Board of Directors
Our board provides expertise in fundraising, program development, and strategic guidance.
F. William (Bill) Green, M.D., Chairperson
Dr. Green is coordinator of the Subcommittee on Renewable Energy and Sustainable Design for Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area. Since leaving his practice of gastroenterology and hepatology at University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, much of his time has been directed at promoting sustainability with respect to natural resources. He and his wife spend several months a year in volunteer capacities in Guatemala. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Bowdoin College and an M.D. from Boston University and continues to work toward Spanish proficiency.
Nicholas A. (Nick) Shufro, Vice Chair & Treasurer
Mr. Shufro works in the Sustainability, Washington Federal, and Governance Risk Compliance practices at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Prior to joining PwC, he worked for Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, United Technologies Corporation, and the US-Asia Environmental Partnership. He has more than 20 years of experience in management and performance reporting for the energy, financial, and environmental health and safety sectors. Mr. Shufro sits on the boards of several nonprofits, including Boundless Playgrounds, the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, Calm Air Visibility Unlimited, and the Executive Committee of White Water to Blue Water. He holds a Master's of Environmental Management from Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and an M.B.A. from New York University.
Shaun Paul, President and Executive Director of EcoLogic Development Fund
Mr. Paul co-founded EcoLogic in 1993 and currently serves as its executive director. Mr. Paul has extensive experience in rural Latin American economic development, environmental protection, and natural resource management. Prior to launching EcoLogic, he served as a field representative for social service organizations working in Central America. Mr. Paul has also held positions with the United Nations Non-Governmental Organization Liaison Service, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Inter-American Foundation. He has an M.A. in natural resource and development economics from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in international relations from American University. He is fluent in Spanish and was designated a Next Generation Leader Fellow by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2001.
Louise Bowditch, Secretary
Louise Bowditch is the director of Seed Haiti and a trustee of the Blossom Fund. She has been an activist for two thirds of her life, and a donor for the last twenty years. Trained as a lawyer, Ms. Bowditch's work focused primarily on Central America and Haiti. Along with leaders of the Haitian organized peasant movement, she started Seed Haiti in 1998, an organization which supports cooperative, sustainable, economic development in rural Haiti. Ms. Bowditch retired in 2005 and spends much of her time tending olive trees on a small farm in Abruzzo, Italy.
David Barton Bray, Associate Chair, Department of Earth
& Environment, Florida International University
Mr. Bray researches community forest management in Mexico and Central America and pursues interests in natural resource and ecosystem management in Latin America and globally. He was Chair and Associate Professor in the Environmental Studies Department at FIU from 1997-2002. From 1986-1997 he was Foundation Representative with the Inter-American Foundation, a U.S. government foreign assistance agency, in Arlington, VA. From 1992-1998 he was a member of the Tropical Ecosystems Directorate of the US Man and the Biosphere Program. Since 1997, he has received research funding from the Fulbright Program, the Ford Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, and the US Agency for International Development. He has also consulted for the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. He is the lead editor of the book The Community Forests of Mexico (University of Texas Press, 2005) and is widely published in academic journals as well as in the New York Times and the Miami Herald. He has been invited to give presentations on research by himself and colleagues for high level Chinese forestry officials in Beijing, the World Bank in Washington, D.C. and Mexico City, the Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico, Yale University, and the Woodrow Wilson Center, among other venues. He is also an advisor to several forest community organizations in Mexico and is currently developing research and action projects with forest community organizations in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, Mexico. He received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1983 in Anthropology and also has an M.A. in Anthropology from Brown and a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Missouri.
David Crocker, First Vice President-Investments, Smith Barney
Mr. Crocker is a financial consultant with a particular interest and specialization in socially responsible investing. In the 1970s, Mr. Crocker pioneered the idea of community funds, wherein individuals with inherited wealth pool their resources and work with community leaders to fund programs in the environment, social justice, women's rights, disarmament, and peace. Today, the network of community funds he co-founded serves 26 states and has developed into one of the largest sources of funds for cutting-edge community organizing in the United States. Mr. Crocker is a founding board member of Green Seal, Inc., a national organization currently working to develop environmental standards and a seal of Environmentally Approved Labeling for consumer products. He is also a member of the Social Investment Forum, the Social Venture Network, Businesses for Social Responsibility, the National Network of Grantmakers, and the Donor Organizers Network.
Lisa Leff, Vice President and Portfolio Manager, Trillium Asset Management
Ms. Leff is the manager of Trillium's Boise, Idaho, office, where she manages equity, balanced, and fixed income accounts for individual and institutional clients seeking solid competitive returns while also promoting social and economic justice. Before joining Trillium in 1999, Ms. Leff worked at the Social Awareness Investment program at Smith Barney Asset Management in Manhattan. While in New York, she also founded the Social Investment Security Analysts group and served on the board of directors of the Social Investment Forum. More recently, she has served on the boards of the Idaho Conservation League, the Fund for Idaho, and Ten Thousand Villages, Boise. Ms. Leff was named Idaho's Progressive Businessperson of the Year for 2004. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration from California State Polytechnic University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Lauren L. McGregor
Lauren in currently attending the Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in New Haven, CT where she is pursuing her Masters in Environmental Management. Her expected graduation date is May 2009. Her most recent work experience was with United Technologies Corporation Headquarters where she worked from 1992-2007. Her work there included Structuring, negotiating, and closing complex commercial agreements for UTC global supply management in U.S., Europe, and Asia. Advising clients on matters related to energy, chemicals, environmental, health, and safety, information technology, fleet, and global logistics procurement. Lauren received UTC award for outstanding contribution to the UT500 global supply management cost saving initiative, which accomplished $500M in cost reduction in 3 years and received the UTC Horner Citation. She was also a member of the related UT500 energy team, which develops strategies related to energy conservation, auditing, and procurement efforts across the corporation. She also advised clients regarding energy regulatory/legislative matters including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and received UTC award for distinguished performance for developing energy regulatory strategy related to the implementation of the Connecticut Energy Independence Act. Lauren is a member of the UTC Climate Change Working Group.
Fernando Paiz
Mr. Paiz is past Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart Central America. Mr. Paiz and his family have been shareholders and operators of the largest supermarket chain in Central America (550 modern supermarkets in 5 countries) for many years. A controlling interest in this business was sold to Wal-Mart Stores in 2006, and at that time Mr. Paiz became Vice Chairman. Prior to working for Wal-Mart, Mr. Paiz held various leadership positions in the Paiz Group, the family real estate development and holding company. Mr. Paiz is also currently president of Mangos, S.A., a diversified agricultural products concern based in Nicaragua and president of Melonicsa, a large farming enterprise growing rice and other commodities in Nicaragua, he is former founding president of Convergence Communications, the first internet and cable TV operator in Guatemala and of Petco International, the first company to introduce and produce PET bottles in South America. Presently he presides over Genera Group, a real estate development company in Guatemala. Mr. Paiz is a member of other international business and philanthropic boards and community organizations including the Paiz Foundation, which supports education and the arts in Guatemala, the Maya Route Conservation Foundation, Heinneman Foundation and Zamorano University in Honduras. Mr. Paiz is the founding president and former director of the Central America-US Chamber of Commerce in the State of Florida.
Jabes Rojas, National Vice President of Corporate Development, Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA)
Mr. Rojas leads the nationwide corporate partnerships program for ALPFA, an organization that partners with Fortune 500 Companies to recruit, retain and develop top Latino business talent. Since joining ALPFA in 2006, Mr. Rojas has overseen a doubling of the corporate development revenues invested to ALPFA by Fortune 500 Companies. Prior to joining ALPFA, Mr. Rojas worked at John Hancock's Office of Community Relations as Senior Manager of Contributions leading the funding of nonprofits by the company nationwide and managing the employee matching gifts program and employee volunteer program. He has a growing track record of experience for engaging the business goals of top companies with the unique goals of non-profits to produce mutually beneficial results. Mr. Rojas has an MBA from Boston College and an MA in Policy, Planning and Finance from the London School of Economics as well as a BA from Brandeis University. He was born in Guatemala and immigrated to Boston at the age of eleven.
Dianne Saenz, Director of Communications, North America, Oceana
Dianne Saenz manages all external communications strategy and efforts for Oceana's North American campaigns. Oceana, an international ocean conservation group, employs staff in North America, South America, Central America and Europe. She has also worked as a professional communicator for Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, Fenton Communications, Friends of the Earth, Calvert Group socially and environmentally responsible mutual funds and Physicians for Social Responsibility. Dianne also helped launched the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research grantee of the Pew Charitable Trusts focused on native and foreign born Latinos in the United States. She served as its first director of communications, managing all aspects of the Center's communications strategy and branding. She also worked as a consultant for former National Institutes of Health Director Harold Varmus, M.D. and Stanford University's Patrick Brown, M.D. to publicize the open access scientific website Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology and PLoS Medicine.
Dan Tunstall, Director of Bilateral and Multilateral Relations, World Resource Institute
Dan Tunstall is a director of Bilateral and Multilateral Relations at the World Resources Institute (WRI). His principal interests are in the area of environment and development indicators, state of environmental reporting, ecosystem assessments, and information policy. Mr. Tunstall is also acting director for International Cooperation within Development Department. From 1970-75, he worked for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget where he developed the first federal government set of social indicators. From 1976-81 he served on the President's Council on Environmental Quality during which time he developed its initial report on environmental conditions and trends. He was also Manager of Information Sources and Product Planning for Mead Data Central and has been a consultant for a number of government agencies, NGOs, and international organizations. Mr. Tunstall graduated from Northwestern University in 1963 with a degree in biology and received a master's degree in international relations and economics from Columbia University in 1968. He also served for two years in the Peace Corps in Melaka, Malaysia, from 1964-66.
Kathrin Winkler, EMC Corporation
Named as Sr. Director, Corporate Sustainability for EMC in July 2008, Kathrin is charged with providing vision and leadership in the development and implementation of EMC's strategy for environmental and social sustainability. Kathrin works with functional leaders in EMC's Green Business Leadership, a cross-functional virtual team that champions company-wide environmental initiatives, to ensure the integration of sustainability principles in day-to-day operations. She founded and sponsors the company's Engineering Green Team and its Design for Environment program, which are driving leadership designs in environmental stewardship and energy efficiency throughout EMC's product portfolio.
William Russell Grace Byers, Jr., Chairman Emeritus
Mr. Byers is co-founder and chairman emeritus of EcoLogic Development Fund. Formerly an equity analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York, Mr. Byers is now a private investor living and working in New York City. He is a member of board of the R.K. Mellon Family Foundation. Mr. Byers has been active in support of social, environmental, and arts-related causes for many years. Mr. Byers recently is also a member of the Trustees Council of the National Gallery of Art. He holds a B.A. in english from Skidmore College. He is a member of the Social Venture Network.