Our Team

Rebecca Busansky | Executive Director

Rebecca Busansky joins BAV as the Executive Director. Formerly a Program Director at the Franklin County Community Development Corporation, Rebecca’s work focused on helping local farms thrive and increasing food access. She worked as part of the team to create and launch the PVGrows Investment Fund, an innovative community investment vehicle which provides financing and technical assistance to farm and local food entrepreneurs primarily in western MA.

She also managed the Mass Food Trust Program since its inception in 2018 which provides financing to increase the availability of affordable healthy food in underserved communities across the Commonwealth. She joined the FCCDC in 2015 to launch the PVGrows Investment Fund, with a focus on developing and maintaining relationships with farmers and local food entrepreneurs, community investors and food system partners.

She has an undergraduate degree from Brown University and has worked in the community economic development field for more than 30 years. Rebecca resides in Northampton with her family where she enjoys all that the beautiful outdoors has to offer in western Mass including hiking, biking, kayaking, cross country skiing and cooking from her garden’s harvest and nearby farms.

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Bonnie Stevens | Development Director

Bonnie joins BAV with over 25 years of non-profit leadership and fundraising experience, having served as both chief fundraising officer and independent consultant for numerous arts, educational and social service organizations. Bonnie has extensive experience leading non-profit boards and managing staff having led successful development programs and managed capital campaigns.

Bonnie began her fundraising career in New York City, prior to relocating to the Berkshires, where she has spent over two decades leading development programs at Jacob’s Pillow Dance, Berkshire Country Day School, and Shakespeare & Company. She worked as an independent consultant for numerous organizations, including Philabundance in Philadelphia, where she served as campaign director in their $12 million Capital Campaign to build a new facility for Philabundance Community Kitchen, (PCK), the organization’s culinary work force training program.

She has an undergraduate degree from Towson University and a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. She lives in the Berkshires with her family and enjoys the arts and culture, and the beauty of the Berkshires. She is passionate about supporting local farmers and farmers markets, and dedicated to making local food accessible to all.

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Shannon Smith | Director of Lending & Finance

Shannon joins BAV as the Director of Lending and Finance. Shannon is responsible for managing BAV’s lending programs, supporting special projects and overseeing finance and compliance functions.

Shannon’s interest in regional food systems came from years of stewarding a community garden and being a member owner of the Park Slope Food Coop. She believes that equitable access to financial resources for small food producers is key to building community resilience and healthier nutritional outcomes. She enjoys growing food, hiking, and combating the invasive plants colonizing her backyard.

Prior to working with BAV, Shannon held various underwriting and consulting roles in institutional investments, private lending, and financial technology. Shannon earned a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. She also holds a B.A. in Public Policy and Economics from Duke University.

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Dan Carr | Outreach & Technical Assistance Manager

Dan grew up on the front range of Colorado. After graduating from the University of Montana, Dan spent a year working on a variety of farms in Europe through Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. During that experience, he found his passion in regenerative farming.

Dan spent three years as an agriculture Peace Corps volunteer in a remote village in northern Malawi. He worked with farmers to implement agroforestry practices and to start other income-generating opportunities like beekeeping and grafting fruit trees. Returning to the US, Dan worked at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, NY for six years as the assistant livestock manager and the head beekeeper. In 2015, Dan moved to Northwestern Connecticut to help James and Linda Quella start and manage Q Farm, which quickly grew into a highly productive, pasture-raised meat business. He managed the production of sustainable honey, grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork, chicken, turkeys, and eggs for a variety of restaurants and retail markets.

Dan is now working at Berkshire Agricultural Ventures while running his own farm Beavertides Farm with his wife Marleen, and two young sons Oliver and Orion. They raise grass-fed lamb and meat goats, produce honey and teach beekeeping courses. 

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Ciana Barnaba | Community Relations & Resource Development Manager

Ciana was born and raised in the Berkshires. Moving to New York City she earned a degree in Sociology and International Studies, from Marymount Manhattan College. In 2016, Ciana received a study abroad scholarship leading her to spend four months in Chengdu, China. Here she studied Mandarin and economics, with particular attention on the role of tourism and food.

Following graduation, she interned at the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The highlight of this experience was the opportunity to assist UN SICA Delegates in writing a sustainable development resolution, later adopted by the UN Economic and Social Council. Completing her internship Ciana went to northern Thailand to work on a coffee and rice farm through Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF).

