DAVID BENNETT

Founding Partner, Hannover Advisors

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.​

BRIDGET DWYER

Creative Director & VP Marketing Strategy, Amy’s Kitchen

Bridget Dwyer is Creative Director and VP Marketing Strategy at Amy’s Kitchen, the leading producer of convenience foods made with non-GMO and organic ingredients. Bridget’s first career was as a nurse, but her path changed after her 2 children were born. She worked at an event company in London, fundraising for UNICEF, and then became co-owner of the influential fashion boutique Yasmin Cho in London. During this time Bridget was a member of the British Fashion Council and founding member of Fashion East (now in its 10th year); the Evening Standard recognized her as one of the top trend forecasters in fashion. After selling her boutique, Bridget became the visual consultant and woman’s wear buyer at Liberty of London. It was at Liberty of London where Bridget began collaborating with designer David Grocott, and, in 2007, they formed the firm of Clarke and Reilly, named after their mothers. Clarke and Reilly works on public and private commissions, collaborating in the music, fine art and design arenas. Their work has been exhibited in London, Vienna, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. Today, Bridget is bringing her ethos of care and design to her role at Amy’s Kitchen.

MEGAN FARINA

Senior Communications Manager, Nutiva

Megan Farina is the Senior Communications Manager at Nutiva, an organic superfood company that makes coconut, hemp, chia, and red palm products. Nutiva is on a mission to Revolutionize the Way the World Eats, by building a healthy, just, sustainable food system. This means starting with organic, non-GMO farming— done without chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
Nutiva donates 1% of sales (more than $3 million to date), to support sustainable agricultural programs — everything from food advocacy organizations to urban gardens.

Megan’s early struggle with health issues and food allergies sparked a passion for cooking, nutrition, alternative medicine, and mindfulness practices. She reclaimed her health through eating clean, organic, unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods. Megan studied English Literature and is an avid writer and reader. Her love of story combined with the deeply held belief that healthy food has the power to heal, brought her to Nutiva. Her role involves educating and empowering consumers on key issues like the benefits of organics, GMO labeling, the legalization of industrial hemp in the U.S., and the difference between sustainable palm oil and conflict palm oil. Megan believes that we all must participate in reclaiming our food system because the future of our planet depends on it.

MEGAN FUERST

President Student Advisory Board , Turning Green

Megan is working towards a degree in Environment, Economy, Development and Sustainability with a specialization in Policy Analysis. Megan joined Turning Green’s Student Advisory Board after completing the 3rd annual Project Green Challenge in 2013, where she won runner-up. She has interned for Turning Green for the past two summers and has held a variety of responsibilities with the organization. She is most passionate about the industrial hemp movement, and hopes to use her degree to help re-legalize industrial hemp in America. Megan founded and is now president of the first official Turning Green Chapter at The Ohio State University.

SUSAN GRIFFIN-BLACK

co-founder and co-CEO, EO Products

Susan is the co-founder and co-CEO of EO Products, the Marin-based parent company of two leading personal care brands: EO and Everyone by EO. For 20 years Susan has been a pioneer of the personal care industry, and has built a successful, exemplary company rooted in responsible business practices. Susan is an expert on safe, healthy personal care products and essential oils. She is involved with numerous advisory boards including Turning Green and Bay Cycle Project.

PAMELA OSPINA

Landscape Architect, Colegio Rochester, Bogota

Pámela is a Landscape Architect from Bogotá, Colombia. She has experience working in permaculture and environmental education, and recently became a Climate Reality Leader. For the past years she has been working on implementing environmental curriculum from Pre-K to 12th grade at Colegio Rochester School in Bogota, integrating choice theory into sustainability learning and environmental projects with children. She believes in empowering youth as agents of change and education as the key towards a sustainable living,

CAROLEIGH PIERCE

Nonprofit Outreach Manager, Klean Kanteen

Caroleigh manages the nonprofit partnerships and product donations at Klean Kanteen in Chico, Ca. Klean Kanteen is a family owned, solution based company creating simply made products that provide safe and healthy alternatives to plastic and disposable bottles and food containers. Klean believes strongly in supporting nonprofit organizations that focus on education, advocacy and policy around Plastic Pollution, Safe Consumer Products, Land and Water Conservation and Environmental Stewardship. Our Mission Statement…At Klean, we deliver simple solutions that inspire healthy choices and create benefit for people and the places we live and play.

