US (OH): Green City Growers Cooperative welcomes new experts to its team

Two professionals have joined the staff of Green City Growers Cooperative, a 3.5-acre greenhouse in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood that ranks as the nation’s largest urban food production facility.

Joy Pellek joined the greenhouse on July 15 as Director of Sales and Marketing, bringing more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience. In her most recent role as Marketing Manager for GreenLine Foods/Apio, Inc., she led new product development efforts, guiding seven new items from concept research to market launch.

Prior to her work with GreenLine Foods, Pellek held sales and marketing roles with organizations including the Rudolph/Libbe Companies and the Greater Toledo Convention & Visitors Bureau. She has a Bachelor of Arts in communications from Bowling Green State University.



Jason Grimmett joined Green City Growers Cooperative on July 29 as Head Greenhouse Grower, bringing a decade of agricultural and greenhouse experience. He began his career with Green Circle Growers in Oberlin, where he was a section grower and manager, responsible for six acres of plant production in a 60-acre facility.

In subsequent professional roles in Houston, Chicago, and Springfield, Ohio, Grimmett combined his greenhouse experience with a focus on sales. As a technical sales representative for Michigan Peat Company, Plant Marvel Laboratories Inc., and Buckeye Resources Inc., he developed business relationships with dealers and distributors throughout multi-state regions, while providing technical support and advice to his clients. He studied agriculture education at Texas Tech University.

“I am very pleased to welcome two professionals with so much experience in their respective fields,” said Mary Donnell, Chief Executive Officer of Green City Growers Cooperative. “With Joy’s and Jason’s expertise, we look forward to continuing to grow our customer base – while we expand our herb program and add new varieties of specialty greens and lettuce to the tens of thousands of heads of lettuce we are growing and harvesting each week. I’m also thrilled that Joy and Jason are committed to Green City Growers’ unique mission to provide ‘green-collar jobs’ to neighborhood residents.”

Green City Growers is the third cooperative business to join Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperatives network, which the Cleveland Foundation helped launch in 2009 as part of the Greater University Circle Initiative. Evergreen’s goal is to produce high-quality, cost-competitive goods and services, while achieving its social mission: to create jobs and build financial assets for residents of Cleveland’s underserved neighborhoods.

As a year-round greenhouse, Green City Growers began production in December 2012, and expects to produce 3 million heads of lettuce and 300,000 pounds of herbs annually for customers within a 150-mile radius.