Visionkeepers

Adam joined the Waterfront Partnership team in 2011. He received his Masters of Urban Planning from the University of Maryland, College Park, and his experience includes working for the Water Resource Division of the Maryland Department of Planning. He is a passionate conservationist, and is involved with protecting and restoring the rivers and streams of his community. He enjoys helping to lead Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative, and looks forward to one day swimming in the harbor. Mr Trash Wheel's website.

Mike Grigsby is Vice President of Marketing & Technology for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) and former CIO for the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD). He has been involved with numerous innovation efforts throughout the Kansas City region, including leading several transportation and public safety technology initiatives. In addition to his work with KCATA, Mike serves as a member of the Kansas City Smart City Advisory Board, KC Tech Council Board of Directors, and advisor to the University Innovation Fellows at William Jewell College. A thought leader in digital citizenry, he is an advocate and champion for Civic Technology, Smart City Solutions, Public Safety Technology, Digital Inclusion, and Transportation Innovation. Mike is a veteran of both the military and law enforcement with undergraduate studies in engineering and information systems and he holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Mike on Linkedin

Michael hails from Charleston, SC, and has managed to keep GRO headquartered there to this day. He attended The Citadel – Military College of South Carolina, where he earned his a BS Degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering. While studying to become a LEED Accredited Professional, he became passionate about the environment and sustainability, and focused his efforts in those areas. With entrepreneurship running deep in his blood and a passion for inventing, after years of exhaustive research and development, Green Roof Outfitters was born! The fundamental principle that governs all his business decisions is that the business & products must be simple, affordable and mutually benefit people and the environment. Green Roof Outfitters Website

Featured as a 2017 GreenBiz 30 Under 30 emerging leader in sustainability, Jarami Bond lives to serve people and steward the planet. Rooted in the belief that responsible business can help solve the global challenges we face, Jarami helps businesses cast vision, strategize creatively, and realize unique opportunities to maximize their platforms and leverage their influence. He accomplishes this by building high-impact initiatives that create channels to business growth and value for all key stakeholders (society, environment, employees, & customers). Jarami's website

Kathryn Kellogg the founder of Going Zero Waste and forthcoming author of 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste breaks eco-friendly, sustainable living down into an easy step by step process with lots of positivity and love! All of her trash for two years fits in a 16 oz mason jar, but don’t let that intimidate you. Her blog is full of small, actionable tips you can implement to make the world a little greener. Going Zero Waste Website

Andrea Sanders is an environmental educator, mindfulness advisor, TEDx speaker, traveler, artist, and dog mom. Her work focuses on encouraging ecological responsibility, day-to-day mindfulness, and compassionate eating through a plant-based diet. Andrea is also a zero waste influencer and educator on Instagram with a global outreach of over 75,000 followers. Andrea's background in environmental conservation and mindfulness spans over 20 years. She has developed and taught a wide spectrum of environmental programs to both children and adults in the zoological and yogic settings. Join Andrea for an inspirational, conversational, and uplifting talk exploring the ideas and methods behind living a low-waste lifestyle. In this talk, Andrea pulls from her decades-long experience in environmental education, mindfulness, and in practicing the zero waste lifestyle to help individuals reshape attitudes towards the biosphere, dramatically reduce their trash and plastic footprint, and build better relationships to the env

Michael Pegues is the Chief Information Officer for the City of Aurora, Illinois. Michael began his career working in various IT Support roles for AT&T and Pepsi-Co in the Greater Chicago Area. Michael has worked for the US Department of Defense as a civilian Automation Management Officer at US Army Garrison in Vicenza, Italy. In addition, Michael has held various senior IT positions in Hewlett-Packard France, Vodafone Hungary and Morgan Stanley in Budapest Hungary and New York New York. Michael holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from DeVry University and an Executive MBA, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management from Central European University Business School in Budapest Hungary. Michael is a proud Veteran of the US Army. For more information about what Michael is working on, visit the City of Aurora's website. *All views, ideas, and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the individuals and organizations featured on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views, ideas, or opi

