Victoria Santos is a visionary leader whose work is deeply rooted in a commitment to collective liberation. With over 35 years of experience, she has dedicated her life to fostering transformative and healing practices through her extensive training in psychology, conflict resolution, meditation, rituals, and embodied practices. Victoria holds a Master’s degree from SUNY-Albany and … Continued
Nora Bateson, is an award-winning filmmaker, research designer, writer and educator, as well as President of the International Bateson Institute based in Sweden. Her work asks the question “How we can improve our perception of the complexity we live within, so we may improve our interaction with the world?”. An international lecturer, researcher and writer, … Continued
Tunde Wey is a Nigerian immigrant, interdisciplinary artist living between Nigeria and the United States, working at the intersection of food and the political economy. He uses performance and installation, film, food, writing and finance to confront material disparities and attempt interventions. His work has been described in GQ, Time Magazine, The New Yorker, and … Continued
Andrea Golden is a popular educator deeply committed to cooperative economics and building collective power. She is Co-Director and founder of PODER Emma Community Ownership, co-founder of Cenzontle Language Justice Cooperative as well as Dulce Lomita mobile home park cooperative, where she lives in western North Carolina with her partner and three children. PODER Emma … Continued
Lisa Byers has been the Executive Director of OPAL Community Land Trust since January 1996. She was a co-founder of the Northwest Community Land Trust Coalition and the National Community Land Trust (CLT) Network, serving as founding President of the Network’s board. A throughline of her work—first in historic preservation, then land conservation and ultimately … Continued
Sandra Niessen, PhD (Leiden University 1985), is a Canadian/Dutch cultural anthropologist, whose fieldwork has focused primarily on the clothing culture of the Batak people inhabiting the region around Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Her research on the handwoven textile repertory over a period of 45 years has resulted in numerous books, articles and films. … Continued
Kathryn Milun is a community-engaged scholar, writer, and energy democracy activist whose work has long been rooted in how communities locally, sustainably, and equitably govern “commons” –shared gifts of nature (air, water, wildlife, food) and community. As a legal anthropologist, Dr. Milun collaborates with community partners to prototype community trust ownership as a legal … Continued
After a lifetime of entrepreneurship, mission-driven consulting, and 15 years as a nonprofit leader, Beth joined Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee of Orange, MA. She consulted with Dean’s Beans for three years before accepting the position of COO in 2022. Her work was instrumental in preparing the company for its transition to a 100% worker owned … Continued
Will Ruddick is a development economist focusing on traditional practices and currency innovation, and Founder of Grassroots Economics Foundation. After completing graduate school researching high energy physics as a collaboration member at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, he found his analysis skills and passion drawn to alternative economics and development. Since 2008 Will has lived … Continued
Susana Martín Belmonte is an independent economist focused on the democratic and environmental aspects of the monetary and financial system, and on the potential of the digitization of money for the transition to a fair and low-carbon economy. She has led several monetary and social innovation projects including the REC citizen currency in partnership with … Continued
Christine Desan is the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School. She teaches about the political economy of capitalism, the constitutional law of money, the international monetary system, constitutional history, and legal theory. Christine’s research explores money as a legal and political project, one that configures the market it sets out to … Continued
Robert C. Hockett is the Edward Cornell Professor of Law at Cornell Law School, Regular Visiting Professor of Finance at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, and Senior Counsel at Westwood Capital LLC in Manhattan. He was previously Counsel at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the International Monetary Fund, and clerked for the US … Continued
Alex Forrester is the Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer of Rising Tide Capital, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization based in Jersey City, NJ working at the intersection of inclusive economics, social justice, and entrepreneurship. Since 2004, through his work at Rising Tide Capital, Alex has been at the forefront of a movement for grassroots economics … Continued
John Chettleborough is Agriculture and Markets Lead with Practical Action, the NGO set up by Fritz Schumacher in 1966 (originally called the Intermediate Technology Development Group). His current portfolio of work focuses on how to use markets and enterprise to support locally led regenerative agriculture in Practical Action’s focus countries in Africa, Asia and Latin … Continued
Dorn Cox is the research director for the Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment in Freeport, Maine, and farms with his family on 250 acres in Lee, New Hampshire. He is a founder of the farmOS software platform and Farm Hack, and is active in the soil health movement. In 2018, he received the … Continued
Toby Hammond is the co-founder and Managing Director of Futurepump, Ltd., a leading manufacturer of solar irrigation pumps designed for one-acre smallholder farmers, mostly in the global south, displacing gasoline-powered water pumps. Futurepump has built a factory in India from where it serves a network of distribution partners throughout the tropics. Futurepump products are designed … Continued
Mark Medish is a co-founder of Keep Our Republic, a civic organization. He is a strategic consultant, lawyer and former senior U.S. government official. He was educated at Georgetown, Harvard and Oxford. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Naomi Davis is Founder and C.E.O. of Blacks in Green (BIG) and the visionary behind BIG’s Sustainable Square Mile initiative. She is the proud granddaughter of Mississippi sharecroppers who – like 7 million others – voted with their feet and moved “UpSouth” for freedom and economic opportunity during the Great Migration. Naomi believes Black communities … Continued
Dr. Stuart Cowan is Executive Director of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, drawing on 25 years of experience in regenerative design, finance, and systems and is a skilled systems thinker, transition designer, researcher, and leader of transdisciplinary initiatives. He is the Co-Founder of Autopoiesis LLC, which works to regenerate communities, ecosystems, and organizations. He was the … Continued
Director of Fundraising & Innovation at The Impact Facility, David Sturmes-Verbeek applies his background in value chain development and resource governance to mobilize investment into artisanal and small-scale gold and cobalt mining across East and Central Africa. David has been involved in the development and launch of the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA), a multi-stakeholder platform … Continued
Chuck Collins is the Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits Inequality.org. He is an expert on U.S. inequality and the racial wealth divide and author of over ten books and dozens of reports about inequality, climate disruption, philanthropy, the racial wealth divide, affordable housing, and … Continued
Born and raised in Ethiopia, Alfa Demmellash lives in New Jersey with her husband and two boys. She is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Rising Tide Capital, a non-profit organization that provides underserved entrepreneurs with the resources they need to launch and grow successful businesses. Since 2005 the organization has operated the Community … Continued
Peace-pilgrim, life-long activist, and former monk, Satish Kumar has been inspiring global change for over 50 years. Aged 9, Satish renounced the world and became a wandering Jain monk. Then in his 20s, he undertook a pilgrimage for peace, walking for two years without money from India to America for the cause of nuclear disarmament. … Continued
Sjoerd Wartena is a sustainable food systems advocate and Founder of Terre de Liens, a civil society organization devoted to ecologically-friendly agriculture and securing affordable access to farmland. Created in 2003, Terre de Liens addresses the difficulties faced by organic and peasant farmers in securing agricultural land. Land prices are high and land market so … Continued
Báyò Akómoláfé (Ph.D.), rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea Aanya and Kyah Jayden Abayomi, the grateful life-partner to EJ, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, public intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My … Continued
Zita Cobb is an eighth-generation Fogo Islander, Founder and CEO of the registered charity Shorefast, and Innkeeper of the award-winning Fogo Island Inn. Zita graduated high school on Fogo Island, Newfoundland before studying business in Ottawa, Canada. Following a subsequent successful career in high-tech, Zita returned to Fogo Island and established Shorefast to put another … Continued
Michael Partis is Executive Director of the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative (BCDI). The Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative (BCDI) is a community-led effort to build an equitable, sustainable, and democratic local economy that creates wealth and ownership for low-income people of color. Having developed a borough-wide, multi-stakeholder strategy for economic development that is integrally connected to … Continued
Chief Kelly LaRocca was elected as the Chief of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation in 2013, and has served on the elected Council for her community since 2008. Chief Kelly is also an elected Director for the National Lands Advisory Board for First Nations Lands Management in Canada and serves as Vice-Chair for … Continued
Robin Rue Simmons is the Founder and Executive Director of FirstRepair, a not-for-profit organization that informs local reparations nationally. She serves as the chairperson of the City of Evanston’s Reparations Committee. Rue Simmons is the former 5th Ward Alderman for the City of Evanston, IL, where she led, in collaboration with others, the passage of the … Continued
Ruth Potts is head of Regenerative Economics at Schumacher College, Devon, UK. She is a researcher, facilitator, artist and activist who also works for the Common Cause Foundation on a project exploring Values in the Media. She was previously a Senior Advisor on the Green New Deal in the office of the Green MP, Caroline … Continued
Kate Raworth is an ecological economist and creator of the Doughnut—a concept that aims to meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet—and co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab. Her internationally best-selling book Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist has been translated into over 20 … Continued
Civil rights activist Slater King was a successful real estate broker who focused his entrepreneurial skills on farsighted plans to help African Americans in Albany and Dougherty County achieve economic independence. Initially vice president of the Albany Movement, founded in 1961, King went on to assume the presidency after Americus-born osteopath William G. Anderson stepped down from the leadership role.
Jared Spears is a writer, researcher, communications strategist and facilitator. Inhabiting the Mahicannituck (Hudson) River Valley, he is an advocate for more equitable organizational structures and citizen-led initiatives that further an economics in service to life. Serving as the Schumacher Center’s Director of Communications + Resources from October, 2021 to October, 2024, Jared contributed to … Continued
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author. She is Senior Correspondent for The Intercept, a Puffin Writing Fellow at Type Media Center and is the inaugural Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University.
