Co-founder | Yisrael Family Urban Farm

Chanowk Yisrael, co-founder of the Yisrael Family Urban Farm in Sacramento’s South Oak Park neighborhood, gave up a life in corporate America to become an award-winning, pioneering urban homesteader. Director of Urban Organic Sustainability for Hip Hop is Green, a plant-based hip hop multimedia organization, he also serves on the board of the South Oak Park Community Association and Slow Food Sacramento.

Director | Yisrael Family Urban Farm

Judith Yisrael, Director of the Yisrael Family Urban Farm in Sacramento’s South Oak Park neighborhood (a classic “food desert”), is an herbalist, award-winning community educator and mother dedicated to sharing her knowledge of nature’s power to heal—physically, emotionally and psychologically. A member of the American Herbalist Guild, she is also a master soap maker whose handmade skin care products are available at retail outlets throughout Sacramento.

Co-Owner/Farmer | Rise & Root Farm

Karen Washington, co-owner/farmer of Rise & Root Farm, has been a legendary activist in the community gardening movement since 1985. Renowned for turning empty Bronx lots into verdant spaces, Karen is: a former President of the NYC Community Garden Coalition; a board member of: the NY Botanical Gardens, Why Hunger, and NYC Farm School; a co-founder of Black Urban Growers (BUGS); and a pioneering force in establishing urban farmers’ markets.

Co-Director | Soil Born Farms

Shawn Harrison is the founder and Co-Director of Soil Born Farms, a non-profit urban farming and education center located in Sacramento, CA, which provides hands-on training at its 55 acre urban farm and at school gardens in the community to educate youth and adults about the connections between food, health and the health of the environment.

Restorative Food Systems Director | Bioneers

Arty Mangan, Bioneers' Restorative Food Systems Director, joined Bioneers in 1998 as Project Manager for the Restorative Development Initiative. A former board president of the Ecological Farming Association and member of the Santa Cruz GE Subcommittee that banned GE crops, Arty has worked with farmers and agriculture since 1978, first as a partner in Live Juice and later with Odwalla, where he was in charge of fruit sourcing.

Founder | Flourish.ink

Christiana Musk, whose background spans environmental and social entrepreneurship (including as a founding partner of Green Mountain Energy) and non-profit and foundation leadership, currently curates the Flourish content for the Near Future Summit and advises several food initiatives. An operating partner at Satori Capital, a sustainable investment firm, she was formerly Executive Director of Food Choice Taskforce and led the food system program for Avatar Alliance Foundation. (flourish.ink)

Chairman | Renewal Funds

Joel Solomon, author of The Clean Money Revolution: Reinventing Power, Purpose, and Capitalism and Chairman of Renewal Funds, a $200 million mission venture capital firm, has invested in over 100 early growth-stage companies in North America, delivering above market returns while catalyzing positive social and environmental change.

Founder | Standing in Our Power

Taij Kumarie Moteelall is a writer, performer, facilitator and coach as well as a highly successful fundraiser for social movements. She founded Standing in Our Power, a national network of women of color leaders committed to holistic transformation, sustainability and wellness for all across the gender spectrum, and co-founded Media Sutra, which seeks to be a vehicle for self-determination and collective liberation for creative entrepreneurs of color.

Co-Founder | Edmund Hillary Fellowship

Matthew Monahan is co-founder of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF), a global community of change-makers headquartered in Aotearoa New Zealand, home of the New Frontiers Summit. He is also a co-founder of the Namaste Foundation, a philanthropic fund focused on supporting environmental and education nonprofit projects.

CEO and Founder | Bioneers

Kenny Ausubel, CEO and founder (in 1990) of Bioneers, is an award-winning social entrepreneur, journalist, author and filmmaker. Co-founder and first CEO of the organic seed company, Seeds of Change, his film (and companion book) Hoxsey: When Healing Becomes a Crime helped influence national alternative medicine policy. He has edited several books and written four, including, most recently, Dreaming the Future: Reimagining Civilization in the Age of Nature.

Founder | Project Drawdown

Paul Hawken, one of the most important environmental authors, activists, thinkers and entrepreneurs of our era, has dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. His many bestselling books include such massively influential texts as: The Next Economy; The Ecology of Commerce; Blessed Unrest; and most recently, Drawdown, The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.

