Market Umbrella Board of Directors

The Board of Directors serve as our legal counsel and hold fiduciary responsibilities. This body is elected by majority vote and has voting rights as such. These members are responsible for guiding the mission, vision, and future of Market Umbrella. They meet bi-monthly and via special committee to guide the organization.

Officers

Sharon Courtney
President

Vice President, Government Relations - Tulane University

Sharon works with Tulane University as the university's liaison with Louisiana's Congressional Delegation and their staffs where she monitors legislative issues of importance to Tulane and seeks funding for university projects through legislative means by working with Tulane's consultants in Washington, D.C. She also serves as a link between the university and various national higher education organizations such as the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), the Association of American Universities (AAU), and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). As an avid market shopper, Sharon joined the Market Umbrella board in 2019 and currently served as chair of the Development Committee.

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Avery Corenswet
Vice-President

Vice President of Community Outreach- Ochsner Community Health Systems, Retired

Avery Corenswet is a retired healthcare executive and registered nurse. Her passions lie in public health, health equity, and food access and she is drawn to the work that Market Umbrella does to connect to all populations of our city, particularly those initiatives that serve students and seniors.

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Eleni Sallinger
Recording Secretary

Physician Assistant- Ochsner Medical Center

As a Louisiana native, Eleni recently made her way back to New Orleans where she practices digital medicine/chronic disease management as a physician assistant at Ochsner. She is excited to be a part of Market Umbrella’s journey towards building an ever more resilient, accessible, and sustainable food system that benefits both people and the ecology of our community. In her free time, Eleni enjoys all manner of playing outside: gardening, birding, bicycling, and hiking with her dogs, but you can occasionally find her indoors attempting to play Philip Glass’s piano etudes.

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Members

David Baker

Associate Editor- The Louisiana Weekly

David Thaddeus Baker is an award-winning writer and journalist based in New Orleans, LA. Baker is a native of the city, where he works as an associate editor for The Louisiana Weekly newspaper, the oldest existing African-American newspaper in the Southeast Louisiana region. In his time as a journalist, his byline has appeared locally in Uptown Buyer’s Guide, Stay Local! A Guide to Commerce and Culture, NPN’s The Trumpet, Louisiana Life, and nationally for Southern Living magazine’s The Daily South. Beyond his professional work, he is committed to the cultural, economic, and social well-being of New Orleans. As part of his service to the community, Baker has served as a Past President of the Board of Directors for Market Umbrella. He has also served on the Board of Directors Executive Committees of the Press Club of New Orleans, Junebug Productions, and the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans as well as serving on the board of directors of the Young Leadership Council, Neighborhoods Partnership Network, Awesome Foundation (New Orleans), and has chaired Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s Magnolia Ball and the Young Aspirations Young Artists’ (YaYa) Fall fundraiser “Just Say YaYa.” Baker earned a Bachelor of Arts in Literature from Dillard University in 2004 and studied Public Relations at Tulane University’s School of Continuing Studies.

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Amy Corcoran

Principal- Amy Corcoran, CPA, LLC

Amy is a shareholder at Corcoran & Bernard CPAs. She specializes in providing tax and accounting services to individuals, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations. She has been on the board of Market Umbrella since 2018.

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Albert “Rusty” Gaude

Associate Area Agent- LSU Ag Center and Louisiana Sea Grant

Rusty is a coastal scientist with the LSU Sea Grant and LSU AgCenter. Rusty’s work encompasses the Southeast Region of Louisiana which is composed of a four parish area (Orleans, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles Parishes). His work is focused on fisheries and other coastal issues such as serving as fisheries issues liaison between area stakeholders and government, private, academic and recreational sectors (special emphasis on ethic issues); coastal advisor on area topics concerning restoration, reclamation, mitigation and ecological sustainability of coastal resources; economic development of coastal resources (terrestrial and aquatic); and ecotourism programs to support area natural resource industries.

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Esteban Gershanik

Physician- Children’s Hospital

Esteban is a hospital-based physician (Hospitalist) in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics who has a background in the intersection of how healthcare delivery systems, public health, technology, and communities can be integrated to provide more equitable and quality care. He connected with the Market Umbrella at its inception and in his return to New Orleans four years ago was re-connected through friends to learn of its great expansion since its early beginnings. He is excited about the possibilities of how Market Umbrella can serve to educate and partner with organizations to serve the food insecurity, dietary, and other public health needs of the community. In his free time, Esteban enjoys biking and walking around the city, cooking, having a coffee or bite with friends at an outdoor setting (especially during COVID), taking in the music, food, and art of New Orleans, and spending quality time with family and friends.

