Our Board
Jamie Bruno | Interim Board Chair, Co-Founder
Emilio is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Urban Agriculture Cooperative, and a Program Director of Planting Seeds of Hope. These non profit organizations are important parts of Newark NJ's local food system and green community development.
For UAC, Emilio manages staff, development, and project budgets, completes grants, and oversees the daily work of the organization, including managing gardens, farmer's markets and composting projects. Emilio has a Bachelor’s from Rutgers College Honors Program and his Masters in City and Regional Planning from Rutgers Bloustein School of Planning and Policy Development, with a focus on community development organizations. Emilio has worked 12 years in non-profits and urban agricultural projects, with a passion for social justice, community development, healthy sustainable living practices, and integrated neighborhoods. Outside of UAC he teaches youth gardening programs through the YMCA, and coaches youth Ultimate Frisbee for his hometown of Maplewood/South Orange New Jersey.
Tenisha Malcolm
Tenisha Malcolm-Wint serves as Director of the Urban Mayors Policy Center at John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research at Kean University. In this role, Malcolm-Wint supports the work of the Institute to provide support for New Jersey Urban Mayors Association (NJUMA) member mayors in guiding communities as they seek solutions to various issues facing urban municipalities. She will also provide technical support to the members of the NJUMA focusing on policy analysis and research.
Prior to joining the Watson Institute, Malcolm-Wint worked for several national and community-based nonprofits where she directed large-scale innovative programs, fundraising and strategic development. Among many of her distinguished accomplishments, Tenisha serves as a volunteer board member for several causes and nonprofits including NJ Governor Phil Murphy's COVID 19 Task Force on Racial & Health Disparities, New Jersey Future, Greater Newark Healthcare Coalition, and GreenLight Fund Newark Selection Advisory Council.
Additionally, Malcolm-Wint owns a consulting firm that offers a suite of services that include community organizing, program design & evaluation, fundraising and strategic planning. Malcolm-Wint holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Bloomfield College. She is currently a candidate for a masters degree at Kean University in Public Administration.
Inherent in all of her endeavors is the guiding principle that “only a life lived in the service of others is worth living.” Supporting communities with growth and innovation are the things that make her tick professionally. Malcolm-Wint is at her happiest place when she is out leading hikes with Outdoors On Purpose, a hiking commUNITY she established that encourages Black & Brown people to find respite and joy in nature.
Kapil Bansal
Kapil Bansal is Managing Director at The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). Kapil has over 20 years of experience in the capital markets and financial services industry with a proven track record as a business executive. Prior to DTCC, Kapil held a number of senior business roles in the investment banking division at Barclays. Before that, Kapil held senior advisory roles at management consulting firms of Booz & Co. and McKinsey, where he assisted Fortune 100 clients on variety of business issues.
Kapil holds an MBA in Finance with Distinction from University of Michigan, MS in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Rutgers University and BS in Industrial Engineering.
Samantha Davis
A an artist, educator, and community organizer- for almost the past decade, Meliq August has been studying with and about Afro-Indigenous diasporic identities at the crossroads of their own lived experien Sam has a career steeped in mission-driven organizations in the nonprofit, sales, and culinary world. With a varied background that includes nonprofit leadership, business owner, and sales maven, she specializes in strategy and engagement, building programs and relationships from the ground up, and crunching data to measure outcomes and profitability. Sam currently works for a non-profit consulting firm helping non-profit organizations across the globe increase fundraising capacity through strategic events, targeted campaigns and donor cultivation.
Sam began her career in the nonprofit sector, leading alternative education and workforce development programs for nearly 10 years in Boston and New York. With a parallel passion for food, she pivoted to the food industry, becoming a trained chef and successfully running her own private chef business for seven years. She worked to bridge the gap between local farms and customers invested in creating greater access to local food before returning to non-profit work, her true north star.
Sam lives and cooks in Maplewood, NJ, with her husband and two daughters, a dog, a cat and one thriving, lush garden. Sam’s newest passion is pottery, which she’s not particularly good at but enjoys the process of being humbled by a couple pounds of clay.
Jamaal Cobbs
Jamaal Cobbs joined Urban Agriculture Cooperative’s board 2021. He was born and raised and Newark and spends his spare time giving back to the community in any way possible.
Jamaal helped create the Newark Adventure Squad that welcomed new residents to Newark by hosting networking/volunteering events and bike rides. This helped newcomers feel welcomed and get to know existing residents. He has also volunteered at some of Newark’s local community gardens, Boys and Girls Club Bike Exchange and Covenant House. Jamaal also serves on the board of the Brick City Bike Collective.
Jamaal is currently an IT Manager at an IP firm in NJ and lives in Westfield NJ with his wife Tracee and daughter.
Jordan Bar Am
Jordan Bar Am joined the UAC board in 2022 is a Partner at McKinsey & Company’s New Jersey office where he is a leader in the Consumer Goods and Agriculture practices, serving food and agriculture companies on topics related to growth, sustainability, and innovation. Prior to McKinsey, Jordan co-founded OKe USA, the first Fair Trade banana import company in the United States and a kindergarten teacher in Morocco.
A (nearly) life long resident of Essex County, NJ, Jordan holds a BA in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.