Fungus Fair 2025 - Speaker and Chef Bios

Here is an introduction to some of the speakers we are looking forward to seeing at the 51st Anniversary Fungus Fair.  The complete list with talk schedules and topics should be available soon.

Christian Schwarz

Christian Schwarz is a naturalist based in California, the land of milk (caps) and honey (mushrooms). He teaches Natural History of Fungi at UC Santa Cruz and is co-author of "Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast”, & upcoming "Mushrooms of Cascadia". Fungi satisfy his curiosity with their seemingly endless forms; from the grotesque to the bizarre to the sublime. Besides dabbling in mushroom taxonomy, he loves fish, plants, nudibranchs, moths, and dragonflies. He is passionate about community science, especially through the use of iNaturalist. He is a Research Associate at the Norris Center for Natural History at UCSC as well as the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden.

Noah Seigel   

 Noah is one of North America’s foremost field mycologists; he has spent over three decades seeking, photographing, identifying, and furthering his knowledge about all aspects of macrofungi. He travels and lectures extensively across America, following the mushrooms from coast to coast. Noah was the recipient of the 2022 North American Mycological Association’s Award for Contributions to Amateur Mycology. His primary research interest is on the taxonomy and systematics of fungi. He authored, along with Christian Schwarz, "Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast",  and "Mushrooms of Cascadia", as well as "A Field Guide to the Rare Fungi of California's National Forests". He is currently working on "Mushrooms of Alaska", with Steve Trudell and Kate Mohatt.

Alan Rockefeller

Alan is a researcher, educator, consultant and speaker specializing in DNA bar-coding, field photography, and fungal microscopy.   With a bilingual proficiency developed over 15 years of studying mushroom diversity in Mexico, he leads forays across North America, sparking interest and discovery. His extensive contributions to community science include teaching many mushroom DNA, photography and microscopy workshops and identifying over 300,000 fungi online.  As of today, Alan has uploaded more than 700 of his own fungal DNA sequences to Genbank, and he is a co-author on several scientific papers, including publications documenting new species of bioluminescent Mycena and Psilocybe

https://www.mycena.llc/

Christopher Hobbs   

Dr. Christopher Hobbs, Ph.D., L.Ac. is a fourth generation, internationally known herbalist and mycologist, licensed acupuncturist, herbal clinician, research scientist, consultant to the dietary supplement industry, expert witness, botanist, public speaker, and author of over 20 books and numerous articles with over 40 years of experience.

He is the author of the recent book “Christopher Hobbs’s Medicinal Mushrooms, the Essential Guide,” with German and English editions.

He earned his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley with research and publication in evolutionary biology, biogeography, phylogenetics, the chemistry of plants and fungi, and ethnobotany. Now faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

https://www.christopherhobbs.com/

Bill Schoenbart

Dr. Bill Schoenbart is a practitioner of Chinese Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture with over 30 years of experience. He has been working with medicinal herbs since 1969, with a clinical practice in traditional Chinese herbal medicine since 1991. His work has taken him through every aspect of the herb industry: research, manufacturing, product safety, botanical identity, efficacy, label reviews, trade associations, teaching, and clinical practice. From a very young age, he has been fascinated by nature. He would spend hours each day exploring the forests, meadows, rivers, and ponds near his childhood home. Field guides to insects, animals, and plants were worn out from constant use. General science and biology classes were also his favorite subjects in school. So, it’s no coincidence that his career path led to a field that combines biology with botany. 

https://doctorbillschoenbart.com/

https://herbalproductconsulting.com/

Chad Hyatt   

Chef Chad Hyatt, the author of "The Mushroom Hunter's Kitchen", is a classically trained chef who has taught about mushrooms and mushroom cookery all over the United States. He spent a decade working in restaurants and private clubs around the San Francisco Bay Area, and for the last 5 years has worked as a freelance chef. He spends his free time hunting for and learning about mushrooms, along with seeking out new techniques and traditional recipes to apply to them. Chad has a particular interest in exploring underappreciated edible species. He has worked with various mushroom clubs to give private classes, demos, and to cook special dinners focused on wild mushrooms. He loves seeking out new techniques and traditional ethnic recipes from all over the world to apply to his local mushrooms, and has earned a reputation for coming up with surprising, delicious new ways to use them.

https://www.themushroomhunterskitchen.com/

Jeff Emery

Jeff Emery is the proprietor, winemaker, truck driver, barrel washer, paper pusher and just about everything else for Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard.

He stumbled into this occupation as a teenager in 1979 when he came to Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard one day to help bottle through a friend of a friend, and then failed to ever look for a “real job”. Jeff has never written a resumé, never filled out a job application, and never worn a tie. He became the owner of the business when his mentor and winery founder, Ken Burnap, retired in 2004, after a 25 year apprenticeship/collaboration together. Jeff has now seen 46 harvests in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Visit the Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard/Quinta Cruz website at http://www.santacruzmountainvineyard.com

Thea Chesney   

Thea Chesney is a lifelong Sierra Nevada foothill resident and naturalist. She has had an interest in mushrooms (and plants, and the rest of the natural world) since early childhood, which gradually became an obsession. She holds a B.S. in forestry from UC Berkeley. During her time at Berkeley, she spent plenty of time working and hanging out in the Berkeley mycology labs. She worked on a mushroom survey crew around Mt. Shasta for several seasons, which allowed her to become intimately familiar with the fungal inhabitants and ecology of the area. Since then, she has worked a variety of field jobs, primarily as a botanist. She teaches occasional workshops in mushroom and plant identification. Her fieldwork and her own studies of plants and fungi are centered in the Sierra Nevada and other mountains of California.

