Marianne Manilov
Co-Executive Director, Co-Founder
Board of Directors
Marianne is a grassroots organizer, media strategist and author. In her 22-year professional career, she has run campaigns and programs for groups such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace International. She is the co-founder and former Executive Director of The Center for Commercial-Free Public Education, home of the UNPLUG campaign against Channel One. Under Manilov’s direction, the Center was credited with bringing the issue of corporate influence and advertising in schools onto the national agenda, including congressional hearings. She serves on the board of directors of the Movement Strategy Center, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and EarthRights International. She is part of the Full Circle Fund, a network of engaged philanthropists.
Taj James
Board of Directors, Founding Circle
Web site: www.movementstrategy.org
Taj is the Executive Director of Movement Strategy Center, a group known for its work in building widespread coalitions and developing long-term movement strategies. Before starting the Movement Strategy Center, Taj was the Director of Youth Policy and Development at Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth. Taj also worked as the Western Regional Field Organizer for the Black Student Leadership Network, a project of the Children's Defense Fund. Taj has served on numerous advisory boards, including that of LISTEN Inc., We Interrupt This Message, The Praxis Project, Youth United for Community Action, the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, and the California Fund for Youth Organizing. He has published numerous articles on youth organizing and empowerment. Taj was the recipient of a Next Generation Leadership fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation and was named a “Local Hero” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Van Jones
Social Champion, Strategic Advisor
Web site: www.vanjones.net
Van Jones is a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy. Van is a co-founder of three successful non-profit organizations: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change and Green For All. He is the best-selling author of the definitive book on green jobs, The Green-Collar Economy. He served as the green jobs advisor in the Obama White House in 2009. Van is currently a senior fellow at the Center For American Progress. Additionally, he is a senior policy advisor at Green For All. Van also holds a joint appointment at Princeton University, as a distinguished visiting fellow in both the Center for African American Studies and in the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Michael Silberman
Strategic Advisor
Web site: www.echoditto.org
Michael is the Director and Senior Strategist of Echo Ditto. Michael managed the Howard Dean campaign's hugely successful Meetup operation in over 1,200 cities worldwide. He speaks frequently on the effective use of technology for converting online activity into real-world action. Michael managed grassroots field organizing and leadership development programs for Dean's renowned activist base. Michael has a B.A. degree from Middlebury College. He directly implemented an innovative communication strategy that kept thousands of grassroots leaders engaged and connected directly to the national headquarters. Michael also gained valuable organizing and political experience at the Union of Concerned Scientists and in the Clinton White House at the Council on Environmental Quality.
Ori Brafman
Strategic Advisor
Web site: www.oribrafman.com
Ori is the co-author of The Starfish and the Spider: the Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations (Portfolio, 2006). Ori holds a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University. As an alumnus, Ori has facilitated an MBA course on interpersonal dynamics at the Stanford Business School. When he was in college, he co-founded Vegan Action, which launched a network with 36 global chapters. He brought vegan foods into college dining halls. Since then, Ori has led marketing campaigns for UC Berkeley’s Young Musicians Program, prevented fast food companies from advertising in schools, led marketing efforts for a healthy fast food company, and been a founding member of Courtroom Connect, a courtroom technology company. Together with Rod Beckstrom, Ori co-founded Global Peace Networks, which catalyzed a network of CEOs working on conflict resolution and economic development in Africa and the Middle East.
Allen Gunn
Strategic Advisor
Web site: www.aspirationtech.org
Allen is the Executive Director of Aspiration Technology and an executive with over twenty years of software development and capacity building expertise. He has shepherded large software projects from inception, design, development and testing to deployment, support and marketing. His expertise spans the range of start-ups, large corporations and nonprofits. Drawing on engineering, senior management, and volunteer experiences, Allen is a skilled communicator, trainer and facilitator in both the nonprofit and corporate sectors. He is passionate about helping nonprofits and NGOs make better use of software technology. He has been closely involved with the US and international technology activist communities, the Silicon Valley engineering and VC world, environmental organizations, and academic communities. He is a firm believer in melding hard work with a joy for life.
