Kathleen Frith

Kathleen Frith is dedicated to finding innovative ways to foster social change and create a healthier, more sensible world. As the Managing Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, Kathleen plays a leadership role in all the Center’s activities, providing expertise on science communication and education and helping the Center achieve its mission to further understanding of human health and global environmental change connections. Kathleen’s topics of expertise include how human health depends on the ocean and how food affects our health and environment. Kathleen is Acting Director of Harvard’s first edible, community garden. She is also the Founder and Director of the Pleiades Network, Inc., a constellation of women working for a sustainable world.

Prior to joining the Center, Kathleen was the Public Information Officer for the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, a U.S. oceanographic institution in Bermuda. Kathleen holds a Bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Master’s degree in science journalism from Boston University’s Knight Center for Science Journalism. Kathleen fills advisory roles in a number of science education and communication projects, and has published articles in a variety of publications.

Jamie Bechtel

Jamie Bechtel, a highly regarded leader in international conservation, is the Co-Founder and CEO of New Course, and is an adviser to the Clinton Global Initiative.  Her work has led to strategic advances in the fields of conservation, sustainable finance, and biology. Before founding New Course, Jamie worked for seven years at Conservation Inter national (CI). During her tenure at CI, she worked in more than 20 countries, includ ing such diverse areas as Ecuador, Costa Rica, Madagascar, Fiji, Mexico, Indonesia, South Africa, and Papua New Guinea. Through her work, Jamie has tackled myriad complex issues: mitigating destructive fishing practices, improving legal and policy frameworks, increasing enforcement efforts, developing market-based solutions, improving community engagement, and ensuring scalability of projects.

Jamie has had the privilege of collaborating with world leaders, the CEOs of multi-national corporations, and esteemed academic scholars. But the opportunities Jamie most values have all come from her experiences on the ground, out in the world doing work. Connecting with fishermen, farmers, community leaders, and men, women, and children in villages and communities around the world has fundamentally shaped Jamie’s ethic, as well as her approach to conservation and development.

Through her extensive research and field experience, Jamie began to realize the importance of including women—typically excluded—in conservation and development strategies. This realization led Jamie to step down from her role at CI and reengage in conservation and poverty alleviation through the development of a new non-profit model; New Course is focused on changing the course of women’s lives through conservation and sustainable development. 

Jamie has a Ph.D. from Boston University in biology, and a law degree from Boston College.  She lives on Bainbridge Island with her 1 husband, 2 kids, 2 dogs, and 4 chickens.  She frequently speaks on topics such as engaging women in conservation, the importance of diversity, and the ups and downs of switching directions mid-career.  Jamie is represented by the National Geographic Speakers Bureau and is a lecturer at University of Washington School of Law.

Betsy Block

I’m working on what one agent has called a “progressive memoir,” which is nothing like a progressive dinner. Instead of focusing mainly on the past, this book looks at healing in real time, showing the reader the steps I am taking to heal body, mind and spirit from longterm health problems.

I believe this quote from Einstein describes how we can rediscover our true selves: “A human being is part of a whole, called by us the ‘universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” 

I am also the author of the critically acclaimed book about changing my family’s diet, The Dinner Diaries: Raising Whole Wheat Kids in a White Bread World (Algonquin, 2008).
I have written for NPR Online,The Boston Globe, Wondertime, Cookie, Entrepreneur, Natural Health, Epicurious.com, Boston magazine, and the online city guides Sidewalk and CitySearch, as well as many other publications.

Samantha Campbell

Samantha Campbell is the President of The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment, which was founded by her father in 1999. The Pacific grants portfolio she created at the Foundation in 2003 centers around marine conservation issues, although she strives in her work to find projects with innovative approaches to a variety of environmental challenges. Samantha has a BFA in Advertising design from Syracuse University, and has a passion for effective communication. Stimulating interest and involvement in ocean conservation and approaching problems with a practical and straightforward style are some of Samantha’s commitments to her work as a grantmaker

Rachel Caplan

I love working with independent filmmakers and increasing exhibition opportunities for their work, as well as building audiences for documentary films – particularly those which explore green topics.

I started the San Francisco Green Film Festival in 2010 with the vision of providing a highly visible dynamic forum for environmentally engaged filmmakers to show their work and educate the public in an interactive way. 2,000 people attended the first festival in March 2011. The 2012 festival is expanding from four days to one week, March 1-7, 2012, and moves to a new home in the stylish SF Film Society | New People Cinema.

I have fifteen years experience in film exhibition and distribution including work for the Edinburgh, London and San Francisco International Film Festivals and on international theatrical campaigns for UIP (for Paramount, Universal, DreamWorks) and Intermedia. From 2007-2009, I was Festival Director for the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival, the first and largest showcase for ocean related films in North America.

