Mike Grigsby – KCMO

Mike Grigsby is Vice President of Marketing & Technology for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) and former CIO for the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD). He has been involved with numerous innovation efforts throughout the Kansas City region, including leading several transportation and public safety technology initiatives.

Michael Whitfield – Green Roof Outfitters

Michael hails from Charleston, SC, and has managed to keep GRO headquartered there to this day. He attended The Citadel – Military College of South Carolina, where he earned his a BS Degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering. While studying to become a LEED Accredited Professional, he became passionate about the environment and sustainability, and focused his efforts in those areas. With entrepreneurship running deep in his blood and a passion for inventing, after years of exhaustive research and development, Green Roof Outfitters was born! The fundamental principle that governs all his business decisions is that the business & products must be simple, affordable and mutually benefit people and the environment.

Jarami Bond – Interface

Featured as a 2017 GreenBiz 30 Under 30 emerging leader in sustainability, Jarami Bond lives to serve people and steward the planet. Rooted in the belief that responsible business can help solve the global challenges we face, Jarami helps businesses cast vision, strategize creatively, and realize unique opportunities to maximize their platforms and leverage their influence. He accomplishes this by building high-impact initiatives that create channels to business growth and value for all key stakeholders (society, environment, employees, & customers).

Kathryn Kellogg – Going Zero Waste

Kathryn Kellogg the founder of Going Zero Waste and forthcoming author of 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste breaks eco-friendly, sustainable living down into an easy step by step process with lots of positivity and love! All of her trash for two years fits in a 16 oz mason jar, but don’t let that intimidate you. Her blog is full of small, actionable tips you can implement to make the world a little greener.

Andrea Sanders – Be Zero

Andrea Sanders is an environmental educator, mindfulness advisor, TEDx speaker, traveler, artist, and dog mom. Her work focuses on encouraging ecological responsibility, day-to-day mindfulness, and compassionate eating through a plant-based diet. Andrea is also a zero waste influencer and educator on Instagram with a global outreach of over 75,000 followers.

Michael Pegues – City of Aurora

Michael Pegues is the Chief Information Officer for the City of Aurora, Illinois. Michael began his career working in various IT Support roles for AT&T and Pepsi-Co in the Greater Chicago Area. Michael has worked for the US Department of Defense as a civilian Automation Management Officer at US Army Garrison in Vicenza, Italy. In addition, Michael has held various senior IT positions in Hewlett-Packard France, Vodafone Hungary and Morgan Stanley in Budapest Hungary and New York New York. Michael holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from DeVry University and an Executive MBA, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management from Central European University Business School in Budapest Hungary. Michael is a proud Veteran of the US Army.

Peter Krull – Earth Equity Advisors

Peter Krull is the Founder, CEO and Director of Investments at Earth Equity Advisors, a leading socially and environmentally responsible investment management firm located in Asheville, NC. Founded in 2004, Earth Equity Advisors works with individuals, trusts, institutions and non-profits to help them align their investments with their values.

*All views, ideas, and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the individuals and organizations featured on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views, ideas, or opinions of Südlich Productions, LLC (“Südlich Productions”), VisionKeepers and their owners, officers, and employees. Before making any financial or investment decisions, please contact your personal financial representative or counselor.

Marty Williams – Sahlman Seafood

Marty Williams joined Sahlman Seafood in 1996 and has served the company in various capacities. Mr. Williams is currently President of Sahlman Seafoods, Inc. and is responsible for overseeing day-to-day activities of the company, which has operations in Tampa, Florida as well as Nicaragua, C.A.

Janna West-Heiss – Denver’s Office of Sustainability

Janna is currently the Public Affairs Administrator for the City & County of Denver’s Office of Sustainability, where she works internally to develop sustainability as a core value for the municipality and externally with the community on sustainable behavior change initiatives. She is also the Vice-Chair for the Colorado Renewable Energy Society’s state board and was appointed by Governor Hickenlooper to the Colorado Pollution Prevention Advisory Board, a position she presently holds.

David Dionne – Beanstalk Builders

David Dionne is the President of Integrated Park Management, LLC a company dedicated to building and improving parks and communities across America. His work has been consistently recognized as both visionary and innovative by both park professionals and government leaders at every level across the country. David has been a featured or keynote speaker at park and trail conferences more than 50 times, and served for many years as a consultant to design firms, government agencies and nonprofit corporations. His ideas and practices are frequently copied and consistently praised for their simplicity, function and cost efficiency.

