Christi Graham – Founder & Executive Producer

Ms. Graham is one of the most passionate and effective visionary leaders to emerge in the green building movement. Recognized nationally as an expert in green and healthy living, Ms. Graham has spent the past fifteen years as a pioneer successfully producing and directing numerous visionary events, programs, and organizations. After serving the early part of her career directing environmental non-profits, including founding the Green Resource Center of Berkeley, Ms. Graham chose to direct her considerable passion and talents to the residential green building arena. She launched this new direction as the founder and producer of the Bay Area's first Green Materials Showcase. After eight years under Christi's guidance, the Showcase became the largest annual green building tradeshow on the West Coast. Its success has given rise to West Coast Green. Read more »

Christi’s Vision:
“I offer West Coast Green as a way of igniting our vision, bolstering our will, and increasing our capacity to become an irrepressible force toward creating a healthy world. By extending the definition of green building beyond the walls of the house and revealing the vital links between the built environment, our total well-being physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and the realization of our true nature as humans, I hope to cast our home and lifestyle choices in an evolutionary light, stirring our deepest appetite for positive change. I want us to see ourselves as powerful change agents each time we make a healthy, green choice, and walk away from the conference excited to be alive, filled with a sense of possibility, and completely equipped to take action on Monday. As a result, the changes on which the future of life depends are enacted swiftly and joyfully.

In this way, I see West Coast Green catalyzing a full-scale market conversion, infusing all commerce with green values and generating public policy that makes enlivening living spaces a basic birthright available to everyone. I imagine the ripples reaching into areas we could never imagine or trace. This is not grandiosity, but a simple recognition of the interdependence of existence, and the power of striking a clear and direct chord that resonates with all of life.

I am humbled, honored, and thrilled to be able to play a part in this effort by showcasing the work of such exemplary individuals and organizations. It is a privilege to bring their expertise, products, inspiration, and vision to those most eager and able to use them. I offer all of my efforts and the fruits of this tradeshow to the fulfillment of our human potential, for the sake of all life. May we flourish.”

Theresa Turner – Vice President

Theresa has been a Business Manager for small conscientious companies for the past eight years. Her latest venture before West Coast Green and Healthy Home Plans was working for Common Ground Magazine, “The Bay Area’s Magazine for Conscious Community.” She graduated from UC Berkeley with a Social Studies Field Major. She spent years working with her father who was a well-known soil conservationist and land appraiser for various California land conservation organizations. She feels passionately that her work has to be aligned with her values and finds West Coast Green a perfect fit.

Theresa is a mother of two boys and is committed to providing the healthiest and most organic environment for her children, She hopes through her work at West Coast Green to be contributing in some way to raise the consciousness of other families to live more healthily while creating a more sustainable future for their children.

Theresa’s Vision:
“West Coast Green’s inaugural event will just be the beginning of inspiring people to have the life experience of living well. It’s about widening the scope and having the most meaningful affect on the largest number of people so eventually we will all become more knowledgeable about “green” living and contributing to making our communities sustainable.”

Jonathan Reese – Exhibits Director

Jonathan’s Vision:
“I can't wait for the day where ‘green' building is just ‘building' and healthy, sustainable places of residence and work are the norm. There is an abundance of top quality, high-performance building materials, techniques, and technologies currently in the marketplace or shortly arriving that command attention. Once, lead pipes, lead paint, and asbestos were the norm, but that has changed. We should apply the same equation to the many toxic, environment & health damaging materials and practices commonplace today. The solutions are there; it's time we put them to use.”

Mary Ann Gallagher – Conference Design Director

Mary Ann supports events that open up dramatic opportunities for communication and interaction. Mary Ann has worked for over 30 years as a program developer, curriculum designer, organizational development consultant, trainer, manager and personal coach. She's passionate about creating participatory environments that produce profoundly satisfying and effective learning.

Mary Ann’s Vision:
“We're sipping tea at the end of the last day and exuberantly saying, 'That was big fun! I am delighted to have connected with people who know how they can bring beauty into their kitchens and bathrooms and know that they're taking a stand to keep our planet breathing fresh air.'”

Karen Jackson, Chief Innovation Officer & Program Director

Karen has developed community dance, art and ecology programs for for the past seven years. Her work has infused life into projects with The UNEP Tunza International Children's Conference on The Environment, The Foundation for Civic Leadership, The San Francisco Institute of Architecture and the Downtown Berkeley YMCA before she landed at West Coast Green. A passion for the Arts and her studies of Environmental Science at Harvard are the foundation for her devotion to the mainstreaming of green building. Through a greening of the built environment, the place where art and science combine to shape our societies, she believes we can procure ecological, social and economic sustainability.

