Letter from the Executive Director
As biochar continues to expand across agriculture, forestry, construction, and beyond, strong community infrastructure and great events are essential to this continued growth. The annual North American Biochar Conference and our Growing with Biochar training series play an important role in that growth.
With that in mind, I’m pleased to welcome Sarena to the USBI team to help lead our events and engagement efforts. Sarena will be working closely with myself and Tina Metzer to help bring our events to the next level. I’ll turn it over to her to introduce herself.
Myles Gray
Executive Director
I’ve always loved working around events and bringing people together through engagement, especially in spaces where people show up because they genuinely care about what they’re building together. As I’ve started learning more about biochar, what’s stood out to me isn’t just the range of applications, but how welcoming and intentionally built this community has been from the start. I’m brand new to the biochar world, and that’s actually one of the things I’m most excited about. It’s been interesting to step into an industry that’s clearly in a moment of growth, moving from something fairly niche into a much bigger opportunity across agriculture, forestry, construction, and beyond. Seeing that momentum take shape through events like the North American Biochar Conference (NABC) and knowing that NABC2026 is already shaping up to be even bigger really highlights how important it is to create spaces where people can connect, learn from one another, and trade ideas. I'm also looking forward to helping the team plan the Growing with Biochar events we have slated this Spring and Fall. As I start working on events at USBI, my focus is on listening, learning, and helping create experiences that feel thoughtful, approachable, and worthwhile for everyone involved. I’m excited to get to know more people in this community and to be part of what’s being built next!
Sarena Baker
Conference & Event Manager