Our Team
SAMMY KOENIGSBERG
FARMER & CO-FOUNDER
Sammy is the founding farmer of New Town Farms. He received his bachelors of Architecture from UNC Charlotte in 1988. Soon after graduating he experienced a health crisis and a subsequent healing odyssey which landed him back on his family land in a garden working with the soil to produce nutrient dense, flavorful food that didn’t poison our land or our bodies. This health crisis came with an awakening to a health crisis in agriculture, food systems, and food in our age; and with that, a call to farming, educating, and food system reform. By God’s grace healing came and a new path began.
Sammy founded New Town Farms Organic in 1990 as an effort to redeem the blessing of food for health and enjoyment. He began New Town Farms Community Supported Agriculture in 1991. That same year Sammy helped found The Matthews Community Farmers Market; the first producer only farmers market in the Charlotte region. Throughout his life Sammy has loved and benefitted from the restorative powers of good food and continues to share that with the community.
NOEY KOENIGSBERG-HOANG
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Noey was raised on New Town Farms and began farming from an early age. She received her bachelor’s degree in Hotel and Lodging Management in 2012 from Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, NC and went on to work for Marriott International and Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants' Tryon Park hotel in Charlotte.
Noey returned to the farm to help run the operation in 2018 and led our weddings and events division until 2025.
Farming has always held a very special place in her heart and she is happiest out in the fields planting, cultivating, harvesting, and sharing beautiful nourishing food with the community. She is now fully immersed in the farming side and excited for the journey ahead.
MELINDA KOENIGSBERG
CO-FOUNDER
Melinda brings her business talents with lots of love and practicality to New Town Farms. Melinda earned her BA in psychology from Chapel Hill and went on to do graduate work in teaching at Winthrop University. She married her high school sweetheart Sammy, and became a Montessori teacher. Then along came her own 8 children all of which she homeschooled and raised while helping Sammy run New Town Farms. Melinda has since studied for her CFP at Queens University and gained her level 2 in wine studies from Wine and Spirits Educators Trust (WSET).