Leadership

David Batker (Chief Economist and Executive Director) completed his graduate training in economics under Herman Daly, one of the world's foremost ecological economists. Dave has taught in the Training Department of the World Bank, and has worked for Greenpeace International, specializing in trade and international finance. He also worked for two years with the Rural Reconstruction Movement, a Philippine non-profit group dedicated to ecologically sound community-based development. Dave is the founder of Earth Economics, implementing better economic analysis to physically build a more sustainable, prosperous, and just economy. His work with the Earth Economics team includes measuring the value of wetlands for hurricane buffering, developing new US account rules for water provisioned from ecosystems, counting natural capital as flood protections infrastructure in US flood planning, halting the export of hazardous wastes from rich to poor countries, expanding Mount Rainier National Park, advising the US government on greening 436,000 federal buildings, developing a practical web-based tool for valuing nature's benefits, setting up funding mechanisms for parks; conservation and restoration; identifying, valuing, mapping, and modeling ecosystem services. He has worked in over 40 countries and throughout the US.

Dave is co-author, with John de Graaf, of the book, "What's the Economy for Anyway?" which has ranked in the top ten economics and business books by he New York Book Review.


 
Jennifer Harrison-Cox (Managing Director) brings over 18 years of technical project and people management expertise to the applied field of ecological economics. Jennifer received her bachelor’s degree in political economy and intercultural communications from The Evergreen State College and has completed leadership training with LIOS Institute at Saybrook University.  In 2006, Jennifer co-founded Partnership for Rural King County, a dynamic grassroots organization focused on the long-term sustainability and viability of agriculture, forestry and biodiversity in rural eastern King County, Washington.  After a successful 20-year career in software engineering and operations, Jennifer joined Earth Economics in 2009 in the role of Managing Director.  Under the partnered leadership of Jennifer and David, Earth Economics tripled staff and budget in just under 3 years and has realized some amazing accomplishments including inclusion of ecosystem service valuation in benefit-cost analysis  and multi-criteria decision making at several local and federal agencies, conceptual development of a 21st century natural capital institution the “Watershed Investment District”, the design and prototype of a web-based database of ecosystem service values (Ecosystem Valuation Toolkit), the release of the book What’s the Economy for, Anyway?, and witnessed many fully funded restoration and conservation projects in the US and abroad. 



Jonathan Kochmer (Director of Research and Development) holds an M.Sc. and an M.Phil. from Yale University in Evolutionary Ecology with a minor in Biostatistics. His ecological experience also includes published research on effects of phylogenetic constraints on the evolution of flowering time, the effects of climate change on indigenous cultures of the Arctic, work with the USDA on biological control of the Gypsy Moth and the Alfalfa Weevil, and curatorship of Coleoptera at the Yale Peabody Museum. Shortly before completing his Yale Ph.D. on the role of ecologically heterogeneous hybrid zones in speciation processes, he was hired by the National Science Foundation and the University of Washington where he was a statistics and Internet consultant, and wrote an influential Internet manual ("The Internet Passport") and a book on the use of the Internet in K-12 curriculum development. His technical experience was deepened during five years at Amazon.com, where he helped develop the browse system for books, and worked in the teams that developed the company-wide data model and the data warehouse and data mining infrastructures. His current activities at Earth Economics include development of Earth Economics' Ecosystem Valuation Toolkit database for use by ecologists, land-use planners, and policy makers, and the development and incorporation of quantitative measures of the many values of biodiversity into Ecosystem Service Valuation models.



Tracy Stanton (Senior Program Manager) brings nearly 20 years of work experience in environmental policy, most recently focused funding mechanisms such as market-based approaches and payments for ecosystem and watershed services. Tracy studied under Earth Economics’ Advisor Herman Daily and holds a MPP degree in Public and Environmental Policy from the University of Maryland and a BA from The Ohio State University.  She relocated to Seattle with her family in July 2009, while working with the D.C. based non-profit Forest Trends and the Ecosystem Marketplace where her research led to the publication Payments for Watershed Services: An Emerging Marketplace. Tracy has deep experience working in collaboration with the public sector on innovative approaches to advance effective conservation strategies, policy and funding options and she leverages this experience to lead one of Earth Economics’ key initiatives: the 21st Century Washington Strategy. From the Nisqually Watershed and the Central Puget Sound, to the Peninsula and eastern Washington, Tracy works with Tribes, Washington State Departments of Ecology, Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources, the US Forest Service, USEPA Region 10 and many NGO partners to implement new natural capital funding mechanisms and secure a healthy, prosperous economy for Washington State.



