Katarina "Nina" Sajovec Altshul

Nina has fifteen years of experience in nonprofit management, program development and community organizing in rural and tribal Arizona. Before joining Haury in 2023, she was a co-founder and co-director of Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Native American-governed 501c3 working towards sustainable and just local food system in Ajo, AZ and on the Tohono O'odham Nation. Nina;s expertise lies in local food system development and support focused on empowering people and communities to help themselves, including education for youth and adults, workforce programs and economic development such as markets, business incubators, TA and mini grants programs. In this work, Nina firmly believed in the synergetic effects of working together, and the power of partnerships. Nina brought the expertise from developing and implementing beginning farmer programs in Native American settings to organize Arizona Agricultural Workforce Development Coalition, which in 2022 and 2023 successfully advocated for passing of Arizona Agricultural Workforce Development Bill by the AZ State.

Nina was born and raised in Slovenia, Europe, and has a Bachelors degree in law from the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Law. She is currently a PhD Candidate with the University of Ljubljana, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology. Nina is also a graduate of the 2022/2023 Arizona State University's Nonprofit Executive Leadership Certificate program.