Presenter Bios

Salma Abdulrahman has volunteered with the Mad Housers for six years and is currently the President of Mad Housers. She's a software engineer at an Atlanta telecom company. In her spare time Salma enjoys martial arts, movies, travel, and cooking.   The MadHousers build temporary, emergency shelters for homeless individuals and families regardless of race, creed, national origin, gender, religion, age, family status, sexual orientation, etc.  The MadHousers website is www.madhousers.org.

Adam Augenstein is an 11th grade student at the Weber School in Atlanta, Georgia. His hobbies include sports of all kind, traveling, photography, and many more. Adam co-founded the Student Ecology Movement and is inspired to help the environment because of the frightening idea of it someday not being the same.

Dr. Michael Battle is the President of the Interdenominational Theological Center, and the visionary behind TheoEcology:  pioneering effort to lead all Theological Seminaries into a more passionate path to nurturing our environment.  He is also the Chair of the Mayor's Advisory Committee for a Sustainable Atlanta.   www.itc.edu

Tom Blue Wolf is Founder and Director of EarthKeepers One Tribe Trading Company, an organization dedicated to manufacturing and distributing a broad menu of healing products and educating people on the importance of relationship with the earth and each other. He is a charter member of the World Council of Elders, The Indigenous Healers Association and travels the world teaching workshops, conducting ceremonies in his grandfathers' tradition for incarcerated brothers in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and inspiring hearts with the message of peace and harmony with "All Our Relations". Tom is a musician, artist, herbalist, naturopath, environmentalist, author, and lecturer. Tom was born in Southern Alabama, raised and taught in the traditional ways by his Creek Grandparents. Tom has tribal affiliation with the Y'falla Band, Star Clan of the Eastern Lower Muscogee Creek Nation.   www.earthkeepers.net

Dr. David  Busch, Ph.D., is a Licensed Psychologist in private practice at Wind From the Mountain Renewal Center in Cherrylog, Georgia.  He has been an avid organic gardener for over thirty years.  Dr. Busch enjoys living and working on his sustainable homestead adjoining the Chattahoochee National Forest, where he raises chickens, rabbits, honey bees, rainbow trout, and has a large organic garden and orchard.  He incorporates the rich natural surroundings into his clinical work as a psychologist.  Dr. Busch attributes his success to the teachings of his Native American ancestors and to the loving support of his very close family.  Back by popular demand, this is his third time to be invited to lead an exciting workshop at Bioneers.

Majora Carter will appear at the Bioneers Southeast Forum via video, in the "Reconnecting Our Urban Communities with Nature" breakout session.  Awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship "genius grant" in 2005, Majora is a dynamic urban revitalization strategist working in partnership with government, businesses, and neighborhood organizations to create new opportunities for transportation, fitness, recreation, nutrition, and green-collar economic development in the low-income community where she was raised, and continues to live.  She founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001

Sam Collier is a Facilitator and Strategic Planning Consultant in Atlanta, Georgia.  He helps businesses, universities and non-profit organizations develop and implement sustainability plans, campaign strategies and organizational development.  He has a J.D. from the University of Georgia Law School and a B.S. in Physics & Mathematics from East Carolina University.  Sam can be reached at scollier@mindspring.com.

Steve Cooke is the General Manager of Sevananda Natural Foods Market, a community-owned market in Little 5 Points. He is the past President of the L5P Business Association, a group of 120 locally-owned and independent businesses in the heart of Atlanta. www.sevananda.coop

Jennifer Downs graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Industrial Design and worked for several years designing museum exhibits before switching gears and enrolling in Vanderbilt's Divinity school. While pursing here master's degree, her interest in all things environmental grew along with her desire to help diverse religious traditions understand and work with one another. Upon graduation almost two years ago, she took a job with Georgia Interfaith Power & Light as their Associate Director and is working to help all kinds of different faith communities understand and foster the connection between their faith and caring for our environment. www.gipl.org

Eve Ensler is the award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues, which has been translated into over 45 languages and is running in theaters all over the world, including sold-out runs at both Off-Broadway's Westside Theater and on London's West End (2002 Olivier Award nomination, Best Entertainment.) Her experience performing The Vagina Monologues inspired her to create V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.  She will appear at the Bioneers Southeast Forum via video, in the "Transforming Culture Through Women's Leadership" breakout session.  www.vday.org

Gary Adler FourStar is currently the CEO of the Many Horses Foundation, an organization dedicated to the elders, the children, the earth, wild horses and earth cultures and teachings.  Gary is an enrolled member of the Costanoan-Rumsen Carmel Tribe (Ohlone). Gary conducts seminars and experiential workshops on creating balance and relationships through the Earth People's perspective.  www.manyhorses.org

Jonathan Gaynes is an 11th grade student at the Weber School. He is a native Atlantan whose travels in the wilderness of Colorado and North Carolina have inspired him to fight for the future of our environment. He wants to protect the environment for his children and grandchildren.

