leadership
Operations Director Paul Hollwedel, Technical Director Eric Couper, and Managing Director Jacie Jones.
Jacie Jones | Managing Director & Board Member is passionate about leveraging enterprise to drive sustainable development. Prior to GreenPath Food, Jacie advised teams founding early-stage social ventures in the San Francisco Bay Area. She formerly worked as a Technical Advisor and Manager at TechnoServe, where she supported a portfolio of market-based agriculture and enterprise development programs across East Africa. Jacie has supported and consulted on a variety of ventures focused on value chain development, smallholder training and extension, producer certification, and environmental marketing. Before migrating to warmer climates, Jacie grew up on a family farm in northern Wisconsin. She loves running, traveling, and all things coffee.
Eric Couper | Technical Director is passionate about using technology to address agricultural development challenges in the developing world. Eric focuses on building information systems that will influence smallholder farming. Eric formerly worked as a Technology Advisor at Abt Associates, where he provided consulting, implementation, and training support across Abt's international projects. Eric also worked at the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), advising the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture on their ICT4Ag strategies and initiatives. Originally from the state of Louisiana in the southern US, Eric loves all things New Orleans, most notably the food, music, and culture.
Paul Hollwedel | Operations Director is passionate about finding ways to turn a profit while investing in long-term value addition for our smallholder farmer network. Paul focuses on growing the GreenPath Food footprint across East Africa while optimizing lean operations with small farm agriculture. Prior to GreenPath Food, Paul worked with One Acre Fund, in western Kenya and then in northern Nigeria. In Nigeria, he lead the pilot program during its first two years, adapting the program model to the Nigerian smallholder farmer. While in Kenya, Paul lead multiple business functions and teams that incorporated layers of technology to improve the smallholder farmer customer experience. Before One Acre Fund, Paul was an infantry officer in the United States Marines, leading teams in East and Southeast Asia, the Horn of Africa, and the Middle East. He hails from Long Island, New York and loves hiking, coffee, and flipping his pet tire.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
With experTise in the content and capabilities most relevant to GreenPath FOOD
The Perennial Foods Group’s Board of Directors remains deeply involved in the long-term planning, as well as day-to-day operations of the company. The Board is comprised of many of the original company founders, who are based in Ethiopia and overseas—leading professionals and experts with deep experience in high-yield farming, technology, building and scaling companies in Ethiopia, and working with the Ethiopian government. Together, their expertise contributes to building a thriving network of thousands of farms, under the umbrella of East Africa’s largest specialty food producer.
At the annual GreenPath Food annual Board meeting, September 2019, left to right: Eric Couper, Director of Operations; Heiru Serefedin; Mirafe Gabriel Marcos, Board Member; Sidhanth Kamath, Board Member; Joseph Shields, Board Member; Jacie Jones, Board Member and Managing Director; Andrew Carruthers, Board Member; and Getu Gudeta, Production Manager.
supporters
Since 2015, GreenPath Food has attracted financing from investment partners committed to building a successful business that can also drive long-term impact among East African smallholder farmers. GreenPath Food is grateful for the generous support of a host of outstanding international organizations, including:
Learn more about the Perennial Foods Group here:
