Christopher Zuehlsdorff
Chief Executive Officer
Chris serves as Chief Executive Officer at Iroquois Valley, where he combines his investment management experience and personal background in support of the strategic vision of the organization. Prior to joining Iroquois Valley, Chris was
Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Global Investments at EnTrust Global, an alternative investment firm based in New York. He was a member of the Management Committee and the Global Investment Committee. As a senior investment professional, Chris covered most asset classes and investment strategies across both public and private markets.
Chris grew up on a family dairy farm in Minnesota and maintained an interest in food and agriculture throughout his career. Since 2016, Chris has been a board member at The Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming, a non-profit organization supporting regional food and farming in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Chris graduated with an MBA in Finance and Accounting from Carnegie Mellon University in 2003 and a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Saint Olaf College in 1998. He is a CFA® Charterholder. Chris and his family reside in Westchester County, NY. Outside of work, Chris enjoys traveling, gardening and hiking with his wife, three sons, and dog, Bruce
Mark Schindel
Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Mark has responsibility for financial systems and reporting, budgeting and forecasting, reviewing new funding opportunities, monitoring and tracking the investment portfolio, and evaluating new deals. Mark sees Iroquois Valley as a great vehicle for improving the health of the planet and raising awareness of the multitude of benefits achieved through farming organically. And with farmers in his family, the company’s mission is a personal one.
Mr. Schindel received his BS in Finance from the University of Illinois, and his MBA from Northwestern’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Before joining Iroquois Valley, Mark spent most of his career in the private equity business; and as a financial consultant and private investor. Mr. Schindel lives in Chicago, and enjoys tennis, downhill skiing, and hiking around the world.
Arnold Lau
Chief Administrative Officer
Arnold (“Arnie”) has several areas of responsibility including multi-year budget modeling, long-term planning for the company and evaluating new business/geographic opportunities as well as management of specific programs including the Young Farmer Land Access Program and a farmland ownership transition program. He also monitors and evaluates developments in such areas as climate change and the environment, capital markets, regulation, and technology for factors that may have long-term implications for the Company and its farmers. Arnie reports directly to the CEO; and coordinates his duties with the CFO. Arnie also supports development of offering materials, investment sales and investor relations.
Arnie has a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Economics from Lawrence University, and a Masters of Management from Northwestern University. He was previously a member of the Chicago Board Options Exchange from 1983 until 1999, and a member of the Chicago Board of Trade from 1985 until 2007. He is a life member of the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy.
Donna Holmes
Managing Director, Investor Relations
In Donna’s role at Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT, she shares the Company’s vision and investment strategy with investors and prospects. She is responsible for expanding our investor base by building a community of like-minded investors. Donna is passionate about creating an opportunity for all people to reap the health benefits of nutritional food, grown in a sustainable and socially just society. Using her knowledge of finance and investing, Donna structures investment vehicles to address investors’ different needs and goals. She believes in Iroquois Valley’s triple bottom line principles, actively securing social, environmental, and financial returns for our investors.
Prior to joining Iroquois Valley, Donna served in business development and investor relations roles at three alternative asset management firms. Before working in finance, she practiced law, specializing in tax and ERISA matters.
Donna earned a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Syracuse University, a Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University, College of Law, and a Master of Law in Taxation from New York University. She is a CAIA Charter-holder and an FSA Level 1 Certificate Holder.
Claire Mesesan
VP, Farmer Relations
Claire serves as VP, Farmer Relations where her work centers on process, program development, and resource-building. She is broadly focused on Iroquois Valley’s farmer-facing work to ensure that partnerships are successful. Claire also works on impact strategy, evaluation, and reporting in support of the company’s efforts to create public benefit.
Claire joined Iroquois Valley in 2015 as Communications Director where she created mission-driven, data-informed content across platforms. Claire gravitated toward stakeholder engagement as she connected with farmers to tell their stories, which led to her transition to farmer relations in 2021.
