Presenting the Slate of Candidates for the 2022 SCA Board of Directors Election
BY YANNIS APOSTOLOPOULOS, CEO of the Specialty Coffee Association
Dear members of the Specialty Coffee Association around the globe,
Today, it is my pleasure to present the slate of candidates for the 2023-2024 SCA Board of Directors elections. The Nominating Committee, chaired by SCA Board President Juan Luis Barrios, has put forward the following professionals after an extensive interview process with the dozens of SCA members who responded to our call for nominations made in June 2022:
Joanna Alm, Managing Director of Drop Coffee
David Browning, CEO of Enveritas
Wendy Christensen, Global Coffee Lead at Néstle
Julia Leach, President of Toddy, LLC
Tsega Melesse, General Manager of Keffa Coffee LLC
Nadine Rasch, Founder and Director of Primavera Coffee
Luiz Roberto Saldanha, Owner of Fazenda Califórnia and Co-founder and Director at Capricornio Coffees
Yi-Ling Wu, Manager of Beverage Research Institute at King Car Food Industrial Company and Vice Chairman of Taiwan Coffee Association
The SCA Board of Directors consists of 18 volunteer members that serve a 2-year term, supported by the CEO and SCA staff. There are 8 open seats in the 2022 election and members elected to serve on the SCA Board will serve a two-year term from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2024. Scroll down to learn more about each candidate.
I want to say thank you to our 2022 Nominating Committee for the hours of work they have contributed to this process:
Juan Luis Barrios, Board President
Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos, Board Vice President
Pamela Chng, Board 2nd Vice President
Burak Alici, Board Treasurer
Christina Meinl, Emeritus Director
Colleen Anunu, Emeritus Director
What Happens Next in the 2022 Election?
The next step in the 2022 SCA Board of Directors election is for SCA members to take part in the voting process. The elections will open on November 1 and close on November 30, 2022. Find the election timeline in our elections portal at sca.coffee/board/elections.
SCA members will receive their ballots from EBallot, the third party company that runs our voting process, via the email elections@sca.coffee, so please be sure to add the email address to your contacts. Prefer a paper ballot? Request it by September 30 by sending an email to elections@sca.coffee.
As always, thank you for supporting the work of the Specialty Coffee Association and for taking part in this process to elect our leadership. Let’s continue to #makecoffeebetter, together.
YANNIS APOSTOLOPOULOS is the Chief Executive Officer at the Specialty Coffee Association
Meet the Slate of Candidates Proposed by the Nominating Committee
Joanna Alm , Managing Director of Drop Coffee
Joanna is the Managing Director of Drop Coffee, founded in 2009 in Stockholm. She is a three times Swedish Coffee Roasting Championship as well as three times finalists in the WCRC. She has written the book Manifest for Better Coffee, focusing on the Coffee Price Crisis.
Joanna is a business owner, but even more so she is a part of a diverse and amazing community and would love to represent the members of our community on the board. Through her experience, she has had the privilege of seeing the full production chain and the value exchange in the coffee industry. This has become her core-believe and what has driven her in her work and within SCA over the last decade. She has been on the Board of Directors since 2021 and previously on the Coffee Roasters Guild AC. Joanna was also part of the Unification Committee of the Roasting Guilds and has witnessed the community getting stronger by working together as we move towards inclusion and overcoming many historic power structures.
In a shifting industry of many global challenges, she is prepared to help and can contribute with my experience.
David Browning, CEO of Enveritas
David Browning is CEO of Enveritas, a non-profit organization, that provides sustainability assurance for the coffee industry. David previously led TechnoServe’s global coffee practice for 13 years. During this time he led The Coffee Initiative in partnership with the Gates Foundation working with hundreds of thousands of smallholder coffee farmers in East Africa. He has served as a trusted counselor for many of the world’s leading coffee companies on sustainability strategy, and also formerly worked for McKinsey & Company. He holds an M.B.A. from Yale University, as well as a Bachelor of Commerce and a master’s degree in Advanced Finance from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
Wendy Christensen, Global Coffee Lead at Néstle
With a curious mindset and a desire for travel, Wendy discovered her passion for coffee more than 12 years ago, having spent time with coffee farmers and their families in the central highlands of Vietnam.