I have a Masters degree in Cinema & Television Studies from the British Film Institute (BFI). I have been a member of BAFTA since 2000 and served as Board Treasurer for Bay Area Women in Film & Media 2008-2011. Connect on LinkedIn.

Carolyn Fine Friedman

Carolyn Fine Friedman is the Chair of The Fine Fund, a family foundation focused on environmental health and landscape-scale wilderness conservation.  The Fund supports projects where relatively small grants catalyze systemic change and increase the public’s awareness of the environment.  Examples of projects supported by the Fund include the Wildlands and Woodlands publication by the Harvard Forest which crafts a vision for conservation-minded land use planning, the Northeast Wilderness Trust’s efforts to conserve wilderness on a New England-wide scale, biomedical research conducted by the Silent Spring Institute on the environmental causes of breast cancer, and the Environmental Health Fund’s campaign to change legislation governing toxic chemicals.

Carolyn serves on several boards including the Institute for Health and the Global Environment, the New England Grassroots Environment Fund, and the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health. Carolyn co-founded the Women, Philanthropy and the Environment networking group. Carolyn holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard University and she is an avid collector of contemporary art.

Jayni Chase

Jayni Chase has worked to advance environmental education for over 22 years. Currently she is spearheading two green school initiatives, GREEN Community Schools (greencommunityschools.org), creating “Model” green schools, and Energy Efficient Schools. Jayni founded the Center for Environmental Education in 1988, providing resources to build environmental education programs in K-12 schools.  Now operating out of Unity College, Unity, Maine, CEE is a vital resource for educators world-wide (http://www.ceeonline.org). In 1995 Scholastic published Blueprint for a Green School, a compilation of environmental information, resources and ideas to transformation schools to safe, healthy places of enlightened learning.

Jayni serves on several boards, including the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), the USGBC Center for Green Schools, the NY Harbor School, Green My Parents, Friends of the Earth and she Chairs NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Green Schools Working Group. Jayni was awarded an honorary degree in Environmental Studies from Antioch New England Graduate School.  She has received recognition from the NRDC, the Environmental Media Association (EMA), the Rainforest Alliance and the US Environmental Film Festival.  She received the Audubon Women in Conservation Award and is one of the Vice President Al Gore Slide Show Presenters.  She has participated in the Clinton Global Initiative 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Clare Leschin-Hoar

Southern California-based writer, Clare Leschin-Hoar reports on issues surrounding sustainable seafood, fishing, agriculture, chef trends and more. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, SciAm.com, EatingWell, San Diego Magazine and many more. From 2009-2011, she covered the seafood and food politics beat for AOL’s Slashfood. The Monterey Bay Aquarium named her at 2011 Seafood Champion. http://www.leschin-hoar.com

Mary Cleaver

Mary Cleaver, one of the country’s foremost authorities on sustainable food and agriculture, is the president and founder of The Cleaver Co. and The Green Table in New York City.  The Cleaver Company is a full-service event planning and catering operation with a large roster of private, non-profit and corporate clients, and a full-time staff of 50.  The Green Table restaurant is a sustainable eatery and wine bar where guests enjoy delicious dishes that demonstrate a commitment to seasonal cuisine.  In addition to her reputation providing sumptuous food, attentive service and excellent event planning, Mary is also well-known for her work helping to create a sustainable and humane food system.  The Cleaver Company and The Green Table are widely recognized for utilizing local farms and purveyors in order to obtain the best-quality product, and for supporting small to mid-size farms and family farmers.  Mary and her staff work with dozens of purveyors, from Satur Farms on Long Island’s East End, to Flying Pigs Farm in Washington County, New York, to Hermann Wiemer Vineyard in the Finger Lakes.  On any given morning, you will find Mary at the Greenmarket, purchasing fruit, vegetables, flowers and much more from our local farmers.

In November 2011, Mary was named the first-ever “Snailblazer” by Slow Food NYC.  She is a founder of the Farm to Chef network and a board member of both Food Systems Network NYC and Local Infrastructure for Local Agriculture, among other professional affiliations.  Whether at a gala for 500 or a dinner for two at The Green Table, Mary’s long standing conviction – that the best foods are grown, tended and harvested within a day’s drive of your table – is always clear.

Ashley Colpaart

Ashley Colpaart is currently earning her Masters of Science in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition at Tufts University. A Registered Dietitian by training, Ashley is focusing on food systems and the environment, in hopes of building a stronger link between nutrition, agriculture, public health and communities. She currently is the Policy Chair for the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association where she helps educate members and the national association on emerging policy issues. She is currently an assistant writer on Professor Parke Wilde’s popular blog on U.S. Food Policy and maintains her own blog called the Epicurean Ideal. Ashley is an Austin native who loves live music, good food, stimulating conversations and community endeavors.