Julian Gindi is a co-founder of the Student Ecology Movement and in many ways his philosophies can be seen in it's inner workings. He has devoted much of the past two years to protecting our environment and raising awareness about environmental issues. As a nature photographer and writer he comes in contact with the environment around him and strives to show people it's inner beauty.

Paula Gordon is host of The Paula Gordon Show: Conversations with People at the Leading Edge, which can be heard on National Public Radio. She and her co-host/husband Bill Russell launched the broadcast program in 1996 and beginning in 1997 on the Internet, have built a worldwide listening audience at www.PaulaGordon.com.  For five years, they provided CNN Radio with hundreds of LookOut features and their Perspectives helped launch CNN.com.  Since the late '80s, Paula has also been President of The Clarion Group, a business consultancy.  She serves on the Board of Trustees of The Interdenominational Theological Center; is a founding board member and officer of Quantum Leaps, Inc. (a global accelerator for women entrepreneurs,) Public Intelligence, Inc., and Investigations Group, Inc., and is President of the 2006 Alumni of APEC's "Women in the Digital World."   www.PaulaGordon.com

Dr. Tao-Yang Han is the Director of the ZiJiu Institute for Self-Healing in Lilburn, Georgia. Professionally, he is the current chairman and president of IronCAD, a software solution company in Atlanta. Previously, Dr. Han was a professor at National Taiwan University and served on the Engineering Simulation advisory committee at Cornell University, where he received his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering.

Bill Harris, founding president Cooperative Coffees as well as Café Campesino, a Fair Trade roaster based in Americus, Georgia. Both businesses share the mission of helping disadvantaged farmers receive a fair price for their product through mutually beneficial, long-term trade partnerships. Before "fair-trade enlightenment," Bill was the president of a food distribution company, a trust portfolio manager, and a business consultant. He currently serves on the Board and as treasurer of the Fair Trade Federation, the Board of the Americus/Sumter County Habitat for Humanity Affiliate, and the Board of Directors of Glover Foodservice.

Thom Hartmann is the host of The Thom Hartmann Show, a radio show on Air America Radio, and is also an internationally known speaker on culture and communications, an author, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, spirituality, Peak Oil, ecology, and economics. The co-founder (with his wife, Louise) of The New England Salem Children’s Village (1978) and The Hunter School (1997), he has led national innovations in the areas of residential treatment for abused children and private/public education for learning-disabled children.  He will appear at the Bioneers Southeast Forum via video, in the "Social Marketing and Cultural Storytelling" breakout session.  www.thomhartmann.com

Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author. Starting at age 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. His practice has included starting and running ecological businesses, writing and teaching about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy.  Hawken will appear at the Bioneers Southeast Forum via video, in the Forum’s Opening Plenary Session, and as an introduction to the whole conference.  www.paulhawken.com

Shasha He is a cancer fighter and survivor and has been a volunteer at the ZiJiu Institute for Self-Healing in Lilburn, Georgia since January 2005. She has an MBA from New York University and, before she was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer, was a senior business executive in a trading company in New York.

Christopher Johnson is a Georgia native and a physicist turned entrepreneur. During five years of working abroad on sustainable development, he was motivated by the need for technology serving human wellbeing, which led him to cofound ifPeople, a social enterprise developing custom web software with a fair trade model. He speaks internationally on technology, sustainability, and collaboration and is also a cofounder and board member of Inspiring Futures, which catalyzes Atlanta's living economy. www.ifpeople.net

Van Jones spoke at the National Bioneers in October, and will appear at the Bioneers Southeast Forum via video, in the "Green Jobs and the Digital Divide" breakout session.  He works at the Ella Baker Center in Oakland, California, and he is working to combine solutions to America's two biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction.  In June 2007, the City of Oakland adopted a proposal from the Ella Baker Center and the Oakland Apollo Alliance to create a "Green Jobs Corps." The Corps will train youth for eco-friendly "green-collar jobs."  Now the Center is working with the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) to create the country's first-ever Green Enterprise Zone, to attract environmentally sound industry to Oakland.

Edward Keng has been successfully self-employed all of his life. As a graduate of Tunghai University in Taiwan and Georgia Tech (M.S. Chemical Engineering), Mr. Keng has been an air pollution consultant to major corporations and international governments, restaurant owner and business entrepreneur, CEO of multiple commercial real estate projects, author of over thirty published scientific reports and owner of two U.S. scientific instrument patents. Currently “retired,” he is a full-time volunteer for a holistic healing nonprofit in Atlanta.

