ABC's Board of Trustees
ABC Board of Trustees Celebrating ABC's 31st Birthday with Staff (November 2019)
Dr. Michael J. Balick is an ethnobotanist with a specialty in medicinal and food plants and the role they play in traditional health care (ethnomedical) systems. Since the early 1970s he has worked with indigenous cultures around the world, studying how people interact with the plants in their environment and working towards conservation of biological and cultural diversity. He received his Ph.D. and A.M. in Biology from Harvard University. His undergraduate major was in horticulture and plant science, at the University of Delaware. He has worked at The New York Botanical Garden since 1980, and is currently Philecology Curator of Economic Botany and Director of the NYBG Institute of Economic Botany, and Vice President for Botanical Science. Current field projects regularly take him to the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, and the island of Manhattan – where, in each of these places, he studies the use of plants by traditional cultures. He teaches ethnobotany at Columbia University and The City University of New York, and has authored, co-authored or edited 18 books and numerous scientific and popular articles. He frequently appears on television, radio and in print media, discussing the need for documenting the ancient wisdom of traditional cultures and keeping it in practice. |
Neil Blomquist Blomquist has over 40 years of hands-on success building brands and companies in the natural products industry. Neil has practical experience in retailing, distribution, brand marketing, product sourcing, product development and organizational management. |
Peggy Brevoort Peggy is the co-founder and former CEO of East Earth Herb in |
Bethany Davis Bethany is the President for the Coalition for Supplement Sustainability, a group of supplement and ingredient companies that united to support a non-GMO and sustainable supply chain. In addition to her service on the Board of Trustees for the American Botanical Council, she is also a member of the American Herbal Products Association Board of Trustees. Bethany is deeply engaged with agricultural issues including regenerative agricultural practices, sustainability, and transparency as they relate to the supplement industry. She holds a Masters of Science in Regulatory Affairs and Health Policy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in Boston, MA and is a certified coach with the Conscious Leadership Group. |
James A. Duke, Ph.D., (1929 - 2017) Dr. James Duke formerly with the US Department of Agriculture, is a renowned senior botanist and who is currently involved with The Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research, and the American Botanical Council. He has written more than a dozen texts, including the Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, The CRC Handbook of Alternative Cash Crops for the Tropics, Amazonian Ethnobotanical Dictionary, CRC's Handbook of Medicinal Plants of the Bible, Duke's Handbook of Medicinal Plants of the Bible, and The Green Pharmacy. He has constructed powerful databases on the ecology, photochemistry and utility of thousands of economic plants. Advocating conservation in the Amazon as well as respect for efficacy of herbs over molecular drugs, Dr. Duke has been an all-important figure in the advancement of alternative therapies based on botanicals. Read the HerbalGram article about Jim. |
Norman R. Farnsworth, Ph.D. (1930 - 2011) |
Steven Foster President Steven Foster Group, Inc. Eureka Springs, Arkansas Steven Foster began his career, at age 17, at the Herb Department of the Sabbathday Lake, Maine, Shaker Community. He is the author of over 900 photo-illustrated articles and is well known for his photography. Steven is also the author of 15 books, including three Peterson Field Guides. He lives in the Ozarks. Foster serves as the president of the Steven Foster Group, Inc., providing consulting, editorial and stock photography services. Read the HerbalGram article about Steven. View Steven's page on the ABC Web site. |
Rick Kingston, PharmD Kingston received his Bachelor of Sciences degree in pharmacy at the University of New Mexico and Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. He subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical toxicology and pharmacokinetics. He was the co-founder and managing director of the Minnesota Poison Control system and its regional poison control center where he served for 17 years. He has published and presented extensively in the field of clinical toxicology and regulatory policy, and serves on numerous scientific panels, advisory boards and nonprofit professional organization scientific committees advising on issues of product stewardship, science and safety. He has become a national expert in the area of adverse event pharmacovigilance with special focus and expertise in the area of dietary supplement safety. |
Fredi Kronenberg, Ph.D. (1950 - 2017) Dr. Fredi Kronenberg is a physiologist and international leader in women’s health and research in complementary and alternative approaches for menopausal women. She is a leading expert in menopausal hot flashes, and alternative therapies to treat them. Dr. Kronenberg was founding director of the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and, as Professor of Clinical Physiology, was director of one of the first ten Centers funded by the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine – the Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research in Aging and Women's Health at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. Current affiliations include Stanford University School of Medicine, the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and the New York Botanical Garden. Dr. Kronenberg’s research has examined women’s health across the life-cycle. Work on alternative treatments has included studies of herbal and dietary approaches to maintaining optimal health in menopausal women. She collaborates with institutions in China to study Traditional Chinese Medicine and with ethnobotanists at the New York Botanical Garden to study herbal medicines of various ethnic traditions in New York City. Dr. Kronenberg initiated groundbreaking CME courses including “Botanical Medicine in Modern Clinical Practice” with Dr. Andrew Weil, “Integrative Pain Medicine,” and is co-director with Dr. Andrew Weil of “Nutrition and Health: State of the Science and Clinical Applications.” Dr. Kronenberg was a founding editor of the Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine: Research on Paradigm, Practice and Policy. She is on the editorial board of the journals Menopause, Journal of Tropical and Medicinal Plants, EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing, and the Journal of Women’s Health. She was co-founder of the North American Menopause Society, which has become the premier professional society in the field. Her most recent co-edited book is Botanical Medicine: From Bench to Bedside. |
