Yggdrasil Land Foundation

Staff Directory

Katrina B. Steffek, Administrative Coordinator
1002A O’Reilly Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94129
Work: (415) 561-6162
katrina.steffek@rsfsocialfinance.org

Angela L. Curtes, Acting Executive Director
4190 Lily Road
West Bend, WI 53095
Phone: 262-339-7658
acurtes@yggdrasillandfoundation.org

General Inquiries: Please e-mail info@yggdrasillandfoundation.org

Board of Trustees

Bill Liebhardt, President
California
MFAI Representative

John Bloom, Secretary/Treasurer
California
RSF Representative

Christopher Mann
Wisconsin
At-Large Representative

Dewane Morgan
Minnesota
BDA Representative

Bob Rummel
Montana
RSF Representative

Thomas Bieri
Switzerland
At Large Representative

Dorothy Hinkle-Uhlig
Alabama
At Large Representative

Kish Khemani
Illinois
MFAI Representative

Scott Hackenberg
California
RSF Social Finance Representative

Board of Trustees Biographies

Bill Liebhardt
Grew up on my parents’ farm of 160 acres in East Troy, WI. I got all three degrees from the University of Wisconsin. Phd was in soil science in 1966. Worked in Honduras for a banana company until 1968 doing soil fertility research. Worked one year in the south east for Allied Chemical Co. Worked at the University of Delaware 1970-81 doing soil fertility research and teaching. Spent seven years at the Rodale Research Center and ended up as director. Initiated long terms farming systems comparisons of organic and conventional treatments. Last position was as the director of the University of California Sustainable Research and Education Program for eleven years. Strong believer in the use of systems science as necessary to address the issues we face today.

John Bloom
John Bloom is Director of Organizational Culture at the RSF Social Finance (www.rsfsocialfinance.org). As part of his work at RSF he has been developing the Transforming Money Network, as well as other educational programs that address the intersection of money and spirit in personal and social transformation. He currently writes a blog, www.reimaginemoney.blogspot.com, linked through www.reimaginemoney.org. He has worked with over 100 non-profits over the last five years in the areas of capacity building and culture change. He has led many workshops, lectured, and written about aspects of funding, development and governance for non-profits. John has founded two non-profits, served as a trustee on several, including Yggdrasil Land Foundation, and worked as the administrator at a school before joining RSF. He has written extensively on many aspects of education and independent schools, life as an active member of a 20 year old biodynamic CSA, and on the topics of money and philanthropy. His article “There is No Wealth but Life” appeared in the January/February 2007 issue of Resurgence, which he guest edited. To read the article, please visit http://www.resurgence.org/2007/bloom240.htm. He has also published several of the agricultural pieces in the Biodynamic Journal. He lives in San Francisco.

Christopher Mann
Christopher Mann is currently developing a green "smart growth/zero-run-off", conservation design for a cluster of homes community project called Fields Neighborhood in East Troy, WI. He previously established a number of enterprises to support biodynamic/organic/sustainable agriculture research and education. He has also created land trusts in England, Switzerland and the USA in order to provide security for organic farming, community development and healthy food. Of these, the Yggdrasil Land Foundation is a support organization to RSF, the Biodynamic Farming & Gardening organization and the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute. While teaching at a Waldorf school in England, he built a small development for community called Michael Fields in Sussex and a financial institution, (now the British branch of the Netherlands bank Triodos). In 1983, Christopher and his wife, Martina, founded the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and served on its Board of Trustees for many years.

Dewane Morgan
Dewane Morgan owns and operates Midheaven Farms, a 440-acre farm near Park Rapids, Minnesota. He has been actively engaged in farming since 1972. He raises Angus beef cattle on cool and warm season rotational pastures, as well as hay and small grains. He uses Biodynamic preparations on all crop and pasture land each year. His wife manages the farm’s 100-member CSA, as well as her specialty foods business. Dewane has been a member of the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association since 1975 and a YLF board member since 2000. He is a member of the Northern Plains Sustainable Agricultural Society and a life-member of Marine Corps League Detachment 1059. He has three children and three granddaughters.

Bob Rummel
Bob’s joy is riding into the mountains to paint plien air studies (French for “in open air”) that are the inspiration for his studio work. Since 1997 Bob’s studio and home have been on the shores of Dog Gun Lake near East Glacier and close to the crown of the continent. Living where the roads end he is in the perfect place for him to cultivate his life long love of painting and the land. He is motivated by the amazing experience he has in nature and shares his passion with others in his impressionistic like paintings. Known for his striking use of color, his jewel like paintings and original prints invite a heartfelt connection with his art. Bob has displayed his paintings and prints nationally and internationally. He is recognized as an accomplished printmaker while his painting is his primary focus now. “I have the perfect studio, the great outdoors, where the light is always perfect and interesting subjects are abundant. Painting on location in nature is my soul’s delight.” To learn more about Bob and his art contact him at: originalbob@earthlink.net and phone 406-471-5963.

Kish Khemani
Kish Khemani is a Partner and Vice President with A.T. Kearney, a leading management consulting firm, with a focus on performance improvement and transformation within large and small companies. With nearly twenty years of industry and consulting experience, Kish is recognized as a leading consultant in the areas of business strategy and operations and has served a base of Midwest, National, and Global clients across many industries. Kish is passionate around the issue of sustainability and feels that we all share a responsibility in the stewardship of our environment and resources. He believes that diversity of expertise is very important when addressing such complex issues, and is therefore eager to help private and non-profit organizations leverage the expertise available to them in the broader business community. Kish graduated from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, and from the University of Chicago with a Masters in Business Administration. He lives in Chicago.

Dorothy Hinkle-Uhlig
Dorothy Hinkle-Uhlig is committed to finding ways to support biodynamic and organic farmers so that they can rightfully provide for themselves, steward the farmland, and offer their healthy bounty to others. She is also seeking to understand how to help money flow healthily within society. Because of continually changing life tasks she has acquired various skills. However, she is not an expert or professional in any area.

Scott Hackenberg
Scott Hackenberg is currently a Lending Manager with RSF Social Finance where he helps identify, underwrite and monitor loans for RSF's Core Lending Program. Ranging in size from $200,000 – $5 million, RSF provides loans to nonprofit and for-profit organizations which are dedicated to improving the well-being of society and the environment. Previously he worked for a venture debt firm on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park focused on technology & alternative energy (TriplePoint Capital), served as Vice President to a San Francisco based food and consumer products focused private equity firm (Swander Pace Capital) and worked as a financial analyst for The Blackstone Group in New York City. For the past 14 years he has lived on his farm/ranch on the San Mateo Coast (San Gregorio), where he & his wife raise sheep & draft horses, mixed in with llamas, chickens, dogs, cats and two pot-bellied pigs named Pinky & Petunia. Scott grew up in Ohio and received his BA from Cornell University.