Blue Pioneers Program

Seafood Team Leader
Greenpeace USA

Trenor currently holds the position of Seafood Team Leader with Greenpeace USA, where he spearheads the organization’s efforts to transform the global tuna industry. As a senior Greenpeace campaigner, Trenor has designed, executed, and won campaigns – both confrontational and cooperative – to improve the seafood operations of major companies such as Costco, Trader Joe’s, Target, Walmart, and Safeway. Trenor has been the primary author and architect of Greenpeace’s annual Carting Away the Oceans reports – a sustainable seafood ranking series that has been credited with a creating massive progress within the US retail sector – since 2009.

Beyond his Greenpeace work, Trenor has authored Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time, a pocket guide that enables consumers to dine with confidence at the sushi bar. In an effort to bring sustainable sushi out of the conceptual realm and into the American foodscape, Trenor founded the world’s first sustainable sushi restaurant, San Francisco’s Tataki Sushi and Sake Bar, in February 2008.

In October 2009, Trenor was awarded the title “Hero of the Environment” by TIME Magazine, and in August 2010, Trenor received a Congressional Commendation and the “Ocean Protection Hero” award from the well-respected environmental organization Save Our Shores.

Trenor is a frequent commentator on sustainable seafood issues and has been featured in regional, national, and international media outlets, including CNN, NPR, Forbes, New York Times, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Tampa Tribune, UTNE Reader, Hemispheres, Tokyo Weekender, Kochi Shimbun, and Edible San Francisco. He also speaks extensively through a diverse array of panels, lectures, and presentations around the world. In April 2012, Trenor delivered a TED talk at TEDxSF on a new paradigm for contemporary activism and the role of personal passion in achieving conservation goals.

Senior Fellow
Edward F. Ricketts Provostial Professor
Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

Dr. Crowder’s research centers on predation and food web interactions, mechanisms underlying recruitment variation in fishes, population and food web modeling in conservation biology, and interdisciplinary approaches to marine conservation. He has studied food web processes in both freshwater and marine ecosystems, and has used observational, experimental, and modeling approaches to understand these interactions in an effort to improve management.

His recent research has focused on marine conservation, including research on bycatch, spatial ecological analysis, nutrients and low oxygen, sustainable seafood, ecosystem-based management, marine spatial planning, and governance. He is a AAAS Fellow and was awarded Duke University’s Scholar/Teacher of the year award in 2008-2009.

Founder
SVT Group

Sara Olsen is the founder of SVT Group, an impact management firm that provides investors, companies and social enterprises support to measure, manage and communicate their social and environmental impact (e.g. theory of change, impact metrics, impact IT systems onboarding and support, retrospective impact analyses and more). A pioneer in the social capital markets, Olsen and SVT’s team of subject-matter experts have measured the social and environmental value of approximately $9.08 Bn in private equity, debt, and grants in dozens of countries and issue areas. Recent clients include Yo Yo Ma, Restore the Earth Foundation, Fair Trade USA, Global Fund for Women, Beneficial State Bank, and CalPERS’ Environmental Investment Advisor.

Director and Core Faculty
Coastal Science and Policy Program
University of California Santa Cruz

Anne Kapuscinski serves as director and core faculty in the Coastal Science and Policy Program at the University of California Santa Cruz. She is a professor of Environmental Studies and an interdisciplinary scholar committed to finding scientifically and socially robust solutions to a major challenge: how to perpetuate healthy aquatic ecosystems while sustaining resource uses that support human wellbeing. Her past research examined impacts of dams, fish hatcheries, aquaculture and genetic engineering on fish conservation. Her current research aims to shift aquaculture, the world’s fastest growing food sector, towards sustainability. She also pursues ecological aquaculture strategies to close water and nutrient loops and conserve biodiversity. Her awards include Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Conservation Biology, and most recently a 2019 Ocean Award in the Innovation Category.