Ellen Comerford

Ellen Comerford has been a wellness professional for nearly twenty years. Her goal is to help people surpass their perceived limitations. Ellen has degrees in marketing and management from Northeastern University, and led a successful career in high tech.  She now devotes her energy to empowering people to change their lifestyle patterns for the better.

She is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, in association with State University of New York; and is certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners.
Trained in thirty plus wellness methods, including Gyrotonic®, Pilates, Yamuna Bdoy Rolling, Reiki, and cranio-sacral work, Ellen is also a Gyrotonic® and Yamuna Teacher Trainer.
Ellen opened her wellness studio, Core De Vie, located in Beacon Hill, so that she and her team of highly trained practitioners could provide the benefits of their combined experience to our community. Prior to opening her studio, Ellen held the position of Adjunct Professor at the Boston Conservatory.

Jennifer Constable

Jennifer lives on a farm in rural Nova Scotia where she is building an off the grid house with her family. Elsewhere Farm is 35 acres and is getting closer to self-sufficiency every year.  Jennifer home-schools her children and herself.  At the moment she is also organizing the first Oceans Film Festival in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia – due to occur in May 2010. Her goal is to inspire and instill a sense of wonder about the ocean in everyone who attends. Jennifer is a practicing Buddhist, does Aikido and loves free-diving in warm salty water.

Jennifer graduated from Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service and majored in economics and African Studies.

Celine Cousteau

Founder and executive director of the non-profit organization CauseCentric Productions, Céline Cousteau collaborates with other non-profits and individuals to increase their world-wide exposure by creating short documentaries about their work, thereby providing a visual communication tool.

With a masters in International and Intercultural Management and fluent in three languages Céline uses video, photography, written word, and art to express the effort of working towards a healthier and more harmonious world.

Daughter of ocean explorer and filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau and granddaughter of the legendary Jacques Yves Cousteau, Céline created “Ocean Inspiration” in 2011 in tribute to her grandfather’s 100th anniversary as a platform to celebrate and recognize ocean advocacy in all forms, from science to art, dance to filmmaking.

Céline is also international spokeswoman for the La Prairie cosmetics company representing their line of Advanced Marine Biology creams, and has joined forces with Contiki Holidays (travel for 18-35) as their Sustainability Partner. She has been ambassador to the Clean Up the World Campaign since 2009, and collaborates with many projects such as World Resources Institute’s Reefs at Risk initiative, SeaWeb’s “Too Precious to Wear” campaign, and other non-profits such as Amazon Promise, Green Chimneys, and many more. Board member of both Plant a Fish and Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, Céline strongly upholds the notion that through collaboration we become more effective advocates for any number of causes.

Kate Ellis

Kate Ellis has spent most of her life asking people questions. As a girl she liked to chat up strangers: taxi drivers, fellow bus passengers, anyone who happened to be sitting close by. She learned then that everyone has a story to tell and that those stories are important. Later, as a grown up, Kate figured out how to make a career out of talking to strangers.

Kate is the founder of Audio Memoir, an organization that records broadcast-quality oral history interviews for families and institutions (http://www.audiomemoir.com). She is also a contributing producer for American RadioWorks, the documentary unit of American Public Media. Over the past decade, her public radio projects have included: tracing the evolution of the American Dream in the 20th century; chronicling the last year of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life; documenting the recovery of people in Biloxi, MS who lost their homes and livelihoods to Hurricane Katrina; and many other topics.

Kate co-edited two anthologies of great African American speeches: “Say it Plain: A Century of Great African American Speeches,” and “Say it Loud: Great Speeches on Civil Rights and African American Identity.” Most recently, she collaborated on the critically acclaimed book, “After the Fall: New Yorkers Remember September 2001 and the Years the Followed,” published by The New Press.

Kate has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Columbia University, where the focus of her studies was American race relations. Her dissertation compared the way whites and African Americans in Louisiana remembered the era of Jim Crow.

Kate is currently working on the launch of a national oral history project on food called, “Kitchen Conversations.” The mission is to illuminate the meaning and importance of food in our everyday lives, and document various food cultures within (and beyond) the United States. She can’t wait to hit the road with a microphone in hand.

