Staff Profile: Jodi’s 23 years with MOSA

Written by: Christine Davies

As MOSA celebrates 25 years, we are proud to have several dedicated staff who have been with MOSA for decades. If you’ve ever called or visited the MOSA office, chances are you’ve spoken with Jodi – a vital member of our team since 2001!

Growing up on a 15-acre hobby farm in southwest Wisconsin, Jodi was connected with nature, crops, and livestock from an early age. To this day, she enjoys many outdoor activities including gardening, hiking, fishing, cross country skiing, and ice skating. As a young adult, she worked during the tobacco harvest, once a staple crop in Wisconsin agriculture. After graduating college as a computer specialist, Jodi joined MOSA as Computer Administrator to help usher MOSA into the digital age.

In 2001, MOSA was a fledgling start-up founded by passionate farmers for farmers, rising to support the needs of a growing organic movement. The first office computers had only 100MB memory (a fraction of the capacity of modern cell phones). Equipped with dial up internet, each employee had to wait their turn before checking email or looking information up online. Jodi recalls early challenges, saying, “Payday was often a day of deciding who would actually get paid and who could wait until more money came in.” MOSA’s first office was an upstairs space in a barn on Dave Engel’s organic dairy farm, and Jodi has many fond memories from that time, including the barn cats who roamed freely: “Nothing better than a lap kitty while you’re working—if only they’d taken care of the mice.” One particularly memorable cold, winter morning, she arrived to find a newly born calf on the office floor. The calf had been born the night before and Dave had brought it inside to warm up.

Having joined MOSA prior to the National Organic Standards becoming law, one of Jodi’s first projects was developing certification forms to align with MOSA’s own organic standards, and then soon updating them to comply with the new National Organic Standards that were established in October 2002. Over the years, Jodi has witnessed the organic movement in the United States mature from a grassroots effort to a highly structured framework–still aimed to benefit organic farmers while eliminating fraud and strengthening consumer confidence in the organic label. Over the last 25 years, MOSA has also matured into a respected leader in organic expertise.

Throughout her time at MOSA, Jodi has worn many hats. From managing computer systems to developing marketing materials, conducting internal audits, and serving as the staff representative on MOSA’s board of directors. Her contributions are vast. Her current role as Operational Support and Administrative Team Leader reflects her commitment to supporting all departments and being a go-to person for answers.

When asked what she enjoys most about working at MOSA, Jodi says, “The variety of work and the people. It never gets boring.” Jodi values the conversations she has with MOSA’s clients, hearing your stories, troubleshooting your challenges, and getting to meet you in person if you come by the office.

With gratitude, we celebrate Jodi and all MOSA staff. It is with their expertise and dedication that MOSA continues to provide practical and reliable certification services. Here’s to many more years of organic growth together.