Entrepreneurial Coaches Bio
Shannon Dill
(Talbot County and available for in-person sessions on the mid shore and upper shore) Shannon Dill is the Agriculture Extension Educator for University of Maryland Extension in Talbot County. She has been a faculty member of the University of Maryland, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources since 2001. She graduated from the University of Wyoming receiving a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business and a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics. Shannon provides outreach and education to agriculture producers of Talbot and neighboring counties in farm business planning, small farm enterprises, marketing and livestock management. Educational programs have included QuickBooks for Farm Business Planning, Ag Tourism, Equine, Pasture Management and Grain Marketing.
Principal Agent - Talbot County 28577 Marys Court Suite 1 Easton, Maryland 21601
https://extension.umd.edu/locations/talbot-county
Neith Little
(Temporarily not taking clients until the end of the Beginning Farmer Course in April.Clients can make appointments with other coaches until that time.
(Baltimore City) Neith is the urban agriculture Extension Educator for Baltimore City. Her role is to help urban farmers learn what they need to better achieve their goals through one-on-one technical assistance, workshops, field days, written resources, and applied research.
Prior to this position, Neith worked as an agricultural Extension Educator for Dakota County, Minnesota (part of the Twin Cities metro area), where she worked with both local-market vegetable growers and commodity crop farmers on nitrogen management practices to protect water quality. Neith has also worked at Hampshire College Farm, where she helped with the bid process for the college's new dining services contractor, drafted the college's policy for local and sustainable food sourcing, worked with the farm managers to develop a farm business plan, and worked as Assistant Grower on the farm's 250-share vegetable CSA. Neith earned an M.S. from Cornell University in Soil and Crop Sciences and a B.A. from College of the Atlantic in Human Ecology.
Agent - Baltimore City 6615 Reisterstown Road Suite 201Baltimore, Maryland 21215
https://extension.umd.edu/locations/baltimore-city
Jesse M. Ketterman
(Available for virtual coaching sessions only)
Dr. Jesse M. Ketterman,Jr. joined the University of Maryland Extension in 2016 as a Family and Consumer Science Educator serving Allegany, Garrett, and Washington counties. His work emphasis is financial and health insurance literacy. Dr. Ketterman is an Accredited Financial Counselor and earned a PhD in educational leadership and master’s degrees in business administration and education. Available for virtual session only.
AGENT - Family and Consumer Sciences Educator: Garrett County 1916 Maryland Highway Suite A Lake Park, Maryland 21550
https://extension.umd.edu/locations/garrett-county
SHAUNA C. HENLEY
(Baltimore County) Dr. Shauna C. Henley is in her 8th year as a Senior Extension Agent and Affiliate to the Department of Nutrition & Food Science at the University of Maryland. She is a Board of Directors Member to the Partnership for Food Safety Education and co-chair for their 2023 Conference and vice-chair for the International Association for Food Protection’s Food Safety Education Professional Development Group.
As a Senior Extension Agent, she provides outreach and education for the Greater Baltimore, Maryland region. She is better recognized for her doctoral thesis, completed under the direction of Dr. Jennifer Quinlan at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, titled “Don’t Wash Your Chicken!”
Her past work experience include: waitress, prep cook, bakery apprentice, grocery store employee, and quality assurance technician at Ben & Jerrys.
Dr. Henley’s position at the University of Maryland Extension focuses on food safety, with an emphasis on safe food preservation, education, training, and outreach. Shauna is actively engaged in food safety education along the food supply chain. At the farm level, Dr. Henley is a FSMA Produce Safety Rule instructor, assists with On Farm Readiness Reviews and co-teaches Good Agricultural Practices. At the production level, Dr. Henley is a Lead Instructor for FSMA’s Preventive Controls for Human Food, and works with an interdisciplinary team to educate food entrepreneurs on Cottage Law, and other regulations related to a food business. In addition to these activities, Shauna is a ServSafe instructor and exam proctor. Her expertise focuses on consumer food-safety education. Shauna’s current research interest is improving safe and consistent food handling behaviors from farmers to consumers, by focusing on cues that drive safe food handling behaviors. Regardless of who her audience.
