Rising Tide’s Board of Directors
Sam MacGown, Vice President, is a local food enthusiast who homesteads in Nobleboro. He is passionate about creating and supporting a local food system. Sam’s family has shopped at Rising Tide for the past 15 years when visiting family in the area. In 2019, they decided to move to mid-coast Maine. Rising Tide was a large factor in choosing Nobleboro as their home. Sam has extensive experience in sales and finance. He currently services and advises merchants with their credit card processing. Sam looks forward to deepening his community connections and supporting the growth of Rising Tide as an active board member.



Community and culture has always been of driving importance for Sofia. She has worked for small businesses in both the Hospitality and Horticultural Industries. It is her passion is to create nourishing spaces by connecting people to themselves, each other, and the natural world. When not working with plants, you can find Sofia swimming in wild water with her dog, Vesta.

Rebekah Mende is a recent resident of the area after returning to her home State of Maine in 2018. While living in Portland, OR she studied horticulture, community development, and prison food reform. She is proud to be a Vocational Trades Instructor at a local prison where she manages a robust agricultural program. She enjoys renovating her first home and building up her garden soil. She is excited and honored to bring her food justice perspective to this gem of a community in MidCoast Maine.
Hide (pronounced hee-day and short for Hideaki) Mizuno, is delighted to be a member-owner of the Rising Tide Coop, with its healthful food and other products, local producers, and the vital role it plays in the well-being of the community. Hide has over 30 years of experience in finance and investment management, working in Tokyo, New York, Paris, and Algeria, in addition to San Francisco. For over 10 years, he has worked in the not-for-profit sector, including endowment management, development, board relationships, governance, and fiduciary responsibilities, with a recent focus on ESG (environment-, social- and governance-focused investments). He has a wife, June, a son, and a daughter who went to college in Maine and settled here. Hide is passionate about food, wine, and bluegrass music and looks forward to helping Rising Tide Coop continue to thrive.

The Rising Tide Policy Register contains the most concise definition of the Board’s role: “Acting on behalf of our member-owners, the Board ensures that our co-op produces benefit and value while avoiding unacceptable actions and situations.” The Board does this by completing monitoring reports in collaboration with the General Manager. The Board is also responsible for communicating to the membership updates, and plans for the business. Together, the member-owners, the Board, and the General Manager chart the course for Rising Tide and its vital role in an increasingly dynamic business climate.
If you, or someone you know, is interested in applying for the Rising Tide Board of Directors in the future, please email the board at board@risingtide.coop for more information.
Board meetings take place at 5:30pm in Rising Tide’s Community Kitchen. All member-owners are welcome to attend! If you’re interested in attending a board meeting via Zoom or have any questions for the board, please get in touch with them at board@risingtide.coop. We hope you will join us!
2025 meeting dates:
January 28
February 25
March 25
April 29
May 27
June 24
July 29
September 30
October 28
November 18
December 16