Erin Potts
Strategic Advisor
Web site: www.atctower.net
Erin Potts is the Executive Director of Air Traffic Control. In her early twenties, Erin created the Tibetan Freedom Concerts with the Beastie Boys. Described as the “Best Festival in the World”, the concerts produced international awareness, while mobilizing hundreds of popular musicians, raising over $5 million, and turning tens of thousands of young people into activists for Tibet. Erin’s almost two decades of work with culture makers has melded music and activism into increasingly compelling, creative, and effective engagement strategies. Erin writes a culture blog at because strategies.
Jodi Lasseter
Program Director, What's Your Tree
Web site: www.whatsyourtree.com
Originally from Asheville, North Carolina, Jodi Lasseter is a mountain woman passionately committed to environmental and social justice. Jodi brings her expertise in teaching, facilitation, organizational development and community organizing to her involvement with the What’s Your Tree National Steering Committee. She believes that What’s Your Tree is an invaluable vehicle for the most vital work of our time, the complete shift to a life-sustaining, egalitarian society. She has worked with numerous NGOs in South America, East Africa, Western Europe, Mexico and the US to strengthen global justice and indigenous peoples’ movements. Jodi is certified in permaculture and holds a Masters Degree in International Development and Social Change from Clark University, and undergraduate degrees in Women’s Studies and Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Co-Executive Director, Co-Founder
Board of Directors
Marianne is a grassroots organizer, media strategist and author. In her 22-year professional career, she has run campaigns and programs for groups such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace International. She is the co-founder and former Executive Director of The Center for Commercial-Free Public Education, home of the UNPLUG campaign against Channel One. Under Manilov’s direction, the Center was credited with bringing the issue of corporate influence and advertising in schools onto the national agenda, including congressional hearings. She serves on the board of directors of the Movement Strategy Center, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and EarthRights International. She is part of the Full Circle Fund, a network of engaged philanthropists.
Taj James
Board of Directors, Founding Circle
Web site: www.movementstrategy.org
Taj is the Executive Director of Movement Strategy Center, a group known for its work in building widespread coalitions and developing long-term movement strategies. Before starting the Movement Strategy Center, Taj was the Director of Youth Policy and Development at Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth. Taj also worked as the Western Regional Field Organizer for the Black Student Leadership Network, a project of the Children's Defense Fund. Taj has served on numerous advisory boards, including that of LISTEN Inc., We Interrupt This Message, The Praxis Project, Youth United for Community Action, the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, and the California Fund for Youth Organizing. He has published numerous articles on youth organizing and empowerment. Taj was the recipient of a Next Generation Leadership fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation and was named a “Local Hero” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Van Jones
Social Champion, Strategic Advisor
Web site: www.vanjones.net
Van Jones is a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy. Van is a co-founder of three successful non-profit organizations: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change and Green For All. He is the best-selling author of the definitive book on green jobs, The Green-Collar Economy. He served as the green jobs advisor in the Obama White House in 2009. Van is currently a senior fellow at the Center For American Progress. Additionally, he is a senior policy advisor at Green For All. Van also holds a joint appointment at Princeton University, as a distinguished visiting fellow in both the Center for African American Studies and in the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Michael Silberman
Strategic Advisor
Web site: www.echoditto.org
Michael is the Director and Senior Strategist of Echo Ditto. Michael managed the Howard Dean campaign's hugely successful Meetup operation in over 1,200 cities worldwide. He speaks frequently on the effective use of technology for converting online activity into real-world action. Michael managed grassroots field organizing and leadership development programs for Dean's renowned activist base. Michael has a B.A. degree from Middlebury College. He directly implemented an innovative communication strategy that kept thousands of grassroots leaders engaged and connected directly to the national headquarters. Michael also gained valuable organizing and political experience at the Union of Concerned Scientists and in the Clinton White House at the Council on Environmental Quality.