 Tedi Conway Dickinson (Business Manager) graduated cum laude from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in Geography. She later returned to UC, received her Teaching Credential and worked as a classroom teacher in California for eight years. In 1996, Tedi moved to the Puget Sound area to open a regional office for the American Institute of Marine Studies (AIMS), a non-profit marine educational foundation. For nine years, as the Seattle director, Tedi managed the business operations, developed the Institute's education program and supervised fund-raising. Since 2006 she has served as Earth Economics' Business Operations Manager, Finance Officer and HR Administrator.





Staff and Extended Team Members

Ben Armstrong (Research Assistant Intern) is currently a Senior at the University of Puget Sound and will graduate with a BA in International Political Economy with minors in Environmental Policy and Decision Making and French.  He grew up in Colorado, but has carried his love for the outdoors and the environment to the Northwest, and has worked on a variety of environmental issues at UPS and around Tacoma.  Specifically, he enjoys kayaking, rafting, hiking, climbing, and biking.  He can't wait to join the Earth Economics team to pioneer new ways at looking at environmental conservation and valuation.




Taylor Astel (Research Assistant Intern) is a senior at Pacific Lutheran University currently earning his bachelor’s degree in History with a minor in Political Science. Originally from Seattle, Taylor is excited to work at Earth Economics and in the long-term hopes to work in the public policy field. When not attending classes or working at Earth Economics, Taylor also spends his time working for the student government at Pacific Lutheran University.




 
Robert Bernier (Database Engineering Advisor) is a graduate of two universities and one college. He's an old school hacker having been first exposed to computers shortly after man first landed on the moon (yes, way back in the 60s). His first formal training, in the 1970s, was programming in FORTRAN on the IBM 360, a punch card mainframe with 4MB RAM. In the 80s he was instrumental getting his faculty of engineering to accept IT as a viable tool for the undergraduate program. By the 1990s, Robert had taken up Linux and was part of the rush leveraging the Internet. In the early part of the 21st century, he focused his open source activities on Postgres. Since then he has presented at conferences, written dozens of articles (some having been translated into several languages), contributed to books and consulted and trained for mom & pop shops, defense contractors, Fortune 100 companies, research centers and universities. Growing up as a lover of the outdoors, and spending a lot of time without electricity and flush toilets, Robert gravitates to all things nature. He volunteers maintaining the database backend of SERVES and incorporating the latest thinking in text search and data processing. His day job is working for a Seattle based company specializing in big data and predictive analytics in the mobile industry.


 

Kate Bonaparte (Research Assistant Intern) grew up in central Florida and attended the University of Miami where she earned her Bachelor’s of Architecture degree in 2007. Upon graduating, she relocated to Seattle to work with Perkins+Will Architects.  There her interest in sustainability was further developed and she became a LEED AP. Kate is currently pursuing a Master's in Urban Planning from the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. Specializing in real estate, Kate hopes to use her interdisciplinary background to promote sustainable development. Kate is providing support to the Real Estate Investment Team by assisting with project coordination and research.




Tania Briceno (Ecological Economist) received a PhD from the Université de Montréal. Her recently completed PhD thesis was on the integration of ecological principles in environmental valuations. She did a Masters in Ecological Economics at University of Leeds, focusing on the social dynamics of sustainable consumption systems and a Bachelors in Economics and International Development at McGill University. She has worked in various projects with the Canadian government carrying out environmental valuations applied to agricultural systems, climate change adaptation programs, and land-use planning. She also has experience with the use of life-cycle assessments in the North American and European contexts. She is fluent in English, Spanish and French and has a multicultural background.  


 
 

Dave Carlton (Project Leader) brings over 30 years of experience in surface water and flood hazard management to Earth Economics.  He has been involved in flood hazard and stormwater projects from concept through construction administration.  His primary focus has been on the hydrologic and hydraulic analysis of flood events, particularly in streams and rivers, and techniques with which flooding impacts can be minimized.  In recent years, his experience has focused on comprehensive flood hazard and basin planning, Risk MAP with FEMA, hazard mitigation and then benefits provided by natural systems.  This includes analysis of the full spectrum of options available for minimizing the social and environmental impacts of flooding.  Dave has managed and prepared plans, analyzed alternatives, regulations and policies, designed facilities, prepared ordinances, conducted public meetings, and worked with advisory committees.  He is currently leading a policy-focused return on investment project in the Puyallup River Watershed looking at three approaches to flood risk management: levee repair, floodplain restoration and variance allowances. 