Jennifer Galvin

Jennifer Galvin, Sc.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Galvin - scientist, filmmaker, educator and entrepreneur - uses her background in public health and environmental science to inform her work as a filmmaker. Galvin holds a Sc.D. in environmental health from the Exposure, Epidemiology and Risk Program at the Harvard School of Public Health, a M.P.H. in environmental epidemiology from Yale University, and a B.S. in aquatic biology from Brown University. She is a published author, recently contributing to the book Oceans and Human Health: Risks and Remedies from the Seas (2008, Elsevier), and has consulted on several media projects, including the World of Water film series at the New England Aquarium and with the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School to create two award winning films, Once Upon A Tide, narrated by Linda Hunt, and Healthy Ocean, Healthy Humans, narrated by Meryl Streep. Galvin was selected to the American Film Institute’s (AFI) 2004 Catalyst Workshop for science storytelling and screenwriting, and to the 2006 Pan Caribbean Project for Environmental Film and Wildlife Documentaries Residency held at Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television (EICTV), Cuba. Her work includes: Elwha Unplugged (in production); Eating the Ocean (2010); Free Swim (2009); La Transition (2009); Once Upon A Tide (2008); We, Sea:  Photographs and Words from the Children of South Eleuthera (2007) [companion book to the award winning film Free Swim]; Caguayo (2006); Healthy Ocean, Healthy Humans (2005). Galvin is also Director of Programs/Trustee of the Henry David Thoreau Foundation, a member of New York Women in Film and Television and Pleiades, and on the boards of the San Francisco Green Film Festival and Swim to Empower.

Emily Griffith

Emily Griffith is currently a grower’s assistant at The Food Project in Lincoln, MA where she also supervises a group of 12 teenage interns. She began farming last season as an apprentice grower at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm. She is passionate about community farming and growing delicious, healthy food in a manner that is good for the Earth.

Before delving full-time into organic agriculture, Emily served as the Communications Coordinator for the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School where she was instrumental in its Healthy and Sustainable Food Program.

Emily has also taught children about the environment in Anchorage, Alaska, worked at a small biotechnology company in Portland, Oregon, and spent time as an editorial intern at National Geographic Adventure Magazine in New York City and at ZooGoer Magazine based at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park in Washington, DC. She received a B.A. in Biology from Bowdoin College and a Master’s degree in science journalism from Boston University.

Lisa Hamilton

Writer and photographer Lisa M. Hamilton focuses on food and agriculture, particularly the stories of farmers. Her work has taken her from castration time on a Wyoming sheep ranch to a meeting of radical plant breeders in Iowa; from dairy farms in the highlands of Bavaria to sacred rice paddies on the coast of Japan.

She is the author of two books: Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness and Farming to Create Heaven on Earth. Her work has also been published in The Nation, Harper’s, National Geographic Traveler, Orion, and Gastronomica.

Samara Hoyer-Winfield

Samara Hoyer-Winfield directed the Global Classroom program at One-to-World, a US State Department-designated organization that aims to enrich the experience of Fulbright scholars and students visiting the US from abroad. She trained international visitors to teach K-12 students about their culture in New York City schools. She received her M.A. in Intercultural Relations and Creative Arts and Learning at Lesley University and her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin. Samara worked at Lesley University for the Program Evaluation Research Group evaluating a range of informal education, international, art, science, and museum education programs. Prior to Lesley University, she worked as a Communications Manager at NetAid, a nonprofit organization founded by the United Nations Development Program that promoted international development and girls education.

Samara developed and conducted a range of education, art, and cross-cultural collaborative projects both in the US and abroad. Over the past six years, she designed, conducted and directed Photo Exchangers, an art exchange project between youth in Boston and Ghana, in an effort to help them understand each other’s lives and perspectives on global citizenship, community, resources, and environment. Samara is dedicated to service learning and volunteered for various Volunteers For Peace work camps throughout Europe and the US.

She is continually intrigued how similar life patterns are from one culture to the next and committed to developing opportunities for people to connect and communicate through creative approaches. Her current project is looking at the daily use of water from a cross-cultural perspective, connecting teachers and students in New York City and Indonesia.

Heather Tausig

Based at the New England Aquarium for over 15 years, Heather is responsible for all programs and staff within the Conservation Department. She is the senior director of the Aquarium’s sustainable seafood programs, marine protected areas initiative, Marine Conservation Action Fund, international scientific expeditions and policy initiatives and is the senior producer of the World of Water (WOW) conservation film series. Heather has a Master’s of International Relations and Resource and Environmental Management degree from Boston University and a bachelor’s in Environmental Studies from University of California at Santa Barbara. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Massachusetts’ Large Pelagics Research Center, the Advisory Board for EcoFish, and the Food Marketing Institute’s Sustainable Seafood Committee’s Advisory Council.

Molly Kile

Molly Kile is an epidemiologist. She researches the effects of environmental contaminants on human health. She is particularly interested in how environmental pollutants influence children’s health. This work has taken her from Bermuda to Bangladesh. She also teaches courses in sustainable development and environmental health through Harvard University School of Continuing Education and Harvard School of Public Health.

