Sonoma State University’s School of Business and Economics have teamed up with New College of California’s Green MBA program and several local sustainability business leaders including Global Genesis, WSP Environmental, Sustainable Progress and Simplers Botanical Company to bring you this years conference. Here is more information about this year’s conference organizers and speakers.
Professor Robert Girling
School of Business and Economics
Sonoma State University
Previous professional experience includes consulting with the World Bank, USAID, the United Nation, and the International Center for Research on Women. He has served as Director of Regional Development for the Government of Jamaica, president of the faculty union, and as a member of the California State University Statewide Academic Senate, and on the boards of non-governmental organizations. He has received grants from the Ford Foundation, Fulbright-Hayes and was selected as Sonoma State University’s outstanding professor in 1994. In 2005 Professor Robert Girling was selected as a Fulbright Senior Scholar.
Professor Girling has taught and consulted in 20 different countries and most recently has served as a consultant to the Caribbean Development Bank on sustainable development strategies for Dominica, International project director at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil, and faculty member on the University at Sea. His current research is on sustainable business strategies. Professor Girling is the author of over 50 articles and books including Multinational Institutions and the Third World (1985); Structures of Dependency (1973); Education, Management and Participation (1990) A Escola Participativa (1998). He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, a MA from the University of Essex, and a BA from The University of California, Berkeley.
John Stayton
Program Director
MBA in Sustainable Enterprise
New College of California, North Bay Campus
After fifteen years in high technology industrial marketing, John desired to leverage his business background in developing a profession that would serve the environment and society. In 2000, he cofounded a groundbreaking graduate program in sustainable business that, in 2002, became the Green MBA. Based in Santa Rosa, the Green MBA is a rigorous two-year program that transforms students' abilities to advance environmental and social initiatives through changing or creating enterprises.
In 1997, John and his wife Ana purchased an organic fruit farm in Sonoma County as a step towards developing a more ecological lifestyle. Their 2.5 acre farm and home now models "suburban sustainability", with natural buildings, a solar system, a vegetable oil powered vehicle, extensive and diverse food production, and a community living situation.
Edward L. Quevedo
Senior Director
Global Integrity & Sustainability Programs
WSP Environmental North America
Ed Quevedo’s practice encompasses domestic and international Environmental, Health & Safety (EH&S) Strategic Counseling, and EH&S Compliance Counseling. In addition, for over 10 years Ed has advised his clients in the high technology, life sciences, automotive, public agency, academic, and manufacturing industries, on sustainable development practices, strategic EH&S management, environmental product design, green building and facility design, eco-labeling and green marketing, industrial ecology methodologies, and environmental management system implementation.
His practice also includes implementation of Management Systems designed to move organizations toward environmental performance and Sustainable Development goals. In 1999, he co-authored, with Andrea Sumits of Holland & Knight LLP, a Sustainability Management Systems Guidance document that marries ISO 14001 and Agenda 21. Ed has also initiated a practice in social performance and ethics auditing in support of clients whose goals include higher levels of social responsibility and community involvement.
During his legal career, Ed argued cases before the California Supreme Court and the International Board of Arbitrators in The Hague, and appeared before the European Court of Justice on several matters. He is Past President of the Pacific Industrial & Business Association, a regional collaborative in the San Francisco Bay area convening sustainability dialogues and developing sustainability solutions; he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Silicon Valley Environmental Partnership, which among other things publishes a leading edge Regional Environmental Index for Silicon Valley; he also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the MultiState Working Group on Environmental Performance.
Ed is Distinguished Scholar in the Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, and is on faculty at: the Advanced Environmental Management Program at U.C. Santa Cruz Extension, the New College of California MBA program in Sustainable Enterprise, and the Schools of Business & Economics and Environmental Science and Planning at Sonoma State University. He has lectured on environmental management, applied ethics, sustainable development, and sustainable business practices in the Haas Business School at the University of California, Berkeley, Tulane University, Cornell University, Ithaca College, Lund University (Sweden), Stanford University, the Technical University of Berlin, and the University of South Carolina. He teaches ecology in Saratoga High School and is has developed a curriculum in Peace Studies for the K-12 level.
But mostly, Ed enjoys spending time with and learning from his 9 year old daughter Sam, his three older children, Francisco, Victoria, and Mariel, and his fiancée Rosanne Harding, in and around his home town of Mountain View, California, along the California Redwood Coast.
Terry D. Taylor
Founder & President
Global Genesis
Terry D. Taylor is an independent consultant who has worked successfully with organizations from small non-profits to international Fortune 500 entities and governments in all areas of the globe.
Terry studied educational, developmental, and social psychology as an undergraduate and graduate at Stanford University. He currently owns and serves as President for Global Genesis, a consulting firm that specializes in strategic planning, training and consulting in the arenas of negotiations, conflict resolution, high performance teamwork, human resources, and corporate training and coaching. Terry has designed and been involved in projects addressing organizational and cultural change. Additionally, he delivers negotiation skills training (World Class Negotiating) and conflict resolution skills training (Transforming Conflict into Innovation: Turning Heat into Light) in over 40 countries worldwide. He delivered some of the first programs of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” in Southeast Asia.
Jerrell Ross Richer, Ph.D.
