Jason O'Neill founded the company Pencil Bugs in November 2005, right after he turned 10 years old.
Pencil Bugs attach to a standard pencil via a pipe cleaner body. Each bug has a Styrofoam head with antennae and eyes and comes with its own Certificate of Authenticity, which includes its name, the day it was "born" and instructions on the proper care and training of a Pencil Bug. What started as a simple craft fair product a few years ago is now a full-fledged business for O'Neill, complete with a city of Temecula business license, a state tax identification number and a Web site for sales.
O'Neill donates 5 percent of Pencil Bugs sales to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. The other 95 percent goes right back into the product itself.
Summer Rayne Oakes is a model-activist, correspondent on Discovery Network's Planet Green, author of bestselling style guide Style, Naturally (Chronicle, 2009), and Editor-at-Large of ABOVE Magazine. As brand ambassador and sustainability strategist for both Portico Home and Spa, and Payless ShoeSource's zoe&zac line, her work keeps her busy on and off camera, advising and consulting on various aspects of design, production and practice. She is also Founder of SRO, LLC and the Co-founder/CEO of Source4Style - a B2B marketplace that allows designers - both fashion and interior - to search, compare and purchase more sustainable materials from around the world. Vanity Fair has named Oakes a "Global Citizen," Outside called her one of the "Top Environmental Activists," CNN hailed her as a "Young Person Who Rocks," Glamour anointed her "70 Women of Green," Cosmopolitan awarded her the "Fun, Fearless Female" Award, AMICA named her one of the "Top 20 Trendsetters under 40," and CNBC named her one of the "Top 10 Green Entrepreneurs of 2010." Summer Rayne Oakes is a graduate of Cornell University with degrees in Environmental Science and Entomology.
Jim Ochterski has been an Extension agent in the Finger Lakes region of New York for more than 15 years and currently leads the Agriculture Team at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County. Although Jim assists farms in many areas of production and sales, his areas of expertise include farm marketing, business development, sustainable farming and community relations.
Jim Ochterski holds a BS in Cell Biology from the University of Rochester and a Master's degree in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan.
Perry Odak began his career as an accounting associate at Armour Foods. Nine years later, after resigning from his post as senior vice president at Armour, he began working for a small start-up company, Jovan, Inc. After seven years, Odak and his partners sold Jovan, Inc. and he became president of the Consumer Product Group at Atari. From there he became a partner in Catalyst Technologies, where he restructured and started numerous holdings, including a company called ETAK, Inc., which in 1985 produced the first vehicle navigation system. In 1990 Odak became a consultant operating as a temporary CEO to help companies in trouble.
Over the next six years, he came to the rescue of a half dozen firms, where he engineered mergers, boosted sales, and, perhaps most important, won the hearts of employees whose jobs he saved. In 1997, when Ben & Jerry's lured him away from U.S. Repeating Arms, the gunmaker's workers petitioned its management to do whatever was necessary to convince him to stay.
Perry Odak left Ben & Jerry's in 2000 and was appointed as CEO and President of Wild Oats Markets, Inc., the second largest natural foods supermarket chain in North America.
Perry Odak is a graduate of Cornell University.
After working in developing countries for more than 20 years, Raymond C. Offenheiser returned to the US in 1995 to join Oxfam America as its President. Under Offenheiser's leadership, Oxfam America has more than doubled in size, and has repositioned itself as a leading voice on international development and global trade.
Offenheiser has spent his entire career in the non-profit sector, and is a recognized leader on issues such as poverty alleviation, human rights, foreign policy, and international development. He brings more than two decades of international development experience to Oxfam America.
Ray Offenheiser earned his Bachelors Degree from the University of Notre Dame and holds a Masters Degree in Development Sociology from Cornell University.
Caroline Kim Oh is an Executive Coach to nonprofit leaders.
Prior to coaching, Caroline worked for more than 12 years with iMentor, serving as its first director of programs, before becoming the executive director and then president. During her tenure, Caroline helped steer iMentor from a startup pilot phase to national expansion and rapid growth. Under her leadership, iMentor's budget grew from $350,000 to more than $10 million, mentor / mentee pairs increased from 180 to 2,600 annually, and the staff grew from four to more than 80 full-time employees.
