Board of Directors

Marcie Boyer
Co-Founder, Flavours of Life, New London, CT

Towards the end of a 10 years career developing IT systems in the pharmaceutical industry and getting burnt out from corporate politics, Marcie and her life partner David spent a weekend “discovering” their passions.  Celebrating differences, respecting others & their culture, exotic travel, fairness, justice, living life to the fullest - sense of purpose, a meaningful existencewere top of their list!

Four years ago and with this list in hand, they started a new adventure with a fair trade retail store.  Since then, Marcie has grown her business from a part-time venture selling at festivals & markets to a regionally-known fair trade store.  They have also forged partnerships with local schools, universities, and other community organizations by speaking about fair trade as invited guests, sponsoring student events, working with research students on global issues, as well as assisting the development of a 4 year program on social entrepreneurship.  Through her work, Marcie has also sponsored an interscholastic fair trade conference, hosted the Peace & Justice film series, helped to start a food co-op and supported community gardening/farming projects. As they grow, Marcie will continue to promote an awareness of history and an appreciation of culture through the provision of art, crafts, food, and music.

Cecilia Dinio Durkin
Founder and Director, Women's Work, Cold Spring, NY

After 15+ years in publishing, including full time jobs at Scholastic and MTV, Cecilia started freelancing as a journalist - opting to stick closer to home to raise her children. Ironically, an assignment that took her to the middle of the Kalahari Desert showed her to what lengths women there would go in order to fulfill that same desire.

That trip would draw Cecilia and her family to a remote town in Botswana to live and work with the San Bushmen communities which in turn dictated their return to the USA in order to market the San crafts.  Nearly five years later, Women's Work, the Durkins' retail and wholesale business, continues to promote and sell the crafts from the San. Today, WW also carry various crafts from artisans in Botswana, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, Peru and more. After less than two years in operation, Women's Work received the award for Innovation in Business by the Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce in recognition of their fair trade initiatives. Cecilia is also working toward making Cold Spring a Fair Trade Town.

Along with her husband, Peter, Cecilia gives cultural and fair trade presentations, participates in fair trade bazaars, and, this summer, will begin to host eco-edu-safaris to meet the producer groups Women's Work features.

A graduate of City University of NY at Hunter College with a double BA in Human Communications and English Literature, Cecilia is currently working on telling her own story by writing a memoir of their experience in Botswana in the hopes of inspiring others to follow their hearts and further promoting the fair trade movement.

Doug Dirks
Director of Public Relations, Ten Thousand Villages USA, Akron, PA

While working for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Bangladesh as a Job Creation Administrator, Doug helped to start several small businesses to employ very poor women who were otherwise considered unemployable. It was obvious that these sales made a tremendous difference in the women’s lives and Doug returned from Bangladesh in 1985 eager to promote the sale of the products these women make. Since that time, Doug has held a variety of positions with Ten Thousand Villages, serving as Marketing Director and Producer Relations Director for Ten Thousand Villages USA and Executive Director of Ten Thousand Villages Canada. In 2002, he returned to Ten Thousand Villages USA as Marketing Director. Doug has traveled to most of the 35 countries where Ten Thousand Villages buys products and has met many of the artisans who handcraft the products featured at Ten Thousand Villages. This travel has enabled Doug to collect many personal artisan stories showing how sales through Ten Thousand Villages has positively affected the lives of artisans, their families and communities. A native of Native of Abbotsford, BC, Canada, Doug holds a degree in Commerce from the University of British Columbia.

Tex Dworkin
Manager, Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store, Berkeley, CA

Tex Dworkin is an independent fair trade consultant and manager of the Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store, and active participant in the fair trade movement. She has a BA in Social Thought and Political Economy, a background in cooperatively structured business, and years of buying experience with Whole Foods Market. Believing in the power of business enterprise as a tool for social change, Tex's passion for socially conscious business drew her to the fair trade movement, where she has traveled to various parts of the world on direct buying trips, delegations, and educational speaking tours. Tex's work in fair trade, e-commerce, and cause-based marketing continues to inspire her to act on behalf of the expanding fair trade movement.

John Flory
Founder, North Country Fair Trade, St. Paul, MN

John Flory founded North Country Fair Trade in 2003 to promote the distribution of apparel products produced by fair trade businesses in Latin America.  The business distributes blank t-shirts sweat shirts and tote bags to schools, churches non-profit organizations and small businesses, for their use in promotional events.  North Country Fair Trade currently works in partnership with two fair trade manufacturers: Dignidad y Justicia in Piedras Negras, Mexcio and COMAMNUVI in Nicaragua. North Country has played a significant role in the development of Dignidad y Justicia, acting as an investment partner, technical assistance provider, and marketing agent, as well as by distributing their product.

John has a background in micro-business development, as a founder of a Minnesota based loan fund that provides financing to cooperatives, and as a staff person for 20 years with community development corporations in Minnesota.  In addition to operating North Country Fair Trade, he also currently works as an employee of Latino Economic Development Center, an organization dedicated to the development of small businesses owned by Latino immigrants in the State of Minnesota.  Previously, John was active in the cooperative movement serving as a retail store manager for seven years. He holds an MBA from the University of St. Thomas.

Manish Gupta
Founder, Handmade Expressions, Austin, TX

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.

Kevin Ward
President, Global Crafts, Edgewater, FL

Kevin is currently the president of Global Crafts, a fair trade import and wholesale company. Kevin's interest in fair trade took on a practical application when he was placed in Kisumu, Kenya as a Computer Science Lecturer at Kisumu National Polytechnic in 1999. As a VSO Volunteer from 1999 - 2002. Kevin used his interest in e-commerce and Fair Trade to co-founded Global Crafts as an online project to support the local artisans in the community he was placed.

Kevin's first career was as a chef, working in small French restaurants in the UK for about 8 years. He returned to education in his mid 20's, gaining a BA in Sociology, a Post Graduate Teaching Certificate, and a MSc in Computing and Information Systems from Greenwich University, London. He was employed as Area Head of Computing in a Further and Higher Education College in London for several years before becoming a volunteer.

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