Richard Edwards is the Director of Planeterra. In this role, he oversees the direction and development of our Foundation with the purpose of ensuring sustainable community development through travel. The company's aim is to create lasting memories and meaningful relationships between travelers and local communities by providing all generations of travelers with ways to connect and give back to our valuable projects around the world.
Edwards has over 20 years of experience in the ecotourism industry, integrated resource management and international community development.
Richard Edwards received his undergraduate degree from Linfield College and his Masters degree from Washington State University.
Diane Eggert is the Executive Director of the Farmers' Market Federation of New York and has been since its inception in 1998.
Under her leadership, the organization has developed a variety of programs and services to support and advance the farmers' market industry in New York State, including a commercial general liability insurance program for markets and participating vendors, market manager training programs, new market development in partnership with community organizations, market promotional programs, and a statewide farmers' market wireless EBT program. Eggert also works with several statewide organizations, committees and local agricultural boards of directors to focus attention on direct marketing farmers and the farmers market community.
Diane Eggert received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University.
Amanda Eilian is the Co-founder and President of Videolicious. Amanda Eilian received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown and her MBA from Harvard.
<p>Tony Eisenhut is Co-Founder, CEO, and President of KensaGroup. He has launched seven university-derived technology start-ups since KensaGroup's inception. Tony has served as former CEO of Tarjac Inc., a supplier of finishing services to consumer goods manufacturers. He also served as Vice President of Aldi, Inc., a $40 billion international food retailer. </p> <p>Eisenhut has been advisor to NextGen (Senator K. LaValle) in conjunction with New York's Task Force on Economic Development and Emerging Industries. He also served as advisor to Center for Life Science Enterprise (New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research Center for Advanced Technology at Cornell.</p> <p>Tony Eisenhut earned his B.A. degree in 1988 from Cornell University.</p>
Alice Eldridge is the Vice President for Ethics and Business Conduct at Lockheed Martin Corporation. As part of Lockheed Martin's senior leadership team, Eldridge is responsible for managing the company's internationally recognized ethics program, which includes awareness and compliance training, outreach activities, issues management, and performance tracking. She has extensive experience and knowledge in a wide range of legal issues including export and import control and government-contracting litigation.
Alice Eldridge earned her bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Vermont at Burlington and earned her JD with honors from George Washington University.
Sarah Kennedy Ellis manages strategy & product marketing for Sabre's world-leading hospitality solutions portfolio, in addition to supporting all of Sabre's hospitality-related M&A activities. Since joining Sabre in 2007, she has held a variety of product marketing, strategy and technology management roles including her most recent as head of Sabre Labs, the dedicated emerging technology incubator & trends research lab at Sabre's global headquarters. Sarah Ellis holds a BBA in Business Management & Journalism from Baylor University, as well as an MBA specializing in Marketing & Strategy from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Ms. Matrice Ellis-Kirk has been Managing Director of RSR Partners since January 2014 and serves as its Head of Dallas Office. Matrice Ellis-Kirk earned her BA from University of Pennsylvania.
Chester Elton is an author, motivational speaker, trainer, and employee engagement expert. He is the New York Times best-selling author of several books on leadership and organizational management, including The Carrot Principle (co-written with Adrian Gostick), The 24-Carrot Manager and The Invisible Employee. Elton's books have been translated into over 20 languages and have sold more than 1,000,000 copies worldwide. Chester is Senior Vice President of the Carrot Culture division with the O.C. Tanner Recognition Company.
Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick's flagship book, The Carrot Principle, was based on a 200,000 person study from 1996-2006. The second edition published in 2009 included a 2008 global survey of 10,000 people in 13 countries. The results of these studies revealed the surprising advantages of recognition on employee performance, including its effects on morale, productivity and return on equity. Their collaboration, The Orange Revolution (publish date September 2010), is a follow up based on a 350,000 manager and employee survey on the power of teamwork.
Chester was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Communications from Brigham Young University.
Megan Epler Wood founded The International Ecotourism Society in 1990, the first and largest ecotourism NGO in the world and was its president for 12 years. Under her leadership, TIES developed a membership program in over 100 countries, publications, workshops and stakeholder meetings that reached tens of thousands, and an international communications program that reached millions. Since 2003, Megan's firm EplerWood International has worked for the World Bank to develop sustainable tourism strategies for some of the poorest nations in the world, and for USAID - developing market-based ecotourism programs in biodiverse regions of Sri Lanka, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras, and El Salvador. In the early 1980s, Epler Wood worked for the communications office of World Wildlife Fund-U.S. drawing attention to ground-breaking initiatives in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Subsequently, she worked as an independent television producer for the National Audubon Society, World Wildlife Fund-U.S., and the National Geographic Society. Her film, The Environmental Tourist, broadcast by the Turner Broadcasting Corporation and PBS in 1991, was the first major television documentary on ecotourism. Epler Wood is a published author and editor of many titles, including Ecotourism; Principles, Practices and Policies in 2002 for the United Nations Environment Program. Her numerous academic papers investigate sustainable tourism markets, certification, economic growth, alleviation of poverty and environmental conservation. In 2006, Epler Wood founded NativeEnergy Travel Offsets (NETO) with her business partner, Richard G. Edwards, as a subsidiary of NativeEnergy, a firm that provides carbon offsets using wind and other renewable energy sources. Dynamic growth in the marketplace and growing investment interest led NativeEnergy Travel Offsets to merge with its parent company NativeEnergy in December 2008 to create one dynamic firm. Edwards and Epler Wood are now shareholders in Native Energy. NETO developed a broad range of clients for NativeEnergy, including Hilton Hotels, Wyndham, American Express, Backroads, Ecoventura, the Sierra Club Outings program and National Wildlife Federation Expeditions among many others. Megan Epler Wood has a bachelor of arts in international relations and communications from Sarah Lawrence College and a masters of science in wildlife biology from Iowa State University .
Philip Erdoes is the founder and CEO of Bear Ventures LLC. He is a serial entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in creating new enterprises. He works closely with the presidents and bsuiness managers within each of the companies which Bear Ventures funds.
Philip Erdoes holds an undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University, a J.D. from University of Oklahoma and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Rob Erlichman is the Founder and President of Sunlight Electric. In addition to his role at Sunlight Electric, Erlichman is involved in industry-wide efforts to help accelerate the adoption of solar power. He recently co-authored a white paper featured in the Red Herring entitled, "What the Solar Power Industry Can Learn from Google" and Erlichman also advises The Clean Energy States Alliance on ways their member state solar subsidy program managers can implement standards and practices that level the playing field for manufacturers and solar integrators and ensure transparency for consumers.
Before founding Sunlight Electric, Erlichman was a technology marketing executive and entrepreneur, a management strategy consultant at Booz-Allen & Hamilton, and one of Proctor & Gamble's youngest brand managers at the age of twenty-five.
Rob Erlichman holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University in Applied Economics.
Julie Eskay-Eagle is the Managing Director at September Ventures LLC.
Eskay-Eagle was a full time employee of The Wellcome Trust in London, UK from 2001-2004 where she established a formal Direct Investment Program. Prior to joining the Trust she was a Vice President with Lazard Freres in Health Care Investment Banking and a founding member of Lazard Technology Partners.
Before joining Lazard, Eskay-Eagle was a Health Care Specialist with McKinsey & Co. in New York.
Julie Eskay-Eagle has a bachelor's degree in Biomedical Ethics from Cornell University and an MBA from Columbia University.