Marta Ceroni, Ph.D. (Policy Analyst) is a research professor at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont with interests in biodiversity and ecosystem services in natural and managed systems. She holds a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Parma, Italy. Her current work includes field assessments and valuations of ecosystem services for conservation with a special interest in countries with transitioning economies (e.g. Eastern Europe). She is also involved in the documentation and formalization of ecosystem service knowledge for use in public access databases and the study of policy mechanisms for sustainable forest management. She teaches ethnobotany from an ecological economic perspective in the Honors College at the UVM.




Zachary Christin (Research Analyst) graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a minor in Mathematics and Philosophy. Zac joined Earth Economics in early summer of 2010 as he was completing his degree. Zac led research and coauthored “Economic Impact of Metro Parks Tacoma Ecosystem Services” in addition to leading research incorporating environmental benefits for FEMA’s BCA tool. He coauthored sections of Earth Economics reports on Puget Sound Natural Capital and the Puyallup River Basin.  He has also made significant research contributions to a number of projects, including work in China, Ecuador, British Columbia and the Mississippi Delta. Zac’s current focus is econometrics analysis, social and health valuation, and park systems.


 
 
Corinne Cooley (Senior Software Program Manager) has been honing the ability to ask useful questions and help smart people ship good web software since 2005. During that time, she held a variety of roles at Expedia, including managing the launch of over half a dozen new points of sale. Before that, she earned her BA in Physics-Astronomy with honors at Whitman College, with a stint at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand studying ultra-high energy neutrinos. She grew up surrounded by Washington State evergreens and has resided in the Pacific Northwest for most of her life. She serves on the board of Seattle Greendrinks and coordinates a small group of volunteers aiming to build a "green game". She is also an assistant instructor at the Seattle Wushu Center, where she has earned the rank of black belt. At Earth Economics, she will help bring the web-based Ecosystem Valuation Toolkit to the next level to enable organizations around the world to use scientific and economic data to drive meaningful decisions and actions.




Ken Cousins, Ph.D. (Social Network Analysis and Text Mining) earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Politics and an M.A. in Political Economy (studying Ecological Economics under Herman Daly and Robert Costanza) from the University of Maryland, and a B.A. in Ecological Agriculture from The Evergreen State College. He researched forest management certification within the Chilean forestry industry from 2004-2006, and served as Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia from 1993-1995. As co-founder and Research Director of The Vicinus Group, he applies text mining and network science techniques to reveal dynamic connections between people, organizations and concepts. He has been active in the sustainability movement for over twenty years, working with the Forest Stewardship Council, Green Festival, Sustainable Cascadia, Sustainable Seattle, and Eat Local Now!, as well as Seattle-area SCALLOPS affiliates, Transition Network groups, and others. He believes that sustainability – broadly realized – is necessary for a healthy, just, and vibrant society.




John W. Day, Jr., Ph.D. (Ecologist) is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast & Environment at Louisiana State University, where he has taught since 1971. He has published extensively on the ecology and management of coastal and wetland ecosystems and has over 100 peer-reviewed publications. He is co-author (with M. Kemp, C. Hall, and A. Yáñez-Arancibia) of Estuarine Ecology, coeditor (with C. Hall) of Ecological Modeling in Theory and Practice, coeditor (with W. Conner) of The Ecology of the Barataria Basin, An Estuarine Profile, and coeditor (with A. Yáñez-Arancibia) of the Ecology of Coastal Ecosystems in the Southern Mexico: The Terminos Lagoon Region. Professor Day received his PhD in marine sciences and environmental sciences from the University of North Carolina in 1971 working with Dr. H.T. Odum. Since then, he has conducted extensive research on the ecology and management of the Mississippi Delta region and for the last 30 years, he has studied coastal ecosystems in Mexico and served as visiting professor at four universities internationally. He served as chair of the National Technical Review Committee reviewing the restoration program for the Mississippi delta and is currently active in delta restoration. He is the recipient of the Estuarine Research Federation Cronin Award for excellence in teaching in coastal sciences. He has served as major professor for 68 MS and PhD students.




