WI & ebbf 'Addressing the Present, Building the Future'

As a trained Climate Reality Leader in the Climate Reality Project of former Vice-President Al Gore, Gary will present climate change information to participants with the hope of inspiring future local action. The presentation will focus on the local impacts and solutions of the climate crisis, especially as they relate to the youth movement. Gary is a social and economic development worker living in Ukraine. Combining a Ph.D. in agricultural science with an MBA in management, he managed projects in Central America, Africa, South Asia and the ex-Soviet Union. His passion is to work for a sustainable future in a united world. As a social activist, he lives on a small farm and runs a residential vacation school for groups of children, youth, and adults striving to build a culture based on universal moral principles. The following video was included in the Association for Bahá’í Studies 2020 Poster Presentation: Global Governance, Climate Crisis, and Youth. https://vimeo.com/429353350

Rhonda Gossen is a consultant for the UNDP Crisis Bureau and a former manager in the Department of Global Affairs Canada. She has worked on humanitarian and crisis response in South Sudan, Nepal, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Southern Africa and on the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon and the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. A former Canadian diplomat working in Asia and Africa, Rhonda was posted in the Philippines, Ghana, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Douglas Henck is non-executive board member of several organizations and was previously the CEO of AEGON Asia. Before that, he served as Chief Financial Officer at the Baha'i World Centre from 2006 to 2009. Prior to moving to Israel, Doug was President, Sun Life Financial Asia and a member of the corporation’s senior executive team. Earlier in his career he was Senior Vice President of the AIG Life Division of the American International Group after spending 23 years with the U.S.-based Aetna, Inc., the last ten years as the senior executive in Asia working out of the regional headquarters in Hong Kong that he started in 1987. Mr. Henck joined Aetna in 1974 after graduating with a B.S. (Mathematics) degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. Mr. Henck qualified as a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in 1978.

Oscar Mendez Rosa is founder of soul.com. His work has always been guided by two fundamental concepts: the spiritual reality of men and the inherent nobility of human beings. Oscar has been dedicating his energies to building communities and contributing to collective well-being and prosperity. He has worked in over 40 countries in four continents and has interacted with people from different cultures. He has been trained in The Netherlands in communication and design and has more than 20 years of experience in business and large corporations. His passion is to develop a deeper understanding of the nature of transforming companies into communities and how this comes about. At soul.com he is, therefore, carrying out research in different fields of knowledge, including religion, philosophy, business, social studies, and economics. Oscar loves to help people elevate their view on reality so that their inner volition is unlocked to contribute to a more prosperous and just society.

Mary Darling loves to collaborate creatively in all things. She is the co-founder of WestWind Pictures, and has written, directed, produced or executive-produced a string of documentaries on topics ranging from art and religion to children and divorce. She also produced hundreds of hours of lifestyle programming including such hits as This Small Space and Designer Guys. Her television comedy, Little Mosque on the Prairie, is a good example of the kind of content she is interested in exploring “content that can stir hearts towards understanding while laughing”. That series has aired in over 100 countries. She has eight beautiful children doing their part to contribute to the advancement of civilization.

I am a 16 year old Canadian interested in the state of the world and how society could be thriving in diversity, actively exploring ways to unite towards common goals. I dedicate what I do towards improving ourselves and changing our mindsets so that we can have the tools to create better communities starting from the grassroots. Recently I have been travelling around the world, interviewing people on the topic of a reform of the UN, new forms of global governance and finding out how the world works. I enjoy the arts, specially music, acting, writing, trying to use all these things to interest others in co-creating purposeful projects. I strongly believe that youth has a role to play in dreaming and applying new forms of success and that right now the world has not found a way to connect with the youth, to make them part of the solution. I aim to explore and present at the conference ways to build those bridges and create common paths of understanding and action that include youth.

