UpS Welcomes Our New President
The UpS Board of Directors is pleased to announce the election of Sara Katz as Board President. Founding President, Rosemary Gladstar passed her active leadership of 14 years to Sara at a ceremony held on the newly expanded Medicine Trail of UpS’s “Goldenseal Sanctuary” in Rutland, Ohio. Rosemary will remain an active Board member and visionary for the organization.
Sara Katz is founder and active co-owner of Herb Pharm, an Oregon-based herb company since 1979, and the number-one-selling liquid herbal extract line in America. In her capacity as Director of Environmental Conservation, she serves on several non-profit boards, including the American Herbal Products Association. Sara has served on the UpS Board since 1998 and has championed many significant projects and events for the grassroots membership including producing educational conferences, and writing, editing and designing the annual Journal.
Rosemary is excited about her transition to UpS ‘elder’ and founding president, “I cannot imagine a more impassioned and dedicated person than Sara, and it is a great joy to share leadership with her. She has worked energetically over the last 10 years with UpS to protect our native medicinals. Now it is time to create another position for my role with UpS. Organizations are dynamic organisms and benefit from creative change. We have never been a hierarchical, top-down group. We are a family of plant-lovers and environmentalists and I look forward to every new season of good work with UpS.”
Sara’s election represents a first for UpS – the shifting of a founding president to another position in the organization. Lynda LeMole, Executive Director since 2003 commented, “What I appreciate most about the workings of UpS is that we are not held and bound by structures or organizational models that restrict creativity. It was time for Rosemary to move from this role, but certainly not time for her to end leadership. It was also time for Sara to move into a more active Presidency. There is not only room for both ‘at the top’, we now have two nurturing leaders instead of one!”
United Plant Savers is comprised of several thousand concerned plant lovers, scientists, herbalists and activists whose mission is to protect native medicinal plants of the United States and Canada and their native habitats. Sara spoke of her new Presidency, “I have always been deeply grateful and inspired by the dedicated friends of UpS. It has been an honor for me to be a part of our mission and our work. We are moving into an exciting fruition of our labors. Goldenseal Sanctuary is alive with programs, our conferences are spreading across the country and our membership grows every year. We now have over 70 Sanctuaries in our Botanical Sanctuary Network! The green world never stops growing and I am pleased and grateful to be honored with this new position.”
