Profile

Rob Sinclair

Rob Sinclair is the founder of Conscious Brands™, a Calgary-based, globally focused Sustainability consulting practice. Rob is currently working on launching a Carbon Labeling standard for the the North American Organic food industry. In the last 15 years, Rob has been involved with pioneering movements: forwarding the Internet and IT industry in Calgary, self-producing a traveling internet-based vegan cooking show, and becoming president and owner of an organic food manufacturing company called Friendly Foods. After selling Friendly Foods in 2005, Rob began brokering organic food producers like Cocoa Camino, Guayaki, Manitoba Harvest, Sambazon and other progressive companies which operated from integrated bottom lines and were pushing the edge of sustainability forward. So inspired by these new models of corporate responsibility and the role of business within sustainability movements, Rob went on to study the AA1000, the GRI, and Co-Creative Stakeholder Engagement. Rob brings an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of business and the inherent value of working within the context of economic, human and natural capital.

Link :: Conscious Brands Blog :: www.consciousbrands.blogspot.com

Oliver Ferrari

Oliver Ferrari holds a Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences as well as a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University. His primary area of expertise is integrating financial and environmental data to produce quantitative models of carbon offset and other greenhouse gas-related projects. He is a long-time resident of the Georgia Piedmont, and works to restore this landscape through his greenspace management business.

Miriam Karell

Miriam Karell draws on 10 years of experience designing practical strategies that address profound change in organizations. She is trained in The Natural Step, Integral Theory, Systems Thinking, Strategic Business Management, and Environmental Engineering. In the past year, she designed sustainable business membership criteria for a $1 Billion green village project, assisted an organization in creating a green team and strategic plan, and organized and facilitated sustainability workshops and leadership trainings for change champions in Mexico and the United States. She has been an influential facilitator for teams to establish clear, concise sustainability goals and strategic actions to achieve those goals. She holds a Masters in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability from the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden, Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of California Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from University of California Santa Cruz.

Link :: Three Point Vision :: www.threepointvision.com

Dara Edmonds

Dara Edmonds, BA, LLB, is a Vancouver-based lawyer and sustainability consultant specializing in social auditing and corporate social responsibility initiatives. 

She has worked with cooperative and public sector organizations conducting social audits and sustainability assessments, reviewing organizational systems and applying assurance standards to corporate reports.  Dara has extensive experience in evaluating programs, policies, and practices, and in developing workable strategies and implementation measures. She also works on regional social sustainability issues, having assisted a variety of organizations with the development of social sustainability indicators, benchmarks, targets and corresponding sustainability strategies.  Dara also works with stakeholders, having coordinated and conducted stakeholder education and consultation sessions, gathering feedback and laying the foundations for government and corporate sustainability initiatives.

Dara holds an honours BA in geography and history from Mount Allison University and an LL.B. from the University of Saskatchewan.  She was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1998. 

Heather Gadonniex, LEED AP

Heather Gadonniex, is the co-founder of Green it Group, a change management firm focused on green business, green building, and green marketing.  For the past seven years, Heather's been entrenched in the green business and green building marketplace, working in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. As the Sustainability and Marketing Manager for Timbron International, she incorporated a complete corporate social responsibility platform into Timbron's business model, winning two awards for their efforts in Social Sustainability and the Environmental Building News 2006 Top Ten Green Building Product Award. 

Previous to Timbron, Gadonniex worked on incorporating sustainable tourism into the island of Koh Lanta, Thailand and implemented sustainable farming techniques for desertification prevention in Africa. In April of 2002, Heather co-organized the first Sustainability Summit at the University of Pittsburgh, highlighting the topics of corporate accountability, energy security, and green building. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development from the University of Pittsburgh, and is a Built Green certified green building professional and a LEED AP.

Link :: Green It Group :: www.greenitgroup.com