Ori Brafman
Strategic Advisor
Web site: www.oribrafman.com
Ori is the co-author of The Starfish and the Spider: the Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations (Portfolio, 2006). Ori holds a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University. As an alumnus, Ori has facilitated an MBA course on interpersonal dynamics at the Stanford Business School. When he was in college, he co-founded Vegan Action, which launched a network with 36 global chapters. He brought vegan foods into college dining halls. Since then, Ori has led marketing campaigns for UC Berkeley’s Young Musicians Program, prevented fast food companies from advertising in schools, led marketing efforts for a healthy fast food company, and been a founding member of Courtroom Connect, a courtroom technology company. Together with Rod Beckstrom, Ori co-founded Global Peace Networks, which catalyzed a network of CEOs working on conflict resolution and economic development in Africa and the Middle East.
Allen Gunn
Strategic Advisor
Web site: www.aspirationtech.org
Allen is the Executive Director of Aspiration Technology and an executive with over twenty years of software development and capacity building expertise. He has shepherded large software projects from inception, design, development and testing to deployment, support and marketing. His expertise spans the range of start-ups, large corporations and nonprofits. Drawing on engineering, senior management, and volunteer experiences, Allen is a skilled communicator, trainer and facilitator in both the nonprofit and corporate sectors. He is passionate about helping nonprofits and NGOs make better use of software technology. He has been closely involved with the US and international technology activist communities, the Silicon Valley engineering and VC world, environmental organizations, and academic communities. He is a firm believer in melding hard work with a joy for life.
Erin Potts
Strategic Advisor
Web site: www.atctower.net
Erin Potts is the Executive Director of Air Traffic Control. In her early twenties, Erin created the Tibetan Freedom Concerts with the Beastie Boys. Described as the “Best Festival in the World”, the concerts produced international awareness, while mobilizing hundreds of popular musicians, raising over $5 million, and turning tens of thousands of young people into activists for Tibet. Erin’s almost two decades of work with culture makers has melded music and activism into increasingly compelling, creative, and effective engagement strategies. Erin writes a culture blog at because strategies.
Jodi Lasseter
Program Director, What's Your Tree
Web site: www.whatsyourtree.com
Originally from Asheville, North Carolina, Jodi Lasseter is a mountain woman passionately committed to environmental and social justice. Jodi brings her expertise in teaching, facilitation, organizational development and community organizing to her involvement with the What’s Your Tree National Steering Committee. She believes that What’s Your Tree is an invaluable vehicle for the most vital work of our time, the complete shift to a life-sustaining, egalitarian society. She has worked with numerous NGOs in South America, East Africa, Western Europe, Mexico and the US to strengthen global justice and indigenous peoples’ movements. Jodi is certified in permaculture and holds a Masters Degree in International Development and Social Change from Clark University, and undergraduate degrees in Women’s Studies and Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alissa Hauser
Co-Executive Director, Co-Founder
Alissa is a long-time nonprofit executive with an MBA in Nonprofit Management. In the past fifteen years, she has led Resourceful Women, an organization that provided financial education and philanthropic support to women, and served eight years as Executive Director of Julia Butterfly Hill’s Circle of Life, the predecessor organization to the Engage Network. Alissa led efforts to create and produce We the Planet, the most eco-friendly large-scale rock concerts in the U.S., which became a leading model for “green events”. She has also produced multiple promotional and educational media projects. Alissa has served on several nonprofit advisory boards and boards of directors, and regularly provides strategic and business consulting to nonprofit corporations, artists, and socially responsible businesses.
