Board of Directors

Charlene Doland grew up in a family where whole grain bread and organically grown vegetables were staples. She has practiced organic gardening wherever she has lived, and most recently has become enchanted with regenerative and permaculture principles. Charlene’s back yard is a constant experiment in gaining an understanding of how to best help our earth heal itself and provide sustenance to future generations.

Ramsey McPhillips has been gardening professionally since the age of 11. He gave his first lecture on ‘How to Compost’ at the first Earth Day. Sadly, only his older brother attended the lecture. But he’s never given up, and after receiving an Environmental Studies degree from Bowdoin College, he established a career as a globe-trotting Hortivangelist (garden therapist) and farmer. Ramsey is the founding President Of Zero Waste McMinnville and is working primarily to divert all of McMinnville’s compostable waste shed back into fertile soil.

July Thomas has worked in accounting for more than 15 years and has always had an interest in gardening. Over this last decade, that hobby has grown exponentially. To live more sustainably, July, her husband Troy, and her four children have worked toward creating their urban garden. In doing so, they have converted their front yard into garden spaces, built a rain catchment system, installed solar panels for their small greenhouses, and raised chickens. 

Lee grew up in the mid-Willamette Valley, moved to Portland in 2001, and has called McMinnville home since 2016.  He is the Co-Owner of Portland winery, Augustina Cellars, a small boutique winery that produces about 1000 cases per vintage.  Lee is the Marketing Manager, Graphic Designer, and Creative Director at Visit McMinnville by day and an avid gardener by night.  Lee and his husband Danny's home garden is an ever-evolving cacophony of edibles, natives, and tropical species that push the envelope of what ‘should’ be grown in the Pacific NW.  When not in the garden, Lee enjoys exploring Oregon’s countryside, volunteering for CASA, cooking, baking, and creating sophisticated interiors. 

Brian has been teaching in Yamhill County High Schools for 20 years. Brian teaches Horticulture within the Natural Resources Pathway at McMinnville High School. He believes strongly in the therapeutic and regenerative power of working with plants. He shares this passion daily with his students, especially the ones who don’t believe they have a “green thumb.” When he’s not tending to matters at school, it’s a good bet that you’ll find him in the garden at his family’s Century Farm just outside of McMinnville, which he lovingly shares with his wife and two children. 

Pursuing a career in the fire service, Keith moved to Oregon in 2011 from eastern Washington. He’s worked as a firefighter/EMT for over a decade and has lived all around the Portland area, settling in McMinnville in 2018. Keith has a passion for horticulture, sustainability and all things nature. He has a half acre property in the City Park neighborhood, where he’s been converting blackberries and turf into garden beds and native plant/wildlife habitat. Believing strongly in the power of community, Keith has a wide range of volunteer experience including Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Yamhill Soil and Water District. Keith is also an avid hiker, artist and woodworker.