Certifications
- FSMA Lead instructor-Preventive Controls for Human Foods
- FSMA Certified trainer-Produce Safety Alliance
- Instructor/Proctor-ServSafe
- Certificate-Good Agricultural Practices
- Certificate-Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points
- Certificate-Better Processing Control School: Acidified Foods
https://extension.umd.edu/locations/baltimore-county
https://agnr.umd.edu/about/directory/shauna-c-henley
Haley Sater
(Wicomico County) Haley Sater is an agricultural Extension Educator for University of Maryland Extension located in Wicomico County specializing in fruit and vegetable production. She has been working and studying different agricultural systems for over a decade. Her work experience includes consulting with a wide variety of growers from large acreage, wholesale, crop producers, to smaller, direct sales, organic farms.
She completed her Ph.D. in 2020 in horticultural science focused on blueberry production and improving flavor and other fruit quality characteristics through plant breeding at the University of Florida. She earned her master’s at the University of Arkansas where her research examined rice breeding and production.
Agent - Wicomico County 28647 Old Quantico Road Salisbury, MD 21801
https://extension.umd.edu/locations/wicomico-county
Kelly Nichols
(Montgomery County) Kelly grew up on her family's dairy farm in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. She attended Penn State University, where she received both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Her graduate research focused on controlling pokeweed in agronomic crops. After graduating, Kelly worked as an Agronomy Agent for Penn State Extension. She has been with University of Maryland Extension since 2017. Kelly's educational programming is focused in agronomy and horticulture.
Agent - Montgomery County 18410 Muncaster Road Derwood, Maryland 20855
https://extension.umd.edu/locations/montgomery-county
Sarah Hirsh
(Somerset County) Sarah Hirsh is the Agriculture Extension Agent for University of Maryland in Somerset County since 2018. She has a background working in agricultural research and extension, in areas of soil, water, and crop management. Sarah received her PhD in Soil Science from University of MD in 2018, her M.S. in Sustainable Agriculture and Ecology from Iowa State University in 2012, and her B.S. in biology and psychology from Grove City College. Sarah aspires to work with farmers to improve the productivity and profitability of agriculture while conserving soil, water, and biodiversity. Educational programs have included soils, cover crops, nutrient management, and weed management.
https://extension.umd.edu/locations/somerset-county
Dwayne D. Joseph
(Kent County) Dwayne Joseph is the Agriculture and Food Systems Extension Educator for Kent County at the University of Maryland (UMD). In his current role, he specializes in research that evaluates integrated weed management strategies for both conventional and organic vegetable and agronomic crops. Furthermore, he acts as a link between the UMD and Kent County farming communities, delivering relevant agricultural information through educational programs, workshops, and consultations. Dwayne earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Grambling State University before pursuing further education at Clemson University. There, he successfully completed his Master of Science and Doctorate in Plant and Environmental Sciences, concentrating on Weed Science. Prior to his tenure at UMD Extension, Dwayne served as a postdoctoral research associate at UMD.
https://agnr.umd.edu/about/directory/kent-county
Nathan Glenn
(Howard County) Nathan grew up on the Glenn Family Farm in Highland, Maryland. He went on to earn B.S. degrees in Animal Science and Education from the University of Maryland, College Park and a MBA from Anderson University, while participating in a variety of agriculture-related internships, and college and community leadership roles.
Nathan has years of comprehensive experience in agriculture education. As a teacher at Harford and Washington County Public Schools and an AgriCorps Fellow at the Booker Washington Institute in Margibi County, Liberia, he took on many responsibilities such as leading agriculture classes, developing experiential learning opportunities, and supporting the Future Farmers of America program. Nathan served five years as an agriculture educator and agribusiness development agent for Hope in the Harvest at Liberia International Christian College, and for two years he developed AgriCorps training program curricula and train-the-trainer workshops for 4-H Liberia Field Agents as an independent consultant.
https://agnr.umd.edu/about/directory/howard-county
Mark Townsend
(Frederick County) Mark joined University of Maryland Extension in 2021 and is the Associate Agriculture Extension Educator for Frederick County. Mark is a Maryland native, and has worked across the state on a diverse array of agricultural operations including, organic vegetable, row-crop, multi-species livestock grazing and dairy operations. Mark received his B.S. in Agriculture and Natural Resource Economics from the University of Maryland (UMD) in 2020, and is currently working towards a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from UMD. Mark's program in UME will focus on improving the economic, environmental and social sustainability of production agriculture in Frederick County and across the state.
https://agnr.umd.edu/about/directory/frederick-county