 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.
Contact: dbatker@eartheconomics.org
 Jennifer Harrison-Cox (Managing Director) brings over 15 years of project and people management expertise to Earth Economics. Her professional background is software and security engineering where she has held the roles of Principal Program Manager, Lead Project Manager and Operations Manager. A graduate of The Evergreen State College, she finds her passions for economics and sustainability merged in the field of ecological economics. Jennifer also served as the Executive Director of Partnership for Rural King County (www.prkc.org), a grassroots organization focused on the long-term sustainability and viability of rural eastern King County, Washington.
Contact: jcox@eartheconomics.org
Jonathan Kochmer (Principal Researcher) 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' SERVES 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.
Contact: jkochmer@eartheconomics.org
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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 Simple and Effective Resource for Valuing Ecosystem Services (SERVES), a web-based version of Earth Economics’ internal valuation tools. Currently, Kellen works full-time as a Web Application Developer in Portland, OR, focusing all his spare time on further development and maintenance of SERVES.
Contact: khawley@eartheconomics.org
 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.
Contact: mkocian@eartheconomics.org
 Rowan Schmidt (Research Analyst) was born in West Virginia, but moved to New Zealand at an early age, where he grew up playing rugby and cricket (both are sports!). He earned his degrees in biology and philosophy at the University of Auckland, and took some especially memorable classes in ethnomusicology. During this time he also completed an exchange at the renowned Kyoto University in Japan. Rowan discovered the exciting field of ecological economics towards the end of 2009, and since joining Earth Economics has led projects ranging from comprehensive cost-benefit analyses to workshops that explore 21st century accounting frameworks. He finds it enjoyable to work alongside inspiring colleagues, partners and clients every day.
Contact: rschmidt@eartheconomics.org
 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.
Contact: tdickinson@eartheconomics.org
Yvonne Snyder (Executive Administrator) 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. Yvonne organizes Dave Batker (no small task) and keeps the office running smoothly. She handles social media, some fundraising and other activities.
Contact: ysnyder@eartheconomics.org
 Zachary Christin (Research Analyst) graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a focus in Mathematics and Philosophy. Zac joined Earth Economics in the early summer of 2010 as an intern and was subsequently hired in June 2011 after completing his degree. He has made significant research contributions to a number of projects, including work in China, the Mississippi Delta and the Puget Sound. Recently Zac has coauthored sections of Earth Economics reports on Ecuador and the Puyallup River Basin. Zac’s current focus is econometrics analysis and recreation and health valuation.
Contact: zchristin@eartheconomics.org
Research Support
.jpg) Brian Traughber (Research Assistant) 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.
Contact: btraughber@eartheconomics.org
 Jeremy Rapp (Research Assistant) recently relocated from Lansing, Michigan. He is a graduate of Michigan State University where he earned a BS in Environmental Economics and Policy. He has previously worked for the Michigan Environmental Council (MEC) on transportation policy and legislative engagement. While at MEC Jeremy was a program manager for the Candidate Education Program, and was integral in the success of the Michigan By Rail public forums initiative.
Contact: jrapp@eartheconomics.org
 Kate Bonaparte (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.
Contact: kbonaparte@eartheconomics.org  Lola Paulina Flores (Intern) 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 is going into to her second year of 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 in environmental justice and economic repercussions of ecosystem loss, gaining knowledge from both her classes at Evergreen and internships such as the one at Earth Economics. During her time at Earth Economics she has been actively participating in the Ecuador Intag Report and other non-profit assignments.
Contact: lflores@eartheconomics.org
 Noelani Kirschner (Administrative Assistant/ Intern) is a sophomore at Carleton College where she is majoring in Art History with a European Studies minor. In addition to being a news editor and writer for her college newspaper, she is involved with her college’s environmental justice group and its Food Truth organization. In the past, she has interned at KUOW as a radio journalist and has done local volunteer work with Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Humane Society, and various food shelters. Her true passion lies within nonprofit work and she wants to explore the field of environmental NGOs. She is excited to be working with Earth Economics to further develop her burgeoning interest and to learn about the economics of environmental nonprofit work.
Contact: nkirschner@eartheconomics.org
.JPG) Nora Wahlund (Intern) is a senior at the University of Puget Sound where she is majoring in Foreign Languages and International Affairs – Spanish and minoring in Economics. Her interdisciplinary major ties together Spanish literature and culture, politics and government, comparative sociology, and economics in the study of Latin America. As an intern with the Tacoma/Pierce County Community Gardens Program this past summer she became familiar with and extremely interested in the issues of food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture.
