Executive Board / Board of Advisors

OUR EXECUTIVE BOARD

Leads the effort to curate, produce and make final speaker selections.

Bob Ayres (TEDxMarin Licensee/Executive Producer), until 2007 sat on the prestigious Board of Advisors for the TED Conference and served for two years as the inaugural Executive Director of The TED PRIZE. Currently, he is the CEO of Comedic Ventures, a comedy showcase, and development company born out of his infamous 80’s Haight-Ashbury comedy club, The Other Cafe which he owned for 18 years. Bob was the founder and Executive Producer of The Next 20 years project which traveled to 13 cities forecasting the future. Bob also runs the occasional private salon called TwoDegrees an invite-only collection of beloved friends of beloved friends. More importantly, Bob leans, bats and throws left.

Deborah Masters is the founder of MasterSpeak, a company dedicated to helping Fortune 500 companies create influential leaders and high impact communicators.For more than 20 years she has coached thousands of business professionals on how to influence and inspire others to action and positive change. She is also a residential builder and developer and has brought more than 500 new homes to market.Formerly, she managed and consulted for top restaurants in the bay area.Her book, “The Magical Wisdom of Kids”, has spanned the globe bringing humor and wisdom to children and adults everywhere, including children’s hospitals and schools in third world countries. Deborah is an x triathlete who runs and bikes the beautiful hills of Marin County.

Tim Gnatek loves a good idea. As President of the sustainability-focused public relations firm Blue Practice, Tim leads marketing and public relations efforts for innovative solutions for people and the planet. He formerly covered science, technology and culture for The New York Times, Wired, Frontline/World, NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Technology Review. Tim spent the dotcom bubble introducing breakthrough internet and consumer technology companies like Pandora and the first e-book, and previously served as an editor and speechwriter for an international humanitarian agency. A longtime Fairfax resident, Tim spends his free time trail running on and around Mt. Tam.

Sandy Kleiman has a passion for helping people live a healthy life.She shares that knowledge as a Health Coach, Nutrition Educator, and Chef. As a Health Coach she guides clients through the process of creating a vision for their health and well-being, developing a healthy mindset and healthy habits. It is heart-centered health care. Sandy has hosted health and wellness salons where she’s curated and interviewed speakers expert in the field. She’s taught private and group classes for HealthyCulinaryCoach.com and is able to combine her love of cooking and her passion for nutrition in a way that inspires to make everyday healthy choices fun, easy and sustainable. As an avid yogi she has made her practice a permanent part of her life recognizing the meditative and stress reducing effects it has.

OUR BOARD OF ADVISORS

Our Board of Advisors are a prestigious, hand picked group of Bay Area entrepreneurs and thought leaders, entrusted with helping to attract top speakers, like-minded attendees, volunteers and sponsors. We encourage you to support these folks in their endeavors.

Kare Anderson TED speaker on Be an Opportunity Maker, TEDx presenter on Redefine Your Life Around Mutuality, and Emmy-winning former NBC and Wall Street Journal journalist. She is a public speaker and author of Mutuality Matters, Moving From Me to We and five other books.

Steve Astle is a senior communication strategist and practitioner who specializes in purpose-led, strategy-driven change management for high-stakes business initiatives. He has broad experience with early-stage, hypergrowth and iconic Fortune 500 companies including Bloomberg, Cisco, eBay, FICO, Flex, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Oracle, PayPal and many others. He has built and led high-performing global teams in a range of professional settings. Steve is an alumnus of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology.

Keith Baker built an independent sales and marketing business – representing manufacturers, importers, and foreign producers in the home textiles industry for over 3 decades. His work with large, national retailers honed skills in relationship management, problem solving, systems management, and communication. He has been a community leader, having served on the Economic Development Authority (EDA) of a small tourist town in Minnesota, managing an annual 5-k race there to support a local library, and facilitated town hall meetings to build consensus on the prioritizing the allocation of funds for community projects. He is a supporter of environmental education and the Arts, and hopes to make a difference in Marin through volunteerism.