School of Business and Economics, Sonoma State University
Green MBA Program, New College of California
Jerrell Ross Richer, Ph.D. is a teacher, researcher and consultant in the fields of environmental, natural resource and ecological economics. He recently accepted a position as assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Sonoma State University. He is an adjunct faculty member in the Green MBA Program at New College of California, a graduate business program that focuses on developing sustainable enterprises. Jerrell’s research has been published in a variety of scholarly journals. He is a member of the American Economic Association, the Western Economic Association and the International Society for Ecological Economics. He is also a principal for UnCommon Sense Consulting. Jerrell is currently directing a research program for the U.S. Forest Service, examining outdoor recreation behavior and its contribution to local economies. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Susan Briski
Principal and Founder
Sustainable Progress
Susan Briski, Principal and founder of Sustainable Progress Consulting, provides consulting services to leading organizations to help them create a sustainable future and improve their triple-bottom-line performance; where business, the environment, and people prosper. She helps people understand and apply sustainability principles in practical, common sense ways, and provides systematic approaches to produce measurable improvement. Her clients include businesses, colleges, and community groups.
Susan has 20 years of experience in high-tech corporations including Hewlett Packard and Agilent Technologies as an engineer, project manager, and manager in Manufacturing and Research and Development. She is knowledgeable about the latest environmental and sustainability models and practices and has expertise in Environmental and Sustainability Management Systems including ISO 14001 and the Global Reporting Initiative, The Natural Step (a framework for organizational improvement), and The Ecological Footprint.
Susan holds an MBA in Environmental Entrepreneurship, an MA in Humanities and Leadership with an emphasis in Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering.
Peter Hoberg
Hoberg Associates
After twenty-two years in a variety of positions at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies, Peter Hoberg is now a management consultant specializing in marketing and product management. He is currently engaged with several startup organizations in the initial phases of business planning, and is looking for additional opportunities to create and grow new business ventures.
Peter currently serves on the steering committee of the Sonoma County Business Environment Alliance (www.sonomabea.org). At Agilent, he was an active member of a sustainability discussion group, and has taught sustainability courses to Agilent employees. He is currently an MBA candidate at the Institute for Environmental Entrepreneurship in Santa Rosa.
Dr. Elizabeth Thach
School of Business and Economics
Sonoma State University
Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Thach is a management professor and consultant specializing in human resource development, wine business strategies, organizational behavior, leadership and international business. She has more than 18 years of experience, including HR management and executive positions with Compaq, Amoco, Texas Instruments and AT&T Broadband. She has worked in more than 15 countries and has taught thousands of employees worldwide.
Liz holds a doctorate in Human Resource Development from Texas A&M University, and has published more than 50 articles, 3 book chapters, and one book. She frequently consults in the wine, telecom and biotech industries, and teaches HR, Leadership and Wine Business classes at Sonoma State University in the School of Business.
Genevieve Taylor
Associate and Project Coordinator
Global Genesis
Genevieve Taylor received her BA in Political Science with an emphasis on International Relations and a minor in Geography at UC Berkeley. At Global Genesis, she is responsible for developing new lines of business, and is a trainer in the topics of problem-solving, conflict resolution and meeting management. She also facilitates teambuilding and leadership development programs for a well-known ropes course company. She co-founded the San Francisco Urban Alliance for Sustainability, which supports and forms sustainable projects in San Francisco. Genevieve speaks Spanish fluently, and spent 6 months in Chile in 2001.
Stacie Wickham
Director of Marketing and Operations
Green MBA Program, New College of California
Stacie Wickham graduated from the New College of California’s Green MBA program in May 2005. She became interested in sustainability while working as a production manager for a small clothing company in San Francisco a few years ago. Her concern for the impact her work was having on the environment led her to seek out higher education in this area. She believes that business is the most effective tool for creating change in today’s rapidly changing world.
Currently, Stacie is the Director of Marketing and Operations for the Green MBA program. She enjoys working with the faculty, students and alumni in continuing to develop this pioneering program. In addition, Stacie is the Chair of Marketing for Sustainable Fairfax in Marin County. She is working with a group of seven other people to develop a Sustainability Center that is expected to open in the summer of 2007. In the mean time she is also studying permaculture at the Northern California Permaculture Institute. She will earn her design certificate this summer.
Oren Wool
Technology and Research
Integrative Aromatic Botanical Venture
Oren Wool was brought to the Aromatic and Herbal Medicine Industry in northern California in 2002. He is a student and an advocate of plant medicine. He was a resident at the California School of Herbal Studies and he seeks out conferences and lectures that focus on integrative plant medicine and sustainable business practices. In his position as Chief Operating Officer at Simplers Botanical Company, Oren was pleased to spend his time implementing green business practices, supporting organic agriculture and promoting the use of plants as medicine.
Oren Wool recently traveled to Fez, Morocco where he presented at MAP 2005 on the growing North American market for products with certified organic and sustainable harvested ingredients from aromatic and medicinal plants. MAP 2005 was a USAID funded conference facilitated by AED to bring together international experts and key Moroccan stakeholders from public sector, private sector and universities in Morocco to address the opportunities and constraints facing the development of the medicinal plants sector in Moroccan Agriculture. This work continues.