Nicole St Clair Knobloch

Nicole St. Clair Knobloch is associate director of the DC office of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. Prior to joining the Nicholas Institute staff this fall, she was director of communications for the Climate Campaign at Environmental Defense. In 2004 and 2005, St. Clair served in a similar capacity for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Before that, she was director of strategic communications for Ceres, a Boston-based coalition of environmental organizations and investment funds, where she worked with some of the nation’s largest institutional investors and major companies on the concept of “climate risk.” Her efforts at Ceres netted some of the first coverage of global warming in the nation’s financial press, as well as the engagement of Wall Street analysts in the issue and attention from Congress. Earlier in her career she worked on health policy at the Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health. While at MCMCH, Ms. St. Clair Knobloch co-led and developed policy through a statewide initiative to increase and streamline funding for early childhood education and care.

Tracy Kukkonen

Tracy Kukkonen resides in Cambridge, MA, where she promotes recycling in her community. She holds a Montessori School Management credential from American Montessori Society and received her BA in Cognitive Science from Wellesley College. She is a graduate of Hunter College High School in New York City. Tracy has lived in Vienna, Austria and Helsinki, Finland. She enjoys skiing, traveling, cooking and eating, and is inspired by the delicious local bounty of New England. She has a special passion for gerbils, otters and bats.

Kim Larson

Kim Larson has been a leader in bringing healthier food to United States school children as a founding board member of the Westchester Coalition for Better School Food. She is a trustee of Neighbors Link, working to better integrate recent immigrants into the mainstream of America on a legal path to employment and citizenship. A graduate of UC-Berkeley with honors in City and Regional planning focusing on urban agriculture, she holds a master’s degree from the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University in economic/agricultural development of Third World countries. She was awarded a fellowship from the InterAmerican Foundation to conduct research on colonial agricultural legacies, food biases and marketing structural alternatives. Larson is a trustee of the Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation,  Urban Resource Systems based in SF and on the Children & Nature Network’s Advisory Board. She joined Rodale Institute’s Board of Directors in 2008.

Destin Layne

Food, Tech, Yoga. Program Director at GRACE Communications Foundation (Sustainable Table, Eat Well Guide, Meatrix) http://gracelinks.org @eatsustainable @destinjoy

Leah Mayor

Leah Mayor is committed to building healthy and enduring communities.  Mayor holds a Ph.D. in Adult Education and Cultural Anthropology from Cornell University.  She brings extensive background in education and community development to variety of sustainability initiatives with a special focus on food and agricultural systems. Recognizing the many connections between food, environment, people, and culture, Mayor’s work leverages the enthusiasm of a growing local foods movement to protect farmland, natural heritage, artisanal traditions, and our cherished ways of life.  She currently serves as the Director of the Working Lands Alliance, a state-based conservation initiative through American Farmland Trust.  She is also the founder and Principal of Taking Root,  a small ecotourism initiative devoted to stimulating local economies, building community viability and celebrating our connections to food and culinary history.

Kristin McArdle

Kristin McArdle is an accomplished artist whose contemporary dance performances incorporate environmental and cultural themes. She received a Fulbright Scholarship to study environmental history and Aboriginal studies in Australia, earning a masters degree from the University of Sydney. Her movement influences come from Modern, Brazilian, Afro-Caribbean, West African and Indigenous Australian dance forms. She began her dance career in Australia, performing dances in conjunction with exhibits at The Australian Museum, The Art Gallery of New South Wales and The Powerhouse Museum. In New York City, she has danced with Peter Pucci, Alan Good, Phillipa Kaye, Martha Williams, and La Troupe Makandal. She began to choreograph original works in 1998 and formed Kristin McArdle Dance in 2003.

Beth Murphy

Beth Murphy is a documentary producer, director, author and university professor. She is the founder of Principle Pictures, an independent film company dedicated to raising awareness about important human rights, international and social issues while inspiring awareness and action through entertainment.  She has produced programming for the Sundance Channel, History Channel, PBS, Lifetime, Discovery Health, Discovery International and numerous international outlets. Her first feature documentary, BEYOND BELIEF, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, won numerous festival awards, and is now the focus of a national educational campaign around global citizenship.  She is author of Fighting For Our Future (McGraw Hill 2002) and a contributing author of Open My Eyes, Open My Soul (McGraw Hill 2004).  Her experiences as a filmmaker in war zones—along with some of her poetry—are highlighted in the newly released Daring to Feel:  Violence, the News Media and Their Emotions.  Murphy has taught courses on media ethics and covering international crises at Suffolk University and American University Paris.  She is on the board of the Woods Hole Film Festival and serves as Board Chair of the International Institute of Boston, an organization that helps immigrants and refugees.

