The primary mission of the Eco-Entrepreneurship Advisory Council (EEAC) is to support students who are developing business models for new environmental ventures. The council is comprised of experienced business professionals who actively share their experience, expertise and networks to directly engage students as they explore becoming environmental entrepreneurs.
Gordon Seabury, Chair
CEO, Toad & Co
As an outdoor industry leader for the last 22 years, Gordon has committed his career to building brands that practice a triple bottom line (people, planet, and profit) approach to business. He received a BA in Psychology from Hamilton College and an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from Wharton School of Business. Married with two college age daughters, between family and work Gordon enjoys just about anything the outdoors has to offer, especially if it is in the ocean, on a river, or in the mountains near his family cabin in June Lake in the Eastern Sierras.
Minos Athanassiadis
Business Director, HarvestMark – a division of Trimble
Minos Athanassiadis is the Business Director of HarvestMark, a division of Trimble, and has 25+ years of expertise in both the agriculture and technology industries. As the founder and Managing Director of the advisory firm Fresh Link Group, he led projects for a broad spectrum of clients helping them define, build, and launch new products and services in the fresh food industry. He is a graduate of UC Davis and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Norah Eddy
Associate Director in the Oceans Program, The Nature Conservancy
Norah has dedicated her life and career to protecting wild places, natural resources, and the communities that depend on them. The sustainable seafood company and brand she founded out of the Bren School became an internationally recognized and respected industry disrupter. She currently leads the Ocean Recovery Strategy in her role as Associate Director in the Oceans Program at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in California, defines and advances the strategy’s vision, leading an interdisciplinary team of professionals to advance some of the most ambitious marine conservation work in California today. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, CNN, The Today Show, Forbes, NPR, National Geographic, and The Huffington Post and on the TEDx stage. She is a longtime resident of Santa Barbara and now lives in Ojai with her husband and three kids.
Noushin Ketabi
Co-Founder, Vega Coffee
Noushin Ketabi is a Co-Founder of Vega Coffee, the first online marketplace for farmer roasted coffee. She leads their operations, product development, and branding. She earned a joint J.D./M.A. in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University and a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, with honors. Noushin loves coffee, and the people and places involved in creating it.
Andy Konigsberg
Business Advisor
For the past thirty years, Andy Konigsberg has advised numerous energy and resources organizations on operations and leadership excellence. Mr. Konigsberg has also served on several boards, most recently with Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO), a non-profit organization based in Harlem, New York City, providing education and employment opportunities for justice-involved young men. Mr. Konigsberg now calls Santa Barbara home with his wife, Elena and continues to be involved with local and international businesses primarily in green energy and sustainable resources.
Karla Mora
Founder & Managing Partner, Alante Capital
Karla is the Founder and Managing Partner of Alante Capital, a Venture Capital fund investing in innovative technologies that will help support a sustainable future for the apparel industry. Prior to Alante, Karla was Investment Director at VilCap Investments, deploying risk capital to early-stage companies solving critical issues in healthcare, energy, education, agriculture, and financial services, and Associate Director of Eleos Foundation, investing in social entrepreneurs pioneering market-based solutions aiming to eradicate extreme poverty. Prior to her work in impact investing, Karla worked in International Development, with Building Markets in Afghanistan, the World Affairs Council, & the United Nations working on supply chain reform in the coffee sector. Karla holds a Master’s Degree in Development Economics from the University of Rome in Italy. She is on the Board of Africa Women Rising and Mango Materials.
Dan Pullman
Founding Partner, Fresh Peaks Capital, LLC
Dan Pullman is a Founding Partner of Fresh Peaks Capital, LLC, an early stage and growth equity fund focused on improving Climate, Environment, and Health. Dan earned his BA from Yale (1980) and MBA from Yale School of Management (1987). He is an active speaker on venture and impact investing, on unconventional career paths, and on the intersection of private/non-profit activities. Dan and his wife Lisa are based in Massachusetts and frequently visit Santa Barbara.
Matt Riley
Renewable Energy Executive
Matt Riley leads many initiatives in renewables energy, with a specific passion to engage in the fight against climate change. As the Head of Grid-Scale Renewables at ENGIE North America, Matt Riley led a global independent power producer during its transition from fossil fuel generation to a zero-carbon renewable energy future. Prior to his role at ENGIE, Matt co-founded Infinity Renewables, a leading renewable energy developer in the U.S. Matt holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biopsychology from UCSB as well as a Master’s in Environmental Science & Management from the Bren School. When Matt is not working you can find him spending quality time at the beach with his family and dog in Santa Barbara, California.
Mark Terbeek
Partner at Greycroft
Mark joined Greycroft in 2013 and is based in Los Angeles. He focuses on software investments. Mark’s active investments include Clozd, Guidewheel, Howdy, Icertis, Kandji, Leena.ai, Ocient, Salsa, and Prezent AI. His notable exits include Octiv (acquired by Conga), Openpath (acquired by Motorola Solutions), Scopely (acquired by Savvy Games Group), and Teem (acquired by WeWork). Prior to Greycroft, Mark was a Partner with MK Capital, a venture capital firm based in Los Angeles and Chicago. Mark also co-founded Jamcracker, an early SaaS pioneer where he served as its Vice President of Corporate Development, and worked at McKinsey & Company. Mark’s investment and Board Director experience prior to Greycroft includes Bladelogic (acquired by BMC), Kontiki (acquired by Verisign), VPNet Technologies (acquired by Avaya), AwesomenessTV (acquired by Comcast), DramaFever (acquired by Warner Brothers), Machinima (acquired by Warner Brothers), and ZEFR, and he was a Board Observer at Exodus Communications.
Elizabeth Washburn Surti
Senior Principal, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
Elizabeth works with the Draper Richards Kaplan team to identify and support innovative social entrepreneurs with a particular focus on environment, climate change, and food and agriculture. Prior to joining DRK, she spent five years at management consulting firm Bain & Company working across a range of functions and industries that included enterprise and consumer technology, eCommerce, hospitality, and private equity due diligence. Elizabeth received her MBA from Harvard Business School, and her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, where she was a Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures major and a Latin American Studies minor.
EMERITUS COUNCILMEMBERs
Jim Boyden
Jim Boyden is a management consultant and investor in energy and other areas. Boyden received his BS and MS degrees in Physics from Carnegie-Mellon University and his PhD in Physics from Caltech. He has more than 25 patents to his name. As an extension to his career, Dr. Boyden has become a professional photographer.
Mary Moslander
Chair Emeritus
Mary Moslander is the founder of LiveHealthier, a global provider of innovative health management program. She spent ten years as an executive with The Washington Post Company, helping to create, build, and manage several online and e-commerce products and services. An award-winning entrepreneur, Moslander won first place in the 2006 StartRight! Business Plan competition, was named by Washington Business Journals one of 25 Women Who Mean Business, was recognized by Smart Woman Magazine as a 2006 Bravo! Entrepreneur Business Achievement winner, and was winner of the 2007 Maryland Incubator Company of the Year Award for Best Information Technology Company.
Marc Stuart
Marc Stuart is a private equity investor in the carbon and clean-energy space. His firm, Allotrope Ventures, seeks out early-stage opportunities in technology and execution platforms that are positioned to thrive in the transition to a low-carbon economy. He has nearly 20 years of international business development experience in carbon markets, project finance, and clean energy development across more than 30 countries. Stuart is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, the London School of Economics, and the Claremont Graduate University.