Kristin Hock | Executive Director & President

Considering Kristin’s first sentence was “I am playing in the dirt with the worms,” it’s no surprise she grew up to study wildlife conservation and environmental education.  Her love of the outdoors has led to studying in Antarctica, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and sleeping under the stars across the continental US and the Big Island of Hawai’i.  All of her work culminated into dreaming up Fostering Farmers. 

Jess Sinkhorn | Vice President

With a background in both small and large-scale organic farming, Jess currently finds himself growing food for Fulfill, formerly the Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Jess helps a variety of community members grow their own fruits and vegetables as he teaches at food pantries, soup kitchens, and school gardens.

Laura Bagwell

Laura has worked in both corporate and non-profit sectors. She has volunteered for much of her life, focusing on environmental, social and gender equality issues. Before retiring at the end of 2021, she worked at a non-profit legal services agency for 19 years, providing free legal representation to low-income members of the community.

Taylor Naughton

Taylor Naughton graduated from Fordham University with a Master’s in Social Work. After a few years in the social work field, she pivoted to working on and managing organic farms. She now runs her own small farm business on her property in Central New Jersey while wrangling her 3 free range children. She is happy to be combining her social work and farming skills with Fostering Farmers.

Marie Weimer

Raised in a tight-knit community, Marie’s passion for bringing people together has shaped her path in community-driven work and advocacy. With a background in business and social work, she has dedicated her career to supporting grassroots nonprofits and small organizations through grant writing, fundraising, and building meaningful community partnerships. Her work focuses on connecting organizations with the resources they need to grow.

Sara Williams

Sara has an extensive background in volunteerism, from inner city animal shelters for 8 years to local dog rescues and even at a farm sanctuary for the last 4 years. She was the only person to win an award in nursing school for her volunteer participation. Prior to becoming a registered nurse, Sara also worked at a nonprofit for one year and is excited to offer a collaboration of her extensive volunteer experience combined with her work skills to the Fostering Farmers mission.

Keith Howey

With a background in operations, technology, and evaluation across nonprofits serving underinvested communities, he builds the systems that turn mission-driven strategy into what people actually do. A U.S. Army veteran and sociologist, he believes understanding how systems affect people is inseparable from building better ones.