Isabel de la Torre (Communications Advisor) a Co-Founder of Earth Economics, was Executive Director of the Industrial Shrimp Action Network (ISA Net) and the United States Society for Ecological Economics before joining Earth Economics. She organized and co-founded ISA Net and the South East Asia Fishers for Justice. She has worked with local and national governments around the world, and NGOs working on international institutions on trade, finance, energy, forestry, fishery, toxics, environmental justice, indigenous peoples, coastal management, women, and human rights issues. She has bachelor degrees in communications and law and worked as a reporter, newspaper editor, and senior legal staff in the Philippines.




Leah Eaton Mitchell (Editor) holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Iowa State University in Journalism and Mass Communication, with an emphasis in Cultural Studies. She has a decade of local, regional and national communications and marketing experience with non-profits in the areas of public media, ethical leadership, bioregional development, and natural resource conservation, as well as for-profits in home mortgage and architecture. An avid traveler, she has a goal of visiting all continents within her lifetime.

 



Angela Fletcher (Research Assistant Intern) graduated from Western Washington University with degrees in Mathematics and Biology with a marine emphasis. Angela grew up in Sequim, WA and has enjoyed Washington's outdoors since childhood through hiking, skiing, and scuba diving. She is excited to contribute at Earth Economics and use her background in applied mathematics and statistics to help with environmental protection and valuation.





Lola Paulina Flores (Research Analyst) completed her undergraduate in Guadalajara, Mexico, her home city. With a BS in Biology she decided to pursue graduate studies at The Evergreen State College, where she graduated from the Masters in Environmental Studies program. In Mexico she has had both academic and work experience in government offices with management and regulation on environmental issues. Currently she is interested inenvironmental policy and economic repercussions of ecosystem loss. She is currently involved in various projects such as 21st Century Washington




David Fowler, MS, CFM (Floodplain Management Advisor)
is a Senior Project Manager with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.  He has a Master of Science degree in Stream Ecology.  He worked as a Fisheries Biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.  He has been with the Sewerage District for 32 years.  During his time there he has been active in the District’s ongoing efforts toward improving water quality, flood management and urban stream rehabilitation.  Dave is a certified floodplain manger (CFM) in the state of Wisconsin, and is a tireless advocate responsible development through protection of floodplains and the state’s water resources.  Dave co-chaired the Milwaukee River Basin Partnership (1998-2001), the Milwaukee River Basin Partnership actively promotes protection of the Milwaukee River Basin and incorporates the watershed approach to all of its activities.  Dave has been a member of the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) since 1998 and was active in the formation of the state chapter Wisconsin Association for Floodplain, Stormwater and Coastal Management (WAFSCM). In 2006 Dave received the WAFSCM Chapter Service Award for his work with the chapter.   He was the state chapter chairperson for four years and was the chairperson for the 2005 ASFPM annual conference in Madison. In 2005 Dave was awarded the River Networks, “River Hero Award” for his work on behalf of Milwaukee’s Rivers.  Dave was served on the board of directors for the Association of State Floodplain Managers as the Region V Director from 2006 – 2011.  He also serves as an Ad Hoc board member for the Association of State Wetland Managers Association.  He is currently serving as the Watershed POD Facilitator for ASFPM and the Liaison for the Natural Floodplain Functions Alliance a coalition of government and nongovernment organizations for the preservation of natural floodplain functions.   In addition to these duties Dave has been serving as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Franklin, Wisconsin since 2005.


 
 
Yiyan Ge (Research Assistant) is a senior at the University of Washington earning Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Bachelor of Arts degree in and will be graduating in the summer of 2014. She is very excited to work with Earth Economics since it is the opportunity she has been seeking to learn how economics provides solutions to environmental problems and how they interact in real life scenarios. She developed her passion for the environment while growing up in China with surrounding lakes and mountains and hiking with her parents who are nature lovers. She was also inspired and motivated by various sustainable practices in Europe when she studied in Copenhagen for four months. After three years of concentrated study in environmental issues, she is determined to contribute to this field. She believes working with Earth Economics is going to be a new and encouraging start in the journey of pursuing her goal.



 
Joshua Gerrish (Senior Software Developer) graduated from the University of Michigan School of Information with a Master of Science in Information.  He specialized in Incentive Centered Design and Social Computing, applying principles from Information Economics, Cognitive Science and Computer Science to build information systems that use individual incentives to achieve global goals. Recommender systems, reputation systems, auction and market design all involve ICD.  His research and work has involved social network analysis and information retrieval.  He has over a decade of experience in Software Engineering at large companies like Amazon and smaller startups in Seattle and Silicon Valley.  He wants to harness the power of computation and information technology to change the world.




