Board Members

Amber Whittenberg, President

Amber grew up the oldest child of teenage parents navigating generational poverty, an experience that sparked her lifelong commitment to community resilience and social justice. She studied Art, Business, and Sustainable Agriculture at The Evergreen State College, where she immersed herself in local food systems, sustainability, and socially engaged practices while experimenting with her own small-scale farming. After partnering with Damon in 2016 to envision a closed-loop, harm-reducing economic model, she helped shape what would become Rootstock NW, and is proud to continue working to strengthen regional food security.

Damon Grady

Damon is a lifelong Seattle resident and grew up on Capitol Hill. He has started numerous businesses over the past 20 years including Gimmee Records, the Via Tribunali restaurants, Sure Can Access Point, and Local Yokels. Having accessible, affordable, clean, and natural foods is something that’s very important to Damon. Sustaining our local farms through distributing their produce to communities in need is one of the biggest ways we can assure that they are here for generations to come.

Devra Gartenstein

Devra Gartenstein is a serial entrepreneur who founded Patty Pan Cooperative and New Day Cooperative Distribution. She serves on the boards of several Seattle-area farmers’ markets and has published several cookbooks and a food history chronicle.

Dan Ports, Treasurer

Dan Ports is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, where he builds reliable and scalable computing infrastructure. He also runs several non-profit online communities that foster research collaboration. At Rootstock Northwest, he brings that same commitment for resilient design and community building to strengthen the local food ecosystem.

Irene Zhang, Secretary

Irene Zhang is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research. She has no previous experience with non-profits but does have a passion for feeding people.