Caroline Kim Oh received her B.A. from Cornell University and M.P.A. from New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.
AJ Okereke is a Revenue Technology Lead at Graphiq (formerly FindTheBest), a data aggregation and visualization company that turns complicated data into contextually-rich presentations of the world\'s knowledge. AJ Okereke received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University.
Adele Oliva joined Quaker BioVentures as Partner in June 2007.
Previously Adele was a Partner at Apax Partners which she joined in 1997 following her selection as a Ewing Marion Kauffman Fellow in Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship. At Apax, she co-led the Healthcare Group in the U.S. with a focus on specialty pharmaceuticals and medical devices/products.
Prior to Apax, she held positions in marketing and business development with Baxter Healthcare in the company's Cardiovascular and I.V. Systems divisions. Adele's experience also includes positions with Ogilvy & Maher, where she was employed in the firm's office in Hungary, and with CoreStates Financial Corp., where she worked as a commercial lending officer and senior financial analyst.
Adele Oliva earned her Bachelor's degree from Saint Joseph's University and earned an M.B.A. in Marketing from Cornell University.
<p>Rishad Olpadwala graduated from the Johnson School in 2008 having focused on clean technology and entrepreneurship during his two years there. Rishad joined the Acciona energy team in Chicago immediately after graduating and has worked on a number of aspects of renewable energy projects. He is currently working on the financing side of these projects.</p>
Constanza Ontaneda is the designer and co-founder of C.S.O.R.K. (which stands for her full name Constanza Smita Ontaneda Rehman Khedker). She is half (East) Indian and half Peruvian. Born in New Delhi, she attended schools in Peru, Brazil, Romania, Peru again and finally, Deerfield, MA in the United States, graduating in 2004.
Before joining the Fiber Science & Apparel Design undergraduate program at Cornell University she decided to spend a gap year in Peru, her late father's country, to get to know it better by doing community service, traveling and studying. One course in Lima, the Influence of Peruvian Ethnic Design on Contemporary Fashion under Professor Olga Zaferson, was particularly influential in guiding her creative and manufacturing strategies. Her burning passion for social service and fashion design brought her into contact with some incredibly talented weavers, seamstresses, knitters and silversmiths all over Peru, all of whom had had to sacrifice their art to make a bare bones daily living doing any jobs available, mostly for under $1 per hour.
Constanza returned to the US after her life-changing gap year experience determined to dedicate her life and privileged education to helping artists like herself, first in Peru and then anywhere else in the world as soon as she had the wherewithal to do so.
In Massachusetts, one of Constanza's best friends is also her step-father, Dennis Longto. Longto is a dedicated biologist and environmentalist who acknowledged and shared Constanza's dream and recognized her dynamic potential to achieve it. Thus C.S.O.R.K was born as a concrete enterprise with three very clear-cut goals: Follow fair trade practices employing local workers and artisans, Produce top quality merchandise at the best possible price, Never to harm any species in the making of their products.
The artists and artisans in Peru who help to manufacture the products sold by C.S.O.R.K do not work "for" Constanza, they work WITH her. They feel respected, recognized and are well compensated. In an atmosphere of equality, laughter, talent and hope they flesh out Constanza's ideas and designs, giving her the gift of their expert advice, experience and workmanship in exchange for the opportunity she has created for their art form.
JB Osborne is the CEO of Red Antler. He started his career at Saatchi & Saatchi, working for clients such as Procter & Gamble, General Mills, and the award winning international launch of Air Tahiti Nui.
An entrepreneur at heart, he left Saatchi to open the New York office of Consortium, a New Zealand ad agency.
In August 2007, JB founded Red Antler, where he works with clients on brand positioning, user experience, business strategy and marketing.
JB has a Bachelors degree in Business, Magna Cum Laude, from Cornell University and is a member of the Entrepreneurship at Cornell Advisory Board.
In 1941, long before anyone had heard of mega-farms or agri-corporations, the Osofsky family started a small dairy farm in Hudson Valley, NY, naming it for their eldest son, Ronny. Today, the extended family continues to work those same pastures.
The farm makes milk products in small batches, delivered at peak freshness, pasteurized and hormone free. Everything on the farm is grown and produced naturally with no additives of any kind.