Visionkeepers

Katie is the Director of Community and Public Relations for Red Mountain Park, where she gets to spend her days introducing her community to an amazing and historic outdoor space.  She enjoys leading the Park team on best communications practices, public relations planning and crisis communication tactics.  Prior to joining Red Mountain Park, she worked for two nonprofit organizations in the areas of public relations and marketing.  She is also an dance instructor and coach; she was named a national finalist for high school coach of the year in 2017. Katie received her bachelor and master’s degrees in Communication from the University of South Alabama.  She is married to David and has two sons, Trey(3) and Sullivan(1).  She enjoys hiking with her kiddos, cooking and planning her next weekend road trip adventure.   You can find more information about Red Mountain Park here.

Jodi received her Bachelors in Marketing from the University of Texas at San Antonio and then later pursued graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. She received both a Masters and Doctorate in Advertising with emphases in Relationship Management and Organizational Behavior. Jodi has held roles as a marketing director, manager, mentor, professor, coach, story-teller, and consultant. Throughout her career, she has worked with various sized companies, nonprofits, family-owned businesses, doctors, accountants, entrepreneurs, and universities and has been faced with a multitude of marketing challenges. She strives to combine theory with practice, build strong relationships, and lead productive teams. She has helped many companies make sense out of nonsense through exploring and discovering new knowledge and helped build brands through connecting and communicating with their consumers. Philanthropy and nonprofit involvement has always been a priority. Whether it has been serving as a founding board me

Bob Bennett became the Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Kansas City, Missouri, in January 2016 after a 25-year career in the US Army. He leads the Smart City initiatives, a suite of projects including: data analysis, Public Wi-Fi, digital kiosk installation, and smart lighting programs in the city’s downtown core. Kansas City’s initiatives earned an Edison Award (Gold) for “Collective Disruption” and civic innovation in 2017, and Bob was named one of GovTech’s 25 Dreamers, Doers and Drivers in 2018. He is currently working on plans to extend Smart City infrastructure throughout the 318 miles of KCMO with an emphasis on Digital Inclusion and partnering with Avis on deployment of the first fully Connected Vehicle Fleet in a municipality.  For more information about the Kansas City Smart City Initiative, visit the their website.

Crystal Lassiter is the Sr. Director, Global Sustainability & Environmental Affairs at UPS. Her responsibilities include developing and driving the strategies, initiatives, and reporting activities that advance UPS’s sustainability goals. She began her career in 1996, spending most of her years at UPS in facility maintenance leading teams in Engineering and Facilities functions across the company’s operations. Through her experience leading facility expansions, she oversaw the implementation of natural gas fueling stations, lighting upgrades and other sustainability projects. Outside of work, Crystal loves hiking, dancing, traveling and practicing Spanish. For more information and UPS and they sustainability strategy, visit their website here.

Kelley is the founder and owner of ADX, founder of Portland Made, author, consultant, public speaker and teacher. Kelley is currently working with developers, school districts, private investors, city economic development agencies and communities around the globe to help them grow and sustain their local maker ecosystems. For more information on ADX, visit their website here.

Dr. Edward White, Jr. (Eddie) has lived in the Lowcountry for most of his life, graduating from Wando High School in 1978, then Furman University in 1982. He completed his degree at the Medical University of South Carolina College of Dental Medicine in 1986. Eddie also runs a weekly music band jam at Awendew Green, a low-key and friendly environment with bonfires, food, friends, networking, and the concerts are all centered around an old barn with a professional sound technician and equipment. For more information about Awendaw Green, visit their website here.

Jennifer has an M.S. in biogeography, is an ISA-certified arborist and municipal specialist, and has over twenty years’ academic and practical experience in plant ecology, environmental science, and forest dynamics with a focus on urban environments.  Since 2002, Jennifer has developed and supported programs for the city of Portland’s Urban Forestry and Watershed Services groups.  Currently, Jennifer implements partnership-based tree planting and education programs for the City and teaches undergraduate and graduate-level resource management courses in the Geography Department at Portland State University.  When she is not working, teaching, or volunteering for the urban forest, Jennifer enjoys finishing half marathons. You can find out more about Jennifer's work on the City of Portland's website.

Jason Gregory is a Registered Landscape Architect and Sr. Educational Facilities Planner at Georgia Institute of Technology.  With over 20 years of experience, 6.5 at Georgia Tech, his responsibilities include a wide variety of projects across campus.  Some examples of these projects include the Campus Arboretum, Eco-commons, Stormwater master plan and feasibility study for blackwater treatment.  In addition to these projects, he is responsible for reviewing design submissions with a focus on site and landscape design to ensure the solutions are consistent with the campus masterplan and landscape masterplan vision. For more information about Jason's work, please visit this website.

Svetlana Pell manages the Green Street Steward program with the City of Portland, Bureau of Environmental Services. She organizes a program that empowers volunteers to take an active role in maintaining the City’s green infrastructure. Svetlana was born in Latvia and lived in the United States since 2001. In 2008, she graduated from Clackamas Community College with Associates in Horticulture and in 2012 she graduated from Portland State University with Bachelors in Environmental Science and Sustainability. Svetlana started with the City of Portland in 2012 first as AmeriCorps member and became a full-time employee in her current position in 2016.  For more information about the Green Street Steward Program, visit their website here.

Max Elliott, LMSW, is the co-founder and Executive Director of Urban Roots, an Austin non-profit that uses food and farming to teach youth leadership and life skills through paid internship programs. Urban Roots creates a safe place where young people can experience first-hand the transformational power of meaningful hard work in order to become healthy, productive, civically-engaged community members. Originally from Louisiana, Max holds Master’s Degrees in Environmental Studies and Social Work.  He has a certificate in Ecological Horticulture from the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He has worked with several community gardening and food justice organizations and has extensive experience working on organic vegetable farms across the country. He is a founding member of the City of Austin/Travis County Sustainable Food Policy Board. Max is passionate about empowering youth to be a catalyst for change in the larger community. For more informa

Gordon Garrett is a high profile, innovative and dynamic business executive with 25+ years of senior leadership experience across broad industries, products, services and technologies. Gordon is a self-driven person motivated by the opportunity to make a difference. Gordon is Associate State Director of the Kentucky Small Business Development Center. For more information about Kentucky Small Business Development Center, visit their website here.

Anna Cullen is the Director of External Relations and Communications for The Ray.  She received her B.A. in Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, & Government (CLEG) from American University in Washington D.C. and  her Masters of Public Administration at Georgia State University. She started her career on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Assistant to a member of Congress covering issues that included energy, environment, agriculture, and health care. After moving back home to Atlanta, she served as the Director of Communications for Georgians for a Healthy Future, a health care consumer advocacy organization. She joined The Ray in February of 2017. For more information about The Ray, please visit their website here.

William Paddock is the Managing Director of WAP Sustainability Consulting. Before starting WAP Sustainability, William served as the Sustainability Manager for Mars, Inc. He says in his biography this experience exposed him to the broad nature of sustainability and the challenges of managing sustainability at an enterprise level. To find out more about WAP Sustainability Consulting, visit their website here.

Jamee Haley is the co-founder and current Executive Director of Lowcountry Local First, a non-profit organisation cultivating an economy anchored in local ownership located in beautiful, historic Charleston, South Carolina. She’s passionate about local-independent businesses being the cornerstone of our culture, economy, and character. Jamee uses her years of experience and creative ideas to help others realize their dreams and goals. You can find out more information about Lowcountry Local First on their website here.