Peter Krull is the Founder, CEO and Director of Investments at Earth Equity Advisors, a leading socially and environmentally responsible investment management firm located in Asheville, NC. Founded in 2004, Earth Equity Advisors works with individuals, trusts, institutions and non-profits to help them align their investments with their values. The firm is a three-time Best for the World B Corporation, a member of 1% For the Planet and US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing. Peter has been selected as a member of the 2018 Investopedia 100 list of the 100 most influential financial advisors in America, has been quoted in the Washington Post, US News & World Report, The Asheville Citizen-Times and The Roanoke Times. He has written a column fo rValley Business FRONT in Virginia and Mountain Xpress I nAsheville as well as being featured in numerous magazines. He was selected as a 40 under 40 Business Leader by the Savannah Business Report & Journal in 2009. He lives in Asheville, NC wi

Marty Williams joined Sahlman Seafoods in 1996 and has served the company in various capacities. Mr. Williams is currently President of Sahlman Seafoods, Inc. and is responsible for overseeing day-to-day activities of the company, which has operations in Tampa, Florida as well as Nicaragua, C.A. Prior to his current position, Mr. Williams was Vice President of Sahlman Seafoods from October 2000 to September 2002. Mr. Williams’s duties at Sahlman Seafoods have included coordinating the design and construction of a shrimp farm and processing plant in Nicaragua, ongoing management of the Nicaragua project as well as overseeing daily sales activity in the Tampa office. Mr. Williams was also responsible for the development of a new packaged ice and bottled water business in Nicaragua. Before joining Sahlman Seafoods, Mr. Williams was self-employed as a developer and builder of residential and light commercial projects for five years. Prior to this, Mr. Williams was employed in commercial construction as a proj

Janna West-Heiss received her Bachelors of Science from Colorado State University in Natural Resource Management with a focus in Environmental Communication and minors in Business and Religious Studies. She was 2017 Outstanding Graduate of the Year at University of Colorado Denver, where she received her Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with a focus in Managing for Sustainability. Janna has assisted in coordinating local zero-waste and electric vehicle events as well as internationally renowned ones like the Sustainable Brands conference. She helped start the Green Star Business certification program for Eco-Cycle and has helped reduce over 93,000 tons of GHG emissions through her work in transportation via the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities and Colorado Energy Office’s Refuel programs. Janna is currently the Public Affairs Administrator for the City & County of Denver’s Office of Sustainability, where she works internally to develop sustainability as a core value for the municipality and ext

David Dionne is the President of Integrated Park Management, LLC a company dedicated to building and improving parks and communities across America. His work has been consistently recognized as both visionary and innovative by both park professionals and government leaders at every level across the country. David has been a featured or keynote speaker at park and trail conferences more than 50 times, and served for many years as a consultant to design firms, government agencies and nonprofit corporations. His ideas and practices are frequently copied and consistently praised for their simplicity, function and cost efficiency. David is recognized for his vision and leadership in park design, operations and management. He is regularly asked to contribute to important committees and panels. In 1997 David was asked to be a member of the White House Millennium Council's Green Ribbon Panel on Trails and the National Endowment for the Arts' Committee for Art on Millennium Trails. David was also the Chairman of the

Michael serves as the executive director of green|spaces, a nonprofit based in Chattanooga, TN that works to advance the sustainability of living, working, and building through education, training, consulting, and demonstration development. He is a licensed architect with experience in commercial interiors, commercial architecture, single and multi-family residential, graphic design and urban design, all with a focus on maximizing quality of life while minimizing impacts on the environment. Michael serves on the US Green Building Council's Market Leader Advisory Board for Tennessee, the Interior Design Advisory Board at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Board of Directors for the ACE Mentor Program of Chattanooga and as a mentor for the Cleantech Open and CoLab. He graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design, attended the ETH-Zurich as a guest student, and practiced architecture in Washington, DC at Envision Design and Perkins+Will before moving back to Tennessee to

Taylor Campbell sees herself, in her words, as a “pilgrim” having put a hold on pursuing medical school until she cultivated/lived out a certain aspect of life. Taylor-Ann has a B.A. in Sociology, Post-Bacc in Biology. She is painfully curious about the themes of philosophy, narrative, and meaning at the level of the individual life.

As Chief Sustainability Officer, Erin leads a global team that provides technical assistance and support to the company’s global business, addressing sustainability at all levels –from operations and management, to employees and customers, and in policy forums. Erin and her team are also responsible for developing industry-leading approaches to measurement, driving transparency and innovation in the field of sustainability. This includes creating a framework for and implementing the company's newest sustainability mission Climate Take Back, while also capturing successes as the company nears its Mission Zero targets in 2020.

Erin is a frequent lecturer on sustainable business to senior management teams, universities and the growing green consumer sector to audiences around the world, including China, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States and Europe. Past speaking engagements include Bioneers, Greenbuild, SXSW, Conscious Capitalism and others.

