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.
LISA BRONNER
Author, Going Green with a Bronner Mom
Lisa is the author of the blog, “Going Green with a Bronner Mom” and granddaughter of Dr. Emanuel Bronner, founder of Dr. Bronner’s, maker of the top-selling natural brand of soap in North America. A mother of three young children, Lisa has helped many make the transition to a healthier home and lifestyle. She educates consumers, the most powerful force for change in the market today, to be equipped with the knowledge to vote wisely with their dollars. In 2012, Lisa was a spokesperson for Proposition 37 to label Genetically Engineered Foods in California. Lisa’s writing has appeared on the Rodale Publishing blog and Prevention Magazine online, and she just finished up a speaking tour in Australia, focusing on the importance of Organic Integrity and Fair Trade business practices. Currently, Lisa is a spokesperson for Dr. Bronner’s and loves to share about their product excellence, progressive business practices, and revolutionary activism. Prior to her work with Dr. Bronner’s, Lisa was a high school English and journalism teacher for the gifted in Raleigh, NC. She enjoys cooking, crocheting, and quilting and volunteers with organizations that support moms in San Diego.
AMY HALMAN
Founder, EcoBlend Consulting
Amy began her career with a focus in design and home furnishings. After college, she naturally embraced a path in the Home Furnishing industry, taking on roles in manufacturing and corporate merchandising for companies like Crate and Barrel and The Great Indoors. However, as she progressed through her career, her health became challenged. Plagued by stress and imbalance in the body, she developed aggressive, debilitating adult acne and adrenal fatigue.
After years of trial and error, she regained her health and became determined to help others with her knowledge and experience. In 2005 she obtained both a license in Esthetics and Massage Therapy and began a practice in Chicago using high performance, natural skin care treatments and clinical massage to help create health and balance in skin and body. In 2009, Amy was voted “Best Esthetician in Chicago” by Chicago Magazine and nationally publicized as the “Best Facial Treatment in Chicago” by Allure Magazine in 2010.
Searching for greater ways to use her training, she moved to Portland, Oregon to work with New Seasons Market. Known for its integrity of product selection and the commitment to support of local vendors, farmers and bettering the planet, this job allowed her to become an expert in 80+ body care lines, 150+ herbal, nutritional and supplement brands and expanded her knowledge of ingredients and holistic nutrition. It also exposed her to a myriad of ways that can lessen our environmental footprint and lead a more conscious lifestyle.
In 2011, she became VP of Product Development for ACURE and traveled the country, increasing brand awareness, while discussing the impact of toxic chemicals on the skin, body and planet. This led to her direct role in concept creation of new products for the brand with a focus on sourcing cutting-edge natural technology and responsible manufacturing practices. She helped design products that truly performed without harming the body or the planet. Promoted to President in 2012, ACURE continued rapid expansion and won prestigious beauty awards like Allure’s Best of Beauty in both 2015 and 2016.
Having left her position with ACURE this past summer, Amy’s next endeavor is to consult with like-minded businesses and continue with causes that hold powerful potential for positive change in the world. Using her diverse skill set and experience from multiple angles of industry, she founded EcoBlend Consulting to creatively nurture ideas, concepts and campaigns that foster compassionate business and eco-consumerism.
WENDY MURPHY
Marketing Director, U Konserve
Wendy is known as somewhat of a green ambassador in her community as she advocates for living sustainably and encourages others to find ways to reduce their impact on the earth. In 2009 she transferred this passion to her work at U Konserve, a pioneer provider of reusable lunch-packing and food-storage products. Her design and marketing expertise and her motivation to protect the environment have been important assets to help develop and communicate their message. Wendy’s primary focus is graphic design, marketing planning, brand strategy, product development and photography. Before U Konserve, Wendy took eight years off to raise her kids, and before that she spent several years as a Creative Services manager at Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco. Wendy has a BA in Communications from UC Santa Barbara and lives in Marin County.
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. 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.
BARBARA SOBEL
Integrative Nutritionist,
Barbara Sobel is an integrative nutritionist specializing in personalized nutrition counseling and health education. She views the whole body as an an interconnected ecosystem system with individual parts that work together. She ishelps her clients recognize the complex role of food and nutrition in human health and then make the lifestyle changes necessary to feel better and build optimal health. She emphasizes the role of food in nurturing and nourishing our bodies and helps her clients find ways to bring real foods into their lives in a way that is simple, enjoyable, economical, and delicious.
She began her professional career working for elected officials at the state and local levels building community support and drafting legislation for environmental, health and women’s issues. She transitioned into communications consulting with a focus on health related issues and later worked with a LEED certified architect diving more deeply into sustainable building practicies. When her children were young, took several years off from paid work and used her advocacy, planning, communication and fundraising skills to help local schools as well as environmental and health-focused non-profit organizations.
Barbara has an BA in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego, and MS in Nutrition and Holistic Health from Maryland University of Integrative Health. She lives in Marin County. She loves to cook and experiment with twists on recipes and fresh ingredients, building on flavors and ways to increase nutrient value, taste, and pleasure around food and eating using the simplest techniques possible. Her favorite places are exploring farmers markets, small neighborhood markets, and independent food purveyors. She is also a photographer and can often be found hiking the trails of Marin County or paddling the bay.
JULIA WHITTEN
Education Coordinator, DOI/VISTA
Born and raised in Georgia, Julia grew up hiking, canoeing, and running around barefoot. She was a Project Green Challenge finalist in 2011 as a high school senior and has been involved with Turning Green ever since. After receiving degrees in Environmental Science and Spanish from the University of Alabama, Julia moved to Denver and is currently serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA with a wildlife refuge and an environmental education nonprofit. She is constantly learning about Denver communities, inclusivity in public land, and how to engage families in outdoor experiences. Julia is passionate about conservation, creative expression and social justice, and she abides by the Wendell Berry quote, “Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.” When she’s off the clock, you can find Julia biking across Denver, hiking through the Rocky Mountains, and snapping photos along the way. This will be the fifth time Julia has attended the PGC Finals.
DARCY ELLSWORTH YOW
Director of Service Learning, Marin Country Day School
Darcy Ellsworth Yow has been a teacher for over twenty five years and has been teaching Spanish and directing Service Learning programs for the students, families, faculty and staff at her alma mater Marin Country Day School for twenty four of those years, with an emphasis on community engagement that is reciprocal, meaningful and sustainable. She is also the mother of identical twin thirteen year old daughters who she regularly embarrasses when she won’t let them accept plastic straws in restaurants.
