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Executive Leadership Transition

Dear Zenger Farm Community,

At Zenger Farm we deeply believe that good food is a basic human right and in the power of communities to define the best strategies to create a just food system. We also believe that in order to transform our food systems, we must elevate the voices of community leaders at the center of issues most important to us as an organization.

Centering these truths, Mike Wenrick, our Executive Director, has decided to step aside from his leadership role at Zenger Farm. In Mike’s own words, “I am grateful for the work that we have accomplished together, and for how Zenger Farm has grown our support for communities most impacted by racism, colonialism, classism, sexism and the many other forms of oppression in our food system. I recognize that now is the right time to step aside to make space for new community leadership.” During Mike’s leadership over the past four years, we have a lot to be proud of.  Together we diversified staff and board to incorporate the voices of those who weren’t represented here before, established new values through a social justice framework, established a 2018-2021 community informedstrategic plan, and have aligned programs and partnerships to these new values.

Our Board of Directors is very grateful for Mike’s service and leadership. Our budget has doubled over the four years of his tenure. Much of this increase is attributed to his skill in cultivating donors and maintaining strong, meaningful relationships with corporate, government, foundation and individual donors. Mike’s focus on creating an organization of staff that looks like the communities we serve has resulted in a dramatic increase in Zenger Farm’s staff diversity, including managers of color. We’ve expanded our reach and involvement in the very diverse global communities that surround Zenger Farm with collaborative programming that expands our awareness of human struggles. We appreciate the way Mike has worked hard to learn and grow in his knowledge of social and racial justice. His enthusiasm for growing, harvesting and preparing healthy, accessible, sustainably grown food permeates the culture of Zenger Farm. He’s also a vocal spokesperson for our highly impactful education programs, which have greatly expanded under his leadership.

Mike will continue to support the organization as Executive Director until the end of June.

We are currently in the process of recruiting and hiring our next Executive Director to guide the organization’s programmatic and financial development in alignment with our mission. We encourage Black, Native American, and People of Color, women, LGBTQ2SIA people, religious minorities, recent migrants/refugees, differently-abled, and applicants from different generational and economic backgrounds to apply.  To learn more about the position and how to apply, please visit the following link: https://zengerfarm.org/. We appreciate your support in helping us to spread the word. If you have questions or would like to discuss the leadership transition, please email us

Sincerely,

Gregory J. Wolley, President
Zenger Farm Board of Directors

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