Henry Young

Henry moved to Salem, Oregon in 2016 from Santa Cruz. He is active with the Willamette Valley Mushroom Society teaching a mushroom ID class for members and leading forays.

Henry is an amateur mycologist who has collected and studied fungi for over 40 years. He started by taking identification classes with David Arora. He joined the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz in 1986 and has been a board member since 1987. Henry attended the San Francisco State University “Spring Fungi of the Sierra Nevada” course taught by Dr. Dennis Desjardin and several other workshops and classes dealing with various aspects of mycology.

He has been a contributor to mushroom identification for the Willamette Valley, Santa Cruz and San Francisco Fungus Fairs. His name is on the NAMA call list to help identify mushrooms in poisoning cases. In between giving classes at the Fair, he works at the identification table helping to identify mushrooms.

Besides a general interest in all types of fungi Henry has a particular interest in poisonous mushrooms, ascomycetes and lichens. Henry is also a member of the Cascade Mycological Society, BAMS and NAMA and has attended several national forays.

Phil Carpenter   

Dr. Phil Carpenter has been a member of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz (CA) (FFSC) since the club was founded in 1984. He has been very active in the FFSC since joining, acting as President for many years as well as several other offices, including Minister of Science for many years. He is also currently a Regional Trustee for the North American Mushroom Association (NAMA). Phil has conducted mushroom identification classes for FFSC members for over ten years. In addition, he has taught mushroom foraging and identification at the University of California, Santa Cruz for over 25 years; for local park districts; for private resorts; for food events such as the Masters of Food and Wine and the Gourmet Fest in nearby Carmel; and for private parties. He heads up the mushroom identification service provided at the well-known and highly-attended annual Fungus Fair presented by the FFSC. He has been and continues to be a resource of mushroom identification for monthly FFSC meetings and periodic local and long distance forays. He provides identification and consulting for mushroom poisonings for hospitals and veterinarians.

Phil was the 2023 recipient of the Harry and Elsie Knighton Service Award given by the North American Mycological Association (NAMA)  in recognition of his many years of distinguished service to the mycology community.

Vellany Pierce

Vellany Pierce is the Prime Minister of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz.

She grew up in Santa Cruz County and, always having had an interest in fungi, is a self taught mushroom cultivator who currently works at Far West Fungi, propagating mushroom spawn from cultures grown in petri dishes.  She serves the Fungus Federation as minister of digital media, helps lead local forays, and has taught cultivation classes with the Fungus Federation for many years.  

Douglas Smith

Douglas Smith has been involved in mycology for many years, looking for and photographing mushrooms on several continents.  His photographs have been featured in many field guides, journals, and magazines, such as National Geographic.  A constant figure in the Bay Area mycology scene, he is an expert in many fungus fairs, and organized forays.

Shannon Adams

Shannon is a passionate amateur mycologist and user experience researcher who lives in Seattle. Her interest in fungi started over 20 years ago when she relocated to the region and was impressed by the diversity of mushrooms she saw while hiking. What began as an artistic pursuit, painting botanical illustrations of fungi, evolved into a desire to identify and a deep fascination with fungal taxonomy, particularly with the genus Cortinarius. Today, Shannon actively contributes to the field of mycology by observing, collecting, identifying, and describing new species. Her personal herbarium contains over 1,500 Cortinarius, she has described two species new to science and is currently working on additional new species. She is a frequent foray lead and event speaker - primarily teaching about the Cortinariaceae but also advocating for greater participation in community science. Shannon has been a longtime volunteer at PSMS - serving two terms on the PSMS Board, teaching classes in microscopy and acting as chair for the Mycoflora sequencing committee.

Kyle Garrone

Kyle Garrone holds a degree in Plant Biology from the University of California, Davis with a focus on plant pathology and mycology. He has been the Production Manager of Far West Fungi since graduating from UC Davis in 2010, with his primary focus on increasing yields and experimenting with new varieties of mushrooms that have potential for wholesale customers. Kyle has traveled throughout the world to find the most successful and efficient growing methods and the most resilient and highest yielding mushroom varieties. He enjoys sharing what he has learned with those who are interested in exotic mushroom cultivation.

https://farwestfungi.com/

Chef Bob Wynn

"Growing up on a farm in upstate New York, my job of making mashed potatoes for Sunday dinner began my love for food and tools. Nothing like newly-dug spuds, butter, cream and a Sunbeam Mixmaster to whip them to perfection. As a child, I also enjoyed hunting mushrooms with my aunt. It wasn't until we moved to Santa Cruz in 1985, that I discovered the Promised Land of mushrooms." Since then Bob has been an active FFSC member, sold food at the this fair for 25 years, cooked at many club activities, and provided snacks at our monthly meetings. Bob is currently the FFSC Minister of Culinary Events and Minister of Sustenance.