Growing up on a farm shaped Wendy’s values towards ethical & sustainable living, which she actively practices through a personal land conservation project close to her home.
Wendy has worked in coffee across Europe, Middle East, and North Africa, embracing the culture and diversity that each country brings. Over the last 5 years, Wendy implemented SCA certified training centers and coffee programs, building the coffee culture and network throughout the region. Currently, she is the Global Coffee Lead for Nestle Professional, based in Switzerland, developing strategy and business plans.
As a #Dyslexic thinker, Wendy has a natural affinity to solving problems through a collaborative, imaginative approach.
With her extensive management experience, coffee passion, coupled with her values and ethics, Wendy brings a natural affinity to build upon her relationship with SCA.
Julia Leach, President of Toddy, LLC
Julia came to specialty coffee via the world of marketing, having founded a strategic agency focused on helping US and international clients with branding, digital design, packaging, and more. When the opportunity arose to acquire her client, the pioneering cold brew brand Toddy, she took it. In her 12 years as Toddy President, she has successfully grown the company and helped innovate cold brew products to fuel and support the soaring demand for cold brew coffee and tea. Toddy manufactures cold brew solutions and distributes to a global client base, has a cold brew coffee school, a research & development roastery, and its own onsite tasting room.
Julia is a visionary and creative thinker, qualities that serve her well as a steering committee member with UC Davis Coffee Center and research partner with the Coffee Science Foundation. Over the years she has developed the executive leadership background to build consensus through strategic solutions and a focus on shared objectives. Julia has been an active SCA member since 2010, regularly attending and sponsoring events and classes, teaching at SCA lectures and workshops, and presenting at Re:co Symposium.
An advocate for diversity and inclusion both in her public and private life, Julia is an involved community member, wife, and mother to three boys.
Tsega Melesse, General Manager of Keffa Coffee LLC
Tsega was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Growing up she used to hear her father talk about the coffee market and quality over the phone all the time, it made me curious about coffee business and she always wanted to know more!
After doing her BA degree in Marketing Management, Tsega joined her father Mr. Melesse, who at the time was working as an Exclusive Agent for a big Coffee Importing company based in Germany. That is when she knew that she truly found passion! Getting to interact with a lot of people (Growers, Exporters, Logistics personnel, and final buyers) makes the job interesting, on top of that she gets to experience a lot of beautiful Ethiopian coffee!
Tsega immediately fell in love with the job. Wow, is this what she get to do all of my life? It's then that she knew she won't do any work besides Coffee! She loves this saying "Once's Coffee, always Coffee! In 2015, Tsega got the chance to do her Internship in Hamburg, Germany for 3 months. This is when she got a better insight into the processes involved from the importer's side. She gathered deep knowledge in Future's trading, Logistics, Finance, and quality control departments!
Through the years Tsega then got certified as a Q Arabica grader and have been an active IWCA Ethiopia member.
In 2017, Tsega joined Keffa Coffee LLC. as an Exclusive agent, one of the leading specialty coffee importers in the USA. She sources top-quality coffees, control quality, and follow up on the shipment process.
Throughout her 10 years in the coffee business, she got a chance to experience both ends of the coffee industry. Visiting farms and spending time with people involved at the grass root level helped her understand the needs and reality of producers. While on the other hand attending conferences and exhibitions organized by SCA exposed her to the world of roasters and coffee importers. Because of this exposure, shehas had a chance to share her knowledge and experiences with people at various levels of the coffee industry.
Nadine Rasch, Founder and Director of Primavera Coffee
Born and raised in Guatemala, she spent much of her childhood on her family’s coffee farm. After studying & working in finance in the UK, she started working in coffee in 2012. Realizing the potential in the specialty coffee market, she returned to Guatemala to work on her family’s farm with coffees from other producers. In 2013 she founded Third Wave Coffee Source Ltd., now Primavera Coffee to connect the best coffees from Guatemala to roasters in Europe. In 2016 she opened La Central de Cafe, the sister exporting company in order to be completely vertically integrated. 2017 with a higher demand in the North American market the USA importing branch opens to share more of our coffees. Nadine is a Certified Q Grader and Q Processor.