Jenna Nicholas is the co-founder and CEO of Impact Experience which is focused on addressing  structural racism and dismantling prejudice by confronting and engaging with the historical and ongoing realities of inequality and racial bias. Impact Experience applies insights from the disciplines of systems transformation and organizational development, design thinking, somatic psychology, and experiential learning to build bridges between organizations and among people that catalyze collaboration and investment. Impact Experience tackles society's most pressing issues including post-hurricane rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, Houston and Puerto Rico, workforce training programs in former coal economy-driven communities in West Virginia, building capital in people of color and women-run businesses, equitable and inclusive investment processes in Opportunity Zones, and supporting sustainable agriculture practices in rural Georgia. Jenna is also the Head of One Planet VC where she invests in early stage businesses in transformative industries, such as education technology, marketplaces, media and the future of mobility. There is a focus on investing into socially conscious companies, at least 60% of which are run by women and people of color. Jenna graduated from Stanford University with an International Relations Honors Degree during which time she also read International Development at Oxford University. Jenna is a Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA graduate, a PD Soros Fellow for New Americans, recipient of the Stanford Social Innovation Fellowship, an Echoing Green Fellow, Forbes 30 under 30 for Social Entrepreneurship and a Summit fellow. Jenna also serves on the Impact Advisory Committee for Apollo Global Management. Jenna has special links with China and co-taught a course at Tsinghua School of Economics and Management on Business Ethics, Sustainability and Impact Investing. Jenna also co-chairs the Emerging Leaders Council of LISC, a community development finance institution that has invested over $1.5 billion into community development projects. Jenna is the Vice President of Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs, a community of over 1500 entrepreneurs and investors. She is an active member of the Bahá’í Faith.

Mr. Robiati has spent his lifetime combining his business activities with a parallel educational and spiritual role which aims to bring the concepts of a new world order into business. A combination of publications and lectures delivered in a number of countries around the world has allowed him to deliver his growing experience and expertise to an ever wider circle of business people, civil society, professors & academics, students, and Baha'i meetings. He became Baha'i at the age of 16 years from a Catholic background. He has served the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy since 1973.

Daniel Truran has dedicated the last 20 years to explore and harness the connection between Bahá’í values, the purpose and the actions or people and companies, inspiring and creating communities and movements that are building the future, a better, more prosperous, sustainable and just future. He is currently director general at ebbf - ethical business building the future, B Corp ambassador at B Lab Europe, teaches at various masters in business schools, and offers talks and sessions to spark the transition that people and the world want and need. He was the co-founder of the Impact Hub Madrid. LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/dtruran

Dr. Roya Akhavan currently serves as Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Mass Communications, St. Cloud State University. Her research in the field of mass communication extends into a range of related areas, including international affairs and peace studies. She has held leadership positions as V.P. for International Marketing at CVSC in China, and as Chair of her academic department in Minnesota. Dr. Akhavan is a frequent speaker on global issues at national and international forums and radio and television programs. Her most recent work is a book entitled "Peace for Our Planet: A New Approach."

Having resided in 6 countries (so far!), and being a polyglot, I consider myself a world citizen. Originally trained as a psychologist, I’ve dedicated much of my time to creating and facilitating training activities both in the for-profit and non-profit worlds. I am now keenly interested in participating in the inquiry about what educational systems could and should look like in the 21st century. I first got acquainted with Anello & Hernandez’s Transformative Leadership in the 90s, and immediately started implementing it in the workshops and training I facilitated. Having worked closely with Eloy Anello and Joan Hernandez in different projects, I had the opportunity to develop materials that adapted Transformative Leadership to youth groups. I currently am collaborating with Transformative Leadership Education, sharing its approaches to international audiences. As a Bahá’í, I am particularly interested in topics related to Bahá’u’lláh’s New World Order, and the transition of humanity towards it. In the core activities, serving as a tutor has been my favorite activity.See Faculty Bio

I am a freelance writer and author of the Amazon best-selling book Collaboration Through Consultation: A Powerful Tool for Building Community. For over 20 years, I’ve been writing for audiences in such diverse fields as healthcare, high tech, energy efficiency and the nonprofit sector. Growing up in the only Bahá’í family in a small rural town, I was determined to find out what this “oneness of humankind” was all about. So I went on to live/work/study in China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Czech Republic. I volunteered on Indian reservations, at a residence school in Canada and in the inner city of Chicago. I studied in the radical alternative environment of Evergreen State College and in the hallowed halls of Harvard University. I got involved in community theater in rural Oregon and in an African American neighborhood of Chicago. In all my travels, the thing that has always drawn me forward is the power of human potential. We are capable of so much! What is it that draws forth from us the best in ourselves? How can we create conditions that allow us to shine? How do we learn together—as individuals, teams and communities—to create a better world? This quest led me to create a website dedicated to exploring these questions: OurProsperousWorld.com. I am currently working in various settings to develop tools to help us learn together better, both as individuals and communities.See Faculty Bio

