LifeCity

"'Going Green' is just a catch phrase without innovative organizations like LifeCity pioneering programs that provide everyday people and businesses the knowledge and resources to act on their good intentions. I am proud to support LifeCity, whose creative solutions will one day be the standard for New Orleans’ green economy."

Allen has devoted most of his professional career to starting or managing entrepreneurial organizations. He has consulted dozens of emerging ventures over the last ten years as co-founder of The Idea Village. Allen’s career began as an account executive in the Houston offices of national advertising agencies Bozell & Jacobs and Benton & Bowles. In 1987 he started his first entrepreneurial venture in Atlanta, a marketing agency, serving a roster of high profile national and regional brands including Time-Life Video & Television, SeaWorld, USA Networks, Cox Cable and Tabasco. Prior to co-founding The Idea Village, Allen was General Manager of NOLA.com, a pioneer in Internet publishing and New Orleans’ most visited local Internet site. Allen served as a board member for New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity from 1997 – 2003 and was Board President in 2001. A New Orleans native, Allen received a BBA from the SMU Cox School of Business.

"LifeCity can serve as a relevant and revolutionary means to summon whole communites into effective action, shaping environmentally sound behavior, offering viable alternatives to over-consumption and epidemic materialism, and moreover, building healthy and compassionate relationships among people, communities, creatures, and the Earth."

Carol “Callie” Winn Crawford has been a minister for 8 years at Rayne United Methodist Church. Prior to her present appointment, she served churches in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans area as well as Campus Minister at the University of New Orleans, Southern in New Orleans, and Delgado Community College. Over the years, she has served on several conference boards and commissions including the Commission on the Status and Role of Women, Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, the Board of Global Ministries, and the Episcopacy Committee. She has served as a delegate to both the Jurisdictional and General Conferences of the United Methodist Church. Earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Louisiana State University in 1973 she was chosen for the honorary Mortar Board membership and Phi Beta Kappa. In 1978 she earned her Masters of Theology degree and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, selected by the faculty as the recipient of the 1978 Senior Award. She was ordained a Deacon in the Louisiana Annual Conference in 1976 and an Elder in 1978

"LifeCity has clearly identified the greatest challenge in improving living conditions in any city, education. When you combine education with execution, you affect change. That is what excited me about LifeCity. We all live and work in our communities and the ability to help the residents and businesses learn and act improves the viability of our community and health of our environs and our families. Elizabeth Shephard has demonstrated that she is clearly the leading expert in this field. "

Darin has co-founded four highly successful travel technology companies and has worked as a Senior Executive with large corporations.

As Co-founder and COO of Turobotrip.com, Darin designed and managed the team that built one of the first on-line hotel booking engines. Turbotrip.com grew as a New Orleans based online retailer, to eventually transact business in 55 countries and over 360 destinations worldwide. The company was purchased by hotels.com in 2002.

Darin Co-founded and was the COO of neworleans.com, a destination advertising portal that catered to inbound travelers to New Orleans. Founded in 1993, neworleans.com was a leading edge portal introducing new revenue and advertising models to the Internet. The company was purchased by the Hammack-Jones Group in 2007.

Darin Co-founded and was the President of Internet Destinations, LLC, an Internet website development and hosting company. Founded in 1994, at its peak, IDC had developed over 1300 websites and hosted over 500 companies web presence. It was later folded into neworleans.com.

Darin also co-founded and was President of Hotel Booking Solutions, Inc., a demand management software suite utilized by over 15,000 hotels and hundreds of online distribution, tour operators, originating in Zell am See, Austria. After relocating the world headquarters to the United States and receiving significant Venture Capital investment, HBS was sold to Trivandrum, India based I Believe Systems.

He later served as Vice-President of Distribution Solutions for Pegasus Solutions, the world’s largest travel technology provider. In that capacity, Darin directed global sales for Pegasus’ distribution products.
Darin is a frequent speaker at events on the topics of Entrepreneurism, E-Commerce, and Revenue Management.