Claire completed her bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and French from Loyola University Chicago. Within philosophy, Claire was interested in the ways that land stewardship and land-based ethics intersect with social and political movements. After graduation, she spent a year in Madison, WI working as an AmeriCorps Farm-to-School educator. Claire lives in southern California where she enjoys gardening and all things outdoors, especially camping.
Raya Carr
Senior Relationship Manager
Raya works toward a future where holistic, inclusive, organic-regenerative farming heals the farming and food ecosystem: the land, the animals, and the people involved, too. Embracing the natural continuity from farming organically herself, since childhood, Raya is honored to work as a Senior Relationship Manager, and she has now been with the Company for around 4 years. In this capacity, Raya supports farmers across the U.S., acting as a farmer liaison for Iroquois Valley, helping organic farmers get the financing & land access tools they need to thrive. It gives Raya perspective to see that small and midsized organic farmers across the country often share similar challenges and aren’t alone in being up against a difficult overall food system to exist and run a business in. But she is encouraged also to witness the unique solutions each farm business narrows in on, and she is often inspired by farmers’ & ranchers’ perseverance as well as their great dedication to land stewardship. Raya successfully completed the 2015 Good Food Business Accelerator Program by Family Farmed, holds a Liberal Arts in Humanities degree with Great Distinction from Shimer College, and is currently pursuing her MBA at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Raya has run a seasonal farm dinner & tour series at her family’s farm in Illinois for the last decade, and on the best weekends, she still cares for the animals and pastures.
Lacey Benz
Senior Investor Relations Associate
Growing up on a farm in southern Minnesota, Lacey couldn’t wait to trade in the cornfields and cattle pastures for the hustle and bustle of a big city. After graduating with a degree in Economics and Finance, she achieved her goal and spent one year as an analyst at JPMorgan in New York City. Missing the wide open spaces of the Midwest and discovering her passion for organic and regenerative agriculture, Lacey moved back to the Corn Belt and joined the Iroquois Valley team in 2020.
In this role, Lacey manages the investment process for the equity and debt issued by the company. She loves to brainstorm new ways to make the systems more efficient, streamlined, and organized… all while helping the firm grow its capital base. When she isn’t working at Iroquois Valley or helping out on her family farm, Lacey enjoys gardening, practicing yoga, and traveling.
Laura Temple Wesley
Staff Accountant
Laura has been a Staff Accountant with Iroquois Valley since 2021.
Meg Santisi
Operations Manager
Meg has a background in non-profit development, working on behalf of art and ecology non-profits. Currently she fundraises on behalf of two artist residency programs: ACRE Residency, located in the Driftless Region of WI, and Ox-Bow School of Art, an 100+ year old residency located on a 112 acre conservation easement in Western Michigan. Prior to this, Meg worked in programming for the Graham Foundation, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and as Sales Manager for Mint Creek Farm, where she managed on-site farm dinners and Mint Creek’s CSA program. She holds an MA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where her studies focused on the intersection of art, ecology, and architecture. She is very pleased to be working with the incredible folks at Iroquois Valley.
Alyssa Scher
Credit Manager
In the Credit Manager position, Alyssa focuses on the financial viability and structure of all potential lending opportunities. She loves that her position helps create pathways for farmers and their families to live out their dreams and mission. Prior to joining Iroquois Valley in 2020 as an Underwriter, Alyssa worked in the tax and accounting field; specializing in tax preparation, bookkeeping and succession planning for farming operations. Alyssa holds a BS in Accounting from Ball State University. She resides in Northeast Indiana with her husband and three children where they are an active part of their family’s 4th generation farm.