Terry Barker is a marketing communications consultant and art director at Barker&. His work spans 40 years and includes projects for dozens of America’s best known brands in high-tech, business services, and financial services. He is the founder and past chair of The Mid-Peninsula Holiday Project, an all-volunteer organization that each year visits thousands of people spending Christmas, Chanukah and other holidays confined to nursing homes and other institutions. Terry is a third generation San Franciscan, making Marin his home since 1990.

Liana Bender is the Development Director of the California Film Institute, a media arts organization that programs the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, produces the annual Mill Valley Film Festival, and runs an innovative education program. She was trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and went on to study with the British Chartered Institute of Marketing. She has worked to grow financial strength of non-profits in the US and the UK, including the Edinburgh International Science Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Louise Glasgow was the Producer of Maker Faire, O’Reilly Media’s award winning event developed by Make Magazine which focused on education within the DIY movement, celebrating art, craft, sustainability, engineering, science & technology. With twenty six years of production experience, Louise has been integral to the success of a vast array of different types of projects such as the Int’l Conference on AIDS, 2002 Winter Olympic Games, YPO Bermuda, SunNetwork, Dwell on Design, ESPN’s MLBPA Player’s Choice Awards & Big League Challenge and Oracle’s 2000 iDevelop World Tour which represents a show 22 countries in 26 weeks. Louise has produced events in over 24 international and 32 domestic locations.

Karen Hawkes has co-founded three companies in the ocean exploration field. Submarines, shipwrecks, sharks. She’s seen them all, up close and personal. She was VP Communications and Media Relations at DeepFlight, which designed, built and operated the DeepFlight submarines, and she was co-founder of DeepFlight Adventures, a company that offered submarine excursions at select resorts around the world. In her “spare” time, she is an independent college counselor, helping students navigate the college application process. Previously, Karen was an Associate Producer at American Adventure Productions in Aspen, Colorado, and an Associate at the Corporate PR firm, Kekst and Company in New York. Karen graduated from Colgate University and has a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. She is originally from Nantucket Island Massachusetts and has lived in Marin since 1995 with her two children, who sadly, are in college on the East Coast.

Paul Herrerias is passionate about building teams that build businesses. He is the Managing Director of Stanton Chase – San Francisco and leads the Global CFO Practice Group with over 30 years of executive search and leadership consulting experience. Paul Herrerias has performed hundreds of searches from startups to Fortune 1000 companies and coached many executives on career planning and organizational development. Paul is currently on the Faculty of Dominican University of California; serves on the Board of the American Institute of Ethics; is Founder/Chair of the CEO Club of Marin; Chapter Director for the COO Forum, a national peer-to-peer mentoring group for #2 in-Commands; and Board Chair of DealPAVERS, a Private Equity networking group. When not working, Paul is raising three children, competes for Tamalpa Runners, serves on community boards, and is reading his newest book recommendation (readers are leaders, and leaders are readers!).

Cynthia Holladay is founder and CEO of UpRight Marketing, an organization dedicated to bringing more humanity into technology, products and services. She helps entrepreneurs build sustainable companies and coaches Founder Institute startups in customer development and communications. Cynthia is Chairman, Nominations Committee of the Computer History Museum Fellow Awards.She led the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association to earn the AMA’s highest leadership award. Cynthia studies neuroscience, philosophy and language and is a supporter of the Long Now Foundation, live performances and modern art. Previously she was a concert pianist and holds a post-graduate degree at the Boston Conservatory of Music.

Teri Hollowell founded One World Partners, a corporate event management company that specialized in creating memorable events around the globe. Her programs have covered the spectrum, from dinner for 300 on the Great Wall to hosting a private concert inside Notre Dame Cathedral. Having traveled to over 50 countries, Teri has a strong commitment to supporting the world community. While at One World, she created the “Footprints” program.Its goal was simple: to leave every event destination visited a little better off than when they arrived.Approximately $100,000 was donated over ten years. Teri sold One World Partners in 2009.

