How You Can Save The World's Contributors

Richard Branson

World-renowned entrepreneur; founder and chairman of the Virgin Group.

Sir Richard Branson is the founder and chairman of the Virgin Group. Virgin is one of the world's most recognized and respected brands and has expanded into air and ground travel, telecommunications, financial services, health, space travel and clean energy through more than 200 companies' worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people in 29 countries. Companies include Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Comics, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Money, Virgin Charter, and Virgin America, the new domestic airline. Virgin USA continues to expand in North America and offer consumers value for money, good quality, innovation, exceptional customer service, fun, and a sense of competitive challenge. In 1999, Richard was awarded a knighthood by the Queen for "services to entrepreneurship."

In an effort to develop new approaches to social and environmental issues through business and social sector partnerships, Richard founded Virgin Unite, the not-for-profit foundation of the Virgin Group. In September 2006, Richard committed that future proceeds to the Virgin Group's transportation interests will be invested into renewable energy initiatives, representing an estimated investment of $3 billion over the next ten years. Richard also announced a $25 million prize for a viable technology that will result in the net removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases. Recently, he joined Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, and Desmond Tutu to form The Elders, a group of independent leaders that will seek sustainable solutions to global humanitarian issues. In December 2007, Richard was recognized by UNCA as Citizen of the Year.

Jamais Cascio

Environmental futurist, science-fiction game designer, and co-founder of WorldChanging.com.

Jamais Cascio writes about the intersection of emerging technologies, environmental dilemmas, and cultural transformation, specializing in the creation of plausible scenarios of the future. His work focuses on the importance of long-term, systemic thinking, with a particular emphasis on building a more open and resilient society.

Cascio's work on the environment, technology and social change appears in publications as diverse as Metropolis, Technology Review , and ForeignPolicy.com. He was featured in National Geographic Television's Six Degrees , its 2008 documentary on the effects of global warming, and speaks around the world on issues including the global environment, technological transformation, and political change.

Cascio has worked in the field of scenario development for over a decade, and is currently a Research Affiliate at the Institute for the Future. Cascio serves as the Director of Impacts Analysis for the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, and is a Fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.

Cascio served as technical advisor on multiple science fiction television and film projects, and designed several well-received science fiction game settings.

In 2003, he co-founded WorldChanging.com, the award-winning website identifying models, tools and ideas for building a "bright green" future. At WorldChanging, Cascio covered topics including urban design, climate science, renewable energy, open source models, emerging technologies, social networks, "leapfrog" global development, and much more. In March, 2006, he started Open the Future as his online home.

Cascio lives outside of San Francisco, California, with his wife, two cats, four Macs, and the inevitable hybrid car.

James Daly

Editorial Director, Edutopia (The George Lucas Educational Foundation).

James Daly has spent more than 25 years in journalism, frequently tracking the radical effect that technology brings to calcified industries. He is now the Editorial Director of Edutopia, produced under the aegis of The George Lucas Educational Foundation, which tracks innovative people and practices in our nation's K-12 public schools. Previously, he was the editor in chief and co-founder of Business 2.0 magazine. He led the launch of this successful and profitable magazine, which focused on the many ways the Internet impacts business.

Daly also served as the editor in chief of Redherring.com, as well as a features editor at Wired, senior editor at Forbes ASAP and a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. His freelance writing has appeared in publications ranging from Rolling Stone and Spin to the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Phoenix and ID. He lives in Northern California.

John Deutch

Institute professor at MIT; former director of the CIA; former deputy secretary of the Department of Defense, and former undersecretary of the Department of Energy.

John Deutch is an institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A member of the MIT faculty since 1970, he has served as chairman of the chemistry department, dean of science and provost. He has published over 140 technical publications in physical chemistry, technology, energy, international security, and public policy issues.

Mr. Deutch has served in significant government posts throughout his career. In 1995, he was sworn in as director of central intelligence, overseeing the efforts of the Central Intelligence Agency. Before that, he served as the deputy secretary of defense, and prior to that he served as under secretary of defense for acquisitions and technology. Mr. Deutch also worked in a number of positions for the U.S. Department of Energy: director of energy research, acting assistant secretary for energy technology, and undersecretary of the department.