Natalie Keng excels in helping organizations adapt to a changing world--from creating new alliances and tapping new global markets to integrating sustainable business practices and corporate social responsibility. As a graduate of Vassar College and Harvard University, Ms. Keng has extensive experience in social and environmental marketing, women’s issues, leadership development and has served as a publicly-elected official. Ms. Keng also has a passion for cooking, eating, traveling internationally and playing team sports.

Winona LaDuke is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg who lives and works on the White Earth Reservations, and is the mother of three children.   She will appear at the Bioneers Southeast Forum via video, in the "Environmental Justice and Domestic Fair Trade" breakout session.  As Program Director of the Honor the Earth Fund, she works on a national level to advocate, raise public support, and create funding for frontline native environmental groups. She also works as Founding Director for White Earth Land Recovery Project.

Shawn Lesser is the founder and President of Sustainable World Capital. Sustainable World Capital is focused on connecting profitable sustainable companies of the future with institutional investors worldwide in order to raise capital and to increase financial market exposure. Shawn Lesser founder of Sustainable World Capital has long standing relationships with Sustainability Portfolio Managers throughout the World. Shawn has over 15 years of experience in US and international institutional equity sales. His previous affiliations include Morgan Keegan and Deutsche Bank and Shawn is conversational in both German and Spanish.

Jon Ludwig was born without any interest in puppetry whatsoever. He joined the Center for Puppetry Arts in 1978 because it seemed like an easy job. It wasn’t. Somewhere along the way he was made the Artistic Director. He has performed with the resident company for 15 years and for the past 15 years has created many productions for families and for adults exclusively.  www.puppet.org  

Lindsey Mann has 9 years experience in sustainable design, including a graduate degree in landscape architecture and conservation ecology. She is currently initiating an urban farm project in Oakhurst as a trial for Biodynamic production in the city and constructed wetlands for stormwater remediation. Lindsey is dedicated to redefining human relationship to earth- as raising consciousness is at the heart of sustainable initiatives. Her business, Sustenance Design, aims to create and support landscape ecosystems that involve and feed people, use water and energy responsibly and respond to the many dimensions of nature. More than decorating a building, landscapes serve to nourish spirit and provide sustenance. www.sustenancedesign.net

Atiba Mbiwan spends his days working in the philanthropic circles and his evenings & weekends trying to be a servant leader for youth.   For the past 14 years, he has dedicated his volunteer time to youth cycling and has led the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia Dream Team on trips across Georgia, the southeast region and as far away as Iowa (on RAGBRAI).  Currently, Coach Atiba organizes a bike club at an Atlanta middle school (KIPPWAYS Academy) that travels to area colleges twice per month and he is working with the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign to organize a BeltLine Bike Tour during the week of Earth Day.  More than anything else, he tries to walk the talk by using MARTA, ZIPCAR and his bike to get around town.  Atiba Mbiwan is the Associate Director of The Zeist Foundation.

John Mlade, as a green building researcher for Perkins+Will, leads firmwide efforts for sustainable laboratory design. His graduate research into the biomimicry design process offers him unique insight into designing with nature. He is a member of the biomimicry community and remains heavily involved with the Bioneers.  John is currently a Donella Meadows Fellow with the Sustainability Institute, and is diving deeply into the science of systems thinking.  www.perkinswill.com

Paul Morgan is a serial entrepreneur, and current owner of The RainHarvest Company, whose mission is "To promote the proper stewardship of a priceless resource."  The company's rainwater reclamation and gray water systems have provided solutions to homeowners, developers, engineers, architects, and policy decision makers.  He is now developing a constructed wetland system that will reclaim water, and provide a natural water treatment tool.  www.rainharvestcompany.com

Dr. Megan Neyer is the president of Total Performance Systems, a company that specializes in individual, team, and organizational performance.  Dr. Neyer works with executives, coaches and athletes to help them select and retain employees, enhance  performance and productivity in the corporate and athletic environments, as well as to facilitate effective leadership development. Dr. Neyer was an elite competitive diver whose accomplishments include being an Olympian, a World Springboard Champion, 15-time U. S. Diving National champion, 8-time SEC and NCAA champion, and multi-time international champion.  She has been inducted into the University of Florida and International Swimming Halls of Fame.    She can be reached at 404-931-5253, or  www.drmeganneyer.com.

K. Rashid Nuri provides executive leadership to Truly Living Well Natural Urban Farms (TLW). Rashid brings almost forty years of experience to TLW and has managed public, private and community-based food and agriculture businesses in over 30 countries around the world. He also served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Administrator of the Farm Service Agency. He is a graduate of Harvard College, where he studied Political Science, and from the University of Massachusetts, where he received his masters in Plant and Soil Science. Truly Living Well Natural Farms (TLW) supplies local markets with organic produce, offers youth training opportunities, and provides community education through farm tours.

Anna Okula is an account supervisor for Porter Novelli, in their health care and social marketing practice.  She has extensive experience working in many areas, including air quality awareness, chronic disease, and children and the arts.  Her accounts have been the recipients of numerous awards in recent years.

