Maggie L. Fox is a consultant serving organizations, foundations and communities in the development and implementation of 21st century biodiversity, climate change and clean energy strategies. She is a veteran of numerous local, state, national and international environmental, political, legal and policy campaigns. Maggie is past President and CEO of the Climate Reality Project and the Climate Action Fund, with global campaigns training citizens leaders driving activism on climate change. She was the national President of America Votes as well as the Southwest Regional Director and Deputy Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Maggie currently serves on the boards of the Green Fund, the Alliance for Climate Education, Colorado State University’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability and Mad Agriculture. Maggie began her career as a classroom teacher and community organizer on the Navajo and Hopi Reservations of Arizona and New Mexico. An avid outdoors woman, Maggie worked with the North Carolina and Colorado Outward Bound Schools and participated in numerous mountaineering and other outdoor expeditions around the world. She is the Co-Founder of Kinship.

Chelsea Congdon Brundige is a media strategist and producer with First Light Films. First Light Films believes that good storytelling is a powerful tool for social change because film is a compelling medium for sharing stories -- and stories cement our values and beliefs. They always have. (www.firstlightfilms.tv). Also an environmental consultant, Chelsea is an expert in western water policy and river management. Building on two decades of work with Natural Heritage Institute (California) and Environmental Defense Fund (western US and Mexico) she now leads collaborative projects involving conservation organizations, resource professionals and stakeholders designed to improve river management, stream flows and water accountability in Colorado. Chelsea currently serves on the boards of Western Resource Advocates, Colorado Rocky Mountain School, and the international charity Space for Giants. She is the Co-Founder of Kinship.

Kelly McClelland is a bi-lingual Creative Director, Rite of Passage guide, and a Nature-Based Psychotherapist. Infusing earth-connection with business and technology, she collaborates specifically with organizations that actively support social and environmental justice. Kelly has worked over 10 years in the marketing industry, leading global award-winning advertising campaigns, organizational strategy, and branding projects.

She is in the inquiry of how art, ceremony, land-based practices, and ancestral recovery can tend our earth, our culture, our kin. And help us embody the truth of who we are – divesting from the inherited stories, oppressive systems, and identities prescribed to us by society.

Kelly serves as a global educator for social and environmental justice programs in Central and South America for Where There Be Dragons. She is on the Justice Council for the School of Lost Borders and the Wilderness Guides Council, an international rite of passage organization. She is on the Board of Wild Mountain Retreats, a retreat center supporting activists and QT-BIPOC (Queer, Transgender, Black, Indigenous, People of Color). She is the Creative Director for Kinship and enjoys studying herbalism, birding, and playing in the surf, snow, and dirt.

Melina Sakiyama is a Brazilian biologist and holds a master’s degree in Environmental Management from Kyoto University in Japan. She has been involved in numerous research projects on biodiversity conservation and governance and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). She also volunteered for various social and environmental organizations. She is a founding member of GYBN and has coordinated youth participation in the CBD since 2012. Since 2014 she is coordinating GYBN’s Youth Voices capacity building and empowerment programme.  Melina was awarded the 2020 MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity, a prestigious biennial international prize organized by the AEON Environmental Foundation and the CBD Secretariat to honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Swetha Stotra Bhashyam is the Global South Focal Point of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN), a youth network of more than 1 million members, 550 member organizations, and 40 regional and national chapters and the official youth constituency to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Since joining GYBN in 2012, she has been working on policy issues under the CBD and has mobilized a vibrant movement for biodiversity within the youth community, leading the effort to coordinate the creation GYBN’s many regional and national chapters. Swetha is a budding wildlife biologist from India and holds a master’s degree in wildlife biology and conservation. She has dedicated the past 9 years of her life to working with several grassroots and international organizations in helping to conserve biodiversity. In the future, Swetha hopes to channel her energy into working on international projects that are meaningful and impactful on the ground.

Christian Schwarzer is the Co-Founder of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN). He has a background in Political Science, focusing on multilateral environmental governance. He has participated in 49 rounds of UN negotiations, including 11 COPs and coordinated 28 delegations to UN meetings. Christian has 17 years of professional working experience in the NGO-sector. He has managed more than 40 projects, including 12 international conferences, 25 workshops and oversaw the growth of GYBN into a global movement, representing 1,25 million youth and young professionals in 172 countries.