Jennifer Palmer

Jennifer is a conservation scientist, educator, ocean advocate, and youth mentor. As a Kinship Conservation Fellow and IUCN Marine Advisor, she strives to inspire a more powerful force to ocean conservation by uniting and supporting a community of non-profit organizations, governments, academia, foundations, businesses, youth and the broader public.

With a master’s in International Applied Ecology and Conservation from University of East Anglia (UK) and bachelor’s in Biology from University of California at Santa Cruz, Jennifer’s passion for working with animals and learning from diverse cultures has taken her around the world. Her extensive field experience and research includes endangered Hawaiian monk seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, leatherback sea turtles in Costa Rica, seal and sea lion populations in Scotland and Australia, gray whales in Baja, Mexico and humpback whales in SE Alaska. She was also aboard ‘The Voyage of the Odyssey’ a scientific expedition that circumnavigated the globe to study the health of the world’s ocean and whales. 

While working with the IUCN Global Marine Program, she was a technical advisor to Sylvia Earle’s TED prize and the development of the Mission Blue Campaign. She led and coordinated the DC Marine Community, a diverse network of over 800 international marine enthusiasts and experts. Connecting this community has been instrumental in creating a surge of ocean awareness and action that has resulted in additional marine protected areas and increased media coverage on ocean and climate issues.

Inspired by education and outreach, she is sits on the Society for Conservation Biology Marine section Board of Directors and is an active mentor with ‘Ocean Revolution’—an international youth leadership initiative aimed to inspire and empower young leaders in ocean conservation.

Buffy Redsecker

Buffy’s heart belongs to the Galapagos Islands. Though not based there, she has returned many times since 2004 to work with the Galapagueno people as a photographer for NGOs. Her experiences there have led her to champion human health care in the Galapagos Islands as a primary building block for all conservation efforts going forward. In the course of her research into how to help facilitate this idea she has combined forces with an Ecuadorian Non Profit http://www.Cinterandes.org, who has been applying these same principals in rural areas of the mainland of Ecuador for over 17 years, and The Red Mangrove Inns of Galapagos who are working closely with the human communities of Galapagos.
Buffy’s images combine the natural world and it’s needs with the human ones, in the hopes of highlighting the interdependency innate in both.
Buffy’s dream as a little girl was to be the first Marine Biologist in Space, and in pursuit of that dream worked for several years at SEACAMP in the Florida Keys, and has traveled extensively, but is neither a Marine Biologist nor a space traveler, as of yet! Buffy holds a BA in Ancient Military History an MFA in Dramatic Writing, and currently uses her photographic abstracts as the primary outlet for her creativity. Buffy is an avid SCUBA diver, shark fanatic and cat behavior enthusiast (affectionately called a “cat whisperer” by several friends with troubled felines).
Buffy began her involvement with Dr. Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue on the 2011 Galapagos trip, and it continues to be on the forefront of her time and energy. Buffy is on the Regional Board of Directors of the BLUE Ocean Film Festival, and also serves on the board of photographer Bryant Austin’s Board for Marine Mammal Conservation Through the Arts.
Buffy is also the Director of the Sunlight Fund.

Daniella Dimitrova Russo

Daniella Dimitrova Russo is the co-founder and Executive Director of Plastic Pollution Coalition. Daniella is a social entrepreneur who believes that progressive societies are fueled by the power of informed and engaged people. 

Daniella has spent many years in the high-tech industry as a founder and executive of a range businesses – from Internet startups to Fortune 500 companies. In 2006 she developed and launched the award-winning “Think Beyond Plastics” 360 campaign. Since then she has worked on elevating the issue of plastic pollution to the forefront of social, political and environmental discourse, and towards a world free of plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on people, animals and the environment. 
Daniella is a Director on the Board of Museum of Monterey. She also serves on the Board of Executive Advisors of BLUE Ocean Film Festival.

Daniella loves art, books and travel.

Bev Sanders

Bev Sanders has made a lifelong commitment to empowering women. At the age of 44, she took a surfing lesson while on vacation in Maui. The experience inspired her to launch Las Olas Surf Safaris for Women, the original women’s surf camp. At a time when surfing was clearly a male-dominated sport, Las Olas inspired thousands of women to paddle out and catch their first wave. Today, Las Olas is called “the Golden Door of surf camps” by the press and “transformative fun” by her guests. 

Bev’s pioneering spirit didn’t start in the waves. In 1982, she co-founded one of the first snowboard companies and helped launch a whole new sport. Always an advocate for women’s opportunities, she was later recognized as the Pioneer Woman of Snowboarding by Transworld Snowboarding Magazine and received their prestigious Tranny Award in 1997. 

