Timothy Fitzgerald Young – RAE Team Leader (President / Executive Chef Food For Thought, Inc.)
Timothy Fitzgerald Young is founder, President and Chef of Food For Thought, Inc., creators of organic and wild-harvested gourmet specialty foods. Food for Thought is located on an organic farm in northern Michigan and housed in a green building built by Timothy in the heart of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, where he lives with his wife, Kathy, 9 year-old daughter Stella and 5 year-old son Connor. Passionate about Fair Trade, Timothy was a founding board member of the Domestic Fair Trade Association. For more, click here.
Hans Voss – Runner (Executive Director Michigan Land Use Institute, Traverse City, MI)
When Hans Voss was growing up on the south side of Chicago, nobody would have guessed he’d even be interested in doing an ultramarathon in Ethiopia. He was a regular city kid who played with his buddies, kept track of his studies, and only ran as a way to improve his fitness for soccer. After college, Hans and his wife Maureen saved up enough money for their shared dream: to see the world, and spent nearly a year exploring the cultures and landscapes of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Hans enjoys family adventures in the beautiful natural areas near his home and is the Executive Director of the Michigan Land Use Institute, a well-respected non-profit organization advocacy organization in Traverse City. Read more about Hans and why he is doing the Run Across Ethiopia.
Claire Everhart – Runner (Cross Country Team – Ohio Wesleyan University)
Claire Everhart is a recent graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio where she majored in International Studies and minored in Spanish. Claire has run Varsity Cross Country and Track all four years of high school and all four years at Ohio Wesleyan. She never necessarily aspired to being a marathoner but hearing about a cause this great was too hard to pass up. Claire plans to attend nursing school soon and travel internationally as a nurse. Claire currently works for Global Village Collection, a good customer of both Higher Grounds and Food For Thought. Claire will be new to this level of distance running, but her college coach has assured her that if she takes this on, he’ll have her ready.
Chris Treter - Runner (Owner Higher Grounds Trading Company / Founder On The Ground)
Chris is the owner of Higher Grounds Trading Co. based in Traverse City, Michigan. Higher Grounds is Michigan’s only 100% fair trade and organic coffee roasting company. He is also founder of On the Ground – a not for profit organization dedicated to bringing fresh water, education, and health care to those without.
Chris spends his winters traveling to coffee lands and his summers on the beaches of Northern Michigan. He also enjoy a good run through the woods or a bike ride toward the horizon every moment he gets a chance.
Matt Desmond – Runner (President, Finance Outsource Associates, Traverse City, MI)
Matt is deeply involved in local poverty issues as Board Treasurer of the Father Fred Foundation, which provides food, clothing and financial assistance to those in need throughout the Grand Traverse region. That desire to provide concrete assistance those that need it and the opportunity to make a generational difference through education for entire Ethiopian villages motivated Matt to join the RAE effort. Plus, he’s convinced that at age 41, he’s still years from reaching his running peak. A triathlete for the past seven years, Matt has dramatically stepped up his ambitions and training mileage with the Run Across Ethiopia team. He’s an outdoor lover with mountaineering, skiing (water and snow), and fishing (in addition, of course, to running, biking and swimming), topping his list of preferred activities. By far what’s most important to Matt, however, are his wife, Julie, and three young daughters, McLean, Lucy and Molly.
Matt is the president of Finance Outsource Associates, a firm he founded in late 2009 to provide financial management services to small and medium size companies that do not have the need nor the budget for a full-scale financial staff.
Norm Plumstead – Runner (Branch Administrator and a Branch Manager for Honor State Bank, Traverse City, Michigan.)
He and his family live and play in Empire. The trails and roads around Empire provide inspiration and the perfect training terrain. Norm has run a dozen marathons, including Boston. In the last few years, he’s moved up to ultra-marathons and has completed a 50K, three 50 milers and a 100-miler.
He blogs about running and life at www.empirerunning.blogspot.com.
“I want to run across Ethiopia because I feel that running can be a vehicle for positive change, whether it be environmental, educational or social.”
Dena Piecuch – Runner (City of Charleston Police Officer, Charleston, SC)
Dena (Deh-Nay) is a graduate of Michigan State University, where she received her Bachelor’s in Hospitality Business. She was recruited after college by The Waldorf-Astoria in New York City where she worked for a little over a year. Dena then decided she had enough of the cold weather and relocated to Charleston, SC, where she completed her Master’s in Human Resource Management. In 2006, Dena had a career change and joined the police force with The City of Charleston.
Dena has a background in running, starting as early as high school track. She picked up longer distances once she got to college and ran in her first 5k her junior year. Dena has since completed 1 marathon, 3 half marathons, and too many 5k’s and 10k’s to count. She is currently training for her second marathon in October in Camarillo, CA. Besides running, Dena is extremely active in fitness and is a member of a Crossfit affiliate, Lowcountry Crossfit.