Founder | 350.org

Bill McKibben, our nation’s most significant environmental activist, is also a leading journalist, author and academic. A Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, Bill’s The End of Nature (1989) was the first book for a general audience about climate change. A founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, he has won slews of prestigious awards, including the Right Livelihood Award and the Gandhi Prize and Thomas Merton prizes.

Professor of Economics | UC Berkeley

Clair Brown, an eminent economist, Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley, has published research on many aspects of inequality and sustainability, including the book Buddhist Economics: An Enlightened Approach to the Dismal Science, which describes an economic framework that integrates global sustainability, shared prosperity, and care for the human spirit.

| Fossil Free UCSC

Laurel Levin, a just graduated, award-winning student activist at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) working at the intersection of the food and climate movements, worked with the Fossil Free UCSC campaign and other initiatives, and still leads backpacking trips with the UCSC Recreation Department and UCSC Wilderness Orientation Program.

U.S. Digital Campaigner | 350.org

Kristy Drutman, a Filipina American, is a U.S. Digital Campaigner with 350.org and the creator and host of Brown Girl Green, a podcast and media series dedicated to critical conversations around building an environmentally just society in which she discusses diversity and inclusiveness with a wide range of environmental leaders and advocates. While at college, Kristy co-founded the Students of Color Environmental Collective at UC Berkeley.

Chair | Everett Program

Chris Benner, Ph.D., the Dorothy E. Everett Chair in Global Information and Social Entrepreneurship and a Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at UC Santa Cruz, directs the Everett Program for Technology and Social Change and the Santa Cruz Institute for Social Transformation. He has authored or co-authored six books (most recently Equity, Growth and Community) and more that 70 journal articles, chapters and research reports.

Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture

David Shaw, a permaculture and whole systems designer, facilitator, and educator, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.

Founder | Project Drawdown

Paul Hawken, one of the most important environmental authors, activists, thinkers and entrepreneurs of our era, has dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. His many bestselling books include such massively influential texts as: The Next Economy; The Ecology of Commerce; Blessed Unrest; and most recently, Drawdown, The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.

Restorative Food Systems Director | Bioneers

Arty Mangan, Bioneers' Restorative Food Systems Director, joined Bioneers in 1998 as Project Manager for the Restorative Development Initiative. A former board president of the Ecological Farming Association and member of the Santa Cruz GE Subcommittee that banned GE crops, Arty has worked with farmers and agriculture since 1978, first as a partner in Live Juice and later with Odwalla, where he was in charge of fruit sourcing.

W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems | University of Arizona

Gary Nabhan, Ph.D., is a world-renowned, award-winning agricultural ecologist, ethnobotanist, Ecumenical Franciscan brother and orchard-keeper. A leading pioneer in the local food and heirloom seed-saving movements, he co-founded Native Seeds/SEARCH; helped create Ironwood Forest National Monument; was founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Environments; and founded the Center for Regional Food Studies. Author of 30+ books, his most recent is: Food from the Radical Center: Healing Our Lands & Communities.

Co-Owner/Farmer | Rise & Root Farm

Karen Washington, co-owner/farmer of Rise & Root Farm, has been a legendary activist in the community gardening movement since 1985. Renowned for turning empty Bronx lots into verdant spaces, Karen is: a former President of the NYC Community Garden Coalition; a board member of: the NY Botanical Gardens, Why Hunger, and NYC Farm School; a co-founder of Black Urban Growers (BUGS); and a pioneering force in establishing urban farmers’ markets.

Executive Director | Greenhorns

Severine v T Fleming, Executive Director of Greenhorns and a leading organizer and cultural worker within the young farmer movement for 12+ years, co-founded the National Young Farmers Coalition, FarmHack and Agrarian Trust. A part-time farmer and board member of the Schumacher Center for New Economics, her work has spanned many media to celebrate, bundle and broadcast the voices and life-ways of young agrarians.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief | Civil Eats

Naomi Starkman is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Civil Eats, a daily news source for critical thought about the American food system. A former Journalism Fellow at Stanford, she co-founded the Food & Environment Reporting Network, worked as a media consultant to many leading publications, and served as the Deputy Executive Director of the City of San Francisco's Ethics Commission.

Director of Policy and Systems Design | Schumacher Center for a New Economics

Greg Watson, Director of Policy and Systems Design at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics, has spent four decades seeking to apply systems thinking to achieve a just and sustainable world. His long CV includes stints as Massachusetts’ Commissioner of Agriculture, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust and of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, and founding the Cuba-U.S. Agroecology Network, among many other prestigious positions.