Andy Ambriole
Mr. Ambriole, his wife Catie, and their three daughters farm approximately 1,400 acres of certified organic land in northern Indiana. Crops grown include corn, soybeans, wheat, and barley along with numerous species of cover crops. He has been a tenant of the Company since 2012 and an equity shareholder from 2012 to 2019. He has served on the Board of Directors since Iroquois Valley’s establishment as a REIT and public benefit corporation at the end of 2016. He has also served on the Investment Committee since that committee’s establishment in 2018. Beginning in 2021, Mr. Ambriole began providing occasional due diligence support and similar services to the Company as a consultant and served as its Interim CEO from November 2021 through July 2022. His other activities include serving as president of his county’s Soil & Water Conservation District and as an assistant region director for the Indiana Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts
Anna Jones-Crabtree
Anna and her husband Doug own and manage Vilicus Farms, a first generation, organic, 13,000-acre dryland crop farm in Northern Hill County, Montana growing a diverse array of organic heirloom and specialty grain, pulse, oilseed and broadleaf crops under five and seven-year rotations. In thirteen seasons, Vilicus Farms grew from 1,280 acres to be a nationally recognized farm by using USDA’s beginning farmer programs, employing extensive conservation practices, and fostering unique risk sharing relationships with food companies and land investment firms. With over 26% of their land in non-crop conservation and 400 acres seeded to native pollinator habitat Vilicus Farms became Bee Better certified in 2019, Real Organic Project Certified in 2019 and has been transitioning towards Demeter Biodynamic certification.
Anna is a Donella Meadows Leadership Fellow and a recipient of the White House Greening Government Sustainability Hero Award. She holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a minor in Sustainable Systems from Georgia Institute of Technology. Anna served on the USDA Secretary’s Advisory Council on Beginning Farmers & Ranchers. She currently serves on the Xerces Society Bee Better Advisory Board and on Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT’s Investment Committee. Given the realities of farming Anna still has an off-farm job with the USDA Forest Service. After several decades fostering more sustainable operations she is now currently serving as the Director for Data Governance for the Northern Region.
Anna, Doug, and their three Jack Russell Terriers are avid members of the Lentil Underground (http://lentilunderground.com/).
Arnold Lau
Mr. Lau is an independent securities and commodities trader. He was previously a market maker on the Chicago Board Options Exchange for 16 years and has been a member of the Chicago Board of Trade for 20 years. He holds degrees from Lawrence University and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Mr. Lau is a life member of the Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club, and since 2010 has co-managed Two Roads Farm LLC, a 320 acre organic farm in central Illinois.
David E. Miller
After a 30-year career in corporate finance and real estate, Mr. Miller returned to his native Illinois landscape in 2005 by purchasing a 10 acre farm from a family estate of his relatives. Keeping the farm in the family, he re-connected with local relatives and friends farming organically. In 2007, he co-founded Iroquois Valley Farms LLC to enable a new generation of farmers and investors to support healthy food production.
Prior to developing sustainable farmland ventures, Mr. Miller held executive positions at Bank of America, Santa Fe Southern Pacific and First Chicago Corporation, including the management and oversight of large leasing portfolios. In 2008 he formed Working Farms Capital, an entity seeding new ventures in sustainable agriculture while providing transitional farm management services.
Mr. Miller is a 1975 graduate of Loyola University of Chicago, and a 1978 graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. Mr. Miller views education as the primary key to changing the health and economics of our current food production systems. In that capacity, Mr. Miller is a founding member of the advisory board for Loyola University’s Institute of Environmental Sustainability and is a recipient of the Institute’s first Damen Award, recognizing his services related to positive environmental change. Mr. Miller resides in Winnetka, Illinois with his wife and family. He continues to restore his small organic farm in Iroquois County, a family heritage since 1875, now being transitioned to native prairie and permaculture production.
Mr. Miller is a co-founder of Iroquois Valley and served as its Chief Executive Officer from its founding in 2007 through September 2021.
Dorothy D (“D.D.”) Burlin
Ms. Burlin is private investor and former attorney. She is an advocate for local, sustainable, organic, and regeneratively grown foods, with particular interest in creative uses of capital to fund the large-scale expansion of this sector. She is a Co-founder (2011) and continuing member of the Sustainable Local Food Investment Group (SLoFIG), a 30-member, mission-based, angel investor network based in Chicago, Illinois. From 2010 through 2014, she was an investor in Two Roads Farm LLC, a singlefarm investment partnership founded by David Miller and Dr. Stephen P. Rivard which merged with Iroquois Valley Farms LLC in 2014.