I am a business faculty emeritus at UNC Charlotte, a former professor at University of Manitoba, a former visiting professor at Laval, Thunderbird, INSEAD, HEC, ESCP, EGADE, a former director of MBA programs at UNC Charlotte and Manitoba, and a former president of the Canadian Academic Accounting Association. My Bahá’í beliefs influenced my research work and interests that spanned a number of areas including human capital, intellectual capital, knowledge management, corporate social responsibility, integrative conflict management, sustainability, environmental management systems, business ethics and corporate governance. As a trainer and consultant, I worked with the World Bank, the Government of Canada, a number of medium and large corporations, and professional accounting organizations. I worked on four continents. My career was heavily influenced by my Bahá’í beliefs, but the divergence between the predominant assumptions and popular theories and my understanding of the Baha’i Teachings was unsettling. When I joined the Bahá’í inspired Ethical Business Building the Future (ebbf) about seven years ago I associated with so many like-minded people and the experience is unique, enriching, empowering, and fulfilling. I am a pro-bono dean of education of ebbf, and proud to serve and to learn through the unique association with this amazing organization. My current passion is to learn about and contribute to the evolving conceptual framework in business, management, and organizations, to encourage individuals to become change agents in their own work environment, and to accompany those who are taking large or small steps to apply high moral and spiritual values that transform their organizations to serve society.See Faculty Bio

I am a qualitative researcher utilizing participatory research to build cohesive communities throughout the world. My doctoral dissertation was on emergency preparedness learning through community radio in North Indian villages. I incorporated principles of the Bahá’í Faith into my academic work resulting in the development of a new theoretical approach to community-building called the Intecritical Research-To-Innovation Conceptual Framework combining Bahá’í consultation, Critical Theory and the Integral Worlds Approach. Through my work as a Senior Research Fellow at the Trans4m Center for Integral Development in Geneva, Switzerland, I have been able to integrate the universal Bahá’í principles into a variety of diverse thematic areas. My publications include a book entitled: Emergency Preparedness Through Community Cohesion: An Integral Approach To Resilience (Routledge, 2019), in which I apply principles of the Bahá’í Faith to community-building, decision-making and community-based economic enterprise as necessary components of resilience and sustainability. My research interests include community-based economic sustainability, integral research and development and the application of the Bahá’í process of consultation to participatory research. In addition to my work at Wilmette, I teach in the Global Nonprofit Leadership Program, in the Graduate School of Business and Economics at Regis University in Denver Colorado. See Jean’s interview on BahaiBlog.netListen to “Discovering How” – ebbf podcast on SoundCloudSee Faculty Bio