In addition, he has served on numerous commissions, which spanned several presidential administrations, including the President's Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee, the President's Commission on Strategic Forces, the White House Science Council, the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, the President's Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, the Commission on Reducing and Protecting Government Secrecy, and as chairman of the Commission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Mr. Deutch has garnered fellowships and honors from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. He has been presented with Public Service Medals from the Department of Energy, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Air Force, and the Coast Guard. In 1996, he received the Central Intelligence Distinguished Intelligence Medal and the Intelligence Community Distinguished Intelligence Medal. He also received the Greater Boston Federal Executive Board's Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Award forexemplary public service in 2002.

Mr. Deutch earned a B.A. in history and economics from Amherst College, and a B.S. in chemical engineering and Ph.D. in physical chemistry from MIT. He holds honorary degrees from Amherst College, University of Lowell, and Northeastern University. He serves as director for publicly held companies Citigroup, Cummins, Raytheon and Schlumberger Ltd. He is a trustee of Resources for the Future, the Urban Institute, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Esther Dyson

Internet guru and noted analyst in emerging technologies and emerging markets; author of "Release 2.0".

Esther Dyson is the Internet's court jester, a person of no institutional standing who somehow manages to speak the truth and be heard when and where it matters. She does business as EDventure Holdings, the reclaimed name of the company she owned for 20-odd years before selling it to CNET Networks in 2004. In keeping with the spirit of today's event, she owes much of her success to her talent as a communicator, something she has practiced since her days as founder, editor and sole proprietor of The Dyson Gazette at the age of 8. More recently, she has continued that trajectory as the author of a commercially successful refrigerator magnet, which reads in its entirety: "Always make new mistakes!" She also happens to be the author of a far-sighted book, Release 2.0, about the impact of the Internet on the lives of individuals and on society, published in 1997.

Currently, her primary activity is investing in start-ups and guiding many of them as a board member. To that end, she travels broadly and speaks four languages (English, Russian, French and German.) Her board seats include 23andMe, Boxbe, Caivis, CVO Group (Hungary), Eventful.com, Evernote, IBS Group (Russia, advisory board), Meetup, NewspaperDirect, Voxiva, Yandex (Russia)… and WPP Group (not a start-up). Her past IT investments include Flickr and Del.icio.us (sold to Yahoo!), BrightMail (sold to Symantec), Medstory (sold to Microsoft), Orbitz (IPOed, sold to Cendant and later re-IPOed), and ActiveWeave (sold to Buzzlogic). Her current holdings include BlogAds, ChoiceStream, Dopplr, Dotomi, Linkstorm, Ovusoft, PatientsLikeMe, Plazes, Powerset, Resilient, ReliefinSite, School of Everything, Tacit, Technorati, Vizu.com and Zedo.

A four-time weightless flyer, she is also active in the commercial space/airline start-up world, with investments in Airship Ventures, Coastal Aviation Software, Constellation Services, Icon Aircraft, Space Adventures/Zero-G and XCOR Aerospace.

On the non-profit side, Dyson sits on the boards of the Eurasia Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Santa Fe Institute and the Sunlight Foundation, and the South African President's Information Society Advisory Council.

For more than 20 years Dyson wrote the newsletter Release 1.0 and ran PC Forum, the IT market's leading executive conference. She sold them to CNET Networks in 2004, and left CNET at the end of 2006. (The Forum was discontinued under CNET Networks' ownership, while O'Reilly Media now produces Release 1.0 under the new name of Release 2.0, with Dyson's blessing.) Dyson was the founding chairman of ICANN (policy-setter for the Domain Name System) from 1998-2000, and was also chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in the 90s. In 1994, she wrote a seminal essay on intellectual property for WIRED magazine. In both her investments and her nonprofit activities, she has always been concerned with the impact of information (technology) on business and society.

She also blogs occasionally for the Huffington Post, as Release 0.9. In 1997, she wrote her (so far) only book, Release 2.0: A design for Living in the Digital Age, which appeared in paperback a year later as Release 2.1.

Gil Friend

Founder, President & CEO, Natural Logic, Inc.

Gil Friend's company provides advisory services in strategy, design, operations and information systems to help clients build economic advantage through exceptional environmental performance.

Clients have included Agilent Technologies, Ex'pression Center for New Media, General Mills, Gilead Sciences, Granite Construction, Green Mountain Energy, Hewlett Packard, Nike, Odwalla, Pacific Gas & Electric, Sun Microsystems, the US General Services Administration and many others.

A systems ecologist and business strategist with 35 years experience in business, communications and environmental innovation, Friend combines broad business experience with unique content experience spanning strategy, systems ecology, economic development, management cybernetics, and public policy. Tomorrow Magazine called him "One of the country's leading environmental management consultants — a real expert who combines theoretical sophistication with hands-on, in-the-trenches know-how."

