Meet Our Board of Directors
Mary Jones
Mary Jones (she/her) is the Director of Legislation and Policy for Councilmember Jamie Gauthier on Philadelphia’s City Council in the 3rd Council District. She is passionate about equitable neighborhood development and securing safe and affordable housing for all.
Previously, she worked as Legislative Counsel for former Council President Darrell Clarke overseeing zoning, land use and legislative matters for the 5th Council District. Before entering city government, Mary was an attorney at the Legal Clinic for the Disabled providing legal aid in a variety of areas including landlord/tenant law and SSI benefits for low-income patients with disabilities through the medical legal partnership model. She also spent time at the City Law Department reviewing HUD contracts for the Division of Housing and Community Development. Mary graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2017. She received the Milton C. Sharp Award for exceptional research in urban renewal and land use planning.
Greg Goldman
Greg Goldman is a Senior Talent Solutions Partner for DiverseForce strategic human capital solutions firm that specializes in diversity recruitment, retention, and development. Greg is also an Adjunct Professor for Urban Studies specializing in nonprofit and philanthropic strategy and execution. He continues to help guide The Community Grocer to create the best working strategy for all.
Dr. Akira Rodriguez
Dr. Akira Drake Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design. Her research examines the ways that disenfranchised groups re-appropriate their marginalized spaces in the city to gain access to and sustain urban political power - including through advocating for increased food justice and equity. Akira’s expertise is a critical component to allow for The Community Grocer’s continued success and growth.
Alpa Shah
Alpa Shah is the Founder and CEO of the Nonprofit - To Empower Women (ToEW). She graduated as a Chemical Engineer from the Georgia Institute of Technology and later completed an Executive MBA program at Purdue University.
After working for a few years as Director of Operations at HTS Airport and Strategic Director of Marketing at a Wire Manufacturing company she decided to pivot.
Entrepreneur at heart she started 1st American Systems and Services (1st American), a government contracting company in 2009 where she managed and oversaw multimillion dollar contracts with the U S Government. As the CEO she provided overall vision, strategy, and financial leadership for the rapid growth of 1st American that was recognized by Inc magazine in 2013 and 2014. She was responsible for strategic planning to win federal contracts with agencies like the US Airforce, FAA, NIH, SEC and HHS to name a few and managing employees spread around the world.
After selling her business in 2017, she has turned her focus on Philanthropy, giving her time, talent and treasures to causes close to her heart. During COVID she created To Empower Women (ToEW ) to help train women to learn new skills to be able to get remote jobs.
Alpa is a key component of The Community Grocers' board and continually uses her business acumen to help us build our vision for a better world.
Brandon Smith
Brandon Smith is currently the Senior Vice President of Centralized Operations and Risk at M&T Bank Greater Philadelphia where he has served in various leadership roles encompassing Retail, Business, and
Community- Based Banking for over 15 years. Brandon graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Management from Gettysburg College and is the board president of Haven Youth Wrestling and sits on the Advisory Boards of The Equity Project and Career Bridge. Passionate about giving back to the community, he instills this passion in the teams that he manages and on the TCG board of directors.
Darryl Blakey is currently the Manager, Government Affairs at BASF Corporation. In this role, he is responsible for crafting the engagement strategy with government officials, regulatory bodies, and business organizations across North America. Along with other strategic initiatives, Mr. Blakey assists senior executives with potential opportunities to mitigate risk and increase commercial growth.
Most recently, Mr. Blakey served as Policy Advisor to Chairman Heath P. Tarbert and as the Associate Director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Mr. Blakey advised the chairman and other senior executives on policy, regulation, and legislative initiatives.
Before joining the CFTC in 2020, Mr. Blakey was the Associate Director of Legislative Affairs and Market Regulatory Policy for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA). He advised the CEO, Board of Directors, and senior leadership on derivative market policy. Mr. Blakey was the lead representative for the association with Congress, financial institutions, and key executive branch agencies. At NCBA, Mr. Blakey also managed the marketing committee and served on the CFTC's FACA Agricultural Advisory Committee.
From 2015 to 2018, Mr. Blakey served at the House Committee on Agriculture, where he assisted with the Committee's business in the oversight of the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and CFTC.
Darryl Blakey
Terrilynn Donnell serves as the Executive Director of the Community of Compassion Inc., overseeing daily operations, finances, and strategic planning. She manages budgeting, financial reporting, and maintaining transparency. Ms. Donnell leads strategic initiatives, setting long-term goals, identifying growth opportunities, and implementing mission-aligned strategies. She is pivotal in fundraising, developing campaigns, building and fostering relationships, and securing financial support. Additionally, she oversees marketing efforts. Ms. Donnell orchestrates and creates promotional strategies to raise mission awareness, she also handles human resources functions at Community of Compassion.
Ms. Donnell is deeply involved in program development, ensuring programs meet community needs and align with the organization’s mission. She assesses needs, designs program structures, and evaluates impact. Ms. Donnell ensures compliance with legal and ethical standards, maintaining accountability and transparency. Her leadership involves guiding the team and fostering partnerships to enhance community service capacity. She leads with integrity and vision, ensuring growth, innovation, and lasting positive change making her an instrumental addition to our board.
Terrilynn Donnell
Dr. Khan is a pediatrics healthcare physician leader with 15+ years’ experience in providing care and an intergenerational approach to developing programs to address societal root causes of poor health outcomes across the community with a patient centric approach. Cutting edge expert in areas of clinical care treatment and coordination, childhood obesity, clinical research, project management, national and international collaboratives, grant management, and budget management. Food Rx expert and change agent leading SDOH, obesity, pediatric equitable care with ‘profit for all’ mindset. Key leader with corporate, hospital systems, academic centers, AAP, CHA, and nonprofit organizations to end hunger poverty with ‘bottom-up’ solutions and provide SDOH focused program development including collaborating with Aramark, Philabundance, CommonMarket, and the GIANT food company. Consultant for large technology companies, local government, and ministries of health globally.
Greengas is the Global Director of Sustainability, Strategic Impact at FMC
Corporation, where she and her team are responsible for leading FMC’s efforts toward
achieving their environmental sustainability goals, FMC’s sustainability attributes and
advantages of crop protection products, and FMC’s voluntary and mandated ESG
reporting. Rachel is a strategic problem solver with significant experience in project
management, risk evaluation and general management. She brings a broad level
experience across various business functions. Prior to joining the FMC Sustainability
Team, Rachel led FMC’s Commercialization Team for new products in the R&D pipeline,
managed FMC’s environmental liabilities in their Corporate EHS team, and led various
projects in Global Supply Chain and logistics. Before joining FMC, she spent 10 years
as a design engineer, focusing her efforts on environmental remediation. Rachel is an
environmental enthusiast and has a thirst for learning new things and challenging her
own thought process. Rachel earned her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from
Villanova University.
