Janine Benyus - President
Janine Benyus is a natural sciences writer, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including her latest − Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. In Biomimicry, she names an emerging discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature's designs and processes (e.g., solar cells that mimic leaves, agriculture that models a prairie, businesses that run like redwood forests). Since the book’s 1997 release, Janine has evolved the practice of biomimicry, consulting with sustainable business, academic, and government leaders, serving on the Eco-Dream Team at Interface, Inc., and conducting seminars about what we can learn from the genius that surrounds us. Her favorite role is biologist-at-the-design-table, introducing innovators to organisms whose well-adapted designs have been tested over 3.8 billion years.

Janine has cultivated a deep knowledge of the natural world, beginning with direct observation in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, continuing in habitats from Maine to West Virginia where she worked as a backcountry guide, and now, in her home wilds of Montana.

She graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers University, New Jersey, with two degrees in Natural Resource Management and English Literature/Writing. Her writing career began in the early eighties, when she translated “science-speak” for several research labs including the world’s largest forest research organization. An abiding interest in community ecology led to her first popular book Northwoods Wildlife: a Watcher’s Guide to Habitats (1989), an ecosystem-organized guide to northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. She followed with a national series: The Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats, Eastern and Western Editions (1989), which have become standards in their genre. In an effort to reach a larger audience of wildlife enthusiasts, Janine wrote an interpretive guide to animal behavior called Beastly Behaviors: A Guide to How Animals Act and Why (1992). In her next book, Janine coined the term Biomimicry (1997) to describe the emerging field of bio-inspired innovation. David Perlman of San Francisco Chronicle called Biomimicry “one viable answer to the wake-up call that Rachel Carson sounded a generation ago in Silent Spring.''

In 1998, Janine co-founded an education and innovation practice called Biomimicry Guild. Through workshops, research reports, biological consulting, and field excursions, the Guild helps innovators learn from and emulate natural models. The goal is to create products, processes, and policies that create conditions conducive to life.

Clients have included Arup Engineers, Carollo Engineers, Consorta, General Electric, General Mills, Gensler Architects, Herman Miller, Hewlett Packard, HOK Architects, IDEO, Interface, Kohler, Levi’s, NASA, Nike, Norm Thompson, Novell, Patagonia, Seventh Generation, S.C. Johnson, and Shore Bank Pacific Bank. As a result of working with the Biomimicry Guild, the world’s largest commercial carpet manufacturer (Interface, Inc.) introduced Entropy™, a carpet inspired by random pattern formation in nature. In record time, Entropy™ rose to become Interface’s top-selling line of carpet. Four years later, this biomimetic product represents 40% of their carpet tile sales.

Janine’s international keynotes have introduced tens of thousands of people to biomimicry, including Amana-Key Executive Leadership Training, American Institute of Architects, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, California Resource Recovery Association, Cambridge University's Centre of International Studies and the Environment, Canadian National Roundtable for the Economy and the Environment, Design Futures Council, Global Business Network, Health Care Without Harm, the Prince of Wales’ Business & the Environment Programme, National Textile Center, President’s Council on Sustainable Development, Schumacher College, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Wharton School of Business. She also hosted and co-wrote a two-hour public television special based on her book, which aired on “The Nature of Things with David Suzuki” in 71 countries.

Janine is currently creating the Biomimicry Design Portal -- a public database of biological literature organized by design function. She is also developing a “biology-taught-functionally” course for engineers and designers, the only biology most will encounter in their university education. To help further Biomimicry education and research, she recently founded the non-profit Biomimicry Institute. These projects are intended to create a flow structure so that nature’s ideas can move freely into human systems design.

In addition to her biomimicry work, Janine teaches interpretive writing, lectures at the University of Montana, and works towards restoring and protecting wild lands. She serves on a number of land use committees in her rural county, and is president of Living Education, a nonprofit dedicated to place-based living and learning.

Janine has received several awards including Rachel Carson Environmental Ethics Award, the Lud Browman Award for Science Writing, the Science Writing in Society Journalism Award, and the Barrows and Heinz Distinguished Lectureships.

An educator at heart, Janine believes that the more people learn from nature’s mentors, the more they’ll want to protect them. This is why she writes, speaks, and revels in describing the wild teachers in our midst.

David Fox - Vice President
David has been in the computer industry for nearly 20 years and has developed expertise in electronic commerce and digital content. David's first company, InfoMagic, was founded in 1985 and became a leading Australian full-service distributor focused on the print and electronic publishing industries. InfoMagic launched and held exclusive agreements with companies such as Adobe, Aldus and Radius, and developed important new markets, including desktop publishing, multimedia, digital video and groupware. InfoMedia, InfoMagic's multimedia development division, developed MicroCat for Ford Motor Company-a world-class, CD-ROM electronic parts catalog and integrated order system. In 1994, David sold his InfoMagic shares to a partner (the company was subsequently acquired by Unisys) and, together with his wife Kelli, moved to the United States to pursue the emerging digital content market.