Senior Associate
60 Decibels

Ashley Speyer is a senior associate at 60 Decibels, which is a spin-off of Acumen where she worked for 4 years. 60 Decibels is a social enterprise company focused on bringing Lean Data (SM) into the world. Ms. Speyer has a long history in development and humanitarian-related fields. Prior to her work at Acumen, she served as a program assistant for the Council of Foreign Relations conducting research on Cuba’s energy landscape and Brazil’s foreign policy strategy in Africa. She has also spent time in Africa working on various aid projects particularly in Tanzania and Uganda.

Founding Partner & Chief Technology Officer
Think Beyond Plastic Accelerator

Dr. Baxter works at the intersection of innovation and biotechnology, and brings a wealth of expertise in biochemistry, nanotechnology and entrepreneurship. He is a published author and holds over 20 patents on various aspects of molecular biology and biochemistry. He serves on the Board of Stellar BioTechnologies, the world leader in immune-stimulating proteins and is a Board Advisor to CertiChem, Inc. the experts in detecting endocrine activity in consumer products.

Dr. Baxter is a long-time mentor and member of the Founders Board of Advisors at StartX Stanford Student Startup Accelerator and was a Fellow with the Innovation Accelerator, a public-private partnership with NSF to facilitate the commercialization efforts of small businesses.

Dr. Baxter was a Program Director with the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. He was the founder and CSO of Hurel Corporation, a biotechnology company. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Cornell University and was a Senior Scientist at the Cornell Nanoscale Science and Technology Facility.

CEO and Co-Founder
Think Beyond Plastic™

Daniella Russo is the CEO and Co-founder of Think Beyond Plastic™, the leader of a global action to harness the forces of innovation and entrepreneurship to eliminate global plastic pollution.

Think Beyond Plastic leads a multidisciplinary effort to identify and commercialize upstream innovations that eliminate plastic pollution, with focus on innovative product delivery systems, including application specific packaging, bio-benign materials and sustainable chemistry. To secure a rich pipeline of innovation, it is building an innovation eco-system connecting industry, investors and innovators.

Daniella Russo believes that intractable environmental challenges can be addressed by harnessing the forces of innovation and entrepreneurship, and the power of the markets to do good.  She is a serial entrepreneur. She has started and ran numerous high-tech businesses, and her experience includes executive management from start-up phase through an IPO (such as Frame Technology, Infoseek and others), as well as Fortune-500 companies (Sun Microsystems, and Xerox PARC).

Daniella Russo is a member of the Founders Board of Advisors at StartX Stanford Student Startup Accelerator. She is an Adjunct Professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies Graduate Program in International Policy and Management. Daniella Russo co-founded and led Plastic Pollution Coalition to become world’s largest NGO dedicated uniquely to ending plastic pollution. She serves on the Board of numerous NGOs and Businesses.

Associate Professor
Graduate School of International Policy and Management
Middlebury Institute of International Studies

Dr. Kent Glenzer has extensive work and research experience in sub-Saharan Africa, having spent 28 years prior to coming to the Institute with international NGOs such as Oxfam America, CARE, PATH, and also with Peace Corps. His work, teaching, and research focuses on the intersections of culture, organizational behavior, monitoring and evaluation, decision making, and strategy. He specializes in understanding how power dynamics, identity politics, and structural exclusion influence organizations, public policy, philanthropy, and the relationships between public, private, and nonprofit actors.

Professor of Strategic Management
Graduate School of International Policy and Management
Middlebury Institute of International Studies

Dr. Yuwei Shi is Professor of Strategic Management at the Middlebury Institute. His research and practice interests center on competitive strategy, business model and organizational design, particularly for social ventures and impact investing. An award-winning teacher known for innovative pedagogy, course and program design, he is a pioneer in raw-case method of learning. Dr. Shi has led the development and successful launch of impactful programs including the Frontier Market Scouts Fellowship Program and the Blue Pioneers Accelerator Program. He served two terms as the Dean of the Graduate School of International Policy and Management at Middlebury. Additionally, he had two decades of experience as founder of a tech venture, advisory partner at a venture capital firm, and consultant to a couple of prominent management consulting firms. He continues to serve on advisory boards of several impact ventures. Dr. Shi earned his B.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University, Master of Comparative Laws from the Dedmen School of Law at Southern Methodist University，and Ph.D. in Organization, Strategy and International Management from the Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas.