Speaker, 2009

Sustainable Enterprise 2010 - Steering Committee

Executive Director and Fellow, Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy

Prior to joining the Leadership Institute in 2005, Tanya held various IT development, support and management positions with Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies. She is currently the Board Chair for Routes for Youth and is a member of the Pacific Region Advisory Council for the National Parks Conservation Association. She is the Chair of Santa Rosa’s Community Advisory Board and previously served on its Green Building Policy Advisory Committee.

Director, Green Jobs Campaign, Ella Baker Center

Ian Kim works at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights as Director of the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign. He advocates for policies in the city of Oakland and statewide in California to create "green-collar" jobs (quality, career-track, manual labor jobs in industries like renewable energy, water and energy efficiency, and green building), especially for low-income young adults and those with barriers to employment. Ian is a co-convenor of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellum's Green Economy Task Force, and served as Vice-Chair of the Oakland Oil Independence by 2020 Task Force. Ian holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management. Ian and his wife, Sunjung, are often laughing at the antics of their two-year-old daughter, Minju.

President/CEO, Circle Bank

Kimberly Kaselionis has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Circle Bank since July 1996, when, at the age of 35, she became one of the youngest women in the nation to be elected to a Bank CEO position.

During her tenure with the Bank, she has directed programs, added new services and branches to increase assets from $11 million to $250 million. Under her leadership, Circle Bank’s earnings increased 16.89% annually for the past five years.

Currently, Craig Carlock is the Board Chairman at Solar Sonoma County and works for SolarCraft. He has been closely involved with Solar Sonoma County since its inception when it transformed from Solar Sebastopol, a highly successful community organization to implement solar citywide. Solar Sonoma County was selected in 2008 as one of twenty-five Solar American Cities by the Department of Energy with an aggressive goal of installing 25 megawatts of solar within Sonoma County by 2011. Craig is certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners. He has been active in the local solar industry and has been interested in renewable energy for years.

Sustainable Enterprise 2010 - Program Director

Sonoma State University, School of Business and Economics

Robert Henriques Girling is a Professor in the School of Business at Sonoma State University. He received his Ph. D. from Stanford University and has taught and consulted in 20 different countries. Recently he has served as a consultant to the Caribbean Development Bank on sustainable development strategies for the island of Dominica and as a founder and organizer of the Sustainable Enterprise Conferences on Tools for Sustainable Businesses and Communities series.

Interim Director, Center for Sustainable Communities, Sonoma State University

Alex Hinds is the interim director of Sonoma State University's Center for Sustainable Communities - and oversees the green building certificate program. Previously, Alex directed planning, building and environmental health departments for Marin, San Luis Obispo, and Lake Counties, and was responsible for many award-winning plans and programs.

County of Sonoma, Energy and Sustainability Division

Liz Yager is on staff with the Energy and Sustainability Division of the County of Sonoma. She manages the daily operations of the County’s Energy Independence Program (AB811) and the Energy Watch partnership between the County and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Before joining the County she worked with several sustainability and climate protection non-profits in Sonoma County supporting their strategic and Information Technology planning efforts. Liz is a certified Green Building Professional and has been trained in building performance and photovoltaic installation. She is a Fellow of the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy. Her background also includes a B.S. in Biology from Union College and 18 years in the high tech industry working in the areas of Information Technology and scientific instrumentation. Liz is passionate about the opportunities of the emerging new green economy and the importance of legitimizing equity’s place in the triple bottom line.

Dean, Professor of Business Administration, Sonoma State University

Bill Silver is the Dean of the School of Business and Economics at Sonoma State University. One of the top 10% of business schools worldwide to have achieved accreditation by AACSB International (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International), the School of Business and Economics at Sonoma State University offers a Masters Degree in Business Administration, and Baccalaureate Degrees in Business and in Economics. Students and alumni from SSU are recognized by the business community as having hands-on, practical experiences that enable them to immediately contribute to business results. Through its Career Center, the School of Business and Economics provides customized recruiting services to regional and national companies for internships and career placements. Employers hiring recent graduates encompass both local and national organizations, including Chevron, Korbel, Jackson Family Wines, Target, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Golden Pacific Systems, Exchange Bank, Redwood Credit Union, CrossCheck, and the County of Sonoma. Together with his faculty colleagues at SSU , Dr. Silver is helping to develop leaders for North Bay businesses - leaders who can make a difference in the organizations for which they work, and for the communities in which they live.

