Melissa Watkins
Board Member
Decidedly bureaucratic by training and experience, like many of us, Melissa finds joy and creative relief in the arts from the structure and order of her day-to-day. Her role on the ECFTA board combines her personal interest in the arts, volunteerism and local community-building with organizational skills acquired over a career in conservation, environment, agriculture, and research. Melissa currently works at the University of Guelph as Project Director of Food from Thought: Agricultural Systems for a Healthy Planet, ensuring this $76.6-million-dollar research program meets its core compliance and deliverables requirements. Previously, also with U of G, Melissa managed the operation and delivery of $10 million of research funding programs annually and nurtured key relationships between the University and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and across the agri-food and rural sectors. Melissa brings organizational operations experience to ECFTA and has led two start-up charitable organizations, FarmStart and the Ontario Farmland Trust, through their establishment years and has been called upon to provide support and guidance to various not-for-profits, charities, and businesses at critical transitional stages. She also volunteers for many other community food initiatives, enjoys gardening, and has dabbled with a small shiitake mushroom operation in Elora. Melissa holds a BSc in Natural Resource Management and an MSc in Land Resource Science from the University of Guelph, as well as Certificates in Not-for-Profit Governance and Management from Carleton University and Not-for-Profit and Charity Finance Leadership from the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario.