Ron Stoltz is a Manager at Sandia National Laboratories, where he helps lead the National Energy Innovation Initiatives program in its integration of energy security, climate and environmental stability, and economic development. Previously, Stoltz managed Sandia's California Energy Liaison Office and the lab's Center for Homeland Security state and local government assistance activities. From 1992 to 2000, as a government relations officer representing Sandia in Washington, D.C., he focused on international competitiveness and global technology development in the semiconductor industry.
Steve Grove is the head of news and politics at YouTube. He directs all news and political programming for YouTube, including You Choose '08 (YouTube's political coverage for the 2008 election), Citizentube (YouTube's political video blog), and all citizen journalism on the site. Originally from Northfield, Minnesota, Steve worked as a journalist at the Boston Globe and ABC News before coming to YouTube.
Bonnie Nixon and her green team of dedicated sustainability experts are responsible for the short and long term vision, strategy, marketing, messaging and stakeholder relations program for Hewlett Packard. Over the last decade as Director of Ethical Sourcing at HP, Ms. Nixon has worked with top level management on environmental, health, safety and social policies and procedures and designed and implemented a world class ethical sourcing and supplier relationship management program.
Eli Pariser is President of MoveOn.org. Eli joined MoveOn in November of 2001, and directed MoveOn's campaign against the Iraq war, tripling MoveOn's member base in the process. MoveOn now has over 5 million members. An early innovator in the field of online organizing, Eli was one of the co-creators of the Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest. Under his leadership, MoveOn.org Political Action has raised over $100 million from over 600,000 small donors to support advocacy campaigns, run ads, develop a powerful field program, and support progressive candidates.
Michel Gelobter is one of the country’s leading climate strategists, having worked for more than 25 years as a regulator, policy-maker, researcher, and thought leader on environmental and social policy. Most recently, Michel was President of Redefining Progress, the U.S.’s leading domestic sustainability policy institute. During Michel’s tenure, Redefining Progress helped design the world’s most aggressive climate legislation which was signed into California law in August of 2006, formed the Climate Justice Corps to train thousands of U.S.
Krisztina Holly is vice provost and executive director of the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, where she spearheads the development of programs and approaches to help faculty and students bring innovations to the market and develop their skills as innovators. USC Stevens, a university-wide institute in the office of the Provost, harnesses the creative thinking and innovative work at the University of Southern California's college, 17 professional schools, and research programs to build a multidisciplinary approach to innovation.
Jamais Cascio writes about the intersection of emerging technologies, environmental dilemmas, and cultural transformation, specializing in the design and creation of plausible scenarios of the future. His work focuses on the importance of long-term, systemic thinking, emphasizing the power of openness, transparency and flexibility as catalysts for building a more resilient society. Cascio's work appears in publications as diverse as Metropolis, the Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Policy.
Asher became the Executive Director of Post Carbon Institute in October 2008, after having served as the manager of the Relocalization Network. He's worked in the nonprofit sector since 1996 in various capacities. Prior to joining Post Carbon Institute, Asher founded Climate Changers, an organization that inspires people to reduce their impact on the climate by focusing on simple and achievable actions anyone can take.
John Kao (born 1950) is an author and strategic advisor based in San Francisco. His work concentrates on issues of innovation and organizational transformation. Kao was born in 1950 to Chinese immigrant parents. An accomplished jazz pianist, he spent the summer of 1969 playing keyboards for Frank Zappa. Kao studied philosophy at Yale College, received an MD from Yale Medical School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He taught at Harvard Business School from 1982-96, where he specialized in innovation and entrepreneurship.
Dr. Stephen H. Schneider is the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Professor of Biological Sciences, Professor (by courtesy) of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and a Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. Dr. Schneider received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Plasma Physics from Columbia University in 1971. He studied the role of greenhouse gases and suspended particulate material on climate as a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
