Jeanne Trombly		Ms. Trombly launched Fiber Futures after successfully organizing a conference in 1997, which revealed a growing interest in the alternative "non-wood" fiber movement by attracting scientists, environmental advocates, farmers and corporate representatives. Through Fiber Futures, she has effectively continued building a groundswell of interest and sports an effective network to add value to worthy projects, both in the nonprofit as well as the for-profit sectors. She brings over 10 years of experience working in community economic development after having served as the Program Director for the Materials for the Future Foundation. In this capacity, she researched and designed an award-winning community revolving loan fund targeting high-risk recycling businesses in Alameda County, California. In addition, she provided general business technical assistance and helped launch a building materials reuse company in San Francisco. Other background experience includes science writing and managing a group of angel investors. Ms. Trombly has a B.A. in International Affairs/Communications from George Washington University.
Sarosh Kumana		Sarosh Kumana has a long-standing commitment to sustainability on the planet. He is a successful businessman and investor and has sponsored many programs over the years furthering sustainability, rainforest preservation, wetlands, open spaces, biodiversity, species protection, education, empowerment, recycling, renewable resources, etc. As founder of Sustainable-Future.org, he has been involved with making self-interest congruent with the public interest, so sustainability is consistent with profitability, and so that doing good" can be synonymous with "doing well". He has served on boards of numerous civic, political and non-profit organizations. He has a B. Com. from Sydenham College, University of Bombay, and an MSIA from Carnegie-Mellon University.
Gero Leson, D. Env.		Dr. Gero Leson is principal of Leson Environmental Consulting and of International Fibre Technologies Group, Inc. He has 20 years of international experience with interdisciplinary research and consulting on environmental technology and management and on the technical uses of natural fibers. Dr. Leson assists clients, including several Fortune 500 firms, in evaluating, selecting and implementing novel environmental technologies and concepts, such as the use of "Biofiltration" for industrial air pollution. He also works with industry associations, such as the Sri Lanka coconut fiber (coir) industry and the North American industrial hemp industry, on strategy development and implementation. His project roles have included initiation, management, lab and desktop research and hands-on fieldwork. He offers his clients expertise with the complex technical, economic, environmental, and regulatory aspects of innovation and enjoys collaboration with an international network of business and research professionals.
Valerie Langer		Valerie Langer has been engaged in forest conservation campaigns for over fifteen years. She was one of the founding members of the Clayoquot Rainforest Coalition, which eventually gained independence as ForestEthics. This coalition launched the US market campaigns that resulted in hundreds of companies developing endangered forest-free procurement policies. She has been involved for four years as a Steering Committee member of the Canadian-based Markets Initiative project, which has successfully shifted the majority of the Canadian book publishing industry to recycled papers. As a freelance writer she has written feature articles and reports on the topics of forestry and First Nations for the national newspaper The Globe and Mail, for Paper Europe and for national environmental organizations. She serves on the board of LightHawk, an aviation-based environmental education organization. She holds a degree in Semiotics from the University of Toronto.
Tom Miles		Mr. Miles is a charter member of the Agriculture Fiber Association, an association of Oregon straw merchants promoting straw utilization. As a private consultant, he provides technical assistance primarily to industry, collaborating with professional engineers for complete system design, product and process development. Involves raw material selection, specification and handling, equipment selection, complete systems design, start-up and operation. Problem solving, assistance with site selection, trouble shooting, technical and economic analyses, industrial R&D, plant and process improvement and technical reviews are often part of the system development. His education includes the University of Washington, Graduate studies in Wood Technology, 1975; University of Southern California, London Graduate Program, MA with Distinction, 1972; Rockford College and University of Southern California, BA, International Relations 1969. Foreign studies: Brazil, 1964; Italy, 1967; Tunisia, 1969; Russia, 1971; England, 1970-1972. He is fluent French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
Vanessa Stewart		Ms. Stewart's interest in alternative fiber production developed from work and research on global pesticide use, genetic engineering, and community development. Previously, she monitored the World Bank enforcement of pesticide reduction laws and tracked the global persistent organic pollutant phaseout as Program Assistant at the Pesticide Action Network: North America. She recently presented the political rationale for process-based regulation of genetically modified organisms in the European Union based on results from a large scale survey of the Swedish and French public. As a consulting project, she helped to revamp the mule deer monitoring program at the Nevada Division of Wildlife. In addition, she co-directed the training program for the Peninsula Chapter of Amigos de las Americas, an organization promoting community health and youth leadership in Latin America, after volunteering for and supervising the program in Brazil and Bolivia. She received her B.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University with honors from the Institute for International Studies. She speaks Spanish and some Portuguese.
People: Open Positions		There are currently no vacancies.