Returning to New York, Ciana started as Greenmarket Manager for GrowNYC. Ciana worked at GrowNYC for three years managing over a dozen farmers’ markets throughout the city. Her experience at GrowNYC led Ciana to return home to the Berkshires and join the Berkshire Agricultural Ventures team in January 2021. Ciana has been recognized for her work with BAV and the Market Match Fund by Berkshire Magazine in 2023 as one of The Berkshire 25, and was a 2024 Berkshire Community College 40 Under Forty recipient.

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Ben Crockett | Program Manager for Climate Smart Ag Program

Ben has worked in agriculture from a young age, throwing hay bales for local farmers, picking fresh peas with his mom, and helping his dad with apple orchard chores. In recent years he has worked as the department chair for Kennebec Valley Community College Sustainable Agriculture associate degree program. Through UMaine Extension Ben became a Master Food Preserver, and has mentored start-up farm businesses in the Hudson Valley with Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming. 

Ben earned his B.S. in Sustainable Landscape Horticulture at the University of Vermont, and recently completed the Climate Adaptation Fellowship for farmers and foresters. In his spare time, you’ll find him concocting ferments, tearing down local ski slopes, or attempting to perfect his breakfast sandwich recipe. Ben lives with his partner Kara in the Berkshires, and regularly explores local trails with their trusty dog Alice. 

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Jake Levin | Program Manager for Local Meat Processing Support Program

Jake grew up in the Berkshires. After graduating from Wesleyan University, where he studied Art he moved to NYC. While living in NYC and working in the art world, he became increasingly engaged with cooking and the reemerging local and sustainable food movement. While working towards his MFA at Bard he decided to apprentice as a butcher in the Hudson Valley. 

It didn’t take Jake long to realize he had a passion both for meat production and for supporting sustainable agriculture. After deciding to pursue a career as a butcher, Jake moved back to the Berkshires where he could work directly with the farmers in his hometown community. Jake has worked in a variety of capacities as a butcher including managing a whole-animal butcher shop and a USDA inspected dry-cured pork production facility. Jake also sits on the Board of Directors for Berkshire Grown, the Berkshire Food Co-op, and the New Marlborough Land Trust. In 2019 Jake authored a book titled Smokehouse Handbook published by Storey Publishing.

Jake lives in New Marlborough with his wife and two children on the land where he grew up. Besides working for Berkshire Ag Ventures helping to improve our regional livestock systems Jake works as The Roving Butcher where he travels around the country teaching workshops on on-farm slaughter, whole-animal butchery, and value-added meat production. When Jake is not working, he is most likely cooking for his family and friends, preferably in his outdoor kitchen. 

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Audrey Hackett | Communications & Development Associate

Audrey is a writer, editor, and communications professional with over 25 years of experience in community journalism and nonprofit public relations. She has worked for arts and culture organizations, a university health research center, a regenerative agriculture nonprofit, and numerous publications as a writer and editor. In the Berkshires, she previously served as editor of The Women’s Times and has worked on staff and as an independent consultant for Norman Rockwell Museum, The Mount, and other organizations. 

Audrey has a BA in English from the College of William and Mary, as well as an MPhil from the University of Glasgow in Scotland and an MFA in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council grant for poetry and has won numerous awards for her writing and photography as a reporter for the Yellow Springs News in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Raised in Virginia and overseas, Audrey has lived in New England, Ohio, and New Mexico. She and her husband and dog recently relocated back to Western Massachusetts to make the area their home. Audrey has a burgeoning interest in local food and farming, and she loves nature, walking, drawing, and lyrical writing of all kinds, especially poetry.

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Kallie Robertson | Finance Manager

Kallie comes to BAV with a diverse background in farming, non-profit financial management & design experience.  Kallie received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and after a stint in NYC found herself living on a farm in the Hudson Valley. 

For over a decade Kallie, along with her husband, has owned and managed Sawkill Farm, a diverse pasture based livestock farm in the Hudson Valley raising grass-fed and finished beef and lamb and pasture-raised pork, chicken and eggs which they sold in their farm store and at farmers markets in NYC. While Sawkill Farm has recently scaled down in size, they still raise sheep and make yarn from the fiber.

Most recently, Kallie worked as the Finance & Administrative Director of NOFA/Mass, managing the budget and financial health of the organization whose mission is to promote organic agriculture and food access in Massachusetts. 

When not working with BAV, Kallie can be found enjoying the company of her two young kiddos, working in her vegetable & perennial gardens, or planning her family's next trip, which ideally involves bicycles.

Berkshire Agricultural Ventures is an equal opportunity employer; we provide equal opportunity for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, military or veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by state or federal law.