Allen Baddour

Currently a Superior Court Judge for the Chatham Orange District, Allen has shown a dedication to both service and justice throughout his career. His high honors from Dean’s List at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to being elected Bar Association President, mirror his commitment in volunteering for the Homeless Legal Project to the Women’s Center. Allen, his wife Holly and their two sons, Henry and Jack, can be seen frequently playing in the yard at Chatham Mill.

Rachel Burton

AKA Wrenchwench. Board President, fuel maker, teacher, sustainable farming graduate. Fearless mechanic and activist. Rachel is extremely popular and enjoys being referred to by her adopted name: In Charge. She drives a 1989 Dodge pickup diesel known as the Grease Goat and an awfully new Jetta Wagon on B100. Loves to do Elsbett conversions, and runs the lab at Piedmont Biofuels Industrial.

Sami Grover

Sami Grover is Director of Sustainability at The Change, a company offering brand strategy and design for good-for-the-world businesses and non-profits. He is also a regular contributor to TreeHugger.com. Originally from the UK, he has a background in academic publishing and over a decade of experience in working voluntarily with environmental organizations, especially focusing on community-based environmental change. He is currently learning the ancient art of shiitake mushroom cultivation. He believes passionately that everyone has a role to play in creating a better, fairer, more sustainable world. He once vowed never to fly again, then he fell in love with someone on the other side of the Atlantic. He believes flexibility is a central tennet of sustainability.

Maria Kingery

Maria is founder and owner of Southern Energy Management, North Carolina’s largest sustainable energy services company. She is dedicated to building a top-notch team of sustainable energy professionals who are passionate about creating solutions to meet the global climate change challenge.

Maria’s professional background is in sales and marketing, primarily in the commercial printing industry. Like her husband, Bob Kingery, she worked with Burt’s Bees in 1995 as retail operations manager and opened their first store in Carrboro, NC.

Maria has a BA in English Literature from NC State. She and Bob are the devoted parents of 5-year-old Zachary.

The Abundance Foundation was thrilled to have her join the board with her enthusiasm, great ideas and her boundless energy.

Gary Phillips

I am a big man with a big nose and a wandering mustache. Gary Phillips is a writer, naturalist and entrepreneur in Silk Hope, North Carolina. He has a special interest in conservation easements and other land-protective strategies. Gary co-founded Weaver Street Realty and Auction Company in Carrboro over a quarter of a century ago and still has an office there. He lives in a hand-built dirt house (rammed earth) with his wife Ilana Dubester, who is the executive director of El Vinculo Hispano in Siler City. Gary avidly reads anthropological science fiction and many other things, studies amphibian activities on full moon nights and was once chair of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners.

For a very cool article on Gary’s green, rammed earth home:
http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/green-tours/green-tour-green-with-an-abundance-of-artistic-style-057539

Dr. Kim Tungate

Kim, a native of Indiana who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya, came to North Carolina to pursue her education in plant physiological ecology and soil science. After being awarded her Ph.D. from NC State she expanded her knowledge of environmental issues by attaining a masters degree from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in environmental risk assessment. In 2006 she began doing work on a Biofuels research project at NC State involving canola and switch grass. Kim has worked with Engineers Without Borders to raise funds for a rainwater harvest tank at a school in Cambodia. Kim plays music, dances, takes in stray animals and espouses the benefits of renewable energy. Her quote for life: I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center. Kurt Vonnegut

(no one on our board is a frog, it is just a placeholder until we take a new photo)