Kathy Johnson As a co-founder of the world’s first video search engine, Blinkx (LSE: BLNX), Kathy’s evangelism of disruptive mobile and search technologies garnered global media attention. Leveraging her experience being on the front line of publicity, she co-founded Consort Partners, a PR agency working with tech companies large and small including King (Candy Crush Saga), Pinterest, Guardant Health and FreedomPop, among others. Previously, she held business development and advisory roles at Firefly (acquired by Microsoft), online loyalty firm Netcentives (IPO in 2000), HP, Intel, Lockheed Martin, and Dentsu, Inc. Kathy has served as a consultant to Japan’s 87th Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, and was closely involved with Japan’s first inbound tourism campaign, “Yokoso Japan,” as well as Japan’s FDI (foreign direct investment) strategies. Kathy has been recognized by the Stevie Awards for a ” Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award ,” has served on the board of the largest running group in Marin, Tamalpa Runners, has been a patient volunteer with Hospice by the Bay, and has been a foster parent through Alternative Family Services. Because she sits behind a computer so much, some days her fitness tracker says she’s walked only 32 steps. To (over)compensate, she runs marathons.

Jascha Kaykas-Wolff is President at Lytics and a Startup Advisor. Until recently he led Mozilla’s global marketing strategy and organization and is now involved in a new start-up .Prior to joining Mozilla, Jascha most recently served as CMO for BitTorrent, CMO for Mindjet, senior vice president of marketing and customer success at Involver and he previously headed Global Marketing for Webtrends. Jascha calls Marin County home with his wife Rebecca where they are the parents of 3 whip-smart children, 4 newly acquired hamsters, 2 frogs and 6 or 7 fish. You can find him online at @kaykas.

Ishara Kotagama is the founder and CEO of Allerkids, an organization dedicated to creating an inclusive culture for children with food allergies. Ishara studied and worked in Australia, Europe and Asia, and has over 15 years of global marketing experience in industries including technology, health and consumer goods. In addition to her role at Allerkids, Ishara is also Chief Digital Officer at a physician recruitment firm in the bay, that recruits top medical practitioners for hospitals around the United States. She is an avid supporter of the arts, and has served on the board of San Francisco Ballet ENCORE.

Scott Liebman is co-Founder and CEO of FORT Systems, a SaaS logistics platform for sales, distribution, and supply chain management, primarily in the alcohol industry. He has recently launched a new venture Totem Air, an Augmented Reality technology. A native Californian, he has lived in Europe and Asia, speaks several foreign languages, co-founded with local friends a small boutique winery Geometry Wines, is active in local non-profits like the West Point Inn, enjoys photography, backpacking, bridge, biking, volleyball and the outdoors. He earned his MIA at Columbia University and his AB from Dartmouth College.

Michael Lipson is VP BizDev at Exicon, a mobile services firm. He’s started-up companies for 25 years, subsequent to investment banking at GECC for 10 years. He’s worked alongside numerous founders in groundbreaking industries: CD-ROM, Internet, speech-tech, mobile, psychometrics, LOHAS.He helped launch the first multiplayer online game company, interim CEO’d the first business to post music online, worked at Paul Allen’s Interval Research think-tank and has helped over 250 companies with strategy and deal making. But, Michael is more than business.He’s passionate about living authentically and fully. He facilitates personal growth work, coaches, speaks and recently took his young family on a learning odyssey around the World.

Glenn Martinez is Co-founder of Branditecture which provides award winning design and branding solutions to regional, national and global companies . For many years Glenn was Creative Director and Brand Ambassador for SUN. During this tenure, Glenn was responsible for creative direction of Sun’s brand, marketing, industrial design, user experience and packaging. Glenn helped orchestrate Sun philanthropic endeavors, including Sun’s support of the TED Prize. In the unlikely event of an unscheduled water landing, Glenn may also be used as a flotation device.

Elisabeth Manning is a writer and pioneer on the frontier of human development through what she calls the Fertile Living movement. A former personal assistant to Phil Knight of Nike and a consultant with a handful of high profile individuals for over 15 years, Elisabeth now satisfies her passion for what makes an individual truly successful on all levels by producing and developing self-development workshops. Elisabeth is currently practicing as a Master Certified Spirit Coach, speaker and author.

