National Star Team

STAR is a national, non-profit organization established to develop and expand the STAR framework for conservation practice evaluation, implementation, and valuation. Designed and led by producers, the STAR tool utilizes science and experience to target local solutions for local natural resource concerns, and to support farmers and ranchers on their conservation journey – wherever they are.

Caroline Wade began leading the national expansion of STAR in June of 2023 as the first Executive Director of the newly developing national STAR organization. She has been building partnerships and developing programs in conservation agriculture for more than 15 years, working to bring together knowledge and insights from environmental science, economics, and agriculture to focus on practical yet innovative solutions for the many interconnected business and natural resources issues facing the agriculture industry. In 2019 she founded Symbiose Strategies to serve a variety of conservation agriculture partners, offering collaborative leadership across teams and partnerships, innovative strategic support for creating impactful and efficient programs, and previously served in leadership roles for the Illinois Corn Growers Association, The Nature Conservancy, and Ecosystem Services Market Consortium. Caroline graduated from Illinois State University with a B.S. in Environmental Health and Environmental Science and an M.S. in Agriculture.

In her role as Science & Research Director for national STAR, Amanda Raster brings over 15 years of experience working on collaborative, science-based approaches to sustainable agriculture. Prior to joining STAR, she served as Research Director at Ecosystem Services Market Consortium, where she led technical working group activities and provided strategic direction to ESMC’s research program. At U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action, she led a comprehensive life cycle assessment harmonization project for major U.S. ag commodities and engaged farmers, ranchers, and supply chain partners around the science of sustainable food systems. At The Sustainability Consortium, she developed environmental and social metrics for food and agriculture products sold at retail and explored opportunities to improve data flow across food supply chains. Raster also served as facilitator of a national effort to develop sustainability standards for U.S. agriculture through the Leonardo Academy. She completed her undergraduate studies in Anthropology and Conservation Biology and her graduate studies in Agroecology at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Shiva Scotti started her career working for Fortune 100 companies in brand marketing and general management, launching national brand and media heavy-up campaigns, investigating new product innovations, and managing a multi-million dollar annual trade budget at Kimberly-Clark Corporation on the Kleenex Brand, and the sports nutrition brand, EAS, at Abbott Laboratories, which included partnerships with the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB. She also led a marketing team in Munich, Germany for a couple years in a leadership marketing role. In 2010, she began supporting national and global nonprofit organizations in financial and organizational management roles at the International Biochar Initiative as General Manager, Coalition on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases as Operations Director, and Ecosystem Services Market Consortium as Chief Financial Officer. Shiva graduated from Kent State University with a B.B.A. degree in Marketing and Communications, and The Ohio State University with a M.B.A. in Marketing and International Business.

Jake Deutmeyer brings a unique blend of farming and business experience from around the globe to STAR. While he grew up on his family’s dairy farm near Dyersville, Iowa, he worked over 5 years in the spice industry where he procured spices and herbs sold directly to consumers or used in flavorings. As a Commodity Manager at Frontier Coop in Norway, Iowa, he helped build capacity in fast growing organic supply chains by developing new sources from small scale farmers in Spain, Guatemala, Nicaragua, India, and Sri Lanka. As a Senior Buyer at Kalsec, Jake helped advance the company into the organic sector by sourcing and launching new organic essential oil products. He took his knowledge of sourcing and supply chain impacts and worked nearly 2 years as a Senior Project Manager with Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) where he helped lead 12 pilots on farms across the United States through regenerative practice changes generating Scope 3 Insets for food and beverage companies. He is a proud Hawkeye with a BBA in Economics and Certificates of Sustainability and International Business from the University of Iowa and holds a Master’s in Management from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. Jake is also an Eagle Scout, an avid sports fan, tennis player, and currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Yessica and their 2 cats.

Erin Holland is a recent M.S. graduate of the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan, specializing in Environmental Justice. Her research supported the development of framework documents for addressing climate change, food systems, justice, and equity. A native of Macon, Georgia, Erin holds a B.S. in Environmental Sciences with a concentration in Environmental Health from Tuskegee University. She is passionate about developing equitable solutions for addressing environmental injustices to improve human health.

Asia Clark is a current graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the Masters of Public Affairs program with a concentration in Nonprofit Management. She hopes to use her knowledge of nonprofit management and experience of marketing and communications to serve organizations and their community. Asia also holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from UNC Greensboro. She is passionate about serving organizations and educating others to live better lives. She is working with STAR to develop communications materials.