Team

Woody Tasch is the author of Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered (Chelsea Green), SOIL: Notes Towards the Theory and Practice of Nurture Capital (Slow Money Institute), and AHA!: Fake Trillions, Real Billions, Beetcoin and the Great American Do-Over (Slow Money Institute). Tasch is former chairman of Investors’ Circle, a nonprofit angel network that has facilitated more than $200 million of investments in over 300 early-stage, sustainability-promoting companies. As treasurer of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation in the 1990s, he was a pioneer of mission-related investing. He was founding chairman of the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance. Utne Reader named him “One Of 25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.”

Tara Burkley is Director of Strategic Business Development at New Hope Natural Media, which created and manages Natural Product Expo, the world’s largest natural and organic products tradeshow. Prior to joining New Hope, Tara was a Research Strategist for Radar Communications guiding clients such as General Mills, Nike, Toyota, Unilever (Axe), and Hershey to bring the consumer voice to life in a highly experiential manner.

Brian Coppom, Executive Director of the Boulder County Farmers Markets (BCFM), came to local agriculture as a refugee from a life of pursuing material success. He has applied his previous business experience to the nonprofit mission of promoting local growers and supporting the connections with their community. Three years after embracing the simple importance of local farming, Brian has experienced the unexpected, but not unpleasant, irony of being awarded CEO of the Year by Colorado Biz Magazine.

Amy Dickie is Principal at California Environmental Associates where she provides strategic planning for environmental foundations and nonprofits. Much of her work has focused on sustainable food and agriculture; the links between agriculture, climate, and land use; sustainable supply chains; conservation; and climate change adaptation. Current and recent clients include the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, The Rockefeller Foundation, the Climate and Land Use Alliance, World Wildlife Fund, and Sustainable Conservation. Amy is the lead author of Local Foods: A Guide for Investors and Philanthropists, Strategies for Mitigating Climate Change in Agriculture and Slow Money’s 2014 State of the Sector report. Amy has a bachelor’s degree in history from Stanford University and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Daniela Ibarra-Howell is CEO of Savory Institute, whose mission is to promote large-scale restoration of the world’s grasslands through holistic management. A native Argentinean, Daniela is an agronomist by profession specialized in natural resource management and economics. With over 25 years of international experience in the field of regenerative resource management and policy, coupled with her hands-on land management experience in a variety of ecological and cultural environments, Daniela co founded with Allan Savory and other colleagues the Savory Institute in 2009.

Walt Pounds consults with social enterprise entrepreneurs on strategy, operations, finance, leadership and organizational development. He had an extensive career in high tech working with Fortune 500 and early stage companies. Most recently Walt was Founder/President of Solbourne, an IT services company which was sold to Deloitte Consulting. He has active roles in Social Venture Partners, Investors’ Circle, Slow Money, Social Venture Network and Unreasonable Institute. Walt serves on several boards including California Safe Soils, Imagine Foundation and Presidio Graduate School.

Tana Schultz, a former public high school teacher, owns Lighthearted Ranch where she raises goats, chickens and grows organic vegetables in Boulder County. She was a trustee of the University of Colorado Foundation. She was previously co-owner of Lighthearted Entertainment Inc., a television development and production company in Los Angeles.

Soraya Smith is President of American Outdoor Products, the parent company of food brands Backpacker’s Pantry, Astronaut Ice Cream, Colorado Spice Blending Co and Chef Soraya. Soraya is licensed through the Colorado Bar Association and has completed an accredited professional Culinary program. Her expertise in food innovation and passion for the planet’s sustainability have now joined forces to make a regenerative and sustainable supply chain and addressing food insecurity professional and personal goals.