David Bennett has been working across multiple sectors to support environmental innovation for over 15 years. As an independent consultant, David advises clients ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies on topics including clean energy, green building technologies and broader corporate sustainability strategy. Prior to launching a consulting practice, David was a Business & Society Program Fellow at the Aspen Institute and worked at Google as the company’s Real Estate Green Team Operations & Innovations Lead where he was responsible for bringing green building practices and next generation technologies into a portfolio that spans more than 40 countries around the globe. Previously, David partnered with NOAA to develop web-based information tools to support the agency’s recovery planning efforts for Northern California’s threatened and endangered salmon species. Additionally, David has worked on sustainability initiatives with Environmental Defense Fund, The Smithsonian Institute, USDA, USGS and the School for Field Studies in Puerto San Carlos, Mexico.
David holds a B.S. in Geographic Information Sciences from James Madison University, an M.A. in International Development & Social Change from Clark University and an MBA in Sustainable Business Management from Presidio Graduate School. David is a LEED AP O+M and holds an Energy Innovation & Emerging Technologies Certificate from Stanford University.
Libby Reder is an experienced marketing/communications and strategy professional with a focus on sustainability. Currently an independent consultant, Libby advises a range of clients with a focus on using technology to mainstream socially-and environmentally-beneficial behavior. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Libby was Business Leader, Corporate Reputation at Visa Inc., leading strategy and operations for Visa’s Currency of Progress platform across seven countries. At Visa, Libby also previously held the role of Business Leader, Corporate Responsibility, through which she led and grew the company’s employee matching gift and volunteer programs, in addition to spearheading Visa’s initial sustainability reporting through the Carbon Disclosure Project. Before joining Visa, Libby created, developed and led eBay Inc.’s environmental initiatives, including employee engagement, stakeholder relationships and customer outreach. Libby had the pleasure of being involved in everything from securing eBay’s investment in the installation of San Jose’s largest commercial solar array to developing annual consumer advertising in the Hearst magazines’ April issues, focused on sustainability. Libby began her career on Capitol Hill, serving as an aide to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Antitrust. Libby holds a BA in Government from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of California – Berkeley Haas School of Business.
Emily has spent 18+ years working in various roles for Gap Inc. including store management, Store Operations and Communications and is currently the Marketing Manager for Global Creative Services at Banana Republic. She also serves as co-president for the Gap Inc. Women in Leadership employee resource group and as a Community Leader for Gap Foundation. She volunteers her time as the Marketing Director for the Marin Primary & Middle School Parent Association as well as is a member of the Marking and Annual Fund Committees. She has also served on the auxiliary council for the Bay Area Discovery Museum and continues to be an active volunteer with the SF AIDS Foundation.
Emily was born in Newport Beach, CA and grew up in the Bay Area. She is an alumni of Humboldt State, University of Hawaii and San Francisco State Universities.
She currently lives in Marin County with her husband, Abdi and two sons; Anthony in Third grade and Teddy in Kindergarten.
Judi has spent the last 33 years of her life spearheading grassroots community projects. The dearth of answers around Marin County’s high cancer rates led Judi to found the nonprofit Search for the Cause, now Turning Green, a global student-led movement advocating for healthy food, safer products, and ethical businesses. She is also the force behind The Conscious Kitchen, a paradigm shifting model for school food service, transitioning school meals from pre-packaged, processed, heat-and-serve to chef-prepared, scratch cooked local, organic food, prepared in on-site low waste kitchens. Believing that access to healthy food is a right, not a privilege, she began this work on a campus where 95% of children live below the poverty line, qualifying for free-and-reduced government-subsidized school meals. Moving to the Bay Area in 1989 and becoming a mother to daughter Erin changed the course of Judi’s life. Prior to this, she was an Emmy Award-winning television producer for 25 years with ABC Sports, FOX and Oxygen, founded The Diary Project forum for youth at the onset of the internet, and created the first reality based television show for Fox.
John is the founder of Nutiva, the world’s leading organic superfoods brand of hemp, coconut, chia, and red palm superfoods. Founded in 1999 and dedicated to nourishing people and planet, Nutiva has been named one of Inc. magazine’s fastest-growing companies in America for seven years in a row.
A longtime advocate for healthy people and ecosystems, with expertise ranging from home composting and natural healing to forestry and hemp agriculture, John has authored four books on environmental topics, with combined sales of more than one million copies. He helped jumpstart the modern home-composting movement in the early 1990s and successfully sued the US DEA to keep hemp foods legal in 2001. He has founded four nonprofit ecological groups, including GMOInside.org.
Dr. Jessica Shade is the Director of Science Programs at The Organic Center where she directs projects associated with communicating and conducting research related to organic agriculture. During her tenure at The Organic Center Dr. Shade has collaborated on a number of diverse research programs ranging from applied solutions to on-farm challenges to methods for improving environmental impacts of agriculture.
Some of her most recent collaborations include projects aimed at decreasing nitrogen pollution from agricultural sources, increasing on-farm biodiversity, and developing integrated pest management solutions for organic growers. Dr. Shade has extensive experience leading groups of diverse stakeholders to successfully develop unified visions and project goals. She developed and leads the Center’s signature conference event, Organic Confluences, which brings together policy makers, researchers, farmers, industry members, and other non-profits to address and overcome challenges faced by the organic sector.
Dr. Shade has been honored for her environmental accomplishments by the Audubon Women in Conservation through their Women Greening Food Special Recognition, the Ecological Society of America Student Section and Union of Concerned Scientists through their Ecoservice Award, and is a Switzer Environmental Fellow. She received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.
Erin is a citizen activist, social entrepreneur and writer. Since co-founding Turning Green in 2005, she has developed eco education and action platforms to inspire, educate, and mobilize millions of students and the global public with this non-profit and beyond. This leading voice on millennials, sustainability and social impact and vocal advocate for environmental action, public health and equal justice recently ran an unprecedented campaign for US Congress in California’s District 2 – working to redefine civic engagement, reinvigorate public service, and expand the definition of politician for a generation and a nation.
Amy is an award-winning, holistic skin therapist, speaker and product development specialist in the natural beauty industry. As owner of EcoBlend Therapies, she is dedicated to a Deeper Beauty Conversation, connecting each client’s unique body wellness, nutrition, lifestyle, stress and energy levels to the health of the skin. Utilizing this information, she custom blends nutritionally-dense topical treatments for each client to feed the skin’s ability to re-engage and optimize without fillers, toxins, or petrochemicals.
Formerly the President and co-formulator for ACURE, Amy has once again partnered with the brand as ambassador to continue education and outreach on the importance of clean, effective skin and body care for our health and future.
Megan Fuerst is a senior at The Ohio State University, graduating in the spring with a degree in “Environment, Economy, Development and Sustainability” and a specialization in Policy Analysis. Her interest in the environment was seeded at a young age, coming from a more rural setting in a small Midwestern town, but her passion for sustainability was not ignited until participating in Project Green Challenge her freshman year of college. Since then, Megan has worked at the Turning Green headquarters in Sausalito as an intern for the past two summers and has become the President of TG’s Student Advisory Board. Megan hopes to use her degree to help influence environmentally sustainable and socially responsible policy decisions in government. Specifically, Megan would like to use her education to help re-legalize industrial hemp, a miracle crop that she believes can solve a wide range of environmental problems, from soil nutrients to energy sources. Megan would like to own a hemp farm one day, perhaps in the Midwest to help this region become more progressive.
