Board of Directors
Jonah Fertig-Burd (Chair) is a Community Partner for Food Systems at the Elmina B Sewall Foundation in Maine on Wabanaki Territory. Over the past 20 years, Jonah has built deep, collaborative relationships; developed new nonprofits, cooperative businesses, and collaboratives; worked in restaurants, food pantries, and farms; advocated for food and farm policies; and helped to grow racial equity in our food system.
At the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI), Jonah worked with farmers, fishers, cooks and food producers to form cooperatives, particularly New American farmers in Lewiston-Auburn, Maine and the Northeast. He helped start New Roots Cooperative Farm, Maine’s first New American-owned co-op, and Maine Farm & Sea Cooperative, the first multi-stakeholder foodservice co-op in the country. Jonah has consulted with co-ops in Maine and across the region, assisting them in developing democratic governance and management, business plans, raising funds, and more.
Prior to CDI, he co-founded Local Sprouts Cooperative, a worker-owned café and catering business. He’s on the board of the Cooperative Fund of New England and Land in Common Community Land Trust. He co-founded the Mayor’s Initiative for a Healthy Sustainable Food System in Portland, ME and was a councilor for the Good Food Council of Lewiston-Auburn. He was a 2018 BALLE Local Economy Fellow, 2016 Democracy at Work Institute Worker Cooperative Developer Fellow, Food Solutions New England Network Leadership Institute graduate and Sustainable Food System Leadership Institute graduate.
He loves to cook, make art, play music and walk in the woods. He is also a farmer and co-owner of Celebration Tree Farm & Wellness Center a multi-stakeholder cooperative in Durham, Maine, where he lives with his wife and two children.
Mark Galvez (Treasurer) joined the MIO Board of Directors in 2020. Mark has spent 15 years in accounting/finance ranging from private equities, sports entertainment but mainly non-profit. He’s worked in all aspects of month end close and year end close, while providing financials to executives and board members. Budget vs actual process and lead contact for all accounting operation issues.
Mark moved to Maine 5 years ago to create a better work life balance, and enjoy the beautiful landscapes that Maine has to offer.
Mark identifies as a Latin, a cis-gendered male who uses the pronouns he-him-his
Mary Lou Michael joined the MIO Board of Directors in 2020. Mary Lou’s graduate education and 35 year career were in the field of organization development. She had the opportunity to work with a broad range of client organizations and to engage with diverse leaders in training settings and year-long coaching relationships. Her doctoral research brought new skills in understanding and bridging differences in lived experience.
As a volunteer, Mary Lou has experience on boards, grant committees and a foundation, all of which had missions related to social justice. In the past year, her commitment has turned to criminal justice and specifically youth justice. Long admiring the work of Maine Inside Out, she welcomes joining the Board, growing in knowledge and contributing with mind and heart.
Mary Lou identifies as a white, cis-gender female, using pronouns she-her-hers.
John Nidiry joined the MIO Board of Directors in 2018, drawn to the organization’s commitment to the transformative power of art, racial justice, community-building, and ending youth incarceration in Maine. John is an attorney with the Federal Capital Habeas Project—a program of the federal public defender system—that represents individuals who have been sentenced to death in federal jurisdictions across the country, and that works to ensure that those facing the federal death penalty receive high quality legal representation. He is a 2006 graduate of the University of Maine School of Law where he assisted prisoners at the Maine Correctional Center in civil proceedings. He received his B.A. from Bowdoin College in 2000. John joined MIO in 2018
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Robert Pollock joined the MIO Board of Directors in 2024. He has worked with the justice system and its intersection with the arts for nearly two decades. He is the former Prison and Justice Writing Program Manager for PEN America, where he designed and published 6 annual anthologies of award winning work of writers who were incarcerated. He has led projects with Rehabilitation Through the Arts, Musicambia, Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, Music on the Inside, and Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Advisory Committee. He has collaborated with the Fortune Society, Osborne Association, the Old Globe's Shakespeare in Prison program, and several national justice grassroots organizations. He illustrated the children's book "Sing, Sing, Midnight!" by Emily Ridge Gallagher, which has been used across the country to help families talk about visitation and incarceration. He has spoken in workshops and panels at Columbia Law, Harvard Law, NYU, Yale Law, NY Bar Association, John Jay, and many other events about power of the arts in prison education, community-building and restorative justice practices. Robert is a Fall 2019 New York Community Trust Leadership Fellow.
Alicia Ricker joined the MIO Board in 2024. Alicia has been an educator in public schools for 15 years. She is currently a Math Coach & Math Interventionist in the Oxford Hills School District. Alicia was drawn to MIO through the pilot school MIO programming at Lewiston Middle School in 2022. She served as the school’s contact/organizational person for students to be able to participate in the program. She became part of the MIO community through supporting students and their growth in the program.
Alicia lives with her 2 daughters and husband. She enjoys skiing with her family in the winters!
Pronouns: she/her/hers