Chuck Robbins is the Director of Economic & Workforce Development at Santa Rosa Junior College. Prior to joining the college, he owned two small businesses, a bookstore and a restaurant. He has also worked for an international corporation.

Gary Groff, Vice President, Relationship Manager, New Resource Bank

Gary Groff, Vice President and Relationship Manager, manages a New Resource Bank's solar program and portfolio of growing sustainable and green practice clients. New Resource Bank gives him the opportunity to combine his lifelong dream of combining his love for the environment with his banking experience. He has over ten years of banking experience. He was previously branch manager for Union Bank of California where he did both commercial and community banking. He is an active member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, The Surfrider Foundation, and KQED. Gary is also a co-founder of the Roots Initiative, a program that aims to establish holistic community revitalization at the grass roots level with schools playing a leading role.

Mr. Surace, a noted speaker and writer on climate change and the built environment, is on a mission to significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels and their effect on the environment. As CEO of Serious Materials, Kevin leads the company in its mission to reduce energy usage and CO2 generation of the world's largest contributor, our buildings. By developing new materials and processes that require little energy to manufacture, and advanced products which dramatically improve the insulation and comfort of homes and offices, a worst-case climate and energy catastrophe can be avoided.

A sustainability consultant and organizational consultant, Mary O’Connor is the founder of The Sustainable Leadership Institute, a training and seminar company that helps businesses stimulate innovation and enhance employee engagement, while saving the environment. She is an expert in marketing strategy and business development, with a specialty in sustainable strategy.

Ms. O’Connor has helped hundreds of businesses create breakthrough results using transformational technology including KPMG, Genetech, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, New Leaf Paper, YWCA and Solar Sonoma County.

Senior Director, Sustainable Development, Shaklee Corporation

Tim Smith is Senior Director of Sustainable Development for Shaklee Corporation where he is responsible for proactively identifying, evaluating and leading sustainable development initiatives. He has negotiated and managed several environmental conservation partnerships with NGOs, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Tim helped Shaklee win three environmental awards in the past year, along with special recognition from the EPA Green Power Partnership.

Stephanie Puentes is a 28-year veteran of the high tech industry where she held a variety of positions with Hewlett-Packard Company and was a founding member of HP's first global employee resource group. She is a certified Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) practitioner.

Stephanie is a member of the People of Color Advisory Committee of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates and she is President of the Board of Downtown College Prep (DCP), a charter high school whose mission is to prepare under-achieving students to thrive at four-year universities. You can reach her at: stephanie@equityaction.net or 707-523-3282.

Laurie Lippin holds a Ph.D. in Adult Education and is a regular part-time faculty at UC Davis. She is also Qualifying Instructor for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) and delivers MBTI trainings in the US and in Canada. She is a graduate of the Newfield Network coach training school. Laurie co-authored (with Helfand) the 2001 publication of Understanding Whiteness/Unraveling Racism: Tools for the Journey, now updated and re-released as Unraveling Whiteness by Kendall/Hunt.

The focus of her diversity work with Equity Action is to eliminate the negative results of racism and other oppressions. This will be accomplished in our lifetime, by bringing about real behavior change on the part of employees, students, teachers, and community leaders. You can reach her at: laurie@equityaction.net or 707-792-9935.

Co-Director of Business Development for the West Coast, B Lab

Deborah Hirsh works on community and business development at B Lab, the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to support businesses in their goals to meausre and improve social and environmental performance through the use of their B Ratings System. Deborah has 20 years of experience working on social and economic justice issues and 10 years of experience in the CSR space, including 6 years of community and business development with TransFair USA, the Fair Trade Certification body for the US market.

CEO, PAX Streamline and Chairman of the Board, Turin Networks

John Webley founded and held various executive positions at Advanced Fibre Communications, including VP Marketing, VP R&D, and CTO. With his two co-founders, they grew Advanced Fibre to 300 people and a market cap of $6B when John left to found Turin Networks, an optical networking company. Six years later, when he retired as CEO, Turin was a $50M business with 250+ employees. John continues as chairman of Turin’s board through their anticipated IPO later this year. Since retiring from Turin, he has been involved in an advisory capacity with numerous startups in various capacities, including Red Condor (email anti-spam), Clovis (middleware), Securetrack (shipping security), Totally Gerard (reality TV show), myJambi (online services brokerage), American Bio-diesel (community bio-diesel start-up) and Titan Technologies (water/air purification). John is currently CEO of PAX Streamline, Inc, an engineering firm focused on biomimetic solutions that provide greater energy efficiency. The company is developing high-efficiency HVAC, cooling, and refrigeration systems, and exploring other application areas, including wind turbines and aerospace.

