2011 Sierra Innovation Summit Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Ari Derfel - E.D., Slow Money and CEO of Gather Restaurant in Berkeley, CA
Slow Money is a national organization with local chapters around the country working in partnership to catalyze investment in local food systems. They aim to redefine what it means to be an investor in the 21st century, promoting investment that measures returns based on principles of soil fertility, sense of place, care of the commons, and economic, cultural and biological diversity.

Ari also co-owns Gather, the award winning restaurant in Berkeley, CA, with his business partner, Eric Fenster. The New York Times calls Gather, “a Michael Pollan book come to life.” Esquire Magazine lauded Gather as one of the Best New Restaurants of 2010 and awarded its chef, Sean Baker the title “Chef of the Year.” Ari and Eric also founded Back to Earth Organic Catering in 2001, the first organic catering company in the US. Ari is internationally known for his work on food, waste and consumerism, and has been featured on numerous print, television, internet and radio media worldwide.

Bill Feyling - E.D., Northern California Carpenters Regional Council
Mr. Feyling is the Executive Director of the Carpenters 46 Northern California Conference Board. He has over 22 years experience in labor relations, having served in organizing and representation roles within the Carpenters Union and is a former Research Director of Operating Engineers Local Union #3

Glenda Humiston – California Director of Rural Development, US Department of Agriculture
Dr. Glenda Humiston was appointed by President Obama on August 23, 2009 to serve as the California State Director at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Rural Development. Humiston brings over 25 years of experience working on public policy development and program implementation supporting rural development and sustainable communities to the Agency.

Gerald Benjamin - Senior Managing Partner, International Capital Resources and Author on angel investing
Gerald A. Benjamin, M.S., Senior Managing Partner of International Capital Resources is recognized by entrepreneurs, investors and financial intermediaries and advisors as one of the nation's leading authorities on the business angel and early-stage capital markets.

He has published eight books on Angel Capital. These include; Finding Your Wings: How to Locate Private Investors to Fund Your Venture, Angel Financing: How to Find and Invest in Private Equity, and The Angel Investor's Handbook: How to Profit from Early Stage Investing (US and India).

Mr. Benjamin has been an advisor in numerous successful private equity transactions with such companies as; Insomnia's Coffee and Teas, Digimarc Technology (software), Sundance Corp. (services), American Ergonomics (manufacturing), Freeport Telecom (telecommunications), Cortexion (software as a service, Computility (computing services), Inovium (technology enabled services), among others.

Nicole DeJonghe - Senior Program Director, Sierra Business Council
Nicole DeJonghe is a Senior Program Director at the Sierra Business Council. She currently manages a variety of programs at SBC including Sierra Nevada Geotourism, Rivers and Ranches, Sediment Source Control Training and Supplemental Environmental Programs. Nicole also advises SBC staff and programmatic capabilities.

Nicole has a passion for working towards a balanced and prosperous Sierra Nevada region. Before joining SBC, Nicole enjoyed a wide range of professional experience including implementing sustainable business practices, green building certification management, environmental education, and business development. Nicole holds a Masters degree in teaching, and a second Masters degree in Environmental Science and Management with a specialization in Green Innovation and Business (Bren School, UCSB). Nicole believes in educating, inspiring, and empowering others with the tools necessary to make positive change.

Timothy Dondero - Program Manager, Sierra Business Council
Timothy is a Program Manager at the Sierra Business Council. Timothy comes to the Sierra Business Council with a passion for working towards a sustainable and just Sierra economy, ecology, and community.  He brings a breadth of experience in the built environment and construction trades, and holds a C-10 Electrical contractors license.  Timothy believes in embodying, empowering, and sustaining positive change through education, innovation, and participation. Timothy comes to SBC with a background in electrical contracting, energy efficiency retrofitting, green building and alternative energy design and installation.

Timothy currently works as a project manager for the Sierra Nevada Energy Watch and the Green Prosperity Initiative. His work includes advancing the goals of the CA Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan, providing on the ground energy assessments and retrofits for small businesses, as well as training under and unemployed contractors and tradesmen in energy efficiency techniques and practices. Recently Timothy's role in the energy programs at SBC have expanded to include the drafting and implementation of energy action plans for local governments in the Sierras, as well as hosting trainings with state officials for elected officials on GHG reduction policy.

Michael Kane - Dean, Sierra College Department of Math and Science
Michael Kane has served for the last five years as the Associate Dean of Sciences & Mathematics at Sierra College in Rocklin, CA.  His educational background includes degrees in Secondary Education, Biology and Applied Ecology and he has worked in both education, and in the private sector doing international sustainable development work.  He is one of the founders, and serves as the Director of Sierra College’s Energy Program and is a leader in the sustainability movement at the college.  He is the founder and coordinator of the Sierra College Sustainability Forum.  Mr. Kane has recently completed the Sierra Business Council’s Sierra Leadership Institute as well as the University of Vermont’s certification in Campus Sustainability.