Contact: nwahlund@eartheconomics.org
 Patrick Green (Intern) currently attends the University of Washington where he is earning master’s degrees in Public Affairs at the Evans School as well as Urban Planning at the School of Built Environments. He focuses his studies on environmental planning for water, including water rights trading practices and floodplain management. Patrick grew up in Sacramento, California, and he attended Santa Clara University, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Religious Studies. Upon relocating to the Puget Sound in 2006, he began writing grants for various non-profits that addressed hunger, housing, nutrition education, and the arts.
Contact: pgreen@eartheconomics.org
Extended Team Members
 Azur Moulaert is currently a Research Associate Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont (UVM) specializing in ecological economics, payments for ecosystem services public communication. Azur received a BS in Forest Engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica (1992) and a Masters degree in Crop Science and Forestry from North Carolina State University (1996). Azur's professional experience also includes; Ecosystem Services Project Manager at Gund Institute of Ecological Economics at UVM, Envision Program Manager at the Vermont Department of Health, and National Grassroots Director then Coastal Resources Analyst at Environmental Defense. Presently, Azur is Principal investigator for the “Threats, Examples and Opportunities for the Sustainable Development of the Terraba – Sierpe Mangrove of Costa Rica”, a long term project in the south pacific coast of Costa Rica in conjunction with local and international partners.
Contact: azur@moulaert.com
 Bernardo Aguilar JD and MS, Executive Director of Fundación Neotrópica, Ecological Economist and Environmental Law Expert, President of the Meso-American Society for Ecological Economics, has over 18 years experience in higher education academic work in the areas of Sustainable Development, Environmental Law, Latin American Studies and Ecological Economics with special emphasis in Natural Resource Valuation, and Political Ecology/Economy. His research has focused in topics of political ecology, Latin American Studies, integrated sustainable development indicators, tropical crop market models, sustainable entrepreneurial models and natural resource valuation. He also has over 10 years of experience in the administration of educational programs focused on service and experiential learning in sustainable development, conservation and multiculturalism related topics within an international environment, project funding, execution and administration. His academic credentials include a degree as a Specialist (graduate degree equivalent to LLM) and Juris Doctor in Agrarian and Environmental Law and a Masters of Science in Agricultural and Applied Economics (emphasis in Applied Economics, International Trade and Econometrics). He is currently Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in Natural Sciences for Development. His publications include 1 book, several book chapters, refereed and invited professional journal articles, book reviews, technical reports, and numerous newspaper, newsletter and magazine articles. He is currently the Executive Director of Fundación Neotrópica, one of the oldest and most reputable environmental NGOs in Costa Rica. Finally, Bernardo currently serves as the President for the Mesoamerican Society for Ecological Economics.
Contact: baguilar@neotropica.org
.jpg) David McNally 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.
Contact: dmcnally@eartheconomics.org
 David Seago, Editorial Advisor for Earth Economics, 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.
Contact: daveseago@gmail.com
 Ferdinando Villa holds a Ph.D. in theoretical Ecology and had a long parallel career as a scientific software designer and engineer. After working in many fields of Ecology, from theoretical Island Biogeography to spatially-explicit Decision Analysis, he joined the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont. He has since expanded the focus of his research to the interface of policy, ecology and economics, concentrating on artificial intelligence approaches to assist environmental decision making and natural system assessment and valuation. Dr. Villa currently leads the ARIES project (Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services which is producing a next-generation web application meant to make environmental decisions easier and more effective. Along with ARIES, Dr. Villa collaborates with many other projects including the Long Term Ecosystem Research project and the SEAMLESS (System for Environmental and Agricultural Modelling; Linking European Science and Society project, financed by the EU. His research on high-performance computer simulation and mathematical modeling applied to community and ecosystem ecology earned him collaborations with UNESCO, the European Union, the Italian Ministry of the Environment and several international organizations such as the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) in Fiji. He has collaborated with international institutions and governments on environmental assessment methods, and continues to do research in basic ecology, protected areas planning, and related fields. He is the author or coauthor of 110+ scientific publications and a number of major open source software packages.
Contact: ferdinando.villa@uvm.edu
 Isabel de la Torre, 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.
Contact: isabeldelatorre@yahoo.com
James Pittman spent several years as a Senior Consultant the  n 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.
Contact: jpittman@eartheconomics.org
 Janis Wignall holds a BSc (Hons) University of Warwick, UK. She worked 20 years for Immunex Corportion an internationally acclaimed biotechnology company. Janis was on the cloning team for Tumor Necrosis Factor which became the biopharmaceutical drug used in the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis ENBREL, which in 2009 reached over $8 billion in sales for Amgen. In 2000 she was awarded a Golden Apple Award, a state level award for education from the WA Governor Gary Locke and Terry Bergeson, Superintendent of Public Instruction in WA for her contributions to science education. She was a founding board member for Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation now Sustainable Path Foundation www.sustainablepath.org which promotes sustainability and health in the Puget Sound Region. Through her work at Earth Economics she currently works on sustainability on a global level.
