Natural Food Retailers Association

Corinne Shindelar, CEO of the Independent Natural Food Retailers Association, has over 28 years of experience in the natural products industry. She has been a leader in organizing and developing partnerships that strengthen all stakeholders from manufacturer to consumer. Corinne spent 15 years in natural food retailing as a General Manager, merchandiser and project manager. She has been the Executive Director of two cooperative grocers associations, and founder of the Co-op Advantage Program. She has extensive experience on industry and cooperative boards of directors and served as first president of the National Co-op Grocers Association (NCGA). She is currently the CEO of INFRA, the national retail owned and governed association of leading independent retailers aligning their similarities to strengthen independents position in the natural and organic food industry.  Corinne serves on the board of NorthCountry Cooperative Federal Credit Union, BBC Inc, and recently added to the board of the Non-GMO project.

Dot Peck, Director of Programs comes to INFRA with over 25 years in the natural product industry. She began her career at Tree of Life in its grassroots state as a store. Additional professional highlights include brokerage & retail solutions. Her experience in purchasing, promotions, sales, strategizing, analysis, coordination, management, event planning and technology create a full toolkit for her to manage programs in INFRA. She served on the Norcal NPA Board and recently joined her neighborhood board. Dot finds the close interaction with retailers, brokers, manufacturers & distributor personnel very enjoyable and enriching personally. She lives in St. Augustine Florida where she loves the beaches, surfing, boating, fishing, biking, beautiful sunrises golfing, reading and cooking with friends.

Lyndsay Griffith is the Shared Promotional Calendar (SPC) Program Coordinator for the Independent Natural Food Retailers Association, and works in the Minneapolis office. She has over seven years of experience in the natural products industry. Lyndsay has five years of experience in natural food retailing as Merchandising Manager for a natural foods cooperative where she facilitated the promotional programs, planned community events, and participated in the CAP Advisory Council. Prior to her work at the co-op, she worked for local, family-owned companies that were dedicated to environmentally friendly business practices. Lyndsay has been an organic foods consumer for over 13 years and enjoys going on long distance runs with her dog, Lilly, in her spare time.

Nikki Duffney, Member Services Manager, grew up in the Twin Cities and went to college at the University of Minnesota, Morris. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Management. Each summer, for the last three years, Nikki has worked at Minneapolis’s Best Seafood restaurant, quaintly located next to Minnehaha Falls. In the winters, she travels as much as possible for week vacations to extended stays. Nikki is passionate about working in the natural food industry. When not at work she enjoys riding her bike, photography, and spending time with her family.

 Kate Fletcher, SPC Assistant, joined the INFRA team in October 2009. She started her career in the natural food industry over 27 years ago, working for a small independent natural food store/restaurant. Since then she has worked for a coop distributor, and for three brokerage companies holding various jobs, including customer service provider, retail sales representative, administrative assistant, vendor business manager, and retail account manager. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband, David and two children, her daughter, Casey, and  son, Galen.

Mindi Gilberg started working for INFRA in December 2009, as a part time Executive Assistant/Bookkeeper. She also works for her family's solar certified electrical business as their office manager. Mindi received her bachelor's degree in anthropological studies at the University of Minnesota, but hopes to continue her educational studies in a few years. When she is not working, she enjoys hanging out with her husband, Loren, her daughter, George, and her son, Oliver. In raising children, Mindi has realized how much work and research needs to be done in order to do so as healthily and naturally as possible. She greatly appreciates like-minded people who are there and willing to support our choices, and finds joy in her young daughter asking people if food is organic before she eats it. In a society that generally prefers to focus on lowest prices, convenience, and consumerist waste, it is good to work for INFRA and see the community it creates, as well as the causes it supports.

Cole Sarar has joined INFRA as the Communications Coordinator. Coming from an arts management background, Cole combines her creative administrative skills with her love of good food. She comes from a long line of gardening addicts, kitchen scientists, and literature enthusiasts. She has helped organize numerous nonprofit events: from well-attended gallery openings, literature festivals, arts fairs, and charitable auctions; to intimate donor cocktail parties, board meetings, and lectures. She is an experienced writer and editor, and keeps the Chicago Manual of Style in her holster, always ready for the next punctuation showdown. In her spare time, Cole is the slammaster of a monthly women’s poetry slam, the editor of a spoken word blog, and an accomplished baker of vegan cupcakes.