PORTLAND, Ore. – Ecotrust has named Amanda Oborne as the first sales and marketing director for FoodHub, its online marketplace designed to match regional food buyers such as restaurants, grocers, schools, institutional foodservice operations, and others with regional food sellers of all kinds, such as farmers, ranchers, fishermen and other food producers. Oborne will lead the development and implementation of the FoodHub business plan, with an aim to achieve aggressive membership goals, ensure user satisfaction, and help the online service reach its potential as a true “hub” for buyers and sellers of regionally produced food.

In addition to responsibilities related to recruiting new FoodHub members, Oborne will oversee efforts designed to retain existing memberships and develop new strategic partnerships. She will also ensure that FoodHub continually evolves to meet the dynamic needs of its members by contributing to the development of new features.

“We’re excited to have Amanda dig in and take FoodHub to the next level and continue to connect food buyers and sellers across the greater Northwest,” said Deborah Kane, vice president of Ecotrust’s Food and Farms program. “Her background in high tech, combined with her experience in agriculture will be invaluable assets for FoodHub’s growth and success.”

Oborne brings to FoodHub 12 years of experience in the marketing and management world. Prior to accepting this position with Ecotrust, she was executive director of Fitlife Club Network, the Portland-based regional health club trade association. Previously, while in Northern California, she was an independent marketing consultant where she executed an online marketing testing scheme to support a Macromedia/Yahoo! partnership project, a senior direct marketing manager at Intuit, Inc. and an Account Executive with the 360 Group. Amanda holds a Master’s of Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University.

When not focused on marketing and sales, Oborne enjoys working on her family’s buffalo ranch in Central Oregon.

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About FoodHub
A social venture business of the nonprofit Ecotrust, FoodHub (food-hub.org) makes it easy and efficient for regional food buyers and sellers to find each other, connect and do business. It is the only network of its kind that accommodates food producers and food buyers of every scale and production type across such a significant geographic range. Launched in February 2010, FoodHub is quickly becoming the leading resource for regional food trade in the greater Northwest.

About Ecotrust
FoodHub is an Ecotrust project made possible by the generous support and contributions of many. Ecotrust’s mission is to inspire fresh thinking that creates social equity, economic opportunity, and environmental well being. With regard to our Food & Farms program, we improve public understanding of agriculture and the challenges it faces and increase the market share of regionally grown, processed, and manufactured foods. Whether by introducing a farmer to a chef or a food processor to an institutional buyer, Ecotrust is a trusted “benevolent broker” that has been making connections between food buyers and sellers in the greater Northwest for a decade. Learn more at ecotrust.org.