New Thought Leaders
at the New Renaissance Forum
Live at Harlequin and Locally Televised
Sunday, February 11, 2:00 PM

BRAD ACK
Brad’s background includes international development working in Latin American, and managing the “Wildlands and Human Needs Program” for the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico, Central America and the Northern Andean countries, searching for sustainable development opportunities with impoverished people living in and around wildland areas. Brad directed the conservation and sustainable development programs of the Grand Canyon Trust for 10 years working on ecosystem-scale conservation efforts integrated with community visioning, planning and land-use efforts. Since 2003 Brad has directed the Puget Sound Action Team, co-managing the Puget Sound Partnership on behalf of Governor Gregoire, working with many partners to devise a new path forward to a healthy and sustainable Puget Sound.

JOEL GETZENDANNER
Joel Getzendanner is one of the world's leading authorities in the emerging field of the design of "network" or "distributed” organizations, especially those with a strong social mission. Joel was a founding Board Member of the Chaordic Alliance (now Chaordic Commons) the nonprofit initiated by Visa founder Dee Hock, with whom Joel has worked closely over the last decade. Currently, Joel is consulting with La Leche League International, an international nonprofit that organizes mothers to help other mothers to breastfeed their babies, to redesign its organizational structure in a way that mirrors the mother/mother and mother/baby relationship. He is also a board member of the Identity Commons, a for-profit initiative to offer secure Internet identity and put the control of that information into the hands of the individual. Joel is Director of Philanthropic Services for the Helixx Group, based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

NALINI NADKARNI
Dr. Nalini Nadkarni is known as “The Queen of the Forest Canopy.” She has been a pioneer in forest canopy studies and in fostering the communication of canopy research among scientists and to the general public around the world. She is on the faculty at The Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington and the adjunct faculty at the University of Washington. She carries out field research in Monteverde, Costa Rica and in Washington State, and has recently expanded her outreach work by establishing the NSF-funded “Research Ambassador Program,” in which she trains other scientists to do outreach to non-traditional public audiences in non-traditional venues, such as prisons, churches, skateboard parks, and rap music clubs. One of Nalini’s heroines is Wangari Maathi, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work to organize women to plant trees in her native Kenya and in 40 other countries. Wangari said, “Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth — to heal her wounds, and in the process heal our own.”

JOE HYER
Born and raised in the Olympia area, Joe graduated from Tumwater High School in 1991 before spending 2 years in Washington DC, studying International Politics at The George Washington University. In 1994, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Pacific University in Oregon. In both high school and college, Joe was involved in academics, speech and debate, and community service. He became an Eagle Scout in 1991, and worked 9 summers as summer camp staff for the Boy Scouts. In 1995, Joe founded The Alpine Experience, a retail store dedicated to Mountain Sports Equipment. In 2004, a sister company was opened, the Warehouse Rock Gym, a full-scale indoor climbing facility. In the summer of 2004, a vacancy opened on the Olympia City Council, and Joe applied to further his interest in livable cities and community service. He was appointed to Position 7 in August of 2004.

PETER DRURY
Peter is an ordained minister and the Development Director for Sightline Institute. Sightline is a not-for-profit research and communication center based in Seattle. Founded in 1993, Sightline's mission is to bring about sustainability, a healthy, lasting prosperity grounded in place. Nonpartisan and wholly independent, Sightline's only ideology is commitment to the shared values of strong communities, fair markets, and responsible stewardship. Sightline monitors the Northwest's progress toward a healthy, lasting prosperity with the Cascadia Scorecard, an index of seven key trends shaping the future of the Northwest. Peter is a graduate of Yale, the University of Washington, and the University of Illinois, and is currently an MBA candidate at Seattle University. Peter serves on the Institutional Review Board (Ethics Committee) of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and as Board President of MultifaithWorks, an interfaith AIDS and MS services agency.

PETER DONALDSON
in character as LEONARDO DA VINCI
Peter Donaldson, strategic storyteller, educator, and community facilitator, tours nationally in character as Leonardo da Vinci to bring the spirit of the original Renaissance man dramatically to life and to inspire young and old with the unique gifts of their own genius. In addition to the theatrical performance, Peter speaks at conferences, colleges, schools, and civic gatherings to stimulate the new currency of intellectual curiosity; the knowledge economy of the New Renaissance of our time. In the fall, when the salmon are returning to the rivers of his native Northwest (Salmon Nation), Peter tours his other one man show, SALMONPEOPLE, leading seminars on sustainability, building local coalitions to prioritize sustainable thinking, and introducing civic and business leaders to the work of Sightline, measuring seven key trends in the Northwest, and Ecotrust, building programs and business models to catalyze a conservation economy. Peter has authored a dozen plays, produced sixty others and regularly self-publishes his poetry. He received the national award for Youth Theater Director of the Year from the American Alliance for Theater and Education in 1991. Mr. Donaldson has 25 years experience as a curriculum designer and teacher of teachers creating numerous public school partnerships integrating systems thinking, history, science, writing and the arts.

Learn more at these links!
Interview with Peter Donaldson
Learn more about Leonardo
New Renaissance Forum
20 Questions for the New Renaissance
Sightline Institute Statement, Subscribe!
City of Olympia Statement by Joe Hyer
School Workshops
College Seminars
Peter’s Book List
Peter Donaldson Bio
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