Staff and Board

FCIA is led by a volunteer Board of Directors and an Executive Director, supported by a small, part-time staff and volunteers. The development of the Fine Chocolate Industry Association is conducted under the leadership of a Board of Directors and an Executive Director. All Board positions are on a volunteer basis.

Staff

Ephi Maglaris, Executive Director

Ephi has over 20 years of diverse professional experience in event production, sustainability consulting, and restaurant marketing. She is certified as a Digital Event Strategist (DES) and works closely with the Events and Education Committee to organize and implement in-person and virtual FCIA events, webinars, conferences, and regional meetups to reach a wide audience.

Connect with Ephi on LinkedIn

Bill Guyton, Senior Advisor

Bill has deep technical expertise and hands-on sustainable development field experience with in-country experience in 30 different nations in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East, supporting agricultural programs and trade associations. Bill provides strategic support to FCIA's cocoa value chain committee, including building public-private partnerships and developing methods for tracking and reporting progress on sustainability practices and standards. Bill also serves as business liaison to the TSIRO Alliance in Madagascar; bringing together public and private sector partners to support environmental and value chain improvements in cacao and spice production.

Connect with Bill on LinkedIn

Mey Choy Paz, Private Sector Liaison
Mey is a sensory analyst with a background in cocoa trading. Based in Tingo Maria in Peru, Mey represents FCIA on the MOCCA, a US Department of Agriculture funded program in Latin America. Mey‘s specific duties are to link cocoa farmer organizations with company members and to provide quality assessments of cocoa.

Connect with Mey on LinkedIn

Cathy Ford, Manager of Communications & Events

Cathy has more than 20 years of experience supporting corporate executives and conducting training in how to use technology applications in a business setting. Cathy has a Bachelor's Degree in Communication Studies and a Master's Degree in Health Administration and lives in Albuquerque, NM with her husband, Mark, and her dog, Molly.

Connect with Cathy on LinkedIn

Cathy Ford

Angie Beyler, Executive Assistant

Angie Beyler lives in Indiana and has many years of experience working as an Administrative Assistant at her local school and her church. She loves to work with people in helping them work efficiently and find success in their accomplishments. She enjoys spreadsheets and customer service, data entry and streamlining the work process to be productive and accurate. Angie is energetic, friendly and professional.

Finance Team

finance@finechocolateindustry.org

Jill Hansen is the owner of Great Blue Accounting and Consulting LLC. She earned her bachelor‘s degree in Accounting from the University of Montana in 1995. Jill has worked as a management accountant in many industries and for many types and sizes of companies and non-profits organizations. Her specialization is creating custom accounting and reporting solutions for management teams, boards of directors, members, and other end-users. Great Blue Accounting‘s mission is to provide premier accounting services with a commitment to high-level customer service to meet the specific needs of every client. Jill Hansen | LinkedIn

Madeline Nieves is the senior accountant for Great Blue Accounting. She earned her bachelor‘s degree in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico in 1996. She is originally from Puerto Rico and has been working remotely for Great Blue since her family moved to Minnesota in 2020. She is fully bilingual, with Spanish as her first language. She has worked in the private sector for different types of companies, developing experience in the complete accounting cycle. Madeline is an expert in the day-to-day transactions of FCIA, facilitating member payments and supporting operations and marketing staff with the necessary financial information.