Bev’s advocacy expanded beyond women in sports. When GM introduced their first electric car, the EV1, she decided to stop complaining about gas guzzlers and drive the future. After GM took the car back, she vowed never to own a gas car again. True to her word, she and her husband moved to Carmel-by-the-Sea, California where they enjoy the walking lifestyle offered in the village. 

Bev and her crew continue to operate Las Olas, the surf vacation designed to meet the needs of women who aspire to challenge and inspire themselves to make a difference. Their motto:  We make girls out of women.

Roz Savage

Roz Savage holds four world records for ocean rowing, including first woman to row three oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian. She has rowed over 15,000 miles, taken around 5 million oarstrokes, and spent cumulatively over 500 days of her life at sea in a 23-foot rowboat. She uses her ocean rowing adventures to inspire action on the top environmental challenges facing the world today.

A latecomer to the life of adventure, Roz worked as a management consultant in London for 11 years. She is a United Nations Climate Hero, an Athlete Ambassador for 350.org, and an Ambassador for the Blue Project. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of the Explorers Club of New York, and has been listed amongst the Top Twenty Great British Adventurers by the Daily Telegraph. In 2011 she received the Ocean Inspiration Through Adventure award, and in 2010 she was named Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic.

Her book, “Rowing The Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean”, is published by Simon & Schuster. The documentary based on her Atlantic row has toured the world as a finalist in the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Julianne Schrader

As Director for GrowNYC’s Citywide School Gardens Initiative, Julianne works with partners from government and non-profits across the city to foster cooperation and collaboration as we work together to inspire, create and maintain gardens across NYC’s public schools.

Before GrowNYC, Julianne dedicated her efforts to the Rainforest Alliance, an international conservation organization headquartered in NYC, where she built and managed a dynamic environmental education program over the past decade. She designed curricula and trained teachers from Brooklyn to Guatemala in topics ranging from climate change to sustainable forestry and agriculture.

Prior to joining the Rainforest Alliance, Julianne organized habitat restoration and environmental education programs with ConnPIRG, and conducted field research in marine biology, aquatic botany, and wetland ecology. Julianne received her B.S. in Biology from Trinity College and researched sustainable tourism and fisheries with the School for International Training in Venezuela and the School for Field Studies in Mexico.

She brings homemade quinoa creations on camping trips, likes her tomato harvest served spicy and can wile away the hours with a sewing machine turning used clothes into cozy outerwear for her pup Chico and his canine friends.

Karen Lee Sobol

Karen Lee Sobol serves on the Board of Overseers of the New England Aquarium, where her initiatives include education programs and events related to global marine conservation. For the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, Karen Lee serves as ambassador to help raise public awareness and support for education initiatives world wide. She has initiated programs, public events, and fund-raisers to promote people’s understanding and awareness about the natural world, our health, and the intricate interrelationship between them. For the Bing Center for Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Karen Lee is a speaker and advocate. Audiences include the international community of doctors, patients, researchers, and government health care officials. An architect by profession, Karen Lee is a painter and sculptor. She is currently developing an illustrated manuscript that explores the importance of patient advocacy, the value of clinical trials, and the role of spirituality in curing disease. 

Ana Sortun

Chef Ana Sortun holds a degree from La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Paris.
Originally from Seattle, she has been a part of Boston’s culinary scene since 1990.  In January 2001, Sortun opened her own Restaurant, Oleana and was nominated for Best New Restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation, 2002. In 2005, the James Beard Foundation named Ana Best Chef /Northeast.

Chef Sortun’s cookbook, SPICE; flavors of the eastern Mediterranean, published in May 2006 by Regan Books, made the best sellers list for the Boston Globe and the LA Times.  SPICE was nominated for best international cookbook in 2007 by the James Beard foundation.

2006 also brought the addition of Siena farms, owned and farmed by Chef Sortun’s husband, Chris Kurth.  The farm, named after their daughter Siena, provides the restaurant all of its fresh organic produce. In July, 2008 Chef Sortun and Pastry Chef Maura Kilpatrick opened Sofra, a Middle Eastern café and bakery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Karen Stewart Brown

Karen Stewart Brown - Vice President of Design, Stewart Brown, Inc.
Karen co-founded Stewart+Brown, along with her husband Howard Brown, in 2002 and oversees all design and production activities. Prior to Stewart+Brown, Karen was Sr. Designer at Patagonia and J.Crew. She began her design career at Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, designing their most popular collections. Karen holds a B.F.A. in painting Maryland Institute College of Art and has no formal training in fashion design.
Karen and Stewart+Brown have won many honors and accolades including ‘Coolest People Now’ by Outside Magazine, “Ones to Watch” by Wired Magazine, “Conscientious Choice” winner by Natural Health magazine, “Best of Green” by Treehugger, “World’s Most Stylish Ethic Fashion Brand” by Body+Soul magazine, Elle’s “Best Green Fashion Brand” and was voted one of the “World’s Top Fashionistas” by Grist.
Karen makes her home in Ventura, CA along with her husband Howard, daughter Hazel (7) and son Huxley (2). She spends as much time as possible at her family retreat in the Rocky Mountains of Montana.