Julian Aguon is an activist lawyer and writer from Guam and the author of the acclaimed new book, The Properties of Perpetual Light. He is the visionary behind Blue Ocean Law, a progressive firm that works at the intersection of Indigenous rights and environmental justice. He serves on the Council of Progressive International—a global collective that launched in … Continued
Lisa Linda Natividad is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Guam. She is also the primary convener of the Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice and a founding member of I Hagan Famalao’an Guahan. She is an indigenous CHamoru who has championed the exposure of the human rights violations against her people … Continued
Sandy Bishop is the Executive Director of Lopez Community Land Trust (LCLT). She was a co-founder in establishing LCLT in 1989. LCLT’s first affordable housing project was considered the premiere community land trust project on the west coast and was featured in national publications. Sandy has over 30 years of project management for local community based developments. In … Continued
Philippe Jordi is the founding executive director of the Island Housing Trust, a non-profit community development corporation and community land trust on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Philippe’s work with the Trust has focused on creating a mosaic of scattered site ownership and rental housing that fits within existing neighborhoods and provide long-term … Continued
Dr. Calum MacLeod acts as Community Land Scotland’s Policy Director. He is a sustainable development consultant and academic, having taught postgraduate Masters courses on ‘Political Ecology’ and ‘Human Dimensions of Environmental Change and Sustainability’ at the University of Edinburgh. In 2010 Calum led post-legislative scrutiny of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 on behalf of … Continued
Tom joined the National CLT Network in May 2016 and now leads on the Network’s strategy, policy and advocacy, and on building relationships with the housebuilding, finance, local government and community sectors. Prior to joining the Network, he worked for the Greater London Authority in housing and planning policy, and as head of office for … Continued
Geert De Pauw has been active for more than 20 years for the right to housing in Brussels, as an activist and community worker. In 2008, following a study visit to the Champlain Housing Trust, he started advocating for the establishment of a Community Land Trust in Brussels. He coordinated the feasibility study, on behalf … Continued
Çaca is the Terran Shield and Community Conservation Co-Director for the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust (NEFOC). He is an Afro-Indigenous territorial scholar-practitioner and student of planetary science, political geoecology, and the arts. Therein, he brings a unique lens to conservation work. He is primarily invested in stimulating and uplifting an infrastructure that supports … Continued
Chuck Leach has been president and CEO of Lee Bank since 2015. Prior to joining Lee Bank, Leach served as senior vice president/managing director of wealth management and chief investment officer at Berkshire Bank Wealth Management, where he was employed from 2007 to 2015. Prior to that, he served as vice president/senior portfolio manager at … Continued
Rodney is CEO of Common Future (formerly Business of Alliance for Local Living Economies, “BALLE”). Most recently, he founded Invested Impact, a nonprofit consulting firm and intermediary that connected philanthropic and impact investment capital to underrepresented social entrepreneurs. The firm advised and partnered with numerous philanthropic institutions and financial intermediaries. An inaugural Ford Foundation Global … Continued
George Monbiot is an author, Guardian columnist and environmental campaigner. His best-selling books include Feral: Rewilding the land, sea and human life and Heat: how to stop the planet burning; his latest is Out of the Wreckage: a new politics for an age of crisis. George cowrote the concept album Breaking the Spell of Loneliness with musician Ewan McLennan; and has … Continued
Niamh Leonard first learned about the Schumacher Center in 2012 when her father began visiting the archives and writing E.F. Schumacher’s intellectual biography. Throughout her economics degree and in the years since, her regular visits to the Berkshires have become moments of meaning and connection: an opportunity to learn from thinkers past and present who … Continued
Originally from a market-gardening family in rural North County Dublin, Robert Leonard is an intellectual historian based in Montreal at the University of Quebec (UQAM). A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, where he first read the work of E. F. Schumacher, he has worked on Wall St. and in construction in New York city. Holding … Continued
Sallie Calhoun owns and manages Paicines Ranch, a 7600-acre ranch in central California. She is also an impact investor, activist, and philanthropic funder in regenerative agriculture. Her work focuses on improving the health of agricultural soils and sequestering carbon in soil to mitigate climate change, while creating thriving communities. She is the founder of the … Continued
Natasha Hulst works with the Schumacher Center for a New Economics as the Coordinator for Land Commons Initiatives in Europe and Schumacher Action Labs. She focuses on fostering international and national collaborations for land commons, advocating for Community Land Trusts as a practical model to ensure equitable, place-based, democratic, and voluntary access to land. Natasha … Continued
Ed Whitfield is co-founder and co-managing director of the Fund for Democratic Communities (F4DC). A long time social justice activist, Ed had been involved in labor, community organizing and peace work since the late 60‘s when he was a student activist at Cornell University. He was the chairman of the Greensboro Redevelopment Commission for 9 years and … Continued