As an attorney from 1992 to 2007, Ms. Burlin was licensed with the Illinois and Missouri bars, and licensed to practice before federal courts in several districts and circuits. Her work included extensive criminal law practice. Her academic credentials include a BA from Dartmouth College and a JD from Georgetown University.
Ms. Burlin and her husband, Johannes, have two sons, and reside in Chicago, Illinois. They also have a small farm near Reeseville, Wisconsin. Ms. Burlin is active in non-profit and political fundraising and is a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the American Youth Foundation.
Joseph Mantoan
Mr. Mantoan is an advocate for ecological farming and farmland preservation. Mr. Mantoan was a managing partner at Accenture and consultant during his 30-year career in business. Mr. Mantoan served on the board of the United Way of Greater Milwaukee for twelve years and on the board of Wellspring Organic Farm for six years. He has served as a member of the Company’s Board since 2019. He received his BA and MA in Accounting from the University of Illinois.
Mr. Mantoan grew up in the farming community of Kankakee County, Illinois. Along with his siblings, he is a co-owner of his family’s 100-acre certified organic crop farm in Kankakee County. Mr. Mantoan and his wife also own 200 acres of certified organic farmland in Washington County, Wisconsin. The farm is managed by his son, who is raising livestock on pasture and using permaculture methods to grow perennial crops. Mr. Mantoan resides in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.
Malaika Maphalala
Malaika Maphalala is a Private Wealth Advisor and Partner at Natural Investments LLC, a national SEC registered Investment Advisory firm that has specialized in exclusively socially and environmentally responsible investments for over 30 years. A lifelong advocate for social change, Malaika is driven by a passion for finding innovative approaches to bringing people and resources together to address social and environmental complexities.
In her role as Wealth Advisor, Malaika provides portfolio management and financial planning for high-net-worth individuals, families, and institutions across the country that want to use their wealth as a tool to transform society and economic systems using humane, restorative, and ecological principles as the guide. She specializes in Regenerative Investing, which is investment that directly supports the regenerative capacity of communities and ecosystems. Her areas of special interest and expertise encompass investments in sustainable agriculture, community development, clean and renewable energy, cooperative businesses, and microfinance.
Malaika received her BA from the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands and she holds a Certified Private Wealth Advisor® designation from the Investments and Wealth Institute in conjunction with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
She currently lives full time on the island of Hawaii, her home for almost 25 years, where she and her family tend and enjoy their beloved, rural, solar-powered, organic farm and homestead.
Olivia Watkins
Ms. Watkins is a social entrepreneur and impact investor. For the past seven years, she has financed, developed, and operated environmental and social projects across the US. She currently serves as a co-founder and President of Black Farmer Fund, a non-profit impact investing organization creating sustainable and equitable food systems by investing in black farmers and food businesses of NY. She also serves as a board member for Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders and previously for Soul Fire Farm Institute. Prior to founding Black Farmer Fund in 2017, Olivia worked in several production roles at Soul Fire Farm Institute and Kahumana Organic Farms, leveraging her environmental biology background to manage and grow environmentally regenerative and socially impactful business operations.
Ms. Watkins has an MBA from North Carolina State University in Financial Management, and a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University in Environmental Biology. She was also recognized on the 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 Social Impact list and The Grist 50.
Stephen P. Rivard, M.D.
Dr. Rivard has a long history of entrepreneurship in the medical and health field. After earning his undergraduate and medical degrees from Loyola University of Chicago, he began a practice in the newest medical specialty of the time, emergency medicine. After 26 years and having raised two children, he changed careers and founded Illinois Vein Specialists in 2008, another growing medical specialty business. He also began diversifying his investments to focus on health and organic farmland. His interest in organic farming goes beyond profit. It also includes the mission of creating a more socially conscious and sustainable future for his children. Dr. Rivard is now reaching out to other physicians and health care professionals to bring attention to the varied health illnesses associated with our current food production system. Specifically, he is concerned about the growth of Type 2 diabetes, food allergies, and various cancer incidences that may be associated with our food choices. He views investing in Iroquois Valley as a chance to both reclaim our health and sustainably grow capital.
eNewsletter Sign Up