Marie Studer

Marie Studer joined the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL; http://www.eol.org) in November 2007 as the Learning and Education (L+E) director, based at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.  Marie is responsible for strategic planning and fundraising and develops partnerships to introduce EOL to educators and learners in all kinds of formal and informal education settings.  She meets with a broad range of stakeholders from around the world to discuss facilitating biodiversity awareness and learning.  For ten years prior to EOL, Marie was the Chief Scientist for Earthwatch Institute, responsible for overseeing the research, education and conservation programs for this international citizen science organization.  Previously she was the Director of Science for the Massachusetts Bays Program, a US EPA National Estuary Program.  She has a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a B.A. in Chemistry from Wheaton College, Norton, MA.

Beth Swanstrom

Beth Swanström is the owner of Galerie Swanström, a private gallery (formerly of Boston) based in New York City.  Her gallery focuses on scouting art for interior designers, architect and collectors.  In addition, she is the creator, producer and director of ArtScout TV™, a media company widening the lens into the world of art + design. Scouting art across the globe, in over 16 countries; she attends domestic and international art fairs and brings emerging artists work to her clients.  Recognized by Boston Common Magazine as one of the city’s top gallery owners, her gallery has achieved accolades and reviews in The Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Architectural Digest Magazine, Art New England, The Harvard Crimson Review, and others.  She is a member of New York Women in Film & Television, and an advocate and avid fundraiser for Stoked Mentoring. Beth is a graduate of Endicott College and Boston University’s School of Social Work.

Bina Venkataraman

Bina Venkataraman designs and leads international projects, and helps drive the nation’s science and technology agenda. She teaches undergraduate engineers at MIT to speak and stretch beyond their disciplines, and writes for publications including The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Christian Science Monitor.  She is inspired by the potential of innovation and technology to catalyze social impact, and is passionate about improving global health, education, and the environment.

Bina currently serves as director of global policy initiatives at the Broad Institute and as senior adviser to the chair of President Obama’s science advisory council (PCAST)—a role in which she works to inject sound science into the thinking of the nation’s leaders.

Bina is an alumna of Brown University and Harvard’s Kennedy School.  Her previous jobs have included developing an HIV/AIDS hospital in Vietnam as a Princeton in Asia fellow;  managing communications for the Rainforest Alliance, an international conservation organization; and serving as a reporter, editor, and editorial writer for various news organizations.

Bina loves her work, especially because it has allowed her to: trap lobster along the Baja peninsula, aid emergency room patients from 19 countries, watch banned films in a Havana archive, encounter wolves in the Alaskan wilderness, read 16-year-olds’ journals, harvest oysters during a blizzard, play a card game inside a Vietnamese leprosy clinic, and gorge unsustainably on sustainable chocolate. 

Bina is terrible at whiffle ball, sewing, and driving a motorbike in traffic. Thanks to Pleiades, she is learning to surf & fly fish. You can see some of her writing at http://www.writerbina.com

Linda Ziemba

Linda Ziemba is a believer in creative disruption as a methodology to encourage social action. Linda founded Trace design group in 2003 as a museum exhibitions firm dedicated to presenting the stories and research of non profit institutions in an interactive, provocative and artful environment—with as much wit as possible.

Trace projects include the Coral Reef Educational Center with the University of Belize and Earthwatch, the Ecotarium master plan, Climate Change and Old Forest exhibits in Worcester, MA, the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences (VINS) Flight exhibit, the traveling exhibit on Human Health + Ocean Health with Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment, sustainable farming exhibits at Mass Audubon Sanctuaries, maritime exhibits and signage for Boston’s Harborwalk. Prior to founding Trace, Linda worked at the N.E. Aquarium as lead designer for the Jellies, Nyanza and Living Links exhibits. Trained in architecture and design at the University of Colorado and the Domus Academy in Milan, Linda worked in California, NYC and Boston. Linda holds an MFA in Theater Set design at Boston University and received the Kahn Award in 1990.

Outside the firm Linda lectures at MIT’s Terrascope program, lusts over exotic travel plans while substituting with Ethiopian coffee, Dagoba chocolate and red wine from Violette.