Doug Henton - Collaborative Economics
Doug Henton has more than 30 years of experience in economic and community development at the national, regional, state, and local levels. Doug is nationally recognized for his work in bringing industry, government, education, research, and community leaders together around specific collaborative projects to improve regional competitiveness.

He was project manager for the start-up of the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, an innovative, results-oriented regional economic development alliance. He continues to serve as Joint Venture’s economist and is the architect of Joint Venture’s annual Index of Silicon Valley.

Kevin Marshall - President, Clear Capital
Kevin Marshall is President of Clear Capital®, which he co-founded in 2001 with Duane Andrews. Clear Capital is a high-end provider of real estate data and analytics to many types of firms such as large banks, mortgage lenders, hedge funds, loan servicers and governmental organizations. Kevin leads Clear Capital's initiatives to provide unmatched customer service, to offer the most accurate and high quality valuation products, and to develop a progressive technology platform to support the operations of the business.

Kevin moved to Truckee with his family in the late 1990s with the goal of growing a nationwide financial services company in this scenic mountain community. He and Duane quickly realized the area attracted people with a healthy, outdoor lifestyle and provided an incredible source of hardworking and customer centric individuals, perfect for building their young company.

Michael Ort - Principle, Praxis Fiber
Michael Ort, CEO of Praxis Associates, has over 30 years telecommunications experience in the wire line, wireless and cable communications segments.  He has extensive experience with legacy networks as well as emerging media and network technologies.  Among his customers and clients are AT&T, Cisco, DHL, Google, Lennar, Netscape, Time Warner, and Verizon.

Praxis Associates is a full-service network development firm based in California, which plans, engineers, constructs and operates fiber optic networks.  The firm is presently deploying three large rural broadband projects in California and Nevada, including Digital 395, a 583-mile fiber backbone serving the Eastern Sierra. 
Before co-founding Praxis Associates in 2002, Michael held positions at Pacific Bell, AT&T, KPMG Consulting, the University of California, and the University of San Francisco.  He holds a Ph.D. in Institutional Economics from UCLA and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at USF, where he teaches courses in Emerging Technologies.

Dave Polivy - Owner, Tahoe Mountain Sports
David Polivy is the owner of Tahoe Mountain Sports, an outdoor gear store located in Kings Beach, CA. He started Tahoe Mountain Sports and TahoeMountainSports.com in 2004 as an online only e-commerce operation and opened the Kings Beach store in 2007. As a multi-channel retailer, David’s experience with running a fast growing e-commerce operation along with a brick and mortar retail store in a resort oriented environment has enabled him to understand many of the region’s challenges along with its many opportunities. His e-commerce experience is focused on affiliate marketing, search engine optimization, payment security, online advertising and general e-commerce operations. As a former program manager at the Sierra Business Council, David has come to understand how important it is that the natural, economic and social aspects of our communities work in unison to achieve success.

Brent Smith - CEO, Sierra Economic Development Corporation
Brent has been the CEO of the Sierra Economic Development Corporation (SEDCorp) for nearly five years and an economic development professional for nearly eighteen years, having managed the redevelopment agencies for Sonoma County and the City of Folsom prior to coming to SEDCorp.  He is an experienced business counselor, teaching classes and providing technical assistance in a broad spectrum of business subjects, and specializes in small business finance.  Brent retired from a career in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a Lieutenant Colonel, holds Masters degrees in Public Administration and Systems Management from the University of Southern California, and earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma.  He was certified as an Economic Development Financial Professional by the National Development Council and is a private pilot with a passion for flying experimental category homebuilt airplanes.

Tim Frank -  LEED AP Neighborhood Development

Tim is an environmental advocate and sustainability consultant with more than 20 years of experience working on land use, transportation and green-building policy. His client base has included a broad range of environmental non-profits including the Sierra Club, NRDC, Nature Conservancy and American Farmland Trust. He currently serves as the director of the Center for Sustainable Neighborhoods, an organization focused on harnessing the disciplines of green building, new urbanism and smart growth to slash pollution, save farmland and habitat all while creating communities that are not only models of efficiency but great places to live, work and play.

In addition, Tim serves as the board chair for Good Jobs First, a DC based think tank that promotes both smart growth and economic development reform in order to promote a more robust and broadly shared prosperity. Tim served on the core committee that crafted the LEED standard for Neighborhood Development, and currently serves on the Location and Planning Technical Advisory Committee for the USGreen Building Council. Tim also provides sustainability advice to local governments and builders.