Ina Pockrass
Board of Directors, Founding Circle
Web site: www.transcendentist.com, www.circleoflife.org
Ina is a sustainable business leader and marketing expert who founded and is franchising the successful Transcendentist, the first eco-friendly dental spa in the country. She is an intellectual property attorney and led the intellectual property team at the San Francisco office of Heller Ehrman White and McAuliffe; and Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro LLC. She is the founding Board Chair of Circle of Life.
Rob McKay
Board of Directors, Founding Circle
Web site: www.democracyalliance.org
Rob is the Chairman of the Democracy Alliance, a donor collective of major progressive political donors working to increase grassroots participation in progressive issues and to create a long-term progressive voter base. Founded in the spring of 2005, Democracy Alliance's long-term objective is to raise $200 million to develop a funding clearinghouse for progressive groups. Rob is also President of the McKay Family Foundation, which supports community-based organizations working for long-term social, political, and economic progress. He started the foundation with his brother and parents in January 1992.
In 2002, Rob sponsored and coordinated a statewide ballot initiative to allow Election Day voter registration. This effort, which allows people to register and vote the same day, has been seen as having a major impact on allowing those from low-income, immigrant, and communities of color to expand their electoral participation. Rob is committed to and continues to seek public policy solutions that will allow people to become greater stakeholders in their neighborhoods and communities. Last year, he served as Chair of the California Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on the development of the state plan for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
Rob is also the managing partner for the McKay Investment Group, which provides venture capital for early-stage technology and consumer product companies. He serves on a number of corporate and non-profit boards, including the Ms. Foundation for Women, the San Francisco Art Institute, Salon Media Group, Foodfit.com, Vanguard Public Foundation, and Mother Jones magazine where he is co-chair. He also writes a blog for the Huffington Post.
Julia Butterfly Hill
Social Champion, Founding Circle
Web site: www.juliabutterfly.com
Julia Butterfly Hill brought international attention to the plight of the world’s last remaining ancient forests when, in 1997, she climbed 180 feet up a 1000 year-old Redwood tree and refused to come down. Her historic 738-day protest of the environmental destruction caused by clear-cutting ancient redwoods culminated with a negotiated agreement that provided permanent protection for the tree (“Luna”) and a nearly 3 acre buffer-zone. She is author of the national best seller The Legacy of Luna and One Makes The Difference, both published by HarperSanFrancisco. For the past 7 years, Julia has toured the world giving presentations at universities, conferences, concerts and community events on each person’s power and responsibility to change the world. Today, Julia is passionate about her work as a life coach, and continues to enjoy joyful vegan cooking and making visual art.
Seane Corn
Social Champion, Off the Mat into the World
Web site: www.seanecorn.com
Seane Corn is an internationally celebrated yoga teacher known for her impassioned activism, unique self-expression, and inspirational style of teaching. She has been featured in numerous articles, news programs, and has appeared on the cover of over a dozen magazines. As a strong and articulate voice for social change she was named the National Yoga Ambassador for YouthAIDS, and shares their mission to raise funds, provide service, and spread national awareness about the global emergency of HIV/AIDS. Seane has spent time in India, Cambodia and Africa working with impoverished prostitutes and street children, teaching yoga, providing support and aid, and educating them about HIV/AIDS prevention. She participates on the board of the Cambodian Children’s Fund. Seane also created the yoga program for Children of the Night, a shelter near Los Angeles dedicated to providing education and services for adolescent prostitutes. In 2005 Seane was honored with the “Conscious Humanitarian” award for her outreach efforts. Her award winning DVD “Vinyasa Flow Yoga” is available through Gaiam International, her “Yoga From the Heart” DVD can be found through Yoga Journal, and most recent DVD “Detox Flow Yoga” from Sounds True.
Hala Khouri
Team Leader, Off the Mat Into the World
Web site: www.halakhouri.com
Hala Khouri, M.A., E-RYT, has been teaching the movement arts for almost 20 years. Her roots are in Ashtanga and Iyengar yoga, dance, Somatic Psychology, and the juicy mystery of Life itself. Creative movement and honest self-exploration has always been a source of tremendous healing for Hala, and her calling to pass this on to others has been clear to her since she began teaching at the age of 16.