Gary Abreim is an experienced problem-solving financial and accounting professional with successful operational management experience. He is someone who has a keen sense of the relational dynamics within and without an organization and strives to create enjoyable and fulfilling work environments.

Christopher Peck is a sustainability entrepreneur, holistic financial planner and socially responsible investment advisor who’s been working since 1991 to build a more sustainable, prosperous, and humorous world. Christopher is a managing partner of Natural Investments, LLC., a firm focused solely on helping clients invest, build wealth, and develop enterprises in a way that reflects their environmental and social values.

Cliff Fetz is the principal in Innoventure, a consultancy that provides consultation and advisory services to start up companies, venture capital groups and corporations. Cliff was the founding and senior member of Chevron Technology Ventures LLC, the technology venture investing unit of Chevron Corporation.

Founder and CEO, iReuse

After working in the corporate and non-profit sectors for over a decade with PeopleSoft, eBenefits, and then CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, Ken pulled together the best aspects of each along with his passion for the environment to start iReuse in 2004. Ken is committed to providing innovative, environmentally-friendly solutions that outperform the status quo. As a result of his efforts, iReuse received the 2006 Green Entrepreneur of the year award presented by Assemblyman Joe Nation, the 2007 Environmental Enterprise Award presented by Acterra, the 2007 Business of the Year Award presented by the Marin Conservation League, and the 2007 Environmental Leadership Award presented by the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, in addition to being selected as a 2007 Going Green 100 Top Private Company.

President and CEO, North Bay Leadership Council

North Bay Leadership Council (NBLC) represents employers located in Sonoma and Marin Counties who are working together for regional prosperity and quality of life. Committed to sound public policy and supporting regional initiatives that foster economic and community health, NBLC’s priorities are transportation improvements, workforce housing, workforce development, education, resources and public fiscal reform. Murray’s background as an elected official and business woman make her uniquely suited to leading the Council into greater visibility and accomplishment.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DOMANI

Mr. Sarni has 30 years of experience in providing sustainability and environmental consulting services to private and public sector enterprises. Over the past 10 years he has successfully built a consulting firm focused on providing innovative yet practical sustainability technical and business solutions to multinational firms committed to increasing revenue, mitigating risk and improving operating efficiency through the implementation of sustainability programs.

Vice President, WSP Environment & Energy LLC.

Bruce provides strategic and technical sustainability services to support clients develop pragmatic and commercially viable programs to improve the sustainability performance of real estate assets and workplace resources. With an intense focus on client outcomes, using proven strategies that provide great places to work coupled with significant improvements environmental performance. Bruce is a Six Sigma project champion with emphasis on innovative workplace solutions he has extensive global experience delivering workplace sustainability solutions to major corporations.

Recent and ongoing activities include managing sustainability strategy assignments for Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Microsoft, Sun Cal Companies and Genentech. Strategic sustainability services include the development of economic models for renewable energy projects, global sustainability action plans with clear metrics for success and alignment of sustainability goals with business objectives. Bruce currently leads the WSP Sustainable Asset Management practice serving clients with large real estate portfolios.

Bruce received a BSc in Engineering Science and a Graduate Certificate in Thermal Engineering from the Sydney Institute of Technology, Sydney, Australia.

Jonathan Storper is a partner in the law firm of Hanson Bridgett LLP where he chairs the Corporate, Securities, Tax and Sustainable Business Practice Groups. He is an AV rated attorney by Martindale Hubbell and has been chosen as a Northern California Super Lawyer for three years in a row. He counsels for profit and nonprofit entities and their investors in connection with business and intellectual property transactions, including formation and finance, such as initial and secondary public offerings, contracts and licenses, joint development agreements, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property licenses, e-commerce, technology-related matters and general corporate law.

Mark Quinn is the District Director of the San Francisco District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration, which covers the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California counties from Crescent City to Santa Cruz. His appointment was made in September 1994.

The San Francisco District covers a business loan portfolio of more than 11,500 loans worth $3.1 billion; oversight of ten (10) Small Business Development Centers; the approvals of SBA Guaranty loans, which last year totaled over $650 million made through 100 lending institutions; and the coordination of five (5) chapters of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), a volunteer organization that provides free business counseling. Finally, SBA cosponsors over 1,000 training events for over 50,000 Bay Area small businesses or prospective businesses from SBA resource partners.

Mark served as Deputy District Director for the San Francisco District Office and Deputy Associate Administrator for Entrepreneurial Development in Washington, D.C.