Bernadette M. Marriott, Ph.D. |
Thomas M. Newmark Newmark brings a deep devotion to environmentalism, conservation, and organic herb production to the ABC Board of Trustees, along with more than a decade of experience within the regulatory environments of the natural products industry. |
Holly Shimizu Holly H. Shimizu is a nationally recognized horticulturist with a rich background in public gardens, herbs, and plant conservation. After working in numerous gardens in England, Germany, Holland, and Belgium, Holly was the first Curator of the National Herb Garden at the US National Arboretum in Washington, DC. Most recently, Holly was the Executive Director of the US Botanic Garden, on the National Mall, where she was responsible for all aspects of running the Garden which experienced a renaissance during her leadership. She has degrees in horticulture from Temple University, Ambler Campus, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Maryland where she conducted research in the area of plant roots. In 2009, Holly received the honorary degree of Doctor of Science from Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland. Throughout her career, Holly has received many awards including the prestigious Thomas Roland Medal for outstanding contributions to horticultural education from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, as well as the Professional Award for Outstanding Public Garden Director from the American Horticultural Society. She has written for numerous publications, books, and has been an international flower show judge. Holly is an Honorary Member of the Garden Club of America and has served with a range of organizations including Longwood Gardens, American Public Garden Association, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, and many more — she is dedicated to heightening an awareness and love of plants through her work. Currently, Holly is on the Advisory Council for Las Cruces Biological Station/Wilson Botanical Garden, part of the Organization for Tropical Studies in Costa Rica, is on the Advisory Board of the Southern Delaware Botanical Garden, and is lecturing, writing, and leading horticultural trips internationally. Her husband Osamu is a Garden Designer that she met while working in Europe. They live in Glen Echo, Maryland with their naughty dog where they enjoy their sanctuary garden near the Potomac River. In addition, they are creating a series of herb gardens around their 1730 house in Lewes, Delaware. |
Morris Shriftman Morris has been active in the growth and development of the Natural and Organic Products industry and the Alternative Medicine Industry since 1970. He’s had a hand in growing many of the industry’s leading companies, as their marketing and branding agency, strategic consultant, executive or Board Member. In 2004 Morris was recruited by North Castle Partners to reposition and build Avalon Natural Products. As Senior VP of Marketing and Product Development, Morris and his team created “Consciousness in Cosmetics,” a new paradigm for safety and efficacy in natural and organic personal care, and reformulated nearly all of Avalon’s products. Sales have grown over 25% every year since 2004 and in January 2007 Avalon was sold to Hain Celestial for $120,000,000. Prior to joining Avalon Natural Products, Morris was CEO of Mozart, Inc., a marketing communications and interactive design firm that specializes in the creation, branding and marketing of natural and organic products and complementary medicine. He has resumed his CEO status. Mozart’s work includes strategy and positioning, branding and packaging, advertising and sales promotion, development of differentiating value- added marketing programs and creation of video and interactive web-based marketing. Mozart has developed successful, award winning marketing solutions for the industry’s leading distributors: Tree of Life and United Natural Foods; for its largest retailers: Whole Foods, Bread & Circus and Mrs. Gooch’s, and for the industry’s leading food and supplement manufacturers: Horizon Organic Dairy, Smucker Quality Beverages, Woodstock Farms, Spectrum Organic, Organic Classics, Traditional Medicinals, KAL, Sundown-Rexall, Functional Products and others. Morris has served on the Boards of Foods for Health, Traditional Medicinals and others and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Botanical Council. A speaker or panelist at Natural Product Expos, OTA’s “ All Things Organic,” LOHAS and BioFach, he authored ” Creating Marketing Success For Natural and Organic Products in America” for Penton Media. Read the HerbalGram article about Morris. |
Margaret Wittenberg Margaret’s career in the natural and organic foods industry began in 1977 with Sunseed Natural Foods in Wisconsin, co-owned with her husband, Terry. She was hired by Whole Foods Market in 1981 as one of the Company’s original team members and retired in 2016 after many years in her position as Global Vice President of Quality Standards. Currently serving as a member of the Board of Trustees for the American Botanical Council, Margaret also served on advisory panels and boards of trustees throughout her career for many key domestic and international organizations related to seafood sustainability, farm animal welfare, agricultural genetic engineering, and both sustainable and organic agriculture, including the USDA National Organic Standards Board. In 2005, Margaret received the Rachel Carson Award by the National Audubon Society for her 30+ years of work championing organic agriculture, sustainability and the environment. In 2014 she was inducted into New Hope Natural Media’s Hall of, Legends for her lifelong contributions advancing sustainability and global health. Honored in 2013 by Women in Naturals as one of the “9 Wonder Women of the Natural Industry”, she was also hailed in 2014 as one of “The Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink” by Fortune and Food & Wine. Margaret also authored many comprehensive cooking reference books incorporating natural foods, sustainability, and wellness. Her most current, published by Ten Speed Press in 2013, is The Essential Good Food Guide: The Complete Resource for Buying and Using Whole Grains and Specialty Flours, Heirloom Fruit and Vegetables, Meat and Poultry, Seafood, and More. |
Mark Blumenthal, |