Paydirt Ventures is a consortium of senior professionals from the advocacy, media, education, and financial services industries. With decades of combined experience and contacts, Paydirt is dedicated to making our sustainable food system a reality, by providing information, research, news and training to the future leaders of the sustainable agriculture industry.
About the Founders
Holley Atkinson
Holley is the founder of Making Food Work, which supports a range of local food and sustainability initiatives in New York. She has over 20 years’ experience producing and managing content and technology in the interactive services and social media sectors. Most recently she was EVP at Triton Digital, a leading syndicator of B2B services to major-market commercial radio stations. Holley’s editorial and technical teams produced syndicated daily news in 12 music genres to over 500 stations. In addition to content, Holley also worked on R&D and delivery of innovative Web-based tools for radio stations, including content management, email marketing, podcasting, and text messaging. Prior to Triton, Holley worked with several pre-Internet publishing ventures including the first edition of TV Guide Online. She also ran the U.S. subsidiary of a pioneering French software firm bringing its online tools to the nascent U.S. market. She is active in several non-profits including the Slow Money Alliance and Slow Food NYC, where she was recently named Vice Chair. She holds a dual B.A. in History and French from Brown University.
Melissa Waldron Lehner
Melissa is the founder of Lion’s Tooth Media, a PR and marketing firm that specializes in the sustainable food industry. She is also a Contributing Producer for WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show and since 2003, produced a regular running monthly series with Gourmet magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl. Talking about the love of ingredients and real food, the series found itself at the crossroads of the recent social, political and cultural changes in our food system. Special guests have included environmental journalist Michael Pollan, local food advocate and founder of Chez Panisse restaurant Alice Waters, food policy expert Marion Nestle, and Dan Barber, Chef/Founder of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, among others. She is the recipient of the 2006 James Beard Foundation/Viking King Range Broadcast Media Award for best Radio Food Show. Melissa also often writes for Edible Nutmeg, Connecticut’s local food magazine and the Slow Food Nation blog Civil Eats. She is now the editor and publisher of the online e-zine Fertile Ground USA which investigates the sustainability of sustainable agriculture. Melissa has a B.A. from Indiana University and holds an M.A. from University of Memphis, Tennessee.
Tina Nacrelli
Tina is the founder of the Center for Competitive Management (C4CM), a B2B training and professional development organization with a concentration in human resources and law firm management. She has organized educational conferences, seminars, audio conferences and webinars for over ten years in a variety of markets. Prior to C4CM, she created IOMA’s Audio Conference division, a low-cost, time-efficient method of delivering information to the marketplace, building it into a highly profitable $1.6 million revenue line within two years, as well managing and increasing the profitability of the established Conference division with over 20 events in its annual portfolio. She has developed and managed educational events for organizations such as the Institute for International Research, Working Mother Media, Institutional Investor, Edelman PR Worldwide, Horsesmouth, and The Wall Street Transcript. Tina is a graduate of Oxford Brookes University and holds an M.A. from Kings College London.
Janine Yorio
Janine is the founder of NewSeed Advisors, a boutique advisory services firm focused on the sustainable agriculture industry, and the creator of the Agriculture 2.0 investor conferences. She began her career as an investment banker at Salomon Brothers, and has since worked in private equity, first at HVB Capital, the private equity arm of German bank, HypoVereinsbank, and then for as a portfolio manager for private equity firm NorthStar Capital. During that time, Janine originated, analyzed, structured, and asset managed over $1.5 billion in private equity-style transactions, ranging from $10 million to over $700 million in size. She has originated over $100 million in structured debt investments, raised over $750 million in debt financing, served as the analyst for three successful initial public offerings, and managed a portfolio of $110 million in joint venture investments. Janine is a graduate of Yale University..
Holley is the founder of Making Food Work, which supports a range of local food and sustainability initiatives in New York. She has over 20 years’ experience producing and managing content and technology in the interactive services and social media sectors. Most recently she was EVP at Triton Digital, a leading syndicator of B2B services to major-market commercial radio stations. Holley’s editorial and technical teams produced syndicated daily news in 12 music genres to over 500 stations. In addition to content, Holley also worked on R&D and delivery of innovative Web-based tools for radio stations, including content management, email marketing, podcasting, and text messaging. Prior to Triton, Holley worked with several pre-Internet publishing ventures including the first edition of TV Guide Online. She also ran the U.S. subsidiary of a pioneering French software firm bringing its online tools to the nascent U.S. market. She is active in several non-profits including the Slow Money Alliance and Slow Food NYC, where she was recently named Vice Chair. She holds a dual B.A. in History and French from Brown University.
Melissa Waldron Lehner
Melissa is the founder of Lion’s Tooth Media, a PR and marketing firm that specializes in the sustainable food industry. She is also a Contributing Producer for WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show and since 2003, produced a regular running monthly series with Gourmet magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl. Talking about the love of ingredients and real food, the series found itself at the crossroads of the recent social, political and cultural changes in our food system. Special guests have included environmental journalist Michael Pollan, local food advocate and founder of Chez Panisse restaurant Alice Waters, food policy expert Marion Nestle, and Dan Barber, Chef/Founder of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, among others. She is the recipient of the 2006 James Beard Foundation/Viking King Range Broadcast Media Award for best Radio Food Show. Melissa also often writes for Edible Nutmeg, Connecticut’s local food magazine and the Slow Food Nation blog Civil Eats. She is now the editor and publisher of the online e-zine Fertile Ground USA which investigates the sustainability of sustainable agriculture. Melissa has a B.A. from Indiana University and holds an M.A. from University of Memphis, Tennessee.
Tina Nacrelli
Tina is the founder of the Center for Competitive Management (C4CM), a B2B training and professional development organization with a concentration in human resources and law firm management. She has organized educational conferences, seminars, audio conferences and webinars for over ten years in a variety of markets. Prior to C4CM, she created IOMA’s Audio Conference division, a low-cost, time-efficient method of delivering information to the marketplace, building it into a highly profitable $1.6 million revenue line within two years, as well managing and increasing the profitability of the established Conference division with over 20 events in its annual portfolio. She has developed and managed educational events for organizations such as the Institute for International Research, Working Mother Media, Institutional Investor, Edelman PR Worldwide, Horsesmouth, and The Wall Street Transcript. Tina is a graduate of Oxford Brookes University and holds an M.A. from Kings College London.
Janine Yorio
Janine is the founder of NewSeed Advisors, a boutique advisory services firm focused on the sustainable agriculture industry, and the creator of the Agriculture 2.0 investor conferences. She began her career as an investment banker at Salomon Brothers, and has since worked in private equity, first at HVB Capital, the private equity arm of German bank, HypoVereinsbank, and then for as a portfolio manager for private equity firm NorthStar Capital. During that time, Janine originated, analyzed, structured, and asset managed over $1.5 billion in private equity-style transactions, ranging from $10 million to over $700 million in size. She has originated over $100 million in structured debt investments, raised over $750 million in debt financing, served as the analyst for three successful initial public offerings, and managed a portfolio of $110 million in joint venture investments. Janine is a graduate of Yale University..