Kellen Hawley (Web Application Developer) graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and a minor in Business Administration. He began administering and upgrading Earth Economics' ecosystem service data set in 2009, which he eventually compiled into the prototype for the Ecosystem Valuation Toolkit, a web-based version of Earth Economics’ internal valuation tools. Kellen currently works full-time as a Web Application Developer in Portland, OR, focusing most of his spare time on web development for various non-profits and the rest of it exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest.




Bryan Huebner (GIS Intern) is pursuing an Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (IAS) degree and a certification in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in hopes of joining them with his construction knowledge and experience to obtain a position within an organization that has goals for the future of our environment. He was interested in volunteering at EE because of his personal and professional aspirations to reduce immediate and long-term environmental hazards. He will helping with the Clallam County project in developing GIS layers that will ultimately be used for the primary valuation.




Jitendra Joshi (Webmaster) has completed a Masters in Computer Applications (MCA) and Bachelors in Computer Applications (BCA). He is a software developer with over 3 years of experience in web and software development, primarily ASP.net, C#, PHP, Python and Ruby on Rails. He is code junkie and passionate about computer programming, and loves playing chess and reading books. Jitendra provides back end support for the Earth Economics website, and helped to develop the pages for the project What’s the Economy for, Anyway? Jitendra also serves as webmaster for several non-profit organizations, including The Aids Policy Project, WaterForHumans and Stories Work.




Maya Kocian (Economist) graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a Bachelor's degree in Economics. During her years at PLU she studied abroad in both Latin America and Europe. In 2006 Maya joined Earth Economics as a research analyst. She has contributed to several projects including a determination of the potential effects of oil drilling in the Yasuní National Park, a pristine environment of the Ecuadorian Amazon, and she contributed to the ecosystem services valuation study of the region. While in Ecuador, she produced and designed briefs used by the Ecuadorian delegation at the 2007 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Maya has attended and participated in local, national and international workshops and conferences which apply to Ecological Economics.




Joanna Kraft (Research Assistant Intern) is currently a student at Pacific Lutheran University pursuing Bachelors of Arts in Economics and Environmental Studies. She is active in student government and the music program at PLU and loves being surrounded by such a diverse landscape. Joanna is originally from Boise, Idaho and enjoys hiking, singing, cooking, and art. After graduating from PLU, Joanna hopes to attend graduate school abroad and then make a lasting contribution to global ecological efforts, much like Earth Economics is doing.





Ed Kula (Training Advisor) brings over 25 years of experience designing, developing, and delivering various training subjects to professional audiences. He has led training organizations that had responsibility for both live and Internet-based training in many forms. Growing up in Chicago, Ed received his BA from the University of Illinois but soon after became a west coast resident. An avid outdoorsman and volunteer with the Washington Trails Association and the Mountaineers Club of Seattle, he is a skier, mountain biker, and hiker who has turned to economics to save the places he loves. As Earth Economics expands its capabilities and increases opportunities to provide access to information and analysis, Ed will work with the team to ensure that the knowledge necessary to utilize Earth Economic resources will be available.




David Marcell (Research Assistant Intern) is a senior at the University of Washington earning his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies with a strong economic focus. David is currently working as a research assistant intern with Earth Economics and hopes to continue working in the environmental sector after graduation this coming spring (2013). Originally from Spokane, WA David enjoys the benefitsnature has to offer by camping, snowboarding, hiking and playing sports of all types, also holding the president position on the UWT club soccer team. David is very proud to be a part of Earth Economics, the work they represent, and the message they convey. 



 
David McNally (Ecologist) is a specialist in environmental sciences and international development. His expertise includes working for nearly 10 years in West Africa on capacity building projects in natural resources management, small enterprise development, and training. He has worked for organizations including the Forest Trends, the US Peace Corps, the International Soil Fertility Development Center (IFDC), CARE International, NOAA, Smithsonian Environmental Reserch Center, and Louisiana State University. David brings 20 years of technical expertise to Earth Economics environmental consulting services. He holds a MS in Oceanography and Coastal Science and BS in Environmental Management Systems from Louisiana State University. David is partner in the Vermont based consulting firm, AFORDable Futures LLC.