Michael Walton – Green Spaces

Michael serves as the executive director of green|spaces, a nonprofit based in Chattanooga, TN that works to advance the sustainability of living, working, and building through education, training, consulting, and demonstration development. He is a licensed architect with experience in commercial interiors, commercial architecture, single and multi-family residential, graphic design and urban design, all with a focus on maximizing quality of life while minimizing impacts on the environment. Michael serves on the US Green Building Council’s Market Leader Advisory Board for Tennessee, the Interior Design Advisory Board at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Board of Directors for the ACE Mentor Program of Chattanooga and as a mentor for the Cleantech Open and CoLab. He graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design, attended the ETH-Zurich as a guest student, and practiced architecture in Washington, DC at Envision Design and Perkins+Will before moving back to Tennessee to become the executive director of green|spaces.

Taylor-Ann Campbell

Taylor Campbell sees herself, in her words, as a “pilgrim” having put a hold on pursuing medical school until she cultivated/lived out a certain aspect of life. Taylor-Ann has a B.A. in Sociology, Post-Bacc in Biology. She is painfully curious about the themes of philosophy, narrative, and meaning at the level of the individual life.

Erin Meezan – Interface

As Chief Sustainability Officer for Interface, Erin leads a global team that provides technical assistance and support to the company’s global business, addressing sustainability at all levels –from operations and management, to employees and customers, and in policy forums. Erin and her team are also responsible for developing industry-leading approaches to measurement, driving transparency and innovation in the field of sustainability. This includes creating a framework for and implementing the company’s newest sustainability mission Climate Take Back, while also capturing successes as the company nears its Mission Zero targets in 2020.

Dustin Morin – Land Reclamation

Dustin Morin is a Land Reclamation Inspector for the Alabama Department of Labor, Abandoned Mine Land Program. Before he began a career in public service he worked as an environmental consultant to the U.S. EPA which provided him a strong scientific background and technical skill set. He is passionate about environmental and conservation issues and uses his experience to accomplish the goals of the Abandoned Mine Land program and restore land and water resources impacted by coal mining to a more natural condition.

Chris Durbin – Project Lead the Way

Chris Durbin is the Lead Engineering Instructor for Project Lead the Way. Chris started his teaching career in 1994, as a Career Technology educator in Danville, IL. The focus for this urban clientele, was to help students understand that knowing something now was not going to be enough for a complete life. Technology and our culture are so fluid that we must learn how to learn in order to be relevant in the future.

Blake Miller – Homebase

Blake Miller is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in growth marketing and the Internet of Things. He currently serves as the CEO of Homebase.AI and is a partner at Think Big Partners.

Blake joined Think Big in 2009 as the Director of the Accelerator, managing the accelerator program portfolio and internal technology operations for Think Big. At Think Big, Blake has championed several new initiatives that grew out of Think Big including; the Kansas City Smart Initiative which won a 2017 Edison Innovation Award and Homebase.AI a joint venture partnership between Think Big and Sunflower Development group.

Deborah Walliser – Got Produce?

Deb designed and patented several hydroponic intelligence systems and then launched the world’s first franchise model for sustainable food production. Desiring to bring hydroponic benefits mainstream, she works in tandem with top chefs and fortune 500 companies to rethink fresh food production and distribution methods.

Denise Loga – Sustainable Food Academy

Denise is the co-founder and managing director of the Berlin-based Sustainable Food Academy which offers B2B services for executives working in food business contexts. Denise is a sustainability expert and trend scout with the thematic focus on “Future Food“. As a strategic policy consultant, project manager and researcher, Denise previously worked for the United Nations (UN), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in the areas of ​​climate policy & economic development.

Kathleen Griggs – Data Buoy

Kathleen is the President and Founder of Databuoy Corporation. She is an entrepreneur with a synthesis of technology research, system engineering and management experience. She founded Databuoy Corporation in 2006 to develop and field tactical, embedded sensor networks, including the ShotPoint gunfire localization system that is now a market leader.

Katie Bradford – Red Mountain Park

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.  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.

Jodi Ondrusek – The Settlement Home Run Club

Philanthropy and nonprofit involvement has always been a priority. Whether it has been serving as a founding board member for Girls on the Run of Austin, a mentor for The Jonas Project, or an active member of The Junior League, Jodi tries to make a positive impact wherever she can. When she is not working or volunteering, Jodi loves spending time with her family and friends as well as training for various marathons across the country.

Bob Bennett – Programming a Smarter City

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.

Crystal Lassiter – UPS

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.

Kelley Roy – ADX Portland

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.

Dr. Eddie White, Jr. – Music in the Lowcountry

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.