Fred Ames, Executive Committee, Treasurer, and Governance Committee, is a longtime resident of Southeastern Massachusetts. Most recently, he was instrumental in bringing back Langwater Farm in North Easton as a productive agricultural enterprise. He also has a long record as a volunteer in waging successful historic preservation campaigns to save buildings and landscapes of historic importance. Mr. Ames has worked as a wooden boat builder, a commercial loan officer, and an urban transportation consultant. Fred holds an MBA from Babson College and a dual Bachelor’s of Arts and Science degree in Finance from Boston University. He enjoys world travel with his two children, and spending time back at home sailing and hiking.

Jess Brooks, Resource Development Committee and Strategic Planning Committee, is Chief Development Officer at Sunwealth, where she helps individuals and organizations put their money to work in local solar projects that create energy savings, jobs and clean energy for communities. Prior to joining Sunwealth, she worked at Boston Community Capital (now BlueHub Capital), where she helped grow assets under management from $60 million to over $1 billion, leveraging over $5 billion in public and private investment in underserved communities. Jess has previously worked for The New York Times, at a technology start-up, and as a securities trader on Wall Street. She is a graduate of Brown University. Jess serves on advisory boards of Generation Citizen Massachusetts and First Teacher; she previously chaired the board of The Food Project. Jess has a CSA share with Newton Community Farm, a meat share with Chestnut Farms and a chocolate share with Somerville Chocolate. She lives in Newton, MA.

Patty Devaney, Strategic Planning Committee, has been a consultant since 2015, primarily conducting due diligence on community development finance portfolios. Prior to that, she was the director of impact assessment at Root Capital, a debt fund providing loans to farmers in Latin America and Africa. Before Root, she conducted microfinance research and poverty assessment at Accion International. She graduated from Colby College and holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School. 

Patty Duffy, Governance Chair, Loan Review Committee, has 25 years of experience in agricultural finance and lending, including Agricultural Loan Officer at Vermont Agricultural Credit Corporation, County Supervisor for the Farmers Home Administration in Vermont and New York, and Adjunct Professor for Dairy and Agribusiness - Vermont Technical College.  Patty graduated with Honors from University of Connecticut with a B.S. in Animal Science.  In addition, she is a Certified Veterinary Technician with prior experience in large, small, and exotic animal medicine and practice management.

Jennifer Hashley, Equity and Inclusion Chair, is the Director of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project. She is also a vegetable and livestock farmer and raises chickens, eggs, pork, sheep, rabbit, and specialty vegetables in Concord, MA. She is a farm business planning instructor for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and has organized farm labs and field trips for graduate students in the Tufts’ University Agriculture, Food and Environment program.

Jonathan W. Jaffe, Executive Committee Chair, Board Chair, Loan Review Committee, is Vice President and Farm Business Consultant/Farm Tax Specialist at Farm Credit East, ACA.  He grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York, received a BS from Cornell University and then owned and operated his own dairy farm for several years. For the past 31 years Jon has worked for Farm Credit as a loan officer, appraiser, tax specialist and business consultant. He specializes in estate planning, generational business transfer and profitability analysis.  He works with a variety of farm businesses in CT, MA, NH, NY, and RI.  

Dorothy M. Suput, founder and executive director of The Carrot Project, has worked for more than 15 years with nonprofits on environmental and sustainable agriculture issues. Read More.

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