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:
Addie Gengenbach, Communications Manager
Laura Simpson, Programs Coordinator
Aaron French, Farm Manager
Katie Kresha, Executive Director
Jasmine Marr, City Sprouts South Garden Manager
Shannon Gennardo, Community Engagement Coordinator
Anna Brun, Education Manager
Katie Kresha
Executive Director
Katie joined us as the Executive Director of City Sprouts at the beginning of 2020. Katie is an Omaha native with a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from UNO and a Masters in Public Administration from Bellevue University. She previously worked in higher education for 10 years where she oversaw budgetary and financial operations, marketing and community engagement efforts, administrative staffing, and event planning. At City Sprouts, she’s excited to support efforts towards continued growth, strengthen existing programs, and create new opportunities to build sustainable, equitable food systems where they are most needed. When Katie isn’t leading City Sprouts she can be found spending time with her husband and three children and enjoying a variety of active and artsy activities.
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
As the Communications Manager, Addie oversees our website, social media, marketing, and a mixture of other projects. She has been with us since 2019, and when she's not designing up the next event's poster, she enjoys reading, board games, gardening, and hanging out with her husband and friends!
Anna Brun
Education Manager
Anna has been with our team since 2018 and serves as our Education Manager. She 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.
Jasmine Marr
City Sprouts South Manager
Jasmine graduated from UNO in 2018 with a Spanish and International Studied Degree. Jasmine has become more interested and involved with farming in recent years. She is currently a resident at the Big Muddy Urban Farm. Prior to that, she had learned how to farm as she Wwoofed in Mexico for two and a half months.
Jasmine joined our team by becoming a lead for our 2020 summer interns and later accepted the position to become the manager of our City Sprouts South site.
Laura Simpson
Programs Coordinator
Laura is an Omaha native, she grew up in the Keystone neighborhood of Northwest Omaha.
Laura graduated from MCC in 2013 with a degree in Business Management and Marketing, and from UNO in 2018 with a Bachelor's in Fine Arts - 3D Media. Over the past few years, she has worked with a local arts non-profit, BFF.
In 2018, Laura was a Resident Farmer at Big Muddy Urban Farm. Additionally, last summer she completed the New Roots internship with The Big Garden. Laura joined the City Sprouts team after being an intern lead in the summer of 2020.
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 11 community volunteers, who help provide oversight and direction for City Sprouts.
2020 Board Pictured (left to right)
Kirby Simmering, Cassie Goulet, Jose Labrador, Kimbler Harrold, Dan Walsh, Courtney Herrington, Katie Kresha, Octavia Butler
Not Pictured: Brittani Tanhueco, LeAnne Kaiser, LaLeesha Haynes, Joey Vickery
New in 2020: Courtney Herrington,
LaLeesha Haynes, Joey Vickery
Executive Board
Dan Walsh, President
Creighton University, Senior Program Administrator
Brittani Tanhueco, Vice President
Arbor Day Foundations' Lied Lodge, Human Resources Manager
LeAnne Kaiser, Treasurer
Seim Johnson, Audit Senior Manager
Octavia Butler, Secretary
Omaha Public Schools, Teacher, Gomez Heritage Elementary
Board Members
Cassie Goulet
CHI Health, Sr. HR Business Partner
Kimbler Harrold
Scott Center, Banquet Chef
LaLeesha Haynes
Conagra
Courtney Herrington
Union Pacific, Manager of Marketing & Sales
Jose Labrador
HDR Engineering, Project Manager
Kirby Simmering
National Association of Home Builders, Director
Joey Vickery
Omaha Public Schools, Teacher, R.M. Marrs Magnet Center
Team A:
Decatur
Urban Farm
team lead
Jasmine Marr
Interns
Hser
Taeh
Jean
Justine
Mae Paw
James
Team B:
City SProuts South
& Habitat for Humanity
team lead
Mia Webb
interns
Carmina
Maira
Ella
Cassie
Team C:
Cooper Farm
& Sky Ranch
team lead
Laura Simpson
Interns
Jay
Alex
KJ
Taeh
Sye
McKenzie Blaine
Virtual Program Assistant Intern
McKenzie is the temporary Virtual Program Assistant for the summer of 2020 and she will be working directly with the team to organize virtual Little Sprouts programs, Garden to Table programs, and Growing Gardeners workshops. Along with that, she will also be helping with many online projects as well as occasionally working in the garden on the weekends. When she is not busy being a full-time student at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University in Minnesota, she enjoys reading, cooking, hiking, or working on her self-owned jewelry business, called Celestial Body Jewelry.