Majora Carter

Eco-Entrepreneur, Majora Carter Group
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 - Opening Keynote

Majora Carter was born, raised, and continues to live in the South Bronx. Her career has taken her around the world in pursuit of resources and ideas to improve the quality of life in environmentally challenged communities. She founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 after writing a $1.25M Federal Transportation grant to design the South Bronx Greenway with 11 miles of bike and pedestrian paths connecting the rivers and neighborhoods to each other, and to the rest of the city. That project secured over $20 million in funds for first phase construction and serves as alternative transportation, economic development anchor, storm water management infrastructure as well as healthy recreation.

She has been instrumental in creating riverfront parks, building green roofs, working to remove poorly planned highways in favor of positive economic development, and successfully implementing the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) program— a pioneering green-collar job training and placement system — seeding a community with a skilled workforce that has both a personal & economic stake in their urban environment.

These accomplishments grow from her notion that self-image is influenced by surroundings—so those surroundings should be beautiful! Her work has earned numerous honors including Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People In Business, a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship, Essence Magazine’s 25 Most Influential African-Americans, and NY Post Liberty Medal for Lifetime Achievement. She is a board member of the Wilderness Society and CERES; and hosts the special public radio series: “The Promised Land” (thepromisedland.org).  Her work now includes advising cities, foundations, universities, businesses, and communities around the world on unlocking their local economic potential to benefit everyone as President of the Majora Carter Group, LLC.

Follow her on twitter at @majoracarter and on facebook.com/majoracarter

Jason F. McLennan

CEO, Cascadia & International Living Building Institute
Thursday, April 28, 2011 - Thursday Morning Plenary

Considered one of the most influential individuals in the green building movement today, Jason F. McLennan’s work has made a strong impact on the shape and direction of green building in the United States and Canada and he is a much sought after presenter and consultant on a wide variety of green building and sustainability topics around the world.

McLennan serves as the CEO of the Cascadia Green Building Council, the Pacific Northwest’s leading organization in the field of green building and sustainable development and he is also the CEO of the International Living Building Institute. He is the founder and creator of the Living Building Challenge, an international green building program. His work in the sustainable design field has been published or reviewed in dozens of journals, magazines conference proceedings and books including Architecture, Architectural Record, Dwell, Plenty, Metropolis, NY Times, The Globe and Mail, The World and I, Ecostructure, Greensource, Arcade and Environmental Design and Construction Magazine. He is the author of four books; The Philosophy of Sustainable Design, The Dumb Architect’s Guide to Glazing Selection, The Ecological Engineer and Zugunruhe.  The Philosophy of Sustainable Design is currently used as a textbook in over seventy universities and colleges and is distributed widely throughout Europe, North America and Asia.

Sarah Harmer

Canadian Singer - Songwriter, Activist

Thursday, April 28, 2011 - Big Bang Dinner + Award Keynote Performer

Sarah Harmer is a Canadian singer-songwriter and activist known for for her mix of roots, pop and folk music and her environmental activism.  She is the former lead signer of the Canadian band Weeping Tile.  Harmer later stepped into the musical scene as a solo artist where she quickly became a platinum selling artist.  She has also appeared as a guest vocalist to artists such as Neko Case, Howie Beck, and Great Lake Swimmers.

In the years after touring her last studio release, the Polaris Prize-nominated I’m a Mountain, she set music aside to focus on political and environmental campaigns, helping to shepherd PERL

(Protecting Escarpment Rural Land), the organization she co-founded.  PERL campaigned to protect the Niagara Escarpment from a proposed gravel development, which would see some parts of wilderness near the escarpment removed.  To support the organization, she embarked on a tour of the escarpment, hiking the Bruce Trail and performing at theatres and community halls along the way.  Escarpment Blues, an award nominated documentary film of the tour was released shortly after. 

Sarah Harmer brings music and activism together in a beautiful way often speaking about encroaching development at the expense of habitat and water quality.  Her work and music has earned her numerous accolades including Time Magazine best debut album of the year for You Were Here, Polaris Music Prize nominated for I’m a Mountain and best music DVD nomination for Escarpment Blues.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Author, Speaker and Organizational Consultant
Friday, April 29, 2011 - Friday Morning Plenary

Margaret Wheatley is a well-respected writer, speaker, and teacher for how we can accomplish our work, sustain our relationships, and willingly step forward to serve in this troubling time. She has written five books: Perseverance (2010); Leadership and the New Science (18 languages and third edition; Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future (7 languages and second edition); A Simpler Way (with Myron Rogers); and Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time (3 languages).

She is co-founder and President emerita of The Berkana Institute, a charitable foundation that works in partnership with a rich diversity of people around the world who strengthen their communities by working with the wisdom and wealth already present in their people, traditions and environment (www.berkana.org). Her numerous articles appear in both professional and popular journals and may be downloaded free from her website: www.margaretwheatley.com.

Wheatley received her doctorate in Organizational Behavior and Change from Harvard University, and a Masters in Media Ecology from New York University. She’s been an organizational consultant since 1973, a global citizen since her youth, a professor in two graduate business programs, and a happy mother and grandmother. In 2002, the American Society for Training and Development awarded her their highest honor and dubbed her a ‘living legend.’