Board of Directors
Meet our board.Samantha Keane
Chair of the Board
Balzac Brothers & Company
Samantha Keane is a coffee trader at Balzac Brothers & Company, Inc. She received her BA in Art History, Criticism and Conservation at College of Charleston, before beginning her career in coffee in 2011 as a fourth generation Balzac at her family business, Balzac Brothers & Company, Inc. Bringing a new level of organization to the business, Samantha pioneered, and is in charge of, the CQI certified cupping lab at Balzac. Staying true to her family’s heritage she is also a member of the Green Coffee sales and sourcing team, working alongside her two brothers to further the Balzac family Coffee legacy. Samantha completed her Q-grader certification in 2014. She currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina.
Celina Schocken
Vice Chair of the Board
Advance Global Health
Celina is the Principal of Advance Global Health. She advises non-profits, companies, and foundations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Roche Diagnostics on program strategy, operations, and new technology adoption, with a focus on women’s health, on reproductive and sexual health, cervical cancer, TB/HIV, medical device introduction, telehealth and technology. She is also a co-founder and advisor to TogetHER for Health (USA), and an advisor to Praava Health (Bangladesh).
Previously, Celina was the CEO of Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, a public private partnership focused on cervical and breast cancer. She was Director of Policy and Advocacy at Merck for Mothers, and Director of International Organizations at Population Services International (PSI) as well as a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Adam Pesce
Secretary of the Board
Reunion Coffee Roasters
Adam is the President of Reunion Coffee Roasters, a B Corp-certified specialty roaster and wholesaler, based in Oakville, Ontario. He is a long-standing member of the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Sustainability Council, and along with Grounds for Health, he is also on the boards of the Coffee Association of Canada, Klink Coffee and the Central Canadian Barista Competition.
Adam has traveled around the world as a speaker on sustainability in coffee and extensively as a buyer in coffee-producing countries – developing direct trade relationships in Tanzania, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea, Honduras, Costa Rica, Columbia and Brazil, as well as growing Reunion Island’s use of certified coffees to over 60% of all purchases. He is also a contributor to Huffington Past’s blog on the topic of coffee and sustainable agriculture.
Pam Kahl
Treasurer of the Board
The Lemelson Foundation
Pam Kahl is currently the Communications Officer at The Lemelson Foundation, a leading funder of invention in service of social and economic change. Kahl is a veteran communications leader with expertise in the corporate, nonprofit, and academic sectors. She began her career with more than 14 years at WE—formerly known as Waggener Edstrom Worldwide—where she served as senior vice president and helped oversee agency marketing, business development, and the Microsoft Global Account planning team. Ms. Kahl later led her own strategic communications consultancy, Verbal800 Communications, for nearly a decade, before serving as the Vice President for Development and Communications at Grounds for Health.
She holds a bachelor of arts in English from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a master’s degree in digital media communications from the University of Washington. Ms. Kahl also earned a certificate in international development management and policy from the University of Washington Evans School of Public Affairs.
Lem Butler
Black & White Coffee Roasters
Lem is the Co-Founder of Black & White Coffee Roasters located in Raleigh, NC. Lem’s prior work experience includes West Coast Regional developer for Counter Culture Coffee in California and General Manager for The Daily Grind Espresso Café in Chapel Hill. Lem was the First Black United States Barista Champion in 2016, Atlanta and the First Black World Barista Champ Finalist in 2016, Dublin, Ireland.
Erica Liebermann
University of Rhode Island
Erica Liebermann, PhD is an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island College of Nursing. She is a women’s health nurse practitioner and has been a clinical consultant and trainer for Grounds for Health since 2011, and enjoyed working with GfH teams in Mexico, Nicaragua and Kenya. Erica has extensive clinical experience and research expertise in global women’s health, gender equity, and cervical and breast cancer early detection, with recent projects in the Dominican Republic and India. Erica was a commissioner on the Women, power, and cancer Lancet Commission. She is passionate about reducing barriers to cervical cancer screening and follow-up for women globally and advancing progress towards cervical cancer elimination.
Bronwen Serna
Co-Founder/Co-Host, Totally Dissolved Podcast
Bronwen Serna loves coffee and people. She has been a practicing Coffee Professional since 2000, an instructor, and volunteer in the coffee industry since 2001. Her love of coffee precedes her experience, where she manages to frequent many coffee houses all over the world and became a Barista after having drunk many cups of coffee and inspired by a trip to Italy. Over the past 18 years she has facilitated in developing training programs and trained many Baristas, coffee professionals, and coffee enthusiasts internationally about Specialty Coffee, specializes in Customer Service, and Operations. Her coffee experience started in Seattle at Zoka Coffee Roaster & Tea Company. She continued to further her Barista craft and began roasting at Hines Public Market Coffee/Origins Organic Coffee. She developed her roasting skills and knowledge at Vashon Coffee Company, has been a Professional Barista, Barista Trainer, Consultant, and Executive at various Coffee institutions.
Now living in Los Angeles she continues to connect with the community and build knowledge for clients and coffee professionals in the Specialty Coffee scene.
Daniel C. Cox
Grounds for Health Co-Founder
Board Member Emeritus
Coffee Enterprises
Dan Cox & Associates
Dan co-founded Grounds for Health in 1996. He began his career 30 years ago in a small coffee roasting start-up company. In 1992 he founded Coffee Enterprises and later created its sister company Dan Cox & Associates. He is the owner and President of these separate companies in Burlington, Vermont. Dan served as President of the Speciality Coffee Association of America, Chairman Coffee Development Group, Chairman of Coffee Quality Institute, Chairman, Board of Advisors of Coffee Kids. He was awarded “ Man of the Year” Distinguished Service Award from the SCAA in 1992, is a published author, and been a featured speaker at numerous industry conferences in the US, Europe, Africa and Japan.
Robert Fulmer
Board Member Emeritus
Royal Coffee Inc.
In 1978, Robert Fulmer cofounded Royal Coffee and throughout the 1980s and ’90s, Royal helped to usher in the specialty coffee revolution on the West Coast, which has now spread to all corners of the globe. Fulmer was a charter member of the SCAA (now SCA) and was the co-chairman of the SCAA Fair Trade Task Force. Today, he sits on the board of directors of Grounds for Health and with the help of over 50 key employees, Fulmer continues to finance and guide Royal Coffee, including The Crown: Royal Coffee Lab & Tasting Room, warehouses in Seattle, Houston, Madison, Shanghai and the Royal Oakland, CA warehouse, a 90,000 square foot “candy store full of the best coffees from around the world.”
