Board of Directors and Founding Team

Brian began his fiber journey in 2006, when he and his mother purchased 2 alpacas from a farm in Ohio. They established a farm in Missouri in 2008. Brian began his apprenticeship in classing fiber and became a certified classer in 2011. His wife, Terri, joined him in 2010. By 2011, the alpaca herd was over 100, both huacaya and suri. As one of the largest fiber farms in Missouri, deciding what to do with the wool was a priority!

In 2011, they expanded their wool choices by purchasing Tunis sheep. The breeding choices for the sheep were based on disposition and fineness. Grass fed lamb was a by-product.

Brian was elected President of the Natural Fiber Producers cooperative. He then became a Board member. As a board member, he was on the financial team that purchased and imported a Cormetex Cashmere Dehairing Line. In 2018, he became the operator of the textile line and operated it until the close of the cooperative in 2021. This line was the only commercial dehairing line operating in North America from 2015 until 2021. It specialized in exotic fiber, running Bison, Musk Ox and Alpaca as well as other fiber in limited quantities.

Brian and Terri sold their alpacas in 2020 and relocated their Tunis flock and farm to Ohio in 2021. Due to health issues, the flock was sold in 2023. 

While no longer in fiber production, Brian is active as a mentor, teaching adults how to class fiber.

Betsy has been raising sheep with her family on their 160-acre farm in North East Ohio for close to forty
years. Their main focus is selling breeding stock from their registered Polypay flock.
She retired from USDA-ARS after 26 years working in entomology research. She worked alongside her
husband John, Monica Bongue and a group of other farmers and entrepreneurs to found a local food
and artisan cooperative, Local Roots Market and Café of Wooster, Ohio. She worked as President for
two years and as a board member for 11 years to acquire funding through grant writing and
administration. The cooperative continues to be successful since it’s formation 16 years ago.
She and her family have been searching for uses for their wool since they began raising sheep. The
majority of the wool was sold through Mid-States Wool Growers Cooperative but family members also washed, carded, spun and knitted wool into garments and had some hides tanned. More recently Betsy has been experimenting with using waste wool to amend raised beds and large pots for vegetable and flower production.

Heather raises registered and NSIP Texel sheep and crossbred meat lambs, fruit and produce. She markets many of the products directly or through Local Roots Wooster. A wool aficionado, she spins knits, and crochets animals' fiber into useful yarn and other products.  Their small family farm sells other byproducts like horns and pelts from the sheep and breeding stock.  Heather is an administrative assistant the the Ohio State University in Wooster, Ohio.  She brings her fiber and sheep experience to the GLNF project.

Rebecca Miller is a sheep farmer, journalist, and dog wrangler. She is editor and publisher of The Shepherd, a national monthly magazine focusing on small ruminants, and runs Blue Heron Farms, a 275-ewe commercial flock in Lisbon, Ohio, in partnership with her mother, Cynthia Koonce, and cousin. She manages the farm's pack of Turkish livestock guardian dogs, border collies and one intrepid Jack Russell terrier. 

Rebecca spent her career in journalism, domestically and abroad, and is active in the national and regional sheep industry. She is a member of the predator management committee with the American Sheep Industry Association, is a past director of the Ohio Sheep and Wool Program checkoff, and was selected by American Lamb Board to represent young American sheep producers in Australia in 2018 for the LambEx convention, in Perth. She has also been involved with the North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Association, participating in meetings in Norway, the Isle of Man, Greenland and the Faroe Islands

Dean McIlvaine, owner and operator of Twin Parks Organic Farms is a lifelong organic grain farmer with experience in processing grains for resale and export.  He has grazed sheep and cattle since 2015.  Dean has been certified organic since 1988 and was awarded the Ohio Ecological Farm and Food Association Stewardship award in 2022. He brings his innovator spirit and expertise in farm machinery and equipment to our project.

Dr. Kleinhenz is a Professor and Extension Specialist in the Dept. of Horticulture and Crop Science at The Ohio State University. Matt works from the OSU CFAES Wooster Campus and with farmers and collaborators to develop research-based information enhancing the productivity, efficiency, and sustainability of vegetable production systems. He has long been interested in alternatives to fully synthetic films, fabrics, and other materials used extensively and globally in horticultural systems, especially ones including vegetables as a primary output. Matt helps connect GLNF to the larger research/technical community and provides a horticulturalist’s technical perspective on the Organization’s challenges and opportunities.

John and Betsy Anderson raise Polypays on their farm, Lambshire Polypays in Wayne County Ohio for over 40 years. They're interested in a breed that gives them options. 

Polypays can lamb in the fall and at 8-month intervals (selection helps), they wean lots of lambs that grow well, and you don’t have to pour the corn to the ewes to keep them in good condition. Their sheep harvest as much of their feed as possible and with the exception of January lambers, spend most of the year outdoors on good pasture.

Cynthia Koonce is a first-generation farmer, and over the past five decades, has built a reputation as a savvy sheep woman. The founder of Blue Heron Farms, in Lisbon, Ohio, she is a former commercial director of the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association and a former member of American Sheep Industry Lamb Council.

An early supporter of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 50 years ago, she and her late husband, Duane Miller, helped build the foundation for what is now one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world. She is also a regular supporter of the Coloured Wool Congress, an international gathering held every five years in locations around the globe, and the North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Association, participating in meetings in Norway, the Isle of Man, the Outer Hebrides, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. 

A long-time learner of best practices for sheep production, Koonce has participated in the Howard Wyman Sheep Leadership School, sponsored by the National Lamb Feeders Association, and was a producer representative for Tri-Lamb Group meetings in Washington, D.C., and Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia, in 2003 and 2004.

Kathy and her husband, Jeff, operate Misty Oaks Farm where they raise Katahdin sheep. Katahdins are a hardy, single purpose meat breed of sheep. They are known for their outstanding maternal traits, easy care, medium size, natural shedding and resistance to parasites. Although Katandins do not produce wool, Kathy has a general interest in promoting sheep and wool, and has some experience with grant writing and startup organizations. 

Amanda served as the Board Secretary for our founding group. She is a community advocate, an artist and avid gardener.