Printable Version
Tell a friend
Board of Directors
Manish Gupta has a professional background in engineering and operations. He has extensive work experience as a plant manager for a chemical industry company in India, and Operations Manager for Dell in Austin, Texas. Before working at Dell, Manish earned his Masters in Operations Management from the University of Michigan at Ann Harbor. His professional life had been enriched by his experiences, yet he felt like something was missing.
Manish came across the concept of fair trade while helping his family with a marketing project. He took some time off and traveled within rural India. He met a number of artisans and realized that they needed help. He saw immense sadness in those hands that create such beautiful things. Not only were these people suffering, but a number of traditional art forms were fading away. He realized he could use his skills and opportunities to create a difference in their lives and at the same time create a fulfilling path for him. That is when he decided to form Handmade Expressions. He now leads the company and is in charge of the overall business development.
Carrie Hawthorne, Board TreasurerExecutive Director, Partners for Just Trade, St. Louis, MO
Carrie graduated from Ohio State University in 2001 with a dual major in Spanish and International Studies and a specialty in World Economy and Business. Carrie then spent three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala. She worked for two years in education as an Environmental Management Specialist but once Carrie learned to weave with a traditional Mayan backstrap loom, she began assisting Guatemalan weavers in product design and business development. Carrie extended her service by a year to start up a small business of female weavers, Tejedoras de Salacuim, in a remote village in Alta Verapaz.
After traveling throughout Latin America, Carrie returned to the U.S. and worked in Washington DC with the Fair Trade Federation and Fair Trade Resource Network planning the first national Fair Trade conference in 2005. She then worked as Marketing Coordinator at Green America before moving to St. Louis to become the first employee of Partners for Just Trade (PJT), a non-profit retail and wholesale organization. Carrie now runs PJT out of her home office in a small town nestled in the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains in Northern California. She is the treasurer of the board of directors of Quincy Natural Foods Cooperative, a member of her local time bank, and enjoys traveling, live music, hiking, skiing, and laughing.
Serena Sato, Board Secretary
Marketing Manager, SERRV, Madison, WI
Serena Sato is currently the director of marketing for SERRV, and has worked in their marketing department since 2002. SERRV currently partners with 75 artisan and farmer groups in 36 countries, and market their products through consumer, retail, and church channels. It is a nonprofit organization with sixty years of experience in alternative trade and development strategies.
Before joining SERRV, Serena spent six years in Tokyo working with People Tree in producer relations, product development and imports. Serena holds a Masters degree in International Development from the Patterson School at the University of Kentucky, and a Bachelors in International Studies with minors in History and Agricultural Economics.
Serena happily resides in an co-housing community that shares land with an urban organic farm and community gardens, along with her Japanese husband and two sons who choose Divine Chocolate "because it's fair trade."
Brian Smucker, Board Chairperson
Co-Owner, Baksheesh, Sonoma, CA
Brian Smucker is president and co-owner of Baksheesh, a fully fair trade retailer with stores in Sonoma and St. Helena, CA. Previously, he worked for Ten Thousand Villages and a magazine publishing company. He has served on a number of FTF committees and 15 nonprofit boards, including FTF. Brian has been directly involved with 8 fair trade store startups. He and his wife Candi do startup consulting and mentoring with fair trade retailers around the US. Brian also produces an annual best seller report. He has worked in fair trade full-time since 1993 and hopes to retire in a few years. He has contributed thousands of volunteer hours to the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory since 1997.
Jacque St. James-Wong
Marketing Director, dzi, Tibet Collection, E. Hampton, MA
Kelly founded WorldFinds after a year-and-a-half spent traveling throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. She was compelled to do something positive to help provide income and opportunities to the women she met in the developing world. So, she used her eye for design and her 10 years of marketing experience to put together the plan for WorldFinds - a fair trade wholesaler with a focus on style. WorldFinds became a member of the FTF in 2001 in its first full year of existence. She continues to work closely with her artisan groups on product design and development, while expanding the business's presence throughout North America.
A graduate from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana with a BS in Advertising and a minor in Asian Studies, Kelly directed the marketing for a K-12 social studies publisher, and spent time volunteering at women's shelters and international education projects. Kelly lives in the Chicago area with her husband & partner David and their two small children.
