Nickie Stowell
Co-Owner/Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
Nickie brings decades of experience in executive leadership, operations, technology, healthcare administration, business development, and project implementation. A former hospital COO/CIO, Nickie has spent much of her career working at the intersection of people, systems, strategy, and execution, helping organizations turn complex challenges into practical, achievable solutions.
Her experience spans strategic and operational planning, technology implementation, regulatory compliance, budgeting, grant development and management, program design, and large-scale project coordination. She is particularly skilled at taking an idea from its earliest stages, lining up the resources and partnerships to move it forward, and building the structure to make it work.
Nickie’s work has crossed healthcare, small business, agriculture, nonprofit and community-based initiatives, serving native and non-native individuals and organizations on and off reservations, and giving her a unique understanding of the challenges facing organizations operating with limited resources, particularly in rural and underserved communities. At MUG, she is developing local food-system infrastructure and controlled-environment and regenerative agriculture enterprises in western Nebraska and the surrounding region.
She also co-owns MUG’s sister company, N & D Kairos, LLC, where she brings those experiences together to help organizations recognize opportunity, develop strong strategies, secure resources, and move from planning to implementation.
- Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (ASQ)
- Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Certificate
Dionne Holmquist
Co-Owner/Co-Founder & Chief Biobased Strategist
Dionne is a business consultant, executive and social entrepreneur with two decades of experience building the operational backbone of mission-driven organizations across tribal, state, and private sectors: HR systems, vendor and permitting processes, SOPs, budgets, and contract reporting. Earlier, she held executive roles across multiple treatment settings, built and licensed a treatment and education program from the ground up as Program Director, and spent five years as a licensed real estate agent.
Through MUG's sister company, N & D Kairos, LLC, she manages project portfolios, tying diversified agricultural and food enterprises, including bison operations, into one coordinated economic development strategy. She leads site development from the ground up, building site budgets and coordinating contractors and vendors for projects ranging from agricultural and food facilities on tribal lands to a laundromat, food hub, and farm stand in rural South Dakota.
Since 2013 she has also brought experience in cultivation strategy, SOP and compliance systems, licensure, grant writing, and biobased building materials such as hempcrete. At MUG, she is the primary liaison with academic and research partners, from entry-level students to PhD researchers.
She cares most about serving underserved communities, particularly Native Nations, by helping build revenue-generating enterprises in agriculture, biobased materials, and related sectors that create real economic opportunity and lasting infrastructure. Bison restoration runs through nearly every project she takes on.
- Board member & Treasurer, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project (since 2026)
Sarah Downey
Farm Operations Manager
Sarah bridges on-farm production with logistics and delivery, keeping the work moving from planting through harvest, inventory and distribution. Her work across Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota has put her alongside native and non-native individuals and organizations, both on and off reservations. She is detail-oriented, stays calm under pressure, solves problems on the spot and works just as well on her own as with a team.
At MUG she develops crop plans, planting schedules and maintenance routines, helps with soil preparation, field layout and workflow organization, and advises small farm and urban agriculture growers on startup planning and daily operations. Since 2020 she has also owned and run Kenai Farm, handling everything from field prep through cultivation, including crop health, irrigation, and land and equipment maintenance.
Sarah comes from a background in larger-scale agriculture, and she now brings those transferable skills, from starting seed and field preparation to irrigation and equipment, to MUG, her own farm and the farmers and cultivators we work with, helping each one move toward regenerative practices that build healthier soil. Off the farm, she brings more than a decade of regulated delivery, logistics and documentation-driven work: managing high-volume daily workloads under strict safety standards, coordinating routes, pickups and returns, keeping accurate compliance records, and teaching people to use equipment safely. She has also conducted testing and verified records for a state agency and performed final quality inspection on manufactured products.
With shop skills in welding, grinding, powder coating and plasma cutting, she can repair and fabricate as easily as she can plant, and her eye for safety, accuracy and efficiency carries into every part of MUG’s operation.
Dennis Esfehani-Stowell
Business Operations Coordinator
Originally from Gordon, Nebraska, Dennis has roots in the same Panhandle communities MUG serves. As Business Operations Coordinator, he keeps the business side of MUG running smoothly, connecting the day-to-day needs of the farm, the high tunnels and our urban indoor grow with the people and suppliers who keep them moving.
He manages MUG’s vendor relationships and handles purchasing and ordering, from seed, soil amendments and growing media to packaging and equipment. He compares pricing, tracks orders and deliveries, and keeps purchases on schedule and on budget. Just as important, he builds strong, lasting relationships with our suppliers, the kind of trust that keeps quality high and helps MUG plan ahead for every season.
Dennis is also an artist. His creative journey began with abstract painting, where he drew inspiration from the bold expression and distinctive visual language of artists such as Jackson Pollock, Piet Mondrian and Franz Kline: the energy of a gesture, the balance of line and color, the power of contrast. Today he is expanding his artistic horizons through the digital manipulation of his own original photographs, exploring new ways to transform image, color and composition into expressive visual experiences.
As a lover of travel, Dennis draws inspiration from his own experiences across Asia, Europe, and North America. Dennis also enjoys exploring aspects of anthropology and sociology with the fascinating stories of people and their life experiences.
