meet the green team
City Sprouts continues to grow due to the commitment of our dedicated staff and Board of Directors, community partners, and volunteers.
City Sprouts Staff Pictured left to right:
John Huebscher, Urban Farm Manager
Alex O'Hanlon, South Garden Manager
Anna Brun, Education Manager
Aaron French, Farm Manager
Shannon Gennardo, Community Engagement Coordinator
Addie Gengenbach, Communications Manager
Roxanne Draper, Executive Director
Roxanne Williams Draper
Executive Director
Roxanne has brought her love of gardening, teaching and community development together to grow City Sprouts' programming and capacity. Since 2012, Roxanne has served as the Executive Director and has grown City Sprouts from a staff of one, to a staff of seven, with 2 thriving community gardens, an urban farm, an exciting internship program, and many community partnerships. Under her leadership, City Sprouts has become a cornerstone organization in the Urban Agriculture community in Omaha.
Aaron French
Farm Manager
Aaron, who joined our team in 2018, brings loads of agriculture, education, market, and outreach experience to City Sprouts. Aaron manages City Sprouts' growing operations.
Addie Gengenbach
Communications Manager
Addie is our newest team member, she enjoys reading and continually learning about food, gardening, and the environment. She manages our website, social media, and graphic design projects.
Alex O'Hanlon
City Sprouts South Garden Manager
Alex joined City Sprouts as its South Garden Manager in March 2017. When she's not at City Sprouts South, Alex can also be found farming sustainable landscapes around town!
Anna Brun
Education Manager
Anna serves as our Education Manager. In this role, Anna oversees the Little Sprouts youth summer program, Truck Farm Omaha, the Garden to Table middle school program, and the Growing Gardeners Workshop Series, as well as tours and outreach programs.
John Huebscher
Urban Farm Manager
John is the Urban Farm Manager at City Sprouts. John has been working at City Sprouts since 2012 and has helped to develop our summer Urban Farming Internship, which has grown from employing 2 youth in 2012 to 16 youth in 2019. Interns work with John on our Decatur Urban Farm, learning skills of cultivating vegetables, fruits and herbs, harvesting, processing and marketing the produce, job readiness skills and so much more. John is a retired OPS teacher and also works at Creighton University Athletics as an Academic Advisor. He has a love for growing great tomatoes and sweet potatoes (and not so much eggplant...) and is a great mentor for our interns. We're lucky to have him as part of our team!
Shannon Kyler
Community Engagement Coordinator
Shannon joined the City Sprouts team in 2016. She manages our North Community Garden, coordinates volunteers for both sites, is an educator for Garden to Table, and is our resident Chicken Wranger and Beekeeper. When she is not at City Sprouts she is attempting DIY home improvement projects and having dance parties with her kids.
our staff
Our Board of Directors consists of 14 community volunteers, who help provide oversight and direction for City Sprouts.
2019 Board Pictured (left to right)
Back Row: David Arrell, Jose Labrador, Dan Walsh, Cassie Goulet, Patricia Seivert, Kristie Willis, Kirby Simmering, LeAnne Kaiser, Roxanne Draper (Executive Director), Octavia Butler
Front Row (Executive Board): Brittani Tanhueco (Secretary), Seana Fairchild (President), Cassandra Zywiec (Vice President), and Jack Round (Treasurer)
Not Pictured: Sara Going, Kimbler Harrold
New in 2019: Cassie Goulet, LeAnne Kaiser, Patricia Seivert
Executive Board Members
Seana Fairchild, President
Union Pacific Railroad, General Director, Marketing and Sales
Cassandra Zywiec, Vice President
Mission Maven Marketing, President and Founder
Brittani Tanhueco, Secretary
Avenue Scholars Foundation, Business Outreach Coordinator
LeAnne Kaiser, Treasurer
Seim Johnson, Audit Senior Manager
Board Members
Octavia Butler
Omaha Public Schools, Teacher, Gomez Heritage Elementary
Sara Going
First National Bank; Senior Associate of Community Development
Cassie Goulet
CHI Health, Sr. HR Business Partner
Kimbler Harrold
Scott Center, Banquet Chef
Jose Labrador
HDR Engineering, Project Manager
Jack Round
AKSARBEN Foundation, CFO
Patricia Seivert
UNMC Children's Physicians, Pediatrician
Kirby Simmering
National Association of Home Builders, Director
Dan Walsh
Creighton University, Senior Program Administrator
Kristie Willis
Community Volunteer