Karen brings playfulness and dedication to her work at West Coast Green and is excited to be part of the team that is nurturing a healthy lifestyle into the essence of American homes.

Melanie Herring, Communications Director

Originating a life-defining theme of discovery and exploration, Melanie began her adult years by backpacking across Europe followed by a cross-country trip from Miami to Yellowstone National Park where she worked for half a year. Upon graduating from the University of Florida’s School of Journalism and Communications, she moved to Nara, Japan, teaching English at an Art Magnet High School for three years. During this time, Melanie traveled throughout Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, India and Australia, developing a desire to be connected to the world at large and to play a part in its evolution. Returning to the US, Melanie worked in Los Angeles behind the scenes, assisting on and producing numerous short and feature films as well as episodic television. In her free time, Melanie and her husband renovated a 1923 Craftsman bungalow using green methods on a micro-budget. This experience deepened her commitment to the environment and conscious design. Melanie’s passions include charitable living, design, food, travel and human connection. She sees an intersection between the former that can serve as the foundation for building a healthier, happier planet and is committed to creating opportunities to build upon that foundation.

Melanie’s Vision:
“I envision West Coast Green as a place where people can discover their own power to create and initiate change in the world. A place where anything and everything is possible based on the simple fact that human potential is unlimited and universal. A place where people can stand side by side, buoyed and empowered by each other's desire to contribute to the safekeeping and evolution of our planet.”

John Dunnihoo

Prior to joining West Coast Green, John, a dedicated environmentalist, has managed several environmentally orientated businesses over the last 20 years, including West Coast Green's sister organization Healthy Home Plans. John is an avid student of the Institute of Bau-Biologie and Ecology, and his primary interest is in integrating healthy building techniques and materials into residential construction. John is the primary author of the Healthy Construction Guidelines: A step-by-step guide to building or remodeling a safe, healthy and non-toxic home. A dedicated outdoor enthusiast, he recently returned from a six-month sea kayaking tour of the entire coast and islands of the Sea of Cortez in Baja, Mexico and is publishing a book on his experiences.

Lisa Littell – Communications Coordinator

After experiencing the concern and frustration of trying to find healthy snacks for her two young children, Lisa became a partner in creating Sensible Foods, a company that makes 100% organic fruit snacks which are now distributed nationally and have been incorporated into many school lunch programs.

Having a passion for life and being a Mom, Lisa is committed to educating her children and their friends about how fragile our resources are and the choices we can make to contribute to nurturing ourselves and our planet. Working with West Coast Green is so rewarding because dally as a team we are committed to putting together a conference that will provide a wonderful experience for our attendees to get an exciting and fulfilling education and for our exhibitors to have a opportunity to share their amazing products that all contribute to securing a sustainable future for all of us.

Birgit Wick – Wick Designs
Graphic Designer and Mistress of Aesthetics

Often asked “what do you do as designer?” Birgit responds, “I shape information – and I am passionate about it”. It’s a bit like visual alchemy or finding a persuasive costume for a company’s messages through the interplay of visuals and content, images, text, and typefaces. Born and raised in Southern Germany, Birgit was the founding director of ZACK, a design agency for holistic and ecological design. In 1996, during a yearlong teaching sabbatical in the US, she fell in love with the Bay Area and its great outdoors and decided to create her new home and work environment at the slopes of Mount Tam in Mill Valley. While she is not developing designs for her clientele in the field of health, environment and spirituality, she is likely to be out hiking or dancing salsa.

Birgit’s Vision:
“I remember the beginnings of the green movement in Germany in the late 1970s and the efforts it took over years to jumpstart the green philosophy presented by small grassroots organizations and eventually reach the ‘;green heart’ of a broader public consciousness. Bold, but thought-through and well-communicated events like West Coast Green will hit the nerve of change needed to navigate out of environmental exploitation into mindful and resource-oriented sustainability. Green is a way of knowing what makes a healthy environment, community and planet. West Coast Green is a gateway to acquiring knowledge, making connections and active problem solving.”

Volker Frank
President, Volker Frank Consulting

Volker is passionate about supporting values-based organizations and their leaders in bringing ideas to life that lead to a sustainable future. In his work, he focuses on two areas that are key for the success of organizations. He facilitates the development of a clearly articulated vision and the strategic plan that makes the vision real. And secondly, he supports the leaders in organizations in creating joyful, satisfying and sustainable work environments that bring out the best in people. His clients benefit from the unique social systems perspective that informs his approach to planning activities and builds partnerships in creating the balance in the social dynamics that fosters respect and personal excellence. His clients excel based on shared and well-understood ideas and a work culture that values people and produces results.

Volker’s Vision:
“West Coast Green's motto: Doing good and being well. West Coast Green is recognized as a leader in the sustainable business movement, taking green ideas into the mainstream of the construction industry. That's doing good by reducing the use of resources and energy into a long-term sustainable future. West Coast Green accomplishes this feat by tapping deeply into the human potential - both internally as well as all its partnership relationships. Everybody is encouraged and challenged to grow as people, expand their vision, live their purpose, and act from integrity to create win-win situations. That's being well. ”

Rick Barsotti
Groove11 Partner/CEO, Groove11

Before co-founding Groove 11, Rick worked at Dogtown Group, a Bay Area digital design firm. Since then his twelve years of experience in account management in the high-tech industry and his continued success in pushing new media technologies to achieve strategic branding goals have helped propel Groove 11 to the top of preferred vendor lists in multi-billion-dollar corporations across Northern California. Rick's close work with Cisco, NetApp, and Napa Valley Vintners, among others, is defined by a strong client focus coupled with a highly creative approach.

Sean Dunn
Groove11 Partner/Chief Brand Strategist, Groove11

As co-founder of Groove 11, Sean designed a creative agency focused on producing brand and business-driven creative that cultivates immersive brand experiences based on sound strategy. He rapidly developed an extensive list of Fortune 500 clients like Microsoft, Kaiser Permanente, Diageo, Cisco, Clinique, and Sun Microsystems, as well as a longstanding relationship with Prophet Brand Strategy, a global brand consultancy. Sean brings his storytelling skills as a filmmaker into all his projects and is a winner of multiple awards for interactive design, including Webby, CINDY and Davey awards. He has a Master of Arts degree in Film from San Diego State University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Temple University.

Mike McGinty
Creative Director, Groove11

Mike is one of the most well-rounded copywriters in the business. His 12 years of experience include broadcast, print, and online work for a vast array of accounts, including: HP, IBM, Cisco, UPS, Fireman's Fund, Amoco, Church's Chicken, Green Giant, HoneyBaked Ham, Kodak, Kaiser Permanente, Radio Shack, Georgia Lottery, Cartoon Network, the NFL, Warner Bros. Television, Showtime, Fisher-Price, and Mattel, as well as real estate and resort clients across the nation. He has won the Clio, New York Festivals, London International Advertising Awards, Silver Microphones, Addys, and Tellys, among others. Mike has a B.A. in Mass Comm from USF in Tampa, and completed the Copywriting Program at Portfolio Center. He has taught at Atlanta's Creative Circus, The Academy of Art in San Francisco, and Miami Ad School.

Rainey Straus
Design Director, Groove11

Rainey has designed everything from content-rich educational websites and e-commerce websites to children's games and corporate identity systems. She has created work for PBS, the Independent Television Service (winning multiple Yahoo Picks and USA Today "Hot Sites of the Day" designations), Women's Educational Media, New Day Films and Bandai Japan. Since joining Groove, Rainey has been the Visual Designer and Information Architect for the T. Shipley website and the Webby Award-winning Flax e-commerce site, as well as the Mill Valley Film Festival website. Her work for the Drinkwell Zagat Training site won four Davie Awards and earned a Silver Davey Award. She holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA from the California College of the Arts. Her media-based artwork has been shown internationally.

Brian Leonard
Creative Lead, Groove11

Brian's award winning career covers a wide swath, writing for broadcast (BBC Radio, Sam Donaldson) and writing and directing for numerous commercial and corporate clients: Creative Director for several AMD product launches, writer and director for Sun's JavaOne, Oracle Open World, COMDEX and wrote and directed Ellen DeGeneres for a live conference for Washington Mutual. He's directed video and multimedia for Cisco, Microsoft and HP, among others. He's also had an animated series ("Silicon Valley") optioned by NBC/Universal and served as a story consultant for Pixar. Brian's past life as a stand-up comic in the 1980's and 1990's – when he appeared on numerous TV shows – gives him a unique point of view that he brings to every project.