Contact: wignallj@earthlink.net
Jason S. Twill currently manages sustainability initiatives at Vulcan Inc., and has over a decade of experience in the areas of construction management, architecture, urban planning and real estate development. His work includes research and implementation of portfolio-wide resource conservation measures, creating investment strategies for alternative energy and water systems, and advocacy work for policies that support environmentally conscious design. Jason earned a masters degree in real estate finance and development from New York University and is a trained climate change communicator for both the city of Seattle and The Climate Project. Jason also currently serves on the board of the Cascadia Green Building Council as well as the steering committee for the Climate, Buildings & Behavior Project at the Garrison Institute.
Contact: JasonT@vulcan.com
 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.
Contact: joshijitendra000@gmail.comJohn W. Day, Jr. 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.
Contact: johnday@lsu.edu
 Jon Erickson is a consultant for Earth Economics. He is Associate Professor of Ecological Economics at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont and completed his Ph.D. and M.S. in Natural Resource Economics at Cornell University (1997, 1993). His current work includes a workbook on a problem-based approach to learning and applying ecological economics (Island Press, 2005), community-based sustainable watershed management, private-public land conservation economics and policy, macroeconomic reform in developing nations, greenhouse gas and renewable energy economics, and the ecological economics of infectious disease epidemics. Jon has served on the boards of the International and U.S. Societies for Ecological Economics, Conservation and Research Foundation, Adirondack
Research Consortium, and Saratoga Open Space Project.
Contact: Jon.Erickson@uvm.edu
Web Page: www.uvm.edu/~jdericks/
 Ken Bagstad is a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow and research economist working with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center in Denver. For this work, he uses GIS and modeling to map and value ecosystem service flows at several sites in the Western United States. He has previously worked with the Bureau of Land Management on testing alternative ecosystem services tools, including the ARIES and InVEST models, for their value in decision-making for public land management. He has also led development of ecosystem services models for the NSF-funded Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) project, which is building a series of web-accessible tools to map, assess, and value ecosystem services for environmental decision-making. Ken received a B.A. in botany and environmental studies from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1999, and his M.S. from Arizona State University in 2002. Ken has also assisted in ecosystem service valuation studies for Louisiana, Washington State, and Ontario, advised researchers working on GPI studies for Michigan and Utah, and explored markets and ecosystem service-based funding mechanisms for ecological restoration.
Contact: kjbagstad@usgs.gov
 Leah Eaton Mitchell, English 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.
Contact: leaheatonmitchell@gmail.com
Lobsang Tsering, Project Associate, has a B.A. degree from Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi, India and an M.A. degree on Sustainable International Development from the Heller School of Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Lobsang experience includes extensive environmental and sustainable development project work in both India and the United States and translation of UN materials and covenants into the Tibetan language. He is Earth Economics' project manager for the Greater Asian Watershed Project.
Contact: ltsering@eartheconomics.org
 Marta Ceroni 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.
Contact: Marta.Ceroni@uvm.edu
 Michelle Molnar, Conservation Economics Analyst, 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.
Contact: mmolnar@davidsuzuki.org
 Roelof Boumans, Ph.D received his doctorate degree in 1994 as an ecosystem ecologist at the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Systems at Louisiana State University and led to the development of the Surface Elevation Table. Dr. Boumans is a pioneer in developing the concepts behind Dynamic GIS systems modeling and has published several peer reviewed papers on the subject. Dr. Boumans joined the Institute of Ecological Economics as an Associate Research Scientist in 1996, and moved with the ISEE to Vermont to work at the GUND institute for ecological economics. At present, Dr. Boumans is the director for Afordablefutures a leader in the design and application of ecosystem based mangement tools to include the Multiscale Integrated Model of Ecosystem Services (MIMES). Dr Boumans and his wife Catharina Sikkes live in Vermont, where they manage Windycorners, a homestead on 14 beautiful acres in the Champlain Valley in Vermont.
Contact: Roelof.Boumans@uvm.edu
 Stuart Cowan, Ph.D., Autopoiesis LLC, has 15 years of experience in designing, planning, and financing sustainability projects in ecological design, renewable energy, and biocultural restoration. He was a founding team member of Portland Family Funds, a sustainable community bank. Together with its national affiliate, United Fund Advisors, PFF has structured transactions totaling $2 billion, creating 16,000 jobs. While at Ecotrust, he led the development of the Reliable Prosperity framework for a carbon neutral bioregion. He is the co-author with Sim Van der Ryn of Ecological Design, an overview of the integration of ecology, architecture, land use planning, and product design that has been translated into three languages. He is the co-founder of Autopoiesis LLC, which uses self-organizing living systems to collaboratively create value and mobilize capital for biological + cultural resilience. He received his doctorate in Complex Systems from U.C. Berkeley.
Contact: scowan@apoiesis.com
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