Meet Our Team
Betsy Rosenbluth
Vermont FEED Co-Director, Shelburne Farms
After a brief stint working in aquaculture on the Red Sea, Betsy realized that policy and governance issues were more of a calling than cultivating shrimp. She spent a decade with the City of Burlington directing its sustainable city initiative, neighborhood programs, and waterfront development. Betsy helped launch the Burlington School Food Project and Burlington’s Sustainable Schools Project. With Vermont FEED, she helped draft and pass Vermont’s first farm to school bill. Betsy also served as Director of Projects for the Orton Family Foundation overseeing community planning projects, evaluation, and capacity building in towns throughout New England and the Rocky Mountain West.
As Vermont FEED’s Project Director, Betsy provides leadership, vision, and coordination to advance its mission. Her work includes fundraising, communications, partner relations, and general management in coordination with the Vermont FEED Program Director. Betsy provides backbone support to the Vermont Farm to School Network and to the Northeast Farm to School Collaborative, and serves on the Advisory Board of the National Farm to School Network. Betsy lives with her family in Burlington where she walks down to Lake Champlain for the sunset whenever she can.
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Kayla Strom
Farm to School Program Manager, NOFA-VT
Kayla brings a background in child nutrition, education, and agriculture to her role as the Farm to School Coordinator at NOFA-VT. Before moving back to Vermont in 2018, Kayla managed a school nutrition and farm to school program for a K-8 public Waldorf School in Hawaii where she helped to break down barriers to accessing nutritious and affordable food by providing families with resources such as federal funding for school meals, education and creating institutional collaboration with local growers. Over her career, she has also spent a lot of time teaching in various roles. As a passionate maker, she has taught art classes in ceramics, fiber, and mixed media. As a gardener, she has taught in schools and has led adult workshops for the Vermont Community Garden Network. Outside of her work with NOFA and Vermont FEED, Kayla loves to spend her time with friends, cooking, creating and attempting to make just about anything.
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Jen Cirillo
Director of Professional Learning, Shelburne Farms
Jen coordinates all of Shelburne Farms' offerings to educators, and develops and conducts workshops, institutes and credit-bearing courses at the local, national and international levels. As director of the Farms’ Sustainable Schools Project, she works to further develop and evaluate the model, document promising practices, and conduct outreach to additional schools and communities. She co-chairs the K-12 and Teacher Education Sector of the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development and is a board member of Vermont Energy Education Program (VEEP). Jen’s favorite part of the job is working with teachers and helping them to find their passion and joy in teaching and how to share that with students of all ages. Jen holds a BS in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Vermont (UVM), a MS in Environmental Education from Lesley University’s Audubon Expedition Institute, and is currently a PhD candidate at UVM. While at UVM for her undergraduate degree she helped to start Common Ground, a student-run farm still active today. She was first introduced to Shelburne Farms through an internship learning to drive draft horses with then Children’s Farmyard manager Donald Campbell. Before joining Shelburne Farms, Jen worked with the City of Burlington on the public process for a 30-year sustainability plan. She also worked with AmeriCorps*VISTA on two state-wide initiatives focused on education, specifically, the arts, the environment, and literacy. When not working, you can find Jen paddling on Lake Champlain or playing with her two dogs.
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Cynthia Greene
Farm to Early Childhood Education Partnership Coordinator, Shelburne Farms
Cynthia works on farm to early childhood initiatives, bridging systemic policy actions with practical classroom and provider professional development projects. Cynthia began her career as a licensed Vermont early childhood educator working with toddlers and preschoolers. Later, she moved into administrative positions as the Executive Director of Hunger Mountain Children’s Center, Flanders Early Learning Center at Goddard College, and then Burlington Children’s Space for over a decade. At that point, she shifted trajectories slightly to engage in early childhood community organization work through Building Bright Futures (BBF). Most recently, she coordinated the Vermont State Early Childhood Action Plan with BBF. Cynthia is an avid gardener, cook, and homebrewer who loves to kayak, socialize where there’s live music, and break bread often with family and friends.
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Sarah Webb
Communications Manager, Shelburne Farms
Sarah first experienced the power of connecting kids to the food they eat as a paraeducator in the Burlington School District. Now, through Shelburne Farms, Vermont FEED, and the Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Network, she works to help others understand the impact of farm to school and food literacy.
Sarah’s background is a combination of the biological sciences (culminating in a riveting thesis on moss!) and digital arts (earning her MFA in Emergent Media from Champlain College in 2015). She currently serves as Communications Chair of the American Institute of Graphics Arts Vermont Chapter. She is a cookbook design enthusiast, a grower of flowers and vegetables, and an official member of the unofficial Fanta Fan Club.
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Qing [Tsing] Ren
Evaluation & Program Analyst, Institute for Sustainable Schools, Shelburne Farms
Qing joined the Shelburne Farms and Vermont FEED education teams in early 2022. She evaluates education and professional learning programs, such as the Farm to School Institute. After finishing her undergraduate study in animation art, she changed direction and became interested in environmental and conservation work. She has been an environmental educator, evaluator, and researcher since 2008. She received an M.S. in environmental education from SUNY-College of Environmental Science and Forestry and a Ph.D. in natural resources from the University of Vermont. Qing enjoys reading and painting/drawing. She lives in South Burlington with her husband Ted and daughter Anya.
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Courtney Mulcahy
Education for Sustainability Professional Learning Facilitator & Educator, Shelburne Farms
Courtney joined the education team in 2016. She works with educators in schools and communities to provide experiences that enhance and support students' sustainability work. Courtney has a passion for learning that extends beyond the walls of the school. Her background working in a variety of educational settings, including time in urban education, has given her an insightful perspective on teaching and learning. She has enjoyed reconnecting to the Land with kids, educators, and families through the many learning opportunities that exist within the field of Education for Sustainability. When she’s not at the farm you can find her enjoying all of the seasons to the fullest, eating delicious food, swimming in lakes and rivers, skiing, and traveling to places near and far.