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Caroline Gray

Vice President of Marketing, Louisiana Fish Fry Products

Caroline Gray has worked in food and beverage marketing for over 10 years and is currently Vice President of Marketing at Louisiana Fish Fry Products. A native of Lafayette, LA, and a resident of Bayou St. John, she shops at the Thursday Mid City market. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Tulane University and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management.

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Sara Lewis

Sara is an attorney practicing in the areas of oil and gas, environmental, and commercial litigation, and is a Partner with Wall, Bullington & Cook, LLC. Sara is a Crescent City Farmers’ Market shopper and supporter and is eager to bring her environmental and policy experience to assist Market Umbrella in its important work educating and partnering with local organizations to serve the public health needs of our community and providing resources to our local farmers. Sara also serves on the Board of Energy Wise Alliance, the Jewish Federation, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

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Elisa Muñoz

Executive Director- New Orleans Food Policy Action Council

Elisa served as Market Manager for Crescent City Farmers Market from 2011-2015 and has stayed involved with the Market ever since through policy work and shopping for her family. Elisa's life work is ensuring a just and equitable food system for all and she currently does that through policy and systems work. In her free time, Elisa enjoys baking with and for her young son and husband and being crafty.

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Lindsey Navarro

Executive Director- El Centro

Lindsey Navarro is the Founder and Executive Director of El Centro Inc., a New Orleans based not-for-profit providing financial literacy and business training to the Latino community in south Louisiana in Spanish. Since launching in 2018, El Centro has served nearly 2000 Spanish-speaking individuals. Through her tenure at LiftFund, she helped to deploy more than $1.2 million in microloans to Latino entrepreneurs across Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee. Ms. Navarro holds an MBA from Loyola University of New Orleans and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from St. Peter's University. She serves as President of the Board of the Crescent City Community Land Trust and Secretary of the Board of the Krewe of Themis. Open-air markets, like the Crescent City Farmers Market, remind Ms. Navarro of her Panamanian heritage and daily grocery shopping in the summer with my grandmother.

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Khai Nguyen

Program Manager- Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corporation

Khai Nguyen grew up in New Orleans and graduated from Tulane University with a degree in business. In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, Khai started working with MQVN Community Development Corporation in New Orleans East with its workforce development program to assist affected fishermen. Since 2010, Khai has worked with these Vietnamese fishermen in the VEGGI Farmers Cooperative. Currently, Khai works with VEGGI to continue to provide sustainable jobs and provide healthy food throughout the city.

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Ashley Weber

Director of IS Clinical System- Ochsner Health System

Ashley Weber received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Millsaps College and a Master’s in Health Administration from Tulane University in 2008. Ashley joined Ochsner Health System in July 2008 as an Administrative Fellow in the New Orleans region. During the Fellowship, Ashley worked at OMC – Kenner, OMC, and the corporate executive team on various projects within the Office of Strategy management. Upon completion of the Administrative Fellowship in 2010, Ashley accepted a full-time role as the Manager of Operations in the Ochsner Sports Medicine Institute and Primary Care. In 2012, Ashley joined the Information Services division on the Physician Academy team specializing in electronic medical record education and support. Over the course of 5 years, Ashley led the team in various system-wide initiatives, projects, and deployments. In 2018, Ashley took on the role of Director of Enterprise Imaging team and Epic Procedural Applications teams. These teams are responsible for all imaging-related applications including the Enterprise Imaging system at Ochsner Health System, Cardiology, Radiology and Gastroenterology documentation.

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Jacob Young

Jacob Young is a partner at the law firm of Chehardy Sherman Williams. Jacob is a trial attorney whose work and experience stretch across a broad range of clients and disputes, including commercial litigation, insurance, zoning, and real estate. He is a graduate of Tulane University Law School and Louisiana State University. Jacob serves on the board of governors of the Louisiana Association of Justice (formerly Louisiana Trial Lawyers’ Association). Jacob is a Louisiana native, growing up in Livingston Parish before moving to New Orleans in 2005. Outside of work, Jacob enjoys hiking trips, biking the city, bookstores, and coffee. He is drawn to Market Umbrella’s commitment to increasing the community’s access to healthy food and economic opportunities.

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Are you interested in joining our Board of Directors? For more information, please contact Executive Director Angelina Harrison at angelina@marketumbrella.org.