 
Michelle Molnar (Economist) is a marine researcher and policy analyst with the David Suzuki Foundation. Her work focuses on the conservation of natural capital using various tools of ecological economics and policy analysis, such as environmental cost benefit analysis, natural capital valuation, and environmental fiscal reform. Her current projects include a cost benefit analysis of aquaculture technologies and a natural capital policy review for British Columbia. Michelle has an honours undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Western Ontario and a graduate degree in public policy from Simon Fraser University, where she worked with Canada’s topic expert on natural capital policy – Dr. Nancy Olewiler. Prior to joining the David Suzuki Foundation, she worked as an economist for Environment Canada, where she developed a Benefit Analysis Guide for employees to quantify non-market goods and services.




Quentin Morse (Communications Intern) was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah and moved to Tacoma in the fall of 2010. He is currently a junior at University of Puget Sound and will graduate in the Spring of 2014 with a History Major and Spanish Minor. He enjoys spending time with friends, reading books, watching movies, and appreciating the beautiful state that is Washington. Quentin’s easy going attitude and social media skills are a huge asset to Earth Economics.  He is excited by what Earth Economics is doing and looks forward to both learning more about environmental economics and contributing to the outreach efforts.
 



James Pittman (Economist) spent several years as a Senior Consultant then Managing Director of Earth Economics responsible for managing strategic priorities, as well as public and private sector consulting projects.  His consulting work focused on ecosystem service modeling, sustainability indicator assessment and stakeholder engagement facilitation. He holds a MSc degree with distinc- tion in ecological economics from the University of Edinburgh, completing a dissertation on participatory assessment of water resource management strategies. He has over a decade of sustainability consulting experience with non-profit, education, business, government and public utility clients at local, regional and national scales and currently teaches applied systems thinking and dynamic modeling at the prestigious Bainbridge Graduate Institute in the Sustainable Business MBA program.




David Seago (Editor in Chief) retired in 2008 as editorial page editor for The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash. A graduate of Stanford University (B.A.) and Columbia University (M.S.), his volunteer activities include board and volunteer positions with the Washington Coalition for Open Government, the Cascade Land Conservancy, the Sierra Club and several organizations promoting bicycling and recreational trails. He is also an elected supervisor for the Pierce Conservation District.





Rowan Schmidt (Research Analyst) grew up in New Zealand, completing his Bachelor of Science (biology) and Bachelor of Arts (philosophy) at the University of Auckland, with a memorable exchange at Kyoto University in Japan. At Earth Economics, Rowan presently leads the 21st Century Utility program with the goal of expanding water utility funding mechanisms for watershed health. Areas of the program include: providing accurate valuation of drinking water watersheds to inform utility investment decisions; updating national accounting standards to recognize watersheds that provide and filter water; enhancing bond disclosure standards to include watershed and natural capital conditions; and adjusting water utility rate structures to support natural capital investments. Rowan also works with colleagues at Earth Economics to advance the methods and applications of ecosystem service valuation in benefit-cost analysis, regional land use planning and other areas of policy making. 




Kyle Schoenfeld (Research Assistant) earned a BA in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2009 and a Master of Public Administration from the University of in 2012. While in graduate school, he worked as a research assistant on projects including a study of the time-use benefits of new water infrastructure in rural Ethiopia and economic modeling of water marketing in the Yakima valley. As a graduate capstone project, he worked on a team of students measuring community awareness of the UW’s Climate Action Plan. In his free time he enjoys reading and writing, and he recently sold his first short story for publication.
   
Aaron Schwartz (Software Tester) graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in Computer Science and Economics. Prior to joining Earth Economics in September 2012, Aaron was an analyst at Cornerstone Research in New York City and he spent a year as a farmer and educator at an alternative high school in California. With interests in farming, developmental economics, education, and technology, Aaron is excited to work with the Earth Economics team. Aaron is focused on test automation of the Ecosystem Valuation Toolkit.