In the U.S., David established a local presence for UK-based Instant Access, a developer of encrypted CD-ROM-based software systems that produced over 40 CD titles and shipped over one million CDs into the European market. While working there, David developed the company's Instant Access to Internet CD-ROM-a product that included a multimedia introduction to the Internet, a Virtual Web Tour, a comprehensive Internet Software Library and a connection to the Internet through the IBM Global Network. In addition to this title, David negotiated an agreement with Netscape Communications to use Instant Access's production team to develop Netscape's first CD-ROM-the Netscape PowerPack. In January 1995, David and Kelli moved forward and created KnowledgeWeb, Inc. to develop interactive content and related transaction systems for business and consumer markets. KnowledgeWeb developed The Computer Events Directory website, which was licensed to CMP Media. CMP relaunched The Computer Events Directory at www.techcalendar.com.

Founded in December 1995, Astrology.net (which later became Astrology.com) was KnowledgeWeb's first consumer site. It was among the first websites to sell and distribute personalized digital content, and currently enjoys a worldwide following. Astrology.com's e-commerce site has been in active service since January 1996. It uses an application, database and transaction system developed by KnowledgeWeb. David is an Internet Commerce expert and has led the Internet Commerce sessions at Internet World conferences in Sydney, Dallas and Boston, and the first WebLink Conference in Jakarta.

Mary L. Hansel - Board Treasurer
Ms. Hansel has an extensive and varied background in sustainability principles and strategies, and financial and information management. She was a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) for 20 years, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Arizona.

Ms. Hansel is currently leading a strategic initiative to integrate more sustainable practices into the daily operations and professional practices of Carollo Engineers, a consulting engineering firm that designs municipal water and wastewater treatment systems. She has served as  board member and Treasurer for a number of organizations, including two churches, the Gentle Strength Cooperative (natural foods store) in Tempe, Arizona, and the Sustainable Business Alliance of Berkeley. She has also done volunteer work for the Nature Conservancy, the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos Islands, and the Inner City Outings of the Sierra Club.

Joel Makower 

For nearly 20 years, Joel Makower (www.makower.com) has been a well-respected voice on business, the environment, and the bottom line. As a writer and strategist on corporate sustainability practices and clean technology, he has helped a wide range of companies align environmental goals with business strategy. He is chairman and executive director of Greener World Media, which produces the acclaimed resource center GreenBiz.com and its sister sites ClimateBiz.com and GreenerBuildings.com; co-founder of Clean Edge, a clean-tech research and publishing firm; and a senior advisor at GreenOrder, a sustainability strategy consultancy. He also writes "Two Steps Forward" (www.readjoel.com) a popular blog on sustainable business, clean technology, and green marketing. The Associated Press has called him "The guru of green business practices."

Lynelle Cameron
Lynelle Cameron is the Director of Sustainability at Autodesk, a leading provider of design innovation software to architects, engineers and designers.   Believing that design has an important role to play in addressing global sustainability challenges, Lynelle is chartered with integrating sustainable design into Autodesk’s product strategy while also optimizing the company’s environmental footprint.

Before joining Autodesk, Lynelle spent seven years building a Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSER) program at Hewlett Packard.  She joined the private sector after 7 years in environmental nonprofit sector with The Mountain Institute, World Wildlife Fund, National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), and the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. 

Lynelle is on the Board of Directors of the Biomimicry Institute and on the Advisory Board of Net Impact, a network of 10,000 M.B.A students and alumni interested in sustainable business. She holds an M.B.A from UC Berkeley, an M.S. from University of Michigan, and a B.A. from Middlebury College. She is a published author of several articles and chapters concerning business and sustainability.

David Oakey

David Oakey leads global efforts in sustainable or “smart design” by learning from nature, the study of biomimicry.  He is passionate following his steps to sustainability through process, product, and people.  Oakey challenges industrial designers, architects, teachers and students to take action and impact change today. Sustainable design must be innovative utilizing efficient use of materials, seeking smart products, and eliminating waste in the process.  Respecting the Future is the conscious choice of systems thinking, recognizing how design impacts the world during and after its life cycle.

Oakey, educated in carpet design at Kidderminster College, pursued his entrepreneurial dream establishing David Oakey Designs in 1985.  Structured for integrated design and development programs, Oakey has created an award winning work environment for design research.

Oakey and his philosophies have been featured in Business Week, Fast Company, Interior Design Magazine, New York Times Science, Green Futures Magazine, I.D. Magazine, and The Smithsonian Magazine.
 

Advisors

Dayna Baumeister, Biomimicry Guild (General advisory)

Paul Hawken (General advisory)

E. O. Wilson, Harvard University (Innovation for Conservation)

Ray Anderson, Chairman, Interface Inc. (Innovation for Conservation)

Jay Harman, President and CEO, PAX Scientific (Innovation for Conservation)

Joel Makower, Boardmember, The Biomimicry Institute (Innovation for Conservation)

Dawn McGee, Good Works Ventures (Innovation for Conservation)

Barry Patterson, Biomimicry Guild (Innovation for Conservation)

Carol Brewer, University of Montana (Education)