Darryl is a well-known Field Organizer for the Sierra Club Environmental Justice and Community Partnership Program. Most recently, he was the Coordinator of the NOLA Recycles 2010 Committee, leading the reinstating of recycling in our community. He served on the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement & Development—Board from 2009-2010 and has lead and participated in a multitude of environmental and justice programs in Louisiana, including Sierra’s Club Ethnic Diversity Task Force, from 1990 to 1995, the Mississippi River Basin Alliance, 1992 to 2000; President, 1998-1999, and the ‘the Great Louisiana Toxic March’ fall 1988.

Dr. Douglas Meffert is the Eugenie Schwartz Professor of River & Coastal Studies, Director of Project Development at Tulane University Law School’s Payson Center for International Development where he serves as the environmental lead at Tulane’s Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. He is also Director of Tulane’s RiverSphere �" a new initiative fostering green jobs in water resource management and renewable energy through testing and development of hydrokinetic energy systems in the Mississippi River. Meffert received his undergraduate engineering and a master in business degrees at Tulane University and Doctorate of Environmental Science & Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. Recent awards include a 2007 joint Loeb Fellowship at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, MA where he currently serves as a faculty associate and, in 2009, an award of excellence from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Dr. Meffert has more than 20 years of research, policy development, project management and practice related to urban sustainability, climate change adaptation, disaster recovery, and coastal restoration and protection domestically and internationally. Relevant certificates include charrette facilitation from the University of Miami and land use negotiation from the Consensus Building Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He currently serves as the New Orleans coordinator for the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Urban Biosphere program, which is dedicated to intellectual exchange and research to promote resilience and sustainability of urban ecosystems worldwide. He also serves or has served as technical advisor and community and stakeholder outreach coordinator for a variety of city, regional, and state planning efforts on urban, coastal, and water management plans including, but not limited to, the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, the Sustainability Systems Working Group for the New Orleans Master Plan, the Louisiana Coastal Protection Restoration Authority’s 2012 Coastal Master Plan, the United Houma Nation, the U.S. Department of State’s Wetland Eco-Partnership program and a variety of neighborhood disaster recovery plans.

"As a new member of the New Orleans community it’s exciting to see endeavors like Life City take flight. Life City represents a new way of thinking about the relationship between New Orleans’ small businesses and the community at large. It’s this type of business activity and new approach to building a better New Orleans that attracted me here. "

Prior to joining Idea Village as an Executive in Residence, Doug Walner 
served as President and Chief Executive Officer of PSI Services LLC. Under his leadership, PSI fortified its market leadership position in the human capital management and licensing certification markets by developing and introducing cutting-edge technology platforms to provide a comprehensive set of services to its clients. During Doug’s tenure with PSI, the business experienced record revenue and profitability growth. In November of 2006, Walner led the successful sale of the PSI business to a blue-chip Boston-based Private Equity firm.

Before joining PSI, Walner served as Senior Vice President and General 
Manager of Stamps.com. As General Manager, he oversaw all operations related to the company’s core business, including sales, marketing, product 
management, customer service, and research & development. As one of the company’s earliest employees, he was personally responsible for developing and managing the company’s strategic alliances and partnerships with industry-leaders such as America Online, Microsoft, Intuit, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and others. Before Stamps.com, Walner held management and senior management positions with several companies in the technology sector, including CyberMedia, Inc., a leading provider of retail software products subsequently purchased by Network Associates, and Ex Machina, Inc., a wireless information solutions company. He has also provided strategic consulting services to industry leading software companies, including Veritas. Walner received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Tulane University.

"As Sr. Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development at the University of New Orleans, I have responsibilities for UNO’s outreach in support of local and regional economic development. I eagerly volunteered to serve on the Life City Board of Advisors because I feel the New Orleans area, and the country for that matter, need companies as Life City to help ensure quality-of-life issues are addressed as key considerations in our economic development efforts. Life City is the type of company that can help citizens and businesses achieve smart, sustainable and environmentally sensitive growth as they build communities for the 21st Century."

