We’ve got some bittersweet news to share this month. Nearly ten years after launching Open Food Network Canada, our inaugural Executive Director, Theresa Schumilas, is passing on the torch. David Thomas, our current Operations Manager, will be stepping into her place. As we make this transition, we’d like to recognize the tremendous contribution Theresa has made in building OFN Canada into what it is today. 

Grassroots Beginnings

Theresa’s journey with Open Food Network began during her postdoctoral research into the digitization of food systems. But it quickly evolved into something more applied once she connected with the Open Food Network global community. In the early days of Open Food Network Canada, most users of the platform came directly from the contacts that Theresa had developed in Southern Ontario, where she had worked for decades as an organic farmer and local food system activist.

As Theresa explains, everything changed very rapidly with the onset of Covid lockdowns. In the Spring of 2020, demand for the platform ‘exploded’ and Theresa found she had to reach out for volunteer support to manage the unexpected surge in demand.

“We did a call for volunteers and a lot of volunteers came forward to learn the platform, and that’s actually how we connected with David Thomas, our incoming Executive Director. At the time, I was just so overwhelmed with how interested people were in supporting farms and farmers’ markets through the crisis. And, actually, when this ‘explosion’ of use happened with Covid… this was really what made us grow so fast, and what made it possible for us to move from a volunteer-driven project to the staffed organization that we are today.”

OFN’s Evolving Role

As we move beyond the rapid change of the pandemic, the scope and vision for OFN continues to grow and evolve. More than just a way to sell online, Theresa sees Open Food Network as playing a unique role in building collaborative local food and farming systems.  

“Rather than resign ourselves to a state of default competition between rival platforms in which everyone is racing to develop the newest, latest feature, etc …. I think at OFN we see our role as trying to create the conditions that allow these platforms to collaborate with each other: we want to build a true integrated ecosystem of ecommerce and farm management platforms, one that offers maximum benefit to its users. And we know that if these platforms could all speak to each other and exchange information and data, this would be a huge win for our users.”

Being a non-profit, Theresa explains that Open Food Network is able to look at digital food systems and ecommerce platforms without always needing to focus on the competitive aspect of the field.

Next Stage of the Journey

So what’s next for Theresa as she takes a step back from her role as Executive Director? We are thrilled to say that she is not retiring entirely from Open Food Network, but transitioning into a part-time role helping flower farmers scale their markets. Being a speciality cut flower farmer herself, Theresa is looking forward to focusing on how the OFN platform can support the growth of flower farms across Canada.

“OFN is about to be going through some feature developments specifically for flower farmers. And so, one of my roles now is going to be the OFN support person in Canada for flower farmers, while also helping out in the US as well. This takes me back to my roots, back to what led me to start Open Food Network Canada in the first place. I started this because I liked working with the farmers on their tech. That was the whole thing that attracted me. So things have kind of come full circle.” 

As Theresa passes on leadership of the organization to David, she is excited by the things that she sees on the horizon:

“That thing of letting go is a bittersweet feeling. It’s kind of a nice feeling. I’m excited to wonder what will happen. I’m still worried, but it’s a good thing: it’s the way processes should be, we need fresh thoughts and new people. Change is good for any kind of organization. I’m excited to see David step in and see what he does, and I think he’s so generous and kind with my bits of hanging on.”

We couldn’t be more happy that Theresa is ‘hanging on’ with us at OFN and we are eager to see where the journey takes us all next.

Read Part 2 of this series for an informative chat with David Thomas in Part 2 of this series.