflected on the uniqueness on her hometown and returned with a renewed vigor to enhance the Pacific Northwest and its spirit from a grassroots approach.  She felt City Fruit embodied that mission of grassroots change for good.

 

 

Lamai is pursuing a Master’s in environmental studies, specializing in geography at Western Washington University. During her studies Lamai is driven to build data visualizations across geographies so that all may better understand and interact with their environments for long-term conservation. She holds a BA in environmental studies from the University of Washington with a minor in anthropology and believes that human culture and the natural environment must be addressed in tandem for a resilient and sustainable future.

 

 

Most recently she was the Manager of Community and Giving at PCC Community Markets, bringing to City Fruit insight on grocery retail through the lens of a cooperative business model and perspective on business philanthropy. Lamai aims to add diversity in City Fruit’s guidance that can incorporate all communities of Seattle.

 

 

At home, Lamai finds peace anywhere outside, getting her hands in the soil, and – of course – foraging!

 

 

James Lenihan III

Treasurer

James joined City Fruit because it bonds our environment with our community in a way that everyone benefits. He believes City Fruit is uniquely positioned to steward our urban orchard in a dynamic, changing landscape while responsibly leveraging our natural resources to ensure our neighbors thrive.

 

 

James is a Senior Manager of Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) at Tableau Software and has prior experience in public accounting at KPMG LLP. James holds Bachelors of Science degrees in Accountancy and Finance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Washington Foster School of Business, and is a licensed CPA in the State of Washington.

 

 

James aims to leverage his professional experience and academic background to ensure City Fruit’s resources are put to their best and fullest use as the organization advances its community impact.

 

 

Michael Kim

Secretary

Michael joined City Fruit because it empowers Seattle’s community to nurture two of Seattle’s most neglected natural resources — its landscape and its people. He hopes to challenge our community’s standards for inclusive and active engagement and to further enrich our city’s urban landscape through thoughtful planting of edible resources, including the cultivation of existing and new fruit trees.  

 

 

Michael was born and raised in Los Angeles (i.e., the San Fernando Valley) and moved to Seattle in 2009 to attend the UW’s law school. Currently, he works with Amazon’s state income tax reporting and compliance team. He’s the husband of a budding chef (@mextizopnw) and the father of a terrier mix named Remy. In his free time, he’s a muddled mix of an amateur ceramicist, vegetable gardener, aquaponics experimenter, casual gamer, and aspiring bike commuter. His favorite fruit, if he had to choose, is Korean pear.

 

 

Andrew Graf

Growing up in Wisconsin, Andrew always had an association with fresh fruit and vegetables, from his parent’s garden to his uncle’s much larger farm. Upon arriving in Seattle in  2016, Andrew was impressed with the  overall greenness of the city and was excited for the opportunity to revive family traditions in an urban setting. He was excited to join City Fruit because of the wonderful simplicity of its mission.

 

 

In addition to being a City Fruit board member, Andrew is a director who democratizes data at Starbucks. He lives with his wife and young son in West Seattle. Andrew’s goal is to leave a legacy of data literacy & growth that allows City Fruit to flourish and become a sustainable non-profit in the city of Seattle for years to come.

 

 

Leslie Llado

Leslie moved from Austin, Texas to Seattle several years ago in search of cooler climates and higher-altitude adventures. Her interest in local food systems began while studying regenerative agriculture in graduate school. Since then, she has fueled this passion by volunteering at farmer’s markets, supporting harvests at local farms, and cultivating her community garden. Leslie is passionate about City Fruit’s mission to support Seattle’s urban fruit orchards and promote local food justice and looks forward to helping achieve these goals as a board member.

Leslie comes to City Fruit with over 10 years of experience creating and executing strategic initiatives in Africa, Asia, Central America and the United States for corporate, non-profit, and government organizations. Currently she leads infrastructure and social enterprise activities for Splash, a Seattle-based non-profit focused on improved water, sanitation, hygiene, and menstrual health for kids in Africa and Asia. She brings skills in non-profit program management, social enterprise development, and environmental sustainability to her work at City Fruit.

 

 

Rivers Townes

In 2018, Rivers’ career in technology brought him to Seattle from Charleston, South Carolina. And more recently, his love of nonprofits and passion for social justice brought him to City Fruit. Rivers is inspired by the community that food (and in our case, fruit) brings together. Rivers’ appreciation of local fruit was inherited from his role model and grandfather, who made his own wine using South Carolina-grown Fredonia grapes and emphasized the importance of using fruit that shared the same sunlight and rain as his family and community. 

 

 

By day, Rivers works as an Account Executive with Salesforce.org, partnering with changemakers who are building a more just and equitable world. He brings with him 4 years of experience in nonprofit technology and a unique perspective on how solutions and data can be leveraged to drive social impact. Through City Fruit’s mission to promote Seattle’s urban fruit, it’s Rivers aspiration that we also promote the wonderful diversity of our urban neighborhoods, and strive towards a happier, healthier, and more inclusive community.