Dr. Anita Sanchez, Nahua (Aztec) and Toltec and Mexican American, international consultant, trainer, speaker for decades to Fortune 500 business, education and NGOs, is passionate about leadership, empowerment of women, culture change, diversity and inclusion. Her life work is bridging indigenous wisdom and science for business and societal renewal.  Author of seven books includes international award-winning book The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times, Simon & Schuster. Find Anita Sanchez’s podcast “Four Sacred Gifts” on you tube or your favorite podcast app. She sits on Elder Councils: Wisdom Weavers of the World, Fire Circle Earth, The Well Being Project and a member of the Transformational Leadership Council, Evolutionary Leaders, and a Board member of the Bioneers Organization. Recent awards include 2022 Mogul’s Top 100 DEI Leaders, 2020 Conscious Company Media “World Changing Woman” and 2020 World Woman’s Foundation “Woman of the Hour inspiring one million girls to live their dreams and leadership. Anita leads an annual journey into the sacred headwaters of the Amazon.  Dr Anita inspires people to discover and trust their gifts so that they become a life-giving force to all, people and the earth. 

Andrew Schwartz is an American environmentalist, climate advocate, and community organizer dedicated to building equitable solutions to the climate crisis. With a background rooted in faith and civic service, Andrew’s work spans grassroots activism, interfaith collaboration, and international systems-level change. He holds an Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, where his early call to ministry evolved into a broader commitment to public leadership and environmental justice. Along with his work as an environmental and conservation consultant, he is the co-founder of FutureFaith and a senior policy advisor for the Common Initiative.

A Portland resident and proud parent, Andrew is inspired by the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. 

Ginny Jordan, MFA, is a writer, environmental activist, film producer, and philanthropist. She co-founded Bead for Life and Street Business School, a non-profit organization dedicated to income generation for women in extreme poverty in Uganda. The project is now in 13 countries around the world. She co- produced the award-winning climate change films Chasing Coral and The Human Element.  She also sits on the Board of her family foundation, Cricket Island. The foundation funds youth led social change projects throughout the USA. Ginny is a mother of three and a grandmother of five. She lives in Boulder, Colorado and loves to walk in the foothills and swim in her pond.

Sean Southey has over 30 years of experience in the international development and communications field. With a multi-sectorial background, Sean started his career with 5 years in the Canadian Ministry of Environment, followed by 12 years working with United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) environment team. His NGO experience was enriched through work with ICLEI (Secretary General), Rare (Vice-President) and 10 years as President of IUCN NGO member PCI Media. Over the past decade he has led the development of over 80 campaigns world-wide; won over 100 awards for impactful campaigns; and, reached literally billions of people with life and planet saving information. 

In 2016, Sean was elected as Chair for the International Union for the Conservation on Nature’s (IUCN) Commission on Education and Communication (CEC). In this role, he has worked tirelessly to enhance IUCN’s use of creative communications for social change. Sean is a dual Canadian and South African citizen and has lived, worked and travelled in over 100 countries. He holds a MSC from the London School of Economics and a BA in Economics from University of British Columbia, and has a wonderful daughter, Safia.

Leslie Freeman is a founding partner of Fearless Unlimited, working with leaders and teams on transformational strategy and positioning that unlocks opportunity and promotes socially beneficial outcomes. Her extensive expertise comes from two decades leading efforts for brands such as Apple, Twitter, NPR, The Nature Conservancy and Conservation Lands Foundation as well as for movements and organizations in social justice, climate, biodiversity, mental health and reproductive rights. Her work is insight-and narrative-driven, leaning into social psychology and the power of story to create nonlinear breakthroughs and cultural change. Leslie is passionate about the connection between nature and the human psyche, on the School of Lost Borders board and wilderness rites of passage guide.

Dagny Scott is an award-winning brand and communications strategist known for developing disruptive positioning for complex social issues. Her insights have helped to reframe the narrative around movements including the climate crisis, Alzheimer’s disease, public lands, and women’s health. Her brand work has repositioned everything from Microsoft Windows to Baby Carrots. Most recently Scott co-founded Fearless Unlimited, a brand strategy and communications consultancy specializing in social impact. Previously she was the global head of strategy at CP+B, named Agency of the Decade during her tenure, and she founded and led the Washington, D.C.-based Glover Park Group’s Strategic Transformations practice. Recognition for her work includes multiple Effie’s and Jay Chiat awards for strategic excellence and an Emmy nomination. 

Oscar Soria is an Argentine human-rights activist, environmental advocate and NGO executive who got international recognition for his innovative and influential work as a technologist, communicator and organizer on a wide range of urgent social, political, and environmental issues. Currently, he's Campaign Director at the global civic movement Avaaz. Previously, he held senior communications roles at the global HQs in Greenpeace and WWF, and he served in non-executive or advisory roles in boards of prominent organizations and offices, such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, and in several humanitarian initiatives of the Holy See in the Vatican.