Luiz Roberto Saldanha, Owner of Fazenda Califórnia and Co-founder and Director at Capricornio Coffees
Luiz Roberto Saldanha is the owner of Fazenda Califórnia, co-founder and Director at Capricornio Coffees. A respected coffee professional in Brazil, he is an agronomical engineer, has an MBA in Production Management, specialized in Coffee Culture. As a cupper, he is a Q-Grader and an Assistant Instructor at the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), and a National and International Judge of the Brazilian Cup of Excellence Program (COE). With deep knowledge and experience in post-harvest processes, he is certified Q-Processing Level 1 – Generalist, Q-Processing Level 2 – Professional and Q-Processing Level 3 - Expert also by CQI and is currently a Q Processing Instructor of the entity.
Under his management, Fazenda California was the first in the State of Paraná to achieve socio-environmental certifications such as UTZ Certified (2007) and Rainforest Alliance (2011), in addition to being the first Paraná property to win a Cup of Excellence title in 2010, and the only one to repeat the feat in 2015. The farm won several awards in State and National Quality Contests, as well as the honor of being part of the select group of recognized properties with the seal of “Cup of Excellence” and the recognition of being a “Great Place to Work” GPTW business since 2021.
In 2004, he started working in the production of specialty coffees in the State of Paraná, when he took over the management of the century-old Fazenda Califórnia. Since then, he has actively participated in the promotion of quality coffees in the region, in several institutions, contributing to the development of essential public policies for the sector. In 2007, he joined the Cafés Especiais do Norte Pioneiro do Paraná Project.
In 2010 he was elected Vice-President of the Specialty Coffees Association of the Norte Pioneiro do Paraná (ACENPP) and, in 2012, he became president of the institution. Under his management and in partnership with the other institutions participating in the project, in May 2012, the Norte Pioneiro do Paraná Region received the Registration of Geographical Indication of Origin with the INPI (National Institute of Trademarks and Patents), becoming, at the time, the third producing region in Brazil to receive it.
Luiz was also an active member of the Technical Committee on Coffee Culture of the Federation of Agriculture of the State of Paraná (FAEP) between the years 2007 and 2014 and a member of the Sectorial Chamber of Coffee of the State of Paraná.
With Capricornio Coffees, a specialty coffee exporter operation founded in 2015, Luiz has been working to develop an unknown origin through good agronomical practices application in the production of sustainable specialty coffees and a close look on harvest, post-harvest and quality control best practices application from the seed to the cup. The operation has achieved notoriety with the promotion and exportation of Capricornio Coffees supply chain products in more them 30 countries.
Yi-Ling Wu , Manager of Beverage Research Institute at King Car Food Industrial Company and Vice Chairman of Taiwan Coffee Association
Yi-Ling Wu from Taiwan has cheerful, lively and enthusiastic personality, like coffee, food and travel.
Work for king car group as a research specialist for coffee drinks ,tea, soft drinks. more than 30 years. The well-known brands of King Car Group include Brown Coffee and KAVALAN Whiskey, which are export all over the world. Now her position is manager of beverage research institutes.
In 2003, she co-founded with the coffee industry established the first coffee association in Taiwan (Taiwan Coffee Association) The community gather everyone to the international coffee world people share coffee knowledge to each other.
In the past 19 years, many coffee events have been held to diversify Taiwan's coffee industry. In particular, Taiwanese coffee baristas have participated in world coffee competitions and won world championships, that the world can see the power of coffee in Taiwan.
《Knowledge is power》21 century network without borders makes the world have no distance. The coffee producer provide good coffee beans share the stories from the origin, coffee shop supply all type of coffee drinks for people who love coffee.
This is the progress of the coffee market.
Yi-Ling has been working in research and development for a long time. The happiest thing is that she can keep learning and share new things with people.
Life is so beautiful. Enjoy the wonderful day and good coffee.
Learn More About the 2022 SCA Elections
Visit our SCA Elections page to learn more about the elections process, find out who on the board is cycling off this year, and for answers to frequently asked questions. Can’t find what you’re looking for? Contact us via email at elections@sca.coffee or via the contact form at the bottom of the page.