He is a founding board member of the Sustainable Business Alliance, Sustainable Berkeley, and the California Sustainable Business Council, and serves on San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's Clean Tech Advisory Council. He was a founding board member of internet pioneer Institute for Global Communications, and was Co-founder and Co-Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, one of the nation's leading urban ecology and economic development "think-and-do tanks," where he pioneered the current "green roof" trend more than 30 years ago.

Friend lectures widely on business strategy and environmental policy, and currently writes The New Bottom Line offering strategic perspectives on business and environment, and an irregular weblog on strategic sustainability and other matters of interest. He hosted the "Ask the Experts" feature at GreenBiz.com, and a "Sustainability Sundays" column for WorldChanging.com. He has contributed chapters to several books, including Worldchanging: A Users Guide to the 21st Century, Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook, Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook, and is the author of the forthcoming book: Risk, Fiduciary Responsibility and the Laws of Nature.

He holds an MS in Systems Ecology from Antioch University, a black belt in Aikido, and is a seasoned practitioner of "The Natural Step" environmental management system.

Jeffrey Hoffman

Former NASA astronaut on five Space Shuttle missions; now professor of astronautics at MIT.

Dr. Jeffrey A. Hoffman is professor of the practice of aerospace engineering in the department of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Hoffman received a B.A. from Amherst College, graduating summa cum laude. He later earned a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Harvard University and received his M.Sc. in materials science from Rice University. He spent one year as a post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, after which he worked on the research staff of the physics department at Leicester University in the UK and MIT's Center for Space Research.

Dr. Hoffman was a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut from 1978-1997, making five space flights and becoming the first astronaut to log 1000 hours of flight time aboard the space shuttle. He was payload commander on the first flight of the US-Italian Tethered Satellite System. He has also performed four spacewalks, including the first unplanned, contingency spacewalk in NASA'shistory and the initial repair/rescue mission for the Hubble Space Telescope. Dr. Hoffman worked for several years as the astronaut office representative for EVA and helped develop and carry out tests of advanced high-pressure space suit designs, and of new tools and procedures needed for the assembly of the International Space Station. For several years, he was the astronaut office's representative on the Payload Safety Panel.

Following his career as an astronaut, Dr. Hoffman spent four years as NASA's European representative. Based at the U.S. embassy in Paris, he was the liaison between NASA's U.S. and European space projects, also serving as NASA's representative in European media.

In August 2001, Dr. Hoffman joined the faculty of MIT, where he teaches courses on space operations and design and space policy. He is director of the Massachusetts Space Grant Alliance, responsible for statewide space-related educational activities to increase public understanding of space and to attract students into aerospace careers. His principal areas of research are advanced EVA systems, space radiation protection, management of space science projects, and space systems architecture.

Dave Howe

President, SCI FI Channel.

Dave Howe was named President of the SCI FI Channel in January 2008. Howe oversees Original Development, Programming and Marketing, Global Brand Strategy and Market Development, Strategic Planning, SCI FI Digital (SCIFI.COM, SCI FI Pulse, DVICE.com), SCI FI Magazine, Media Relations and SCI FI's recently launched public affairs initiative, Visions for Tomorrow. In addition, Howe is charged with launching a new global brand identity for SCI FI and driving SCI FI's continuing strategy to expand and diversify its business portfolio beyond broadcast and digital media into new affinity areas such as video gaming, mobile, licensing and merchandising and the youth market.

Appointed the Channel's General Manager and Executive Vice President in July 2004, Howe had served as Executive Vice President, Marketing & Brand Strategy since joining the company in September 2001. Since becoming General Manager, Howe has overseen the launch of some of SCI FI's most successful and ground-breaking programming, including Tin Man—which was ad-supported cable's top entertainment telecast among Adults 25–54 in more than two years in addition to being the most-watched telecast in Channel history—and the critically acclaimed, Peabody award-winning series Battlestar Galactica.

Howe also spearheaded a major overhaul of SCI FI's brand strategy, focused on redefining the genre and making it more relatable and accessible to a broader audience and new generation of viewers. This lead the way for record-breaking hit drama series, Eureka, and hit reality series, Ghost Hunters, which have attracted record numbers of new, female and younger viewers to the channel.

Howe has been instrumental in shaping SCI FI's pioneering