Director | Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society

john a. powell is Director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society and Professor of Law, African American, and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. His many previous roles have included Executive Director at the Kirwan Institute at Ohio State; National Legal Director of the ACLU; and teaching at numerous law schools including Harvard and Columbia. His latest book is Racing to Justice: Transforming our Concepts of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society.

Founder | 350.org

Bill McKibben, our nation’s most significant environmental activist, is also a leading journalist, author and academic. A Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, Bill’s The End of Nature (1989) was the first book for a general audience about climate change. A founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, he has won slews of prestigious awards, including the Right Livelihood Award and the Gandhi Prize and Thomas Merton prizes.

Author

Kim Stanley Robinson, one of the world’s leading science fiction writers, is the award-winning author of 20+ books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy, and more recently Red Moon, New York 2140, Aurora, Shaman, Green Earth, and 2312. Named a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine, he works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, and UC San Diego’s Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination. In 2016 asteroid 72432 was named “Kimrobinson.”

Executive Director | Women's Earth and Climate Action Network International

Osprey Orielle Lake, founder/Executive Director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International, works with grassroots and Indigenous leaders, policy-makers and scientists to promote climate justice, resilient communities, and a just transition to a clean energy future. Osprey serves on the Executive Committee of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, co-directs the DIVEST, INVEST, PROTECT campaign, and authored the award-winning, Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature. (wecaninternational.org)

Theresa Marquez, a passionate advocate for organic food and farming since 1978, was inducted into the Natural Products Hall of Fame in 2018 for her pioneering work in the organic and natural foods industry. Marquez served as CROPP/Organic Valley Cooperative’s Chief Marketing Executive for 18 years and another 6 as its Mission Executive. Although recently retired, she remains an activist working to change the food system and support the cooperative movement.

Co-Founder | Purpose US

Camille Canon is a serial entrepreneur and advisor who has successfully led small teams to create e-commerce and affiliate platforms, launch native apps, and develop real estate initiatives focused on community building and affordable housing. She’s a co-founder of Purpose US, which helps mission-driven companies transition to steward-ownership.

Community Economic Development | UC Davis

Keith Taylor, Ph.D., a specialist in Community Economic Development (CED) at UC Davis, focuses on community wealth building through economic development policy and governance practice, with a special emphasis on co-operatives. A nationally recognized expert in electric, food, and purchasing co-ops, he is the author of Governing the Wind Energy Commons.

Co-Founder | Project Equity

Hilary Abell, an Echoing Green and BALLE Fellow, is a veteran cooperative developer and employee ownership thought leader who co-founded Project Equity, which seeks to build economic resiliency in low-income communities by demonstrating and replicating strategies that increase worker ownership. Project Equity has developed unique programs that help support every aspect of a company's transition to employee- or multi-stakeholder ownership.

Founder | Arizmendi Bakery Cooperative

Frank Mason, after a career in high-tech and finance, found his home and passion at Arizmendi Bakery Cooperative, an exemplary, decades-old worker-owned Bay Area enterprise named after a famous Basque labor organizer. A worker/owner at the bakery since 2012, Frank has spoken widely at Bay Area colleges and beyond to inspire and educate the next generation about the advantages of worker owned cooperatives.

Cooperation Humboldt

David Cobb, now working with Cooperation Humboldt, an effort to build a solidarity economy on the California North Coast, has had a long track record as a "people's lawyer" who sued corporate polluters, lobbied, run for political office, got arrested for non-violent civil disobedience and helped launch the Election Integrity movement. Working with the pioneering Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy (POCLAD) he also long worked to abolish “corporate personhood” rights.

Founding Member | Cooperation Jackson

brandon king is an community organizer and cultural worker originally from Hampton Roads VA, currently living in Jackson MS. After graduating from Hampton University in 2006 with a BA in Sociology, brandon moved to New York City where he worked as a union organizer and later as an organizer working with New York City homeless people.

President | The Democracy Collaborative

Ted Howard, co-founder (in 2000) and President of The Democracy Collaborative, an action-oriented progressive think tank, has been named one of “25 visionaries who are changing your world” and identified by the Guardian newspaper as “the de facto spokesperson for community wealth building” internationally. He is co-author of the new (2019) book, The Making of a Democracy Economy.

