Board of Directors
Sherril Nell Wells
Widow of Rodney Wells, she retired from a three decade legal career to turn Rancho de Rodney into a non-profit, as she and Rodney intended to do when they retired. She is the chief farmer and president of Rancho de Rodney. She performed the administrative functions of Rancho de Rodney when it was a commercial certified organic farm.
Derrick Selb
Derrick lives in Santa Barbara, California with his wife and two young children. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2004 and Antioch University SB in 2010. Derrick is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and runs a small private practice where he trains associates and provides mental health support to a diverse clientele. Derrick has worked with many different non-profit mental health agencies in the past 15 years, but this is his first time being involved with a farm. He and his family maintain a small garden and have to consult with Sherril about some new issue just about every season.
Lover Joyce
Mr. Joyce is Rodney’s cousin and a fellow Navy veteran. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska and is the Chief Union Shop Steward and a Medical Assistant Pulmonology at Kaiser Permanente in the Bay Area. Advocating for the voiceless is his passion.
Jean Shepherd
Jean Shepherd worked in healthcare for over 30 years, most recently as a iesdata analyst. She earned her Masters in Public Health at UCLA in 1982; a stint with the Peace Corps in the Central African Republic in the late 1970s refocused her career from the broadcast journalism of her undergraduate years to community health. Between the Peace Corps and graduate school, she championed the Nestle boycott over its infant formula marketing practices in Africa. She has also engaged in disability advocacy along with other human rights causes. She believes healthcare is a human right and that having access to fresh, healthy food is foundational to healthy communities. She lives in Tigard, OR, with her four rescue cats.
Naomi Jacoby Ryerson
Ms. Ryerson ran the non-profit Wandering Art for many years and has a master’s degree in public administration with an emphasis in nonprofit organizations.