Gary is a social and economic development worker living in Ukraine. Combining a PhD in agricultural science with an MBA in management, he managed projects in Central America, Africa, South Asia and the ex-Soviet Union. During the past 20 years, Gary used consultation in his work and teams. While working on the ebbf research team, he authored the brochure “Consultative Decision Making” based on the Bahá’í Writings and his personal experiences both in business, and as a member of Bahá’í consultative bodies in 5 different countries where he lived as a pioneer. His passion is to correlate Bahá’í social principles with current realities in the world and to work for a sustainable future in a united world. As a social activist, he lives on a small farm and runs a residential vacation school for groups of children, youth, and adults striving to build a culture based on universal spiritual principles. ABS (Association for Bahá’í Studies) 2020 Poster Presentation: Global Governance, Climate Crisis, and Youth Selected publications: Consultative Decision Making.  Seeking participation and consensus in making decisions and unity in execution. 2005.  ebbf.org Trust and Trustworthiness, A values-based approach for business. 2011. ebbf.org Responsible Entrepreneurship, An Anthology. Edited by George Starcher and Gary Reusche. 2007. Ebbf Ethics and Entrepreneurship, An Oxymoron? 2005. Editor, Russian edition. ebbf Seed Enterprise Development and Management. FAO/DANIDA. With Chopra, K.R.  1991.  Food and Agricultural Organization/Danish International Development Agency; Trust Fund Publication Reinventing the Village. In: The Spirit of Agriculture, Paul Hanley, editor. 2005. George Ronald Baha'i Studies Series Book 4 Project Monitoring & Evaluation (House Style): A Guide for Project Managers. ARCADIS Euroconsult, 1997,  Arnhem, The Netherlands. The “Miracle” Scenario, Foreign Aid, Delayed Reforms, and Tough Love. 2015. https://voxukraine.org/en/the-miracle-scenario-foreign-aid-delayed-reforms-and-tough-love/ Financing Family Farms, and Creating a Level Playing Field with Large Financial Holdings, https://voxukraine.org/en/financing-family-farms-and-creating-a-level-playing-field-with-large-financial-holdings-en/ Addressing Corruption in Ukraine, with Jean-Pierre Méan, 2016, VoxUkraine.org Improved Seed Systems for Africa, 1985, Winrock International QSEED: Computer Assisted Management for the Seedsman. G. A. Reusche, R. D. Keys and R. L. Angle, Jr.; Journal of Seed Technology Vol. 9, No. 2 (1984), pp. 114-136 An Introduction to Agricultural Insurance and Risk Management, Senior Author and Team Leader, 2014 World Bank Group (other association publications include Actuarial Basics, Data and Information Management, Credit and Insurance, and Risk Transfer and Capital Adequacy). https://www.indexinsuranceforum.org/publication/introduction-agriculture-insurance-and-risk-management-–-manual-1 Restructuring of the Seed Program in Sri Lanka, 1987. Ministry of Agricultural Development and Research (USAID/DARP), Government of Sri Lanka. Seed Sectors in Transition: From Centrally Planned to Free Market. In: “Seed Policy, Legislation, and Law”, Louwaars, N.P. (Editor). Rice Seed Supply in Sri Lanka – A Case Study. Research Report no 34, Instituut Voor Ontwikkelings-Vraagstukken.See Faculty Bio

I have always been a Bahá’í, loved nature since I was taught about it in children’s classes, and set my goal to become a Bahá’í pioneer at the conference launching the Ten-year Crusade in 1953. I was finishing my Ph.D. in marine biology in 1969 when the Santa Barbara oil spill covered my research material and I was doing pollution studies by default. While doing coral reef research at the Smithsonian Institution, I lectured at the first Earth Day in Washington, DC in 1970, and represented the Bahá’í International Community at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972. I was finally able to pioneer to New Caledonia in 1974, becoming the Regional Ecological Adviser to all the Pacific Island Countries at the Pacific Community, where I organized the Pacific Regional Environment Programme. I then joined the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya, as Deputy Director of the Oceans and Coastal Areas Programme, before serving in the Secretariat of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to prepare Agenda 21, the global action plan for sustainable development, and then coordinating the UN System-Wide Earthwatch from Geneva, Switzerland, where I am still based. I have been President of the International Environment Forum, a Bahá’í-inspired organization for environment and sustainability, since 1997, and am also on the governing board of another Bahá’í-inspired organization, ebbf – Ethical Business Building the Future. I teach sustainability in several academic programmes, participate in international research projects on values-based indicators and education for sustainability, and have been Visiting Professor at the University of Brighton, UK, and the European Center for Peace and Development in Belgrade, Serbia. I have been a consultant to the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and other international organizations. Among my many many scientific papers and books are: “Unless and Until: A Bahá’í Focus on the Environment”, “The Eco Principle: Ecology and Economics in Symbiosis,” “In Pursuit of Hope: A Guide for the Seeker” and (with two co-authors) “Global Governance and the Emergence of Global Institutions for the 21st Century,” based on proposals that won the New Shape Prize of the Global Challenges Foundation in 2018. My personal web site includes a complete CV and bibliography.See Faculty Bio