Founder | Green Gal

Melissa Ott Fant is a writer, organic gardener, baker, and consultant based in Reno, NV. After working in higher education sustainability for years, she apprenticed at the UCSC Farm and received her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2017. Her business, Green Gal, provides marketing services to socially/environmentally conscious businesses, and depending upon the season also offers organic sourdough bread, vegetables, and flowers to the local community.

| Cornucopia Food Forest Garden

John Valenzuela, a horticulturist, consultant and educator who focuses on a diversity of productive trees, shrubs, vines and other perennials, growing an “ecosystem of abundance” with his Cornucopia Food Forest Gardens, has taught permaculture for 30 years, from Hawai’i to California, Washington state and Central America. He is actively engaged with the non-profit California Rare Fruit Growers organization.

Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture

David Shaw, a permaculture and whole systems designer, facilitator, and educator, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.

Doctoral Candidate in Geography | UC Davis

Marcus Renner, a doctoral candidate in Geography at UC Davis, previously coordinated sustainability efforts at two different college campuses and currently coordinates UC Davis' Community Economies Collaborative, a faculty/student reading group. With a background in environmental studies and playwriting, Marcus' current focus is on the intersection of local economies and the arts, and how UC-Davis can facilitate the development of community economies in the surrounding region.

Director of Policy and Systems Design | Schumacher Center for a New Economics

Greg Watson, Director of Policy and Systems Design at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics, has spent four decades seeking to apply systems thinking to achieve a just and sustainable world. His long CV includes stints as Massachusetts’ Commissioner of Agriculture, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust and of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, and founding the Cuba-U.S. Agroecology Network, among many other prestigious positions.

Decolonizer | Seeding Sovereignty

Christine Nobiss is Plains Cree-Saulteaux and holds an MA in Religious Studies. She is a Decolonizer with Seeding Sovereignty and directs their SHIFT and Land Resilience Programs. She speaks and writes about the MMIW crisis, climate change, and an Indingeous led regenerative economy. She is in her second year of organizing the Indingeous track at SOCAP with the goal of dismantling colonial-capitalist institutions and replacing them with Indigenous practices created in synchronicity with the land.

President | The Democracy Collaborative

Ted Howard, co-founder (in 2000) and President of The Democracy Collaborative, an action-oriented progressive think tank, has been named one of “25 visionaries who are changing your world” and identified by the Guardian newspaper as “the de facto spokesperson for community wealth building” internationally. He is co-author of the new (2019) book, The Making of a Democracy Economy.

Deputy Director of Equity, Jobs & Climate | California Workforce Development Board

Sarah L. White, Ph.D., Senior Advisor for Jobs and the Economy in Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Planning and Research, is working on California’s efforts to make an equitable transition to carbon neutrality. Sarah has a long track record of public service at the highest levels in both governmental and non-profit sectors. One of the nation’s leading experts on jobs and training in the low-carbon economy, she has written widely on inequality, de-carbonization, and social change.

| Truong & Associates

Vien Truong, JD, a leading expert on building an equitable green economy, has helped develop many major energy, environmental and economic justice policies and programs at the state, federal, and local levels. A former President/CEO of the Dream Corps, her firm, Truong & Associates, advises lawmakers and organizations globally on developing sustainable, equitable environmental policies. Among her many award-winning achievements Vien co-led the coalition to pass California’s law creating the biggest fund in history for the most polluted communities.

Labor & Coal Coordinator | Sierra Club Labor Program

Larry Williams Jr., Labor Coordinator for the Sierra Club's Labor and Economic Justice Program, works domestically and internationally as a strategist and organizer seeking to revive the labor movement's influence and strengthen working class voices in climate, economic and racial justice struggles. President Emeritus of Progressive Workers Union (PWU), Williams is known globally as the founder of UnionBase.org, the first secure social networking platform for unions and union workers.

Co-Founder and Executive Director | New Consensus

Demond Drummer is the Chicago-based co-founder and Executive Director of New Consensus, a nonprofit working to develop and promote the Green New Deal that has advised many progressive leaders and organizations, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Sunrise Movement. Demond’s other notable projects include CoderSpace, a computer science learning lab where youths develop leadership skills, and LargeLots.org, a community-driven effort to reclaim and city-owned vacant lots in Chicago.