Daniel Parson has ten years of organic farming experience, in the country and in the city. In 2004 he graduated with a Master's degree in Plant and Environmental Sciences from Clemson University, and that year moved to Atlanta to further the work already begun at Gaia Gardens. The gardens have also been organically farmed for ten years now, and are an integral part of the East Lake Commons Co-Housing Community and the larger local community through the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. In addition to the farming, Daniel teaches workshops each year on organic farming topics and shiitake mushroom production and serves on the board of Georgia Organics.  Gaia Gardens website.

Mandy Schmitt, of Ahmann, is the lead consultant to Sustainable Atlanta, the initiative aimed at improving the city’s green programs and policies such as water and energy conservation, reducing our solid waste, reducing emissions, and improving the rates of recycling. Through an agreement with the City of Atlanta, Mandy is serving as the Director of Sustainability where she puts to good use her strong problem-solving and project management skills and her deep knowledge of environmental issues. Mandy will serve in this role through the end of 2009, during which time she’ll oversee the efforts that will ultimately make Atlanta more sustainable.

Nathaniel Smith, an Atlanta native, began his career in Community Economic Development as a child of civil rights movement activists. Through years of exposure to social justice advocates, he became involved as a youth volunteer with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and later served as a National Youth Spokesperson for the organization. Currently, Nathan serves as the Director of Partnerships and Research for Equitable Development at Emory University's Office of University- Community Partnerships (OUCP). Prior to joining Emory Nathaniel served as Public Policy Manager at the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership (ANDP).  Nathaniel serves on several boards including the Sierra Club Georgia Chapter ExCom, City of Atlanta Beltline TAD Advisory Committee (Vice Chair), The Civic League for Regional Atlanta, Georgia Stand-Up, The Grady High School Foundation, Jerusalem House and The IMPACT! Group.

Chris Theal is a longtime employee of Southface Energy Institute.  He has numerous areas of expertise in conservation and energy efficiency, including water.  He is also active in the Atlanta Leavers, and is a previous presenter at Bioneers in the areas of stewardship and human's place on the planet.   Chris rides his bike often, and is doing an energy-efficient renovation of a house of his own in the Bankhead community.  Southface Environmental Institute: www.southface.org

Stephanie Van Parys is the Executive Director of the Oakhurst Community Garden Project located in Decatur and a longtime organic gardener. This is her second year as a test garden for Organic Gardening seed trial program. She gardens at home with her family and various animals. The Oakhurst Community Garden Project serves the community by caring for its 1 3/4 acre greenspace and by offering environmental education to all ages. For more info on the Garden, please visit www.oakhurstgarden.org.

McNair Wagner is an environmental advocate that is involved in numerous socially involved community organizations. McNair Wagner strives to combine the collective efforts of different organizations in hopes of creating a greater synergy that will benefit society holistically.

Judy Wicks is owner and founder of Philadelphia’s 25-year-old White Dog Cafe, and is a national leader in the local, living economies movement.  She is co-founder of the nationwide Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), and founder of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN). She is also president of White Dog Community Enterprises, a non-profit 501c3 dedicated to building a local living economy in the Philadelphia region.  www.judywicks.com

Rashid Williams is a graduating senior at the Interdenominational Theological Center, and current Executive Pastor of Program Ministry at Flat Rock Methodist Church in Lithonia, Georgia.  He is active in numerous student leadership positions, including with Board of Trustees and Student Christian League, and has maintained a 3.7 GPA.  He recently completed an internship with the Zeist Foundation, and is married to the former Amber Bradley, and they have one daughter - Haylee Tene' Williams.  www.itc.edu

Dr. John Wittle DC, DACBN is a holistic doctor with several advanced certifications. He is a certified Professional Applied Kinesiologist and is a diplomate in clinical nutrition. He specializes in the integration of structure, nutrition and emotion to best improve a person’s function and well-being. Dr. Wittle is an executive board member of the International College of Applied Kinesiology, an organization of over 3500 MD’s, DC’s and DO’s from around the world. He has studied and lectured Internationally to both professionals and the public.  AK Center of Atlanta

Audra Woodard is a poet, performance artist, novelist, TV producer, and lawyer.  Her current projects include a HerSide TV, which helps young at-risk girls find self esteem through creating their own TV show.  She works extensively with youth, and has a focus on violence against women.  www.mizaudra.com

The ZiJiu Institute, located in Lilburn, Georgia, offers free instruction in a form of integrative, healing qi-qong yoga which has shown great promise in providing holistic health improvements to its practicioners.  Although a modern iteration, the work is grounded in traditional Chinese healing.  Many of its students have achieved relief and cures from a variety of illness and malady, including back pain, allergies, and even cancer.  Visit the ZiJiu Institute to learn more.