Hala earned her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Religion from Columbia University and has a Master's degree Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She wrote her thesis on using yoga and other complementary disciplines such as eco-psychology and somatics for self-empowerment to inspire a global shift towards peaceful and sustainable living. She is also a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and focus on trauma's impact on the body-mind and ways to resolve it.
Hala has taught yoga and the movement arts to a wide variety of people ranging from schizophrenics and at-risk youth to mommies and rock stars. Teaching is her absolute favorite thing to do! She currently lives in Venice, California with her husband Paul and their son Sebastian.
Suzanne Sterling
Team Leader, Off the Mat Into the World
Web site: www.suzzanesterling.org
Suzanne Sterling is part of the founding and leadership team of Off the Mat into the World. She is an acclaimed ecstatic vocalist and composer, performing at and facilitating retreats and workshops in the U.S. and abroad. Suzanne has been a featured artist at several Yoga Journal Conferences, Esalen Institute and the Institute of Noetic Sciences and has performed and toured internationally for many years. Along with Hala Khouri, Seane Corn, Ashley Turner, and Julian Walker, Suzanne is also co-founder of The Yoga Groove Collective, a group of yoga teachers, musicians and activists dedicated to creating benefit classes and events that serve the yoga community and several other important causes. Suzanne is a ritual designer and priestess and developed curriculums, teacher trainings and apprenticeship programs for numerous communities nationwide.
Co-Executive Director, Co-Founder
Alissa is a long-time nonprofit executive with an MBA in Nonprofit Management. In the past fifteen years, she has led Resourceful Women, an organization that provided financial education and philanthropic support to women, and served eight years as Executive Director of Julia Butterfly Hill’s Circle of Life, the predecessor organization to the Engage Network. Alissa led efforts to create and produce We the Planet, the most eco-friendly large-scale rock concerts in the U.S., which became a leading model for “green events”. She has also produced multiple promotional and educational media projects. Alissa has served on several nonprofit advisory boards and boards of directors, and regularly provides strategic and business consulting to nonprofit corporations, artists, and socially responsible businesses.
Ina Pockrass
Board of Directors, Founding Circle
Web site: www.transcendentist.com, www.circleoflife.org
Ina is a sustainable business leader and marketing expert who founded and is franchising the successful Transcendentist, the first eco-friendly dental spa in the country. She is an intellectual property attorney and led the intellectual property team at the San Francisco office of Heller Ehrman White and McAuliffe; and Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro LLC. She is the founding Board Chair of Circle of Life.
Rob McKay
Board of Directors, Founding Circle
Web site: www.democracyalliance.org
Rob is the Chairman of the Democracy Alliance, a donor collective of major progressive political donors working to increase grassroots participation in progressive issues and to create a long-term progressive voter base. Founded in the spring of 2005, Democracy Alliance's long-term objective is to raise $200 million to develop a funding clearinghouse for progressive groups. Rob is also President of the McKay Family Foundation, which supports community-based organizations working for long-term social, political, and economic progress. He started the foundation with his brother and parents in January 1992.
In 2002, Rob sponsored and coordinated a statewide ballot initiative to allow Election Day voter registration. This effort, which allows people to register and vote the same day, has been seen as having a major impact on allowing those from low-income, immigrant, and communities of color to expand their electoral participation. Rob is committed to and continues to seek public policy solutions that will allow people to become greater stakeholders in their neighborhoods and communities. Last year, he served as Chair of the California Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on the development of the state plan for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
Rob is also the managing partner for the McKay Investment Group, which provides venture capital for early-stage technology and consumer product companies. He serves on a number of corporate and non-profit boards, including the Ms. Foundation for Women, the San Francisco Art Institute, Salon Media Group, Foodfit.com, Vanguard Public Foundation, and Mother Jones magazine where he is co-chair. He also writes a blog for the Huffington Post.