Robert May is a serial technology entrepreneur, inventor, teacher, and public speaker. He is an expert on “New TV”, intellectual property, and user experience. Conference presentations include World Economic Forum, Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum(HK), Digital Hollywood, MacWorld, CES; TV appearances include CNN, CNBC; interviews include The Huffington Post, Newsweek, Industry Standard magazines/blogs. Mr. MAY’s most recent venture, Ringz.TV, aims to invent the future of television.

Orna Meyer lets her curiosity guide her life. After 10 years as an architect in San Francisco and the birth of her first child, she was diagnosed with a chronic illness. Following her curiosity about mind-body medicine, she studied and became certified in all forms of bodywork, studied with five qigong masters and became certified to teach qigong and tai chi, and continues to explore different forms of energy medicine using her own body as an experiment. What she has found is that the farther away she gets from what we think of as medicine, the closer she gets to a real cure. For fulfillment, Orna volunteers at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and teaches weekly classes in Yuan Gong qigong

Meagan Riley-Grant is a connector and champion of stories, ideas and people, having worked in a wide range of visual media and communications with best-in-class writers, photographers, actors, filmmakers, designers, and technologists. As partner to Charlize Theron she produced the Academy Award-winning film, Monster and Sony music documentary, East of Havana. Drawn to the forward thinking and fresh air in Marin, she relocated from Los Angeles with her husband and two children over a decade ago. She currently works as a Creative Producer at Elixir Design where she facilitates creation and production on a wide variety of branding, design, and messaging projects. She has an endless appetite for stories, news, entertainment, and experiences and is hopelessly optimistic about reimagining the future of powerful storytelling on a variety of platforms.

Tom Short is a senior business consultant for BT Global Services, a division of British Telecom. Tom works with clients on enterprise collaboration, leveraging BT’s world-class network, computing infrastructure and partner eco-system. Over the last 25 years he has consulted to blue chip companies in a variety of industries, helping them operate in a leaner, more collaborative fashion. He has lived in Marin since 2006, and is an avid motorcyclist, hiker and skier.

Rob Sidon Owner/Publisher/Editor of Common Ground Magazine, Owner at High Ground Consulting.Former Manager and Marketing honcho at Disney. Personal Interests: Spiritual philosophy combined with social service.

Jo Streit is an award winning producer/director of compelling visual stories that promote social change. As founder & Executive Producer of Streit Productions: Visual Media for Social Change, she uses her journalism and broadcast skills to maximize clients’ educational goals through storytelling.She has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, universities, nonprofit organizations and foundations. In addition, Jo is a working voiceover talent and actor represented by Tonry Talent in San Francisco.

Jessica Switzer is a founding partner of the sustainability-centric communications agency Blue Practice. She specializes in product and company launches, integrated marketing campaigns, and public relations and crisis communications. She is an active member of the TED community and the Switzer Foundation, which is devoted to creating environmental leaders through academic and project leadership grants.She formerly was Vice President of Marketing for Tesla Motors, and Managing Director of the global PR agency Ruder Finn.

Wendy Wallbridge, founder of On Your Mark Corporate Coaching & Consulting, Inc. is a strategic advisor and coach to executives from Apple, McAfee, Genentech, Dolby, NetApp and VMware.Wendy has been a pioneer in the coaching field, her groundbreaking coaching techniques have gained her media attention from Fortune Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the New York Times, as well as numerous appearances for such organizations as WITI, PBWC, and UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Her forthcoming book, “Spiral Up! Rising to Power in your Self, Work and Life” maps the journey women must take to access the inner authority, authenticity and conviction necessary to create a purposeful, passionate life.

Claudia Welss has worked for 10 years at the intersection of business + sustainability and now another 10 at the intersection of sustainability + consciousness. She s a board member of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, focusing on social synergy and co-creating a “synergy engine,” and is on the Steering Committee of the Global Coherence Initiative (Institute of Heartmath) as director of Strategic Partnerships. She is also founder/executive director of NextNow Collaboratory, a lab for “cultivating connective intelligence for collective action.” Her main focus is using information-visualization technologies to raise awareness about the relationship between human activity, states of being, and Earth changes and is a co-producer of 3 consciousness-raising films.

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