“Raising such a large sum of money, for such a great cause, by running across Ethiopia, is an experience that will make so many other things in life seem insignificant. To say you have been apart of something that is so much bigger then yourself, is a humbling feeling.”
Jeffrey Metzler – Runner (Manager, Lowcountry Crossfit & Crossfit Holy City – Charleston, SC)
Jeffrey grew up in Columbia, SC, and went to Clemson University. His long-time love of cycling developed further while he studied electrical engineering. Jeffrey moved to Charleston, SC, after graduation and worked as a design engineer for a power utility company for two years. During this time, his cycling shifted into running and he decided to pursue his first marathon; triathlons were soon to follow, though he despises swimming.
As fitness became his consuming passion, Metzler left engineering and began managing two Crossfit affiliates in the Charleston area. He loves coaching others to a higher level of fitness, and is always trying to push himself to the next level as well. Jeffrey is a big fan of foreign travel, having recently spent time in Nicaragua and the British Isles, and he enjoys being involved at his church.
Chris Girrbach – Runner (Owner Pangaea Pizza and Great Lakes Potato Chips Traverse City, MI)
At age 31, Chris is one of Traverse City’s cadre’ of youthful entrepreneurs. His first business, Pangaea Pizza in downtown Traverse City, Michigan has succeeded beyond his expectations, and now he and his family are expanding into another food industry… potato chips. Great Lakes Potato Chips is the first company to make gourmet quality potato chip products with an eye toward local/Michigan products.
Girrbach is a natural endurance athlete, and has competed in 3 marathons, with 8+ years as Triathlete, and soon to be ultra marathon finisher (doing the Manistee 50 miler with Hans and Chris). He’s an accomplished cyclist and overall outdoor lover as well. He has a BA in business administration from Western Michigan University and has been working towards a Masters in US/Foreign Relations (Labor studies) through Wayne State University. He squeezes in training between his two businesses and his young family, wife Shanna, kids Gabe 3 1/2 and Christopher 1 1/2.
Mary Margaret Moore - Runner (Spanish Language Health Interpreter – Traverse City, MI)
Mary currently serves the Spanish speaking population in northern Michigan as an interpreter for their health and dental needs. She’s also taught English as a second language while living in Colorado.
An accomplished endurance athlete, Mary has completed four marathons, three 50 mile events, and has run a couple 50ks and half-marathons too. She’s an avid snow shoe racer, and a participant of the infamous Leadville 100 in Colorado. While training in northern Michigan, she attributes her prowess to the diligent efforts of her personal coach Liam, who also happens to be her 8 year old son.
“The issues of education and health care have always been of great importance to me. That is why I really believe in the “Run Across Ethiopia” project. The good Lord has blessed me with a pair of strong legs and I would like to put that talent to good use by running across Ethiopia to build schools for children who, otherwise, may not ever have access to education!” See her story in the Northern Express HERE.
Nigel Willerton – Runner (C.E.O., Wholesome Sweeteners – Sugar Land, TX)
Nigel Willerton is the CEO of Wholesome Sweeteners. Nigel moved to the USA from England in 2001. In those nine years Nigel has led the team that has built Wholesome into the largest organic and natural sweetener company in the United States. Wholesome introduced Fair Trade Certified Sugar from Malawi and Paraguay into the USA in 2005.
The company’s sugar sales have generated more than $2.5 million in Fair Trade premiums to support primary agricultural producers in sugar cane growing communities in both South America and Africa since that introduction. Nigel is also Chairperson of the Organic Trade Association Sugar Taskforce and a committed endurance athlete. He has completed multiple half and full Ironman races since 2008 both in the USA and overseas. Nigel resides in Texas with his two children, Cameron (12) and Charley (10).
Follow Nigel’s blog about the run here. http://www.nigelsrun.blogspot.com/
Bill Palladino – Support (Executive Director, On The Ground – Traverse City, MI)
Bill was executive director of On The Ground during the Run Across Ethiopia. He is also the principal consultant and owner of Krios Consulting, a strategic planning and leadership development practice with global reach. His OTG assignment put him in the role as organizational leader and chief fundraiser. His years of experience in business development, nonprofit management, international travel, and advocacy made him a great fit to provide support for the RAE runners on their Ethiopian expedition.
Bill grew up in the Bronx, New York and was educated at North Dakota State University in Fargo, the City University of New York, and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. He spent 12 years as a broadcast journalist working with Minnesota Public Radio and other public broadcasters.
While in college he ran marathons with the U.S. Army ROTC marathon team, competing in a total of seven marathons and three triathlons. His old knees scream a bit when he runs these days, so he now focuses his athletic attention on bicycling, but running is still a great passion.