Julia Butterfly Hill
Social Champion, Founding Circle
Web site: www.juliabutterfly.com
Julia Butterfly Hill brought international attention to the plight of the world’s last remaining ancient forests when, in 1997, she climbed 180 feet up a 1000 year-old Redwood tree and refused to come down. Her historic 738-day protest of the environmental destruction caused by clear-cutting ancient redwoods culminated with a negotiated agreement that provided permanent protection for the tree (“Luna”) and a nearly 3 acre buffer-zone. She is author of the national best seller The Legacy of Luna and One Makes The Difference, both published by HarperSanFrancisco. For the past 7 years, Julia has toured the world giving presentations at universities, conferences, concerts and community events on each person’s power and responsibility to change the world. Today, Julia is passionate about her work as a life coach, and continues to enjoy joyful vegan cooking and making visual art.
Seane Corn
Social Champion, Off the Mat into the World
Web site: www.seanecorn.com
Seane Corn is an internationally celebrated yoga teacher known for her impassioned activism, unique self-expression, and inspirational style of teaching. She has been featured in numerous articles, news programs, and has appeared on the cover of over a dozen magazines. As a strong and articulate voice for social change she was named the National Yoga Ambassador for YouthAIDS, and shares their mission to raise funds, provide service, and spread national awareness about the global emergency of HIV/AIDS. Seane has spent time in India, Cambodia and Africa working with impoverished prostitutes and street children, teaching yoga, providing support and aid, and educating them about HIV/AIDS prevention. She participates on the board of the Cambodian Children’s Fund. Seane also created the yoga program for Children of the Night, a shelter near Los Angeles dedicated to providing education and services for adolescent prostitutes. In 2005 Seane was honored with the “Conscious Humanitarian” award for her outreach efforts. Her award winning DVD “Vinyasa Flow Yoga” is available through Gaiam International, her “Yoga From the Heart” DVD can be found through Yoga Journal, and most recent DVD “Detox Flow Yoga” from Sounds True.
Hala Khouri
Team Leader, Off the Mat Into the World
Web site: www.halakhouri.com
Hala Khouri, M.A., E-RYT, has been teaching the movement arts for almost 20 years. Her roots are in Ashtanga and Iyengar yoga, dance, Somatic Psychology, and the juicy mystery of Life itself. Creative movement and honest self-exploration has always been a source of tremendous healing for Hala, and her calling to pass this on to others has been clear to her since she began teaching at the age of 16.
Hala earned her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Religion from Columbia University and has a Master's degree Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She wrote her thesis on using yoga and other complementary disciplines such as eco-psychology and somatics for self-empowerment to inspire a global shift towards peaceful and sustainable living. She is also a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and focus on trauma's impact on the body-mind and ways to resolve it.
Hala has taught yoga and the movement arts to a wide variety of people ranging from schizophrenics and at-risk youth to mommies and rock stars. Teaching is her absolute favorite thing to do! She currently lives in Venice, California with her husband Paul and their son Sebastian.
Suzanne Sterling
Team Leader, Off the Mat Into the World
Web site: www.suzzanesterling.org
Suzanne Sterling is part of the founding and leadership team of Off the Mat into the World. She is an acclaimed ecstatic vocalist and composer, performing at and facilitating retreats and workshops in the U.S. and abroad. Suzanne has been a featured artist at several Yoga Journal Conferences, Esalen Institute and the Institute of Noetic Sciences and has performed and toured internationally for many years. Along with Hala Khouri, Seane Corn, Ashley Turner, and Julian Walker, Suzanne is also co-founder of The Yoga Groove Collective, a group of yoga teachers, musicians and activists dedicated to creating benefit classes and events that serve the yoga community and several other important causes. Suzanne is a ritual designer and priestess and developed curriculums, teacher trainings and apprenticeship programs for numerous communities nationwide.