Bozeman Area, Montana
Kelli brings over 15 years of Human Resources experience to the Biomimicry Institute, where she works directly with the Director of Finance and Administration. She earned her BA in Psychology from Roanoke College, VA and a Masters of Professional Studies in Human Resources and Employment Relations, with an emphasis in Compensation and Benefits from Penn State, PA. Kelli also holds a certificate in Supervisory Leadership from the University of California, Irvine. Kelli and her husband enjoy the outdoors, specifically hiking, and together have visited roughly half of the national parks in the United States. 

Angela Nahikian heads a cross-company effort to ensure that Steelcase achieves its global sustainability goals. As the world leader in contract furnishings, the company is committed to leadership in environmental sustainability. In her role, Ms. Nahikian is responsible for sustainability strategy and program development as well as integration of the key environmental platforms of life cycle management, materials assessment, and designing for recycling-reuse in new products. Ms. Nahikian also leads environmental research programs and corporate collaborative efforts with sustainability experts. With a BSEE and a background in architecture, she has filled diverse roles in architectural systems design, product and strategy development, technology licensing, futures exploration, and management strategies for environmental issues. In addition to her responsibilities at Steelcase, Ms. Nahikian serves on the board of advisors of Today’s Facility Manager, and is a LEED-accredited professional. She has been with the Steelcase family of companies since 1990 and was named to her current position in 2005. She is a native of Traverse City, Michigan, and is a graduate of Lawrence Technological University.

Kent is an attorney, consultant, and CEO who has devoted much of his public service career working on collaborative solutions to complex problems. He served 10 years on the Sustainable Development Commission of Portland including three years as co-chair, working on Economic Development, Green Building, and development of the city’s Climate Action Plan. He chaired the National Board of Trustees of the American Leadership Forum, whose mission is joining and strengthening collaborative networks of diverse leaders to serve the common good. Kent was the founding Board Chair of the Green Electronics Council and works as a consultant to organizations on sustainable supply chain development. As an attorney, Kent was a nationally recognized expert and author in bankruptcy law with a focus on business workouts and turnarounds. He holds a B.S. cum laude in Environmental Biology from Kansas State University and a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School.

Jim is passionate about investing in businesses that drive social and environmental benefit, while generating attractive returns for investors. Over the last decade, he has worked for two family office impact investment platforms, deploying over $100 million into venture capital and private equity investments in clean tech, agriculture, and broader economic development.

Erin Rovalo, Ph.D. is a Certified Biomimicry Professional since 2010 and was among the inaugural graduates from the MSc Biomimicry program at ASU in 2016. She is an experienced scholar and researcher holding a PhD in Design Practice focused on biomimicry design and has published academic research as well as editorial articles in Fast Company, Greenbiz, and Metropolis among others. She serves as Faculty Associate in the MSc Biomimicry program jointly offered by Arizona State University and Biomimicry 3.8 where she teaches Biomimicry & Design and iSites: Nature Journaling for Biomimicry. Erin is the Director of Education at the International Living Future Institute where she leads the education team in their mission to empower an international and diverse community of practice with the skills, values, and knowledge necessary to take bold action towards a built environment that is socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative. In this role, she is responsible for ILFI’s educational strategy and oversees curriculum design, course development, and credentialing.

Billy Almon is a biology-inspired storyteller and inventor who highlights the connection between nature, technology, and design.  A co-host on Animal Planet’s “Little Giants” television show, Billy harnesses the power of entertainment to demonstrate the ingenuity and strategic creativity found in nature. Through his Billy Biology platform, Billy guides the next generation of scientists and students in exploring the natural wonders around us. Previously, Billy worked as an Imagineer for the Walt Disney Company, leading multi-disciplinary teams that dreamed up, designed and built new attractions, cruise ships, real estate developments, and regional entertainment venues worldwide. While an Imagineer, Billy received the prestigious “Inventor’s Award” for creating a patent-winning design during his first year on the job. He has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Howard University and a Master of Science in Biomimicry from Arizona State University.