JOHN ROULAC

Founder & CEO, Nutiva

John Roulac is the founder and CEO of Nutiva, the world’s leading organic superfoods brand of hemp, coconut, chia, and red palm superfoods. John founded Nutiva in 1999 with a mission to nourish people and planet. Through his leadership, Nutiva has become the fastest-growing superfoods company on the planet, and has for five years in a row been named one of Inc. magazine’s fastest-growing companies in America. This growth keeps bringing John closer to his dream of a world that places people above profits—one where people everywhere have access to clean air, pure water, and wholesome, organic foods.

John was blessed to spend his childhood summers on islands of the Pacific Northwest, where he played among the forests and tide pools. When nuclear waste was dumped nine miles from his California home, John’s ecological awareness was awakened and he began his central life journey: to study natural systems and discover practical solutions to pressing environmental challenges.
As a longtime advocate for healthy people and ecosystems, John has founded five nonprofit ecological groups, including Forests Forever, which placed the California Forest Protection Act, Prop 130, on the state ballot in 1990; GMO Inside, a group dedicated to educating people on the dangers of GMO foods; and the Nutiva Nourish Foundation, which donates 1 percent of Nutiva’s annual sales to sustainable agriculture and environmental programs.

John has gained respect for his expertise on whole foods, organic farming, natural healing, hemp agriculture, forestry, permaculture, recycling and composting, and the conservation of water and energy. He helped jumpstart the modern home-composting movement in the early 1990s, successfully sued the US DEA to keep hemp foods legal in 2001, and has written four books on environmental topics that have combined sales of more than one million copies. He has been interviewed on numerous radio and television programs and is widely quoted in the print media—from Wired magazine to the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal.

In his leisure time, John enjoys travel, hiking, playing basketball, and soaking in natural hot springs. To learn more about John Roulac and Nutiva, visit www.nutiva.com.

“The current industrial food model is broken. People are waking up to the fact that food choices matter, and no healthcare plan is going to solve the issue of eating industrial goop sold as food.”

TENISHA TATE

Executive Director, 2Gen Equity

Tenisha moved to Marin County from Los Angeles nearly five years ago with only her material possessions and young son. Tenisha possess a BA degree in Sociology from the University of Southern California, a Master of Social Welfare degree from UCLA, and a second Masters in Education Administration from Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Over a span of fourteen years Tenisha has worked in several capacities at all levels in the k-12 education system. She is currently the Executive Director of 2Gen Equity, an innovative organization located in San Francisco working with single mothers, aimed at building pathways out of poverty to self-sufficiency, two generations at a time. Prior to voyaging out to establish this new organization, Tenisha most recently served as assistant principal at Bayside/Martin Luther King Jr. Academy. Tenisha is very passionate about positively impacting underserved communities and has dedicated her career to service. Tenisha’s commitment to the community is exemplified not only in her career choice, but also in her volunteerism. Tenisha currently serves on the Marin Women’s Commission, representative of District Three and has served as director on the Growth Circles’ Advisory Board since 2014. As a career oriented women, she attempts to balance changing the world, while being present for her young son and new husband.

ASHLEY UGARTE

Research Coordinator, Baylor College of Medicine Environmental Health Service

Ashley Ugarte is the Research Coordinator for the Environmental Health Service (EHS) at Baylor College of Medicine and a recent graduate of Rice University. There she led various initiatives to address environmental health and sustainability issues on-campus and in the community. She also served a two-year term as the Student Advisory Board President, Intern and Fellow for Turning Green. Ashley co-founded and served as president of the Rice Environmental Society, an umbrella organization that fosters collaboration among Rice’s many environmentally-focused clubs, groups and individuals. She also served as the founding president of Rice’s Environmental Health Collaborative, a group that raises awareness among pre-health students and professionals about the relationship between human and environmental health. Ashley is passionate about educating the medical community, who play a unique role as educators to their patients and colleagues, about the importance of climate change, environmental health and it’s implications on human health. Ashley plans to pursue a career in medicine where she hopes to combine her passions for health and environmental activism.