She has also participated in forums during the COP21 climate ta

Dustin Morin is a Land Reclamation Inspector for the Alabama Department of Labor, Abandoned Mine Land Program. Before he began a career in public service he worked as an environmental consultant to the U.S. EPA which provided him a strong scientific background and technical skill set. He is passionate about environmental and conservation issues and uses his experience to accomplish the goals of the Abandoned Mine Land program and restore land and water resources impacted by coal mining to a more natural condition. For more information about the Land Reclamation project, visit their website here.

Chris Durbin jokes that before teaching, he had a number of "Real" jobs! Being the 12th of 13 kids, it was not uncommon to start working for you own spending money as soon as you could push a lawn mower or shovel snow. And there was always a nephew or a niece that you could babysit for. Through High school and college those jobs included cleaning fish, cooking, waiting tables, bartending and organizing and directing a series of soccer camps for small towns during the summer. The "Big boy jobs" included selling semi-trucks as well as selling and installing basement waterproofing and repairing building foundations. Introducing building managers and owners to the concept of Energy Conservation (before it was even a thing). Selling and installing energy management products led to becoming a trainer for companies that wanted to sell energy conservation and management systems to the public. In the late 80's as awareness about conserving energy and recycling, reusing and reducing began to

Blake Miller is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in growth marketing and the Internet of Things. He currently serves as the CEO of Homebase.AI and is a partner at Think Big Partners. Blake joined Think Big in 2009 as the Director of the Accelerator, managing the accelerator program portfolio and internal technology operations for Think Big. At Think Big, Blake has championed several new initiatives that grew out of Think Big including; the Kansas City Smart Initiative which won a 2017 Edison Innovation Award and Homebase.AI a joint venture partnership between Think Big and Sunflower Development group. Blake has been recognized as a Next Gen Leader by the Kansas City Business Journal, top 20 in their 20’s by Ingram Magazine, and a top young entrepreneur to watch by under30ceo. Blake serves as a board member, advisor and mentor to several startups and is a member of YEC, an invite only entrepreneur network. In addition to Blake’s entrepreneur endevours, Blake enjoys living a healthy active lifestyle, gettin

Deb is the Founder and CEO of the Got Produce?(R) brand of companies. She designed and patented several hydroponic intelligence systems and then launched the world’s first franchise model for sustainable food production. Desiring to bring hydroponic benefits mainstream, she works in tandem with top chefs and fortune 500 companies to rethink fresh food production and distribution methods. Deb credits her unique way of thinking to her many experiences from watering office plants to designing hydroponic systems for space missions. She holds many advanced degrees in Botany, Education, Leadership and Project Administration. She cares passionately about water conservation and the environment helping many communities across the globe embrace new ways of growing food. More information about Get Produce can be found here.

Denise is the co-founder and managing director of the Berlin-based Sustainable Food Academy, which offers B2B services for executives working in food business contexts. Their approach is to contribute to more sustainable and economically viable food systems while exploring multidisciplinary future food scenarios, innovative catering solutions and effective customer communication. The academy provides consulting, food trend tours and innovation workshops as well as a customised educational 'Sustainability Ambassador‘ programme for food companies. Additionally, they provide a platform called the "Future Food Club“ for food companies (from start-ups to multinationals), scientists and experts to exchange industry-specific information, latest trend insights and future scenarios. 

Denise is a sustainability expert and trend scout with the thematic focus on "Future Food“. She also has a background in international climate policy and develops answers to questions like: In what way will changing societal va

Kathleen is the President and Founder of Databuoy Corporation. She is an entrepreneur with a synthesis of technology research, system engineering and management experience. She founded Databuoy Corporation in 2006 to develop and field tactical, embedded sensor networks, including the ShotPoint gunfire localization system that is now a market leader. Prior to starting Databuoy, she founded Puritan Research Corporation, a consulting services firm where she managed a highly skilled team of support personnel. Puritan provided subject matter expertise for a range of DARPA, Navy, and USMC technology efforts. In addition, Ms. Griggs consulted to corporations including General Atomics, Sarnoff Labs, and Draper Labs. She is a former Navy program manager and DARPA agent responsible for multiple contracts under the Warfighter Visualization (WV), Smart Modules, Head-Mounted Displays, Tactical Information Assistants, and Distributed Robotics programs. She led a range of impactful technology development efforts: video mosa