Lauren is an urban STEM educator with a concentrated focus in obtaining STEM industry grants. Dr. Birney has 30 years of experience at secondary and university teaching positions on both the West Coast and East Coast. She currently is the Director of the STEM Collaboratory NYC® at Pace University and an Associate Professor of STEM Education in the School of Education in New York City preparing teachers in the areas of curriculum and instruction, classroom management, teaching methodologies and research techniques. Her areas of research focus upon project-based learning with an emphasis on environmental restoration based sciences. Establishing opportunities for underrepresented students in STEM Education continues to be an integral component of her research. Dr. Birney has a B.A. in Biology/Chemistry from the University of San Diego, M.A. in Counseling and Ed. D in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education.

A descendant of the Muisca people of Colombia, Evelyn is passionate about Indigenous self-determination and Indigenous-led philanthropy. She is the Founder and CEO of Indigenous Resilience Consulting (IRC), with the mission to build Native-led capacity and serve as a strategic advisor to both donors and Indigenous communities. She is the former Vice President for Native Conservancy, the first Native land trust in the US where a fundraising campaign she led raised millions and played a pivotal role managing daily operations with a focus on development, program, financials, and forward-looking strategies.

Evelyn helped to found and ran for 15 years the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP), a donor affinity group dedicated to supporting Indigenous communities. It was the first organize effort to bring hundreds of millions of dollars directly into Indigenous communities globally. Evelyn was one of the first voices for Indigenous-led philanthropy and notably led the effort for several donor publications, including the Foundation Center’s Funding Indigenous Peoples: Strategies for Support.

She currently serves on the Board and Development Committee for three NGOs: Biomimicry Institute, Fortunate Farm and Love Wild Horses, and is an advisor to Earth Codes Observatory. She is the co-found of Coastside Friendship Organize Garden (c-FOG) and served on the HMB Parks and Recreation Commission. She served as a board member of Cultural Survival for nearly a decade.

She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Cornell University. She is a Goldman Environment Prize nominator and a Donella Meadows Leadership Fellow. A Master Gardner of San Mateo and San Francisco County, California, Evelyn lives in the territory of the Pomo tribe (now called Mendocino) with her husband and three children. She spends her free time gardening and exploring the raw beauty of the land.

Mr. AlHusseini is concurrently manages his Family Office in Los Angeles, CA. The Husseini Group LLC, has over a decade of funding ventures that embrace social enhancement and ecological sustainability. Ibrahim is a frequent speaker at Family-Office and wealth conferences, colleges and universities nationally and internationally promoting the merits of impact investing and the solution economy. Learn more.

Kamal believes that the collective knowledge of all human languages and nature holds vital solutions to humanity’s survival. With the coming wave of AI upon us, he focuses his efforts on the intersection of intelligence technology and nature’s knowledge as the fastest way to scale up solutions. In his previous life, Kamal managed software localization companies in the Middle East, Asia and South America. For 17 years, his teams adapted software into more than 100 languages for HP, Microsoft, Nokia, Adobe, Medtronic, Sanofi, Ford and others. Kamal co-leads the Kamanya Foundation which is dedicated to supporting knowledge preservation and revival, whether biological or cultural. Examples are minority language revival through The Answers Project (theanswersproject.net) and Wikitongues (wikitongues.org), and natural solutions through AskNature (asknature.org) at The Biomimicry Institute. He is a graduate of linguistics and biomedical sciences from The University of Manchester, UK.

Paul is the founder and Executive Director for Project Drawdown, a non-profit that describes when and how climate change can be reversed. He has appeared on numerous media including the Today Show, Larry King, Talk of the Nation, Charlie Rose, and has been profiled or featured in hundreds of articles including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Washington Post, Business Week, Esquire, and US News and World Report. He authors articles, op-eds, and peer-reviewed papers, and has written seven books including four national bestsellers The Next Economy (Ballantine 1983), Growing a Business (Simon and Schuster 1987), and The Ecology of Commerce (HarperCollins 1993) and Blessed Unrest (Viking, 2007). Learn more.