who we are
Meet The Board
Marge Aherns
Marge Aherns, Co-chair, is a retired Veterans Administration social worker. Her volunteer activities have focused on voter rights, and social, economic and racial justice, especially through the League of Women Voters of Topeka-Shawnee County and Kansas, and her church. She lives a block and a half from the former grocery at Huntoon and Lane and began working on the problem of loss of accessibility to quality and fresh foods for her neighbors in 2018. Her concerns relate to justice and healthy equity.
James Monson
James Monson, Co-Chair, was born and raised in Topeka. He is committed to strengthening the Topeka community and volunteers at several local organizations. He has an entrepreneurial background and works as a Business Advisor for the Kansas Small Business Development Center. He received Marketing and Entrepreneurship and Innovation degrees from Washburn University and is currently working towards a Master of Business Administration.
Ann Marshall
Ann Marshall, treasurer, has lived in Central Topeka since 1972 and is concerned about the quality of life for Topeka residents. She currently serves as the president of the Chesney Park NIA. Her leadership and community activism has played a large role in advancing the CTGO Group's efforts and will continue to move our project toward our future goal reestablishing a neighborhood grocery store.
Jackie Keller
Jackie Keller, secretary, is the Sunflower Stories Program Coordinator for the Kansas Rural Center (KRC), a non-profit organization founded in 1979 that has been working with communities across Kansas since its inception. Jackie has been closely involved with KRC for over 20 years, much of which was spent serving on the board. She earned a M.A. degree in International Relations from San Francisco State University with an emphasis on Environmental Policy, thesis topic was Sustainable Agriculture. She’s worked with diverse communities at Food First in Oakland, CA, Global Exchange and the San Francisco Departments of Agriculture and Environment. In 2000, she moved back to Kansas and transitioned her parent’s 200-acre conventional crop ground to organic, attaining certification in 2004. Jackie has served on her Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Committee for twelve years. For almost thirty years she has advocated for healthy soil, water and food access, and social justice.
Clark Trammell
Clark W. Trammell has held executive management positions in several fields including business, banking, entrepreneurialism, economic development, and transportation. He has served on both for-profit and nonprofit boards in the United States and internationally. He is a community activist and is involved with several programs in the community. Clark also manages a consulting practice, the Kansas Executive Group/ Colorado Executive Group LLC.
Pastor Harry B. Christian Jr.
Pastor Harry B. Christian Jr. is a native of Madison Heights, Va. He retired from the United States Air Force after 24 years of service. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Perkins School of Theology, Dallas, Texas, in 2009. He was ordained as an Elder in the Methodist Church in Topeka since July 2013. Pastor Chrisitan is passionate about justice and served as the co-chair of the Topeka Jump Justice Ministry for two years. He currently serves on the executive board for Topeka Jump. He has also served on Topeka's Affordable Housing Review Committee.
Scott Nickel
Scott Nickel is currently an instructor (10 years) in the Culinary Arts program at Washburn Institute of Technology, teaching everything from culinary math to food safety to food skills; love baking. Owned, operated, and managed the Brickyard Barn Inn in North Topeka for 17 years. Leadership positions include being a board member of the Kansas Bed and Breakfast Association, Kansas Student NEA president and KNEA board member while a KU student, Bachelor’s Degree from KU in Education with math and science emphasis, various positions at Washburn Tech and at Topeka’s First Southern Baptist Church (member, deacon). Also US Navy nuclear power submarine veteran.
Kristen Kreie
Kristen Kreie was born in Lawrence, KS and returned to the area recently. Her first job as a teenager was at her hometown grocer and she started her post-college career in grocery architecture. With more than 25 years of experience in architecture, construction and design serving the education, healthcare, government and retail grocery industries she has a deep expertise as a business advisor. She is a strategic thinker and understands the challenges inherent in delivering complex projects on time and on budget and has an extensive depth of knowledge. She is an award winning interior designer and received NCIDQ accreditation in 2007, and also is a Project Management Professional. She believes the best business happens when ideas are cross-pollinated across several fields and disciplines. She has a calm and steady leadership and thrives on building relationships and learning new things in order to bring a more holistic approach to the work she does. Her work ethic and talent for cultivating partnerships have had a notable impact on her success. She is passionate about leveraging her grocery background to continue the CTGO initiative.
New member coming soon...
Meet The Executive Team
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Nadia Arbelo
Nadia Arbelo, Executive Director, has been watching her Central Topeka community grow again. Former Interim Regional Director for Kansas SBDC @ Washburn, Nadia is currently the Executive Director for The Central Topeka Grocery Oasis. Nadia worked similarly with Western North Carolina SBTDC as an independent consultant in the public and private sectors.
Nadia brings a broad international consulting background from the UAE, Slovenia, and Hungary to Kansas. As an entrepreneur, Nadia has owned and operated several small businesses in fields ranging from computing to Art and Interior design.
In the larger business world, Nadia has worked across sectors, from retail to manufacturing, and delivered educational and administrative services to public and private schools from Kansas City to Abu Dhabi. During her sojourn as head administrator for a private UAE American school, she also obtained a British Master's in Management and Leadership. Furthering her belief in lifelong learning, Nadia entered the European Union’s only PhD program in Philosophy and Theory of Visual Culture, focusing her research on gender equity and Female Identity in Public Spaces.
While in Europe, she continued educational consulting, developing a joint Hungarian-USA International English Language secondary school program. Returning to the US in 2016, Nadia volunteered for civic organizations and served as a National Center for Creativity, Craft, and Design Board member. She also developed college mentoring programs for female STEM students and minority male student advancement. After serving as Director for a YWCA Primary Student Enrichment program, she continued consulting in cultural and minority community business development.
A longtime advocate for the arts, Nadia opened a new venue, the Silk Road Gallery, a curatorial and educational consultancy focused on Eurasia cultures, arts, and artifacts. Now back home, in addition to her work with SBDC, Nadia is a Board Member for Stormont Vail Foundation and The Topeka Chamber 2025 and a Kansas Rotarian.
Nadia believes that supporting lifelong learning by doing develops every individual's innovative and entrepreneurial spirit. As executive Director, she oversees the Central Topeka Grocery Oasis Group Inc.’s administration, fundraising, and strategic plan. Nadia is thrilled to continue the work of so many in the community and to leave a legacy of community outreach and development.
A grant from the Topeka Community Foundation funds her position as Executive Director of the Central Topeka Grocery Oasis Group.
Robert Riley
Robert Riley, Operations Coordinator, graduated from Washburn University with a degree in art, business, and mass media and spent the first part of his career producing events that taught others to live sustainably.
He loves lending a hand and organizing complex ideas into workable, simplified systems, recognizing that most of the solutions for healing our planet reside in the wisdom of past generations who lived in greater harmony with the natural world.
Robert has volunteered with several local organizations, including Meals on Wheels, his Neighborhood Improvement Association, and various advisory committees. Additionally, he and his partner founded and operate a local food distribution service, demonstrating his deep commitment to addressing local food security.
A grant from the Sunflower Foundation funds his position as Operations Coordinator.