Dr. George Harker is currently the Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Technology and Economic Development at the University of New Orleans (UNO). He has been involved in various UNO economic development, NASA, DOD and research park initiatives. He has had the responsibilities for evaluating, protecting and commercializing, when appropriate, the intellectual property (e.g., inventions, copyrighted materials) generated by the faculty, staff and students of UNO. Prior to joining UNO in 2008, Dr. Harker was the Associate Vice President for Technology Transfer (Engineering and Physical Sciences) and the Executive Director of the $20 million, state of Ohio funded, Wright Fuel Cell Group (WFCG) at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Harker was the Director – Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) and Assistant Vice-Provost for Economic Development and Technology Ventures for the Georgia Institute of Technology (GA Tech) from 2001-2007, where over 50 companies were started over his time. From 1999-2001, Dr. Harker was the Director – Office of Technology Transfer at West Virginia University. Prior to 1999, Dr. Harker held a variety of positions in large, mid-size and small companies, including DuPont, Chemtex International, Ensign-Bickford Company and Nelson Brothers, Inc. His business experience covers a wide variety of functions, including Technology Transfer, R&D, Manufacturing, Marketing and Sales, Business Development, Strategic Alliance and Joint Venture Development, Project Management, Financial Analysis and Legal. He has conducted business in over 45 countries on 6 continents. Dr. Harker earned his BS in Chemistry from LSU-New Orleans and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of New Orleans.

"Liz Shephard has earned her entrepreneurial stripes in creating Life City, the first green business certification and education program in New Orleans. The hard work, passion, and commitment LifeCity puts into helping businesses and communities is evident by her being chosen as a recipient of a $50,000 Village Capital investment from First Light Ventures. I anticipate that LifeCity will continue to grow and do well while doing good in New Orleans and beyond."

Kathleen wrote her first weatherization grant for low-income elderly residents living in the Mid-City section of New Orleans in 1979. For over 20 years she has worked in private real estate development with a focus on sustainable community revitalization and historic preservation. Kathleen held elected public office in Springfield Township, Pennsylvania. She returned to New Orleans in 2008, after 20 years away, intent to contribute to the innovative and sustainable rebirth of her hometown. In 2010, she produced the inaugural “Green Matters” conference in New Orleans to catalyze the creation of a sustainable local economy.

"I'm thrilled to be involved in the LifeCity venture because 1) it is inclusive, and 2) it is a fun and exciting way to inspire people to do the right thing. It is just this kind of creative venture that will achieve unexpected success, and in a few years no one will know how we did without it."

Linda Stone, Global Green Policy Associate, works with public and private stakeholders to promote green building and green-energy policy. She also serves as Co-chair of the USGBC Louisiana Advocacy Committee and the Green Collaborative of New Orleans Advocacy and Policy Committee. Her professional experience in New Orleans includes assisting the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation develop its land use plan, founding and directing The Green Project, grant writing for the Audubon Institute Center for Research of Endangered Species, and serving as director of Mayor Morial’s Office of Environmental Affairs. Significant accomplishments at the Mayor’s office include completion of the city’s first greenhouse gas inventory and passage of a lead ordinance by the City Council. When Morial left office in 2002, Linda took a job in San Antonio as the first executive director of the Metropolitan Partnership for Energy where she coordinated development of the city’s first residential green-building program, Build San Antonio Green. She returned to New Orleans in January 2008 to work with Global Green. Linda has a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans. She also studied Spanish in Mexico and Spain. Linda and her husband are completing a green historic renovation in Central City, New Orleans.

Louis is a senior project manager for Camp Dresser & McKee Inc. (CDM) a multi-national engineering, consulting, operations, and construction firm where he manages large, multi-disciplined projects throughout the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina, Louis was responsible for leading a diverse team of 55 people in providing temporary FEMA trailers for over 1200 families in Algiers and the Lower Ninth Ward. He has also served as Design Manager and Construction Manager for the Sewer System Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program (SSERP) where he was responsible for managing the design and construction of projects to renew and rehabilitate the sewer system of the City of New Orleans and restore structural integrity to the system.

Currently, Louis is the program director for the FEMA Funded Facility and Infrastructure Recovery in St. Bernard Parish, the project manager for the development of a Stormwater Master Plan for the City of New Orleans, and Project Director for the effort to consolidate wastewater collection and treatment in St. Tammany Parish.

Louis is a Registered Civil Engineer in the State of Louisiana.

"I have been living in New Orleans for five years now, working on Make It Right and other community-focused green building projects in the Lower 9th Ward. There is a vast network of green-living proponents in this city, but cohesion and organization are lacking. The formation of Life City marks the beginning of a powerful movement toward correcting this and toward achieving a new level of environmental justice, and I am honored to be a part of it. "

Sarah Howell is an Architect and LEED Accredited Professional who practiced in California and New York before moving to New Orleans. As a student at Yale, she developed an interest in Sustainable Design, which led her to Austin Veum Robbins Partners, a firm in California specializing in “green” design and building practices. She later moved to New York City, where she gained experience in residential design and historic preservation. Sarah has experience with project types ranging from large institutional to small-scale residential and in her time at John Williams Architects, she has focused exclusively on affordable residential design that meets the most rigorous green building standards.

As Project Architect for Make It Right, Sarah and her team produce the construction documents and oversee the construction of LEED Platinum houses for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Sarah also manages the LEED Certification process for each house, working closely with the contractors to achieve a LEED Platinum rating for every Make It Right home. Sarah is also the Project Architect for phase V of Project Home Again, a non-profit organization building 100 affordable green houses in the Gentilly area and donating them to families who lost their homes in Katrina. For this flagship project, Sarah and her team are providing architectural services from Schematic Design through Construction Administration.

"I believe in the inclusive green movement that Life City is working to usher in. It is important that we support small business innovation and leadership in the economy. "

Stacey James Danner is a co-founder, President and Chief Investment Officer of SEE. He most recently served as a Community Revitalization Program Officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where he analyzed financial structures and sourced $66 million of development financing opportunities for the National Trust Loan Fund and the National Trust Community Investment Corporation. Mr. Danner has also founded, owned and operated Urban Solutions Real Estate Services (USRES), a consulting company that performed economic development planning, urban planning, real estate investment as well as real estate development. While operating USRES, Mr. Danner simultaneously worked at Cosmopolitan Mortgage Philadelphia Branch as a Senior Business Development Analyst. Stacey James Danner received his Graduate Certificate in Urban Redevelopment Excellence from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to this he received his Masters of Arts in Urban Studies from Temple University and his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Justice and Peace Studies from the University of St. Thomas.

Tim brings his energy and leadership experiences from founding four entrepreneurial ventures in the last 15 years. Since 2000, Tim has focused on founding and leading The Idea Village, one of the most innovative economic development organizations in New Orleans. Tim began his career as a VP with Bear Stearns in Boston. He received a BSM in Finance from Tulane University.Tim serves on the State of Louisiana Small Business and Entrepreneurship Commission, Kingsley House, a graduate of the 2004 NORLI class, graduate of Loyola’s Institute of Politics, 1999 City Business Power Generation, 2004 Gambit 40 under 40, and 2004 Junior Achievement Rising Star Award.

Mr. Von Otnott serves as President of Clean Terra, Inc., a Clean Technology Development Company with offices in Little Rock, AR, Atlanta, GA and New Orleans, LA. Troy recently served as President and Founder of South Coast Solar, the largest and most successful solar energy company in the Southeast. He launched the company with two business associates and a small amount of capital but within two years, strategically grew the company into a 35-person firm that has received extensive recognition as the best solar integration company in its class. He positioned the company to become a qualified government contractor and subsequently the company has received contracts with the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, Federal Prison Industries and the Shaw Group.

Von Otnott, a U.S. Army Veteran who specialized in both Finance and Nuclear/Biological/Chemical projects, has over ten years of experience in real estate development consulting for several of the largest developers in the Southeast. The diversity of his real estate experience has resulted in his participation in numerous real estate development projects throughout the country. In 2008, Mr. Von Otnott served as the Executive Director of the New Orleans based First Bank and Trust Community Development Corporation. He currently serves as a technical advisor to MWH, the City of New Orleans’ Engineering Consultants an is a Board Member of Louisiana CleanTech and the LSU Ag Center’s Advisory Committee.