Sous Chef

Operations Director

Sous Chef

Communications & Development Manager

General Manager

Kitchen & Meal Distribution Support

Executive Director

Chef

Chef

Brian Asbill is a board-certified cardiologist and lifestyle medicine physician who has served the Asheville community since 2001. As Director of Mission's Pritikin Cardiac Rehabilitation Program and Chief Medical Officer of the Thrive Lifestyle Medicine Program, he works at the intersection of clinical care and sustainable health transformation, helping patients reclaim their wellbeing through simple, lasting lifestyle changes. He is a passionate advocate for the idea that true healthcare — not sickcare — must address nutrition, community, and the social conditions that shape our health, Brian has deep roots in Western North Carolina's wellness ecosystem having served as prior Board Chair of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and understands that food and community are our best medicines.  

Gretchen Brown is a Clinical Social Worker and Clinical Addiction Specialist in private practice in Asheville.  She holds a Bachelors in Elementary Education from Warren Wilson College and a Masters in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Prior to starting her own psychotherapy practice, Gretchen has worked as a hospital, school and community based social worker with youth, families and adults. Gretchen has lived in Asheville for over 20 years and feels a deep connection to the people and land of Western North Carolina. Gretchen is dedicated to serving the members of the Asheville community and believes that healthy, accessible food is a fundamental right of every person.

Chef John Fleer is the owner of Rhubarb and Rhu as well as Benne on Eagle restaurants in downtown Asheville. He has received five James Beard Award nominations and numerous accolades. He is a long-time champion of the farmer and independent producer and has helped put many of them on the map. He is one of the most generous souls you’ll ever meet. 

Susan Foster is a labor and employment attorney.  Her professional career has included private practice, serving as a civil rights director and Title IX Coordinator at a large university, and serving as the executive director of a teacher’s union.  Susan’s legal work includes proactive workplace management and consulting, employee and management training, litigation defense, workplace investigations and workplace consulting. She is passionate about the creation and maintenance of healthy workplaces. Susan actively advocates and supports causes important to her, including equal access to food, housing, legal representation and healthcare for everyone, foster care advocacy and support, and animal rescue.  Susan enjoys gardening, reading, and all things outdoors with her wife and three pups. 

Aaron and his wife Anne Grier own & run Gaining Ground Farm, a 70-acre organic family farm in Leicester, just outside Asheville. The farm grows food for restaurants and sells through tailgate markets and a CSA program. They grow vegetables with the health of the environment & consumer in mind and have been doing so for over 20 years. They love what they do.  

Janet Moore is a retired marketing executive and writer who has called the Asheville area home since 1983. In 2021, she co-authored In Pursuit of a Greater Good, a history of rural economic development in Western North Carolina. 

When he’s not creating something delicious in his kitchen for family and friends, Dan is Chief Medical Officer for Surgical Care Affiliates and President of Optum Specialty Practices. He is former CEO and spine surgeon at OrthoCarolina in Charlotte, NC. He is the founding board chair of the Seventh Street Public Market in Charlotte and current board chair of the Piedmont Culinary Guild.  He also grew up on a farm in Middle Tennessee and has hauled his share of hay. Dan is an avid cook and advocate for local agriculture and independent restaurants.

Another founding member of Equal Plates Project, Elizabeth is a marketing communications professional with her own writing and consulting business in Asheville, NC. She worked for The Biltmore Company for 18 years before writing three nationally published cookbooks for Tupelo Honey Café, where she oversaw marketing for the restaurants. She is a former board member of the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association and former Board President of the Southern Foodways Alliance. She also serves on the board of Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity.  

Margaret Steele is a doctor of Naturopathic Medicine with a clinical focus on nutrition and lifestyle medicine.  She has been teaching Nutrition Science and Food as Medicine courses in the Health Sciences department of her alma mater at UNCA for the last 5 years.  She is particularly interested in the intersection between regenerative agriculture, nutrition and the health of both individuals and the environment. Her belief in the need for a just and equitable food system makes Equal Plates one of her favorite non-profits in WNC!