Board of Directors

MaryAlecia Briggs board — MaryAlecia Briggs
President
A West Coast transplant, MaryAlecia lives in Catonsville with her spouse and child. She works in humanitarian assistance for an international development organization based in Maryland. She previously worked for an elected official in Oregon and the Metropolitan Public Defender's office where she was able to follow her passion for advocating for the undeserved and disenfranchised. MaryAlecia is an avid gardener with a focus on culinary herbs and native plants. She enjoys walking long distances, cooking from scratch, foraging and fermentation.

Heather DuongMarketingA member of the COOP since 2016, Heather loves supporting local farmers and vendors almost as much as she enjoys eating their hard-earned labors. She looks forward to leveraging her background in strategic communications and pu… — Heather Duong
Vice President
A member of the COOP since 2016, Heather loves supporting local farmers and vendors almost as much as she enjoys eating their hard-earned labors. She loves leveraging her background in strategic communications and public relations to highlight the many great activities happening at the market. She is obsessed with gardening and enjoys cooking, reading, hiking, and biking. She resides in Ellicott City with her husband, two teenage boys, and young daughter.

Kathy Vaughn

Treasurer

As co-founder and Vice President of Zagora Services, a family-owned business in Catonsville, MD, for more than 20 years, Kathy has the perfect business acumen to help us manage our commercial health and grow!! Kathy has hit the ground running since officially joining the leadership team in January. She serves on our newly formed financial committee and is helping us create our 2026 budget. She aims to help our organization identify cost savings, streamline our point-of-sale and accounting systems, and oversee our annual audits.

Kirsten Merryman
Vendor Liaison
A longtime Catonsville resident, Kirsten has joined her husband in the ongoing crusade to live sustainably, clutter the earth with as little trash and needless items as possible, and fund local businesses. She enjoys helping maintain their new garden full of native plants and learning new ways to thrive as a plant-based eater. She's deep into a learning season about exercise and nutrition and will talk anyone's ear off about food and weight lifting. Her other passion involves traveling to visit her two kids living on opposite coasts from each other and visiting Europe as often as she can.

Johnny Martin, Jr.
Director of Operations
Johnny is a passionate advocate for empowering this generation and the next, which led to the founding of Cooperative Community Development Inc. in 2020. His humility allows him to connect with children, young adults, and seniors of all cultural, social, and economic backgrounds.
Johnny knows that places for residents to feel safe and engage with each other are very important and he is dedicated to doing everything he can to support them.

Neriza Candelara — Neriza Candelario
Market Day Volunteer Coordinator
Parenting an active daughter and son, both freshmen in college and high school respectively, Neriza has years of experience planning events. She has sat on numerous parent committees where she organized sports activities, tailgates and carpools. She’s ready to apply her coordination smarts to the market.

Mary Ann Kingsley
Membership
I joined CCM in 2022 because I wanted to be a part of a cooperative experience and to have access to the fresh, local, and environmentally friendly products we all know and love. I have had a longstanding interest in cooperatives and I've learned that membership engagement is critically important and takes real effort to develop.
I'm married and have three grown kids. I have worked as the grant writer for the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore since 2017, so I have some knowledge and experience with a variety of types of grants that might be helpful in further developing CCM.

Helen KinigopoulosProduce ManagerHelen is a retired Speech Pathologist who grew up in Baltimore. As an immigrant family, she lives in a neighborhood where dinner hour is scented with fragrant spices. She has spent much of her life thoroughly enjoyin… — Helen Kinigopoulos
Produce Manager
Helen is a retired Speech Pathologist who grew up in Baltimore. As an immigrant family, she lives in a neighborhood where dinner hour is scented with fragrant spices. She has spent much of her life thoroughly enjoying the “strange” foods of other places and cultures, which is why she enjoys ordering the produce for Market Days - hoping someone will learn something new about the world of fresh local food.