MEET THE CREW AT HERITAGE FARM
Mark Piersall
Executive Director
Mark started at Heritage Farm in 1997, initially working as a summer program employee and part-time day habilitation staff. Over the years he’s taken on increasing responsibilities to where he’s now leading the agency with his all-inclusive leadership style. Mark brings his creative thinking and willingness to support staff and participants alike to the agency to create an empowering environment. When he’s not at work, he loves spending time with his loving family, wife Jennifer and daughter Olivia.
Richard Mitchell
Supervising RN, Agency Investigator
Mitch came to Heritage Farm as an RN after a career with New York State and teaching Nursing at Madison-Oneida BOCES. He oversees the general well being of our participants as well as keeping Heritage Farm in compliance with Health Care Regulations. When he is not working, he can be seen driving in his light blue MGB Roadster with the top down and music blasting.
Susan Figueroa
Agency Compliance Officer & Incident Manager
Susan has been with Heritage Farm since 2009. She is from Peterborough, Ontario and studied psychology at Eastern Nazarene College outside of Boston. She brings her experiences in working with people living with disabilities, retail management and leading support groups to her responsibilities of Curriculum Development, Incident Management and Agency Compliance. When she is not working, she and her husband, Jose, are trying to keep up with their three teenagers who are running after their four dogs who are chasing their cat.
Christine Langford-Fuess
Day Habilitation & Respite Manager
Christine has been with Heritage Farm since 2007. She moved to Atlanta, GA after graduating college and gained experience in the medical and disability-educational fields. After moving back to New York State, she began her career at Heritage Farm as a Direct Care Staff and eventually took over management of the Day Habilitation and Respite programs. She enjoys every aspect of her position, the agency and the participants. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family and riding her horse.
Julie Nower:
Director of Farm & Facilities
Julie has lived in the Madison Bouckville area most of her life and attended William-Penn University where she received her bachelor's degree in physical education and biology and SUNY Cortland where she received her master’s degree in education. Julie came to Heritage Farm in 2008 after 15 years in airline management. She brought her teaching skills, leadership and life-long farming experience to work in our Day Habilitation program. She is responsible for all aspects of the farm and facility maintenance. In her free time, she enjoys spending time on her farm, camping, spending time with family and friends and world travel. You can usually find her early in the morning out in the barn getting hugs from her pot-belly pigs.
Sharon Dziekonski
Executive Administrative Assistant
Sharon came to Heritage Farm in 2009 from the veterinary and hospitality fields and is the Executive Administrative Assistant. Her responsibilities include billing, payroll, Human Resource records and oversight of the agency's vehicle maintenance program. She enjoys coming to work every day and interacting with the wonderful people at Heritage Farm. She and her partner have a pasture-based, custom meat raising operation in Hubbardsville where she rides horses, fishes and hunts. She enjoys doing different things each day and learning throughout life.
Alan Phipps
Intake Coordinator
Born and raised in Kansas City, Alan grew up knowing how to put each piece of paper in its rightful place for nefarious companies that financed and foreclosed personal mortgages. When Alan’s wife asked if he wanted to live in Upstate New York, he said, “NO!” Now living in Upstate New York, Alan uses his paper pushing superpowers for the forces of good at Heritage Farm where he loves paperwork and interacting with everyone on the property. When not at work, you will find Alan eating tacos. (OK he eats them at work too.)
Want to make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities?
Explore our employment opportunities and join the team at Heritage Farm.