Yvonne Snyder (Program Facilitator) is a visual artist, seamstress, milliner, goldsmith, event organizer, chef and person who ensures no balls fall to the ground. Yvonne grew up in Everett and enjoys hiking and camping in the Northwest. One year, Yvonne camped 48 weekends out of the year in Washington State. She has a deep understanding of and passion for Washington’s environment. Yvonne has successfully competed in national floriculture events. She handles social media for our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Hugh Stimson (GIS Analyst) is an Earth Economics GIS consultant based in Vancouver, Canada.  As GIS Analyst for the recent Earth Economics’ valuation report of the British Columbia Nearshore, Mr. Stimson is extremely well versed in marine and freshwater landcover type conversion issues and has experience navigating the extremely complicated process of collecting and converting landcovers between Canadian and U.S. study sites. Mr. Stimson has previously worked at the University of California at Davis and the Smithsonian Institute, where he used sensors on satellites and planes to investigate the environmental status of landscapes. Mr. Stimson has an MSc. from the Environmental Informatics program at the University of Michigan, where his Masters research was on the self-organization of vegetation in the American drylands. Since 2008 Mr. Stimson has provided GIS capacity to over 20 values-based organizations and companies.




TaNeashia Sudds (Executive Administrative Assistant) brings 19 years of administrative operations experience to Earth Economics.  She enjoys the technical aspects of operations as much as supporting the success of others.  She has deep administrative experience in a variety of human and personal service areas such as health and human services, personal and corporate investment, web-based software engineering and public education.  Many grassroots projects and processes that she initiated are still in place such as streamlining corporate travel, bridging the educational gap for incarcerated special education students, regularly published organizational newsletters, mentoring children of incarcerated parents, reporting formats for performance evaluations, as well as organizational handbooks.  TaNeashia enjoys volunteering in the community on efforts and projects that specifically benefit differently able individuals and families with children.  The team at Earth Economics is extremely grateful for TaNeashia’s daily professionalism and cheer while solving complex administrative problems.
Brian Traughber (Midwest Ecologist) received his BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Illinois-Chicago through the Illinois Veterans Grant and Montgomery GI Bill programs. After graduation, Brian owned and operated a lawn and landscape business in Sarasota, Florida. While operating the business, he completed a graduate certificate program in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at the University of South Florida-Tampa. After selling his business, he moved to Durham, NC where he worked as an Environmental Analyst at Research Triangle Institute using GIS to support the EPA’s strategy for maintaining a national inventory of water quality conditions under the Clean Water Act (CWA) sections 305(b) and 303(d). Brian completed a graduate internship at the Illinois EPA in 2010 performing intensive basin surveys monitoring chemical, physical, and biological conditions of inland lakes, rivers, and streams. His graduate research at Western Illinois University involves selecting and evaluating potential wetland restoration sites to enhance the ecosystem services provided, namely water quality, flood abatement, and biodiversity.




Lauren Travis (Administrative Intern) grew up in Gig Harbor, graduated from Peninsula High School in 2011 and began attending Willamette University in Salem, OR where she is currently a student. She recently declared an Economics major with minors in Environmental Science and German. While in high school, she was inspired to learn more about Environmental Economics after reading Elinor Ostrom's (the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics) work on common pool resources. Her passion for the field and the environment has grown as she’s taken relevant courses, participated in a sustainability themed alternative break trip, and spent time working on Willamette's organic farm. Outside of work and school she enjoys hiking, nature photography, literature, independent films, cooking and playing classical double bass.




Elena Wadsworth (Administrative Assistant Intern) is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree at the University of Puget Sound in the fields of environmental policy and Spanish. She has always been passionate about preserving the environment and has been active in local clubs to promote environmental awareness and sustainability. At UPS she is a member of Students for a Sustainable Campus and is a representative to the newly established Greek Sustainability Advisory Committee to spread "green" knowledge and practices to the Greek houses of UPS. She is very excited to join Earth Economics to see all that she can learn about this growing industry and get involved with outreach on a larger scale.
 


 
Nora Wahlund (Research Assistant and Software Tester) is a graduate of the University of Puget Sound with a degree in Spanish and International Affairs and a minor in Economics. Nora joined Earth Economics as an intern in November 2011 and was hired in June 2012. She is interested in ecological economics and conveniently had some software testing experience from high school. As an outdoor recreation enthusiast she is excited to work to protect our natural resources. Nora helps Zac, Dave, and the Ecosystem Valuation Toolkit team accomplish all that they have to do to keep everything running smoothly.



 
Joey Zingarelli (Graphic Design Intern) is a sophomore at Pacific Lutheran University currently pursuing his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic design with a Music minor. Born and raised in Stanwood, Washington, Joey loves being outdoors and enjoying the beautiful land we live in. When not working diligently as a student or at Earth Economics, you can find him rock climbing or hiking. Joey is excited to work at Earth Economics to gain experience needed to run his own design firm in the future.