Participant Descriptions Below:




Conference Coordinator:

Aaron Wood has a Master of Arts degree in Whole Systems Design from Antioch University Seattle. Aaron is IRIS' managing partner and has been working on this project for over seven years. He is responsible for the overall functionality of the system and coordinating the myriad of components of the company and conference.

Check out Aaron's Thesis, "Emerging Paradigms of the Early 21st Century"


Conference Dialogue Facilitator:

David M. Mills has a Ph.D. in Human Learning from Brunel University in London and a M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Texas/Dallas. He is an educator, systems theorist, and freelance philosopher. He acts as the Conference Dialogue Facilitator.


Conference Co-Facilitators:

Paul Cienfuegos is a co-founder of Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County, and has been a grass-roots community organizer since 1977. He gives talks and workshops across the U.S. on dismantling corporate constitutional rights (such as corporate personhood) as a means towards strengthening American democracy for all. He also runs a very successful online bookstore called 100fires.com, with thousands of titles on creating an ecologically sustainable, socially just and democratic world. Paul's bookstore has been recognized as an important project in the face of increasing corporate ownership, and a valuable resource of independent and non-profit literature. He has received many endorsements for his efforts, including most notably from Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky.
DUHC.org
100fires.com

JanEdwards is a participant of the California Center for Community Democracy, an organization aimed at empowering citizen authority over corporations; and in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Jan has worked extensively on issues around corporate personhood. She is currently focused on enhancing public awareness of The Commons through the "Tapestry of the Commons" project which is sponsored by The Alliance for Democracy.
www.tapestryofthecommons.org

William Meyers, author of The Santa Clara Blues: Corporate Personhood versus Democracy, is currently serving a second term on the School Board of Point Arena, CA and is an active participant with the California Center for Community Democracy. He is exceptionally qualified in the fields of law, business, investment and corporate personhood. William will co-facilitate the ownership model section of the conference and has been integral in helping Igitel conceive its legal entity and ownership structure.

Skip Rowland received his Master of Science degree in Human Resources Management at Gonzaga University, and holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Seattle University. He is currently the Executive Director of the Urban Enterprise Center of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, where he focuses on the development of small businesses within the Northwest. Skip is an educator who has worked in K-12 public schools, and undergraduate and graduate level. He is a business owner with extensive experience in business management, entrepreneurship and small business development, and has held several positions of leadership within state and local city government. He is the creator of The C.A.R.E. Package Learning System℠, a leadership model that integrates the concepts and practices of leadership, coaching and mentoring, inclusion and equity, teambuilding, and project and process management. The foundations of his learning model include transactional and transformational leadership theory, whole systems design, ancient Egyptian leadership models, and men’s and women’s ways of knowing, learning, and leading. He is also the co-author of Coaching and Mentoring Employees for top Performance in the Workplace; Success in School: The School to Work Transition; and Gap-Closing: Bridging the Economic and Educational Divide.

Kari Lende, co-author of Grassroot Horizons: Connecting Participatory Development Initiatives East and West, is a representative of Collaborating Movements Towards Sustainability (CMTS), a global network of grassroot organizers. Kari is a cross-collaborator and is interested in creating a society based on sustenance restoration.

Paul H. Ray is the co-author of the book, The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing The World. He has worked as the Chief of Policy Research on Energy Conservation, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources of the Government of Canada and consults with organizations whose constituencies are cultural creatives.

Karen Coulter is a forward thinker and grassroots activist who has been closely affiliated with a variety of ecological and social justice groups. She is the Director of the Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project and is also a researcher, writer and speaker for the Program On Corporations, Law And Democracy. Karen has recently written a series of articles about the history of the Commons titled, “The Rule Of Property”.

Rick Newton - Wisdom In Action, Inc.
You can download Wisdom In Action's Powerpoint presentation about Social and Sustainable Investing at: Download SCF articles here.



Other Participants:

Eva Deloach is the proprietor of the Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie (tvicr.com) and The Minglement, an organic health food store that is located inside the historic artisan roasterie. The Roasterie is dedicated to hand roasting high quality shade grown, fairly traded coffee that is both good for the environment and for all of the people who share a relationship with it; those who cultivate and trade it, those who roast and sell it, and those who purchase and consume it. In connection, she is the founder of Traditions Foundation, which she established as a vehicle to contribute a portion of her retail sales to organizations and individuals dedicated to the reclamation and restoration of the natural world and the protection of indigenous cultures. Eva learned about business and life, in general, from her mother, her children and their children, and from friends. Eva has a history of creating her own career pathways that include more than 25 years of experience in horticulture as a buyer for independent retail garden stores. She later started training owners of large nurseries and their staffs, how to change from selling dangerous pesticides and herbicides to organic alternatives. Eva also started teaching classes about herbs and soil and plant disease. Eva worked as promoter and facilitator of a citywide Fall Festival in the city of Poulsbo that featured farmers and local crafts people. Her involvement in social activism includes community organizing and letter writing campaigns for Seattle groups which organized the World Trade Organization demonstrations in 1999. Eva joined IRIS as an advisor because of her interests in sustainability and in people that hold the earth in trust, and to help create a vehicle for new and innovative businesses.
tvicr.com

George Draffan is a freelance researcher and writer for citizens and public interest organizations, specializing in systems analysis of natural resource industries and corporate power. He is the author or co-author of several books including Railroads & Clearcuts, The Elite Consensus, Strangely Like War, and Welcome to the Machine. Some of his work can be seen at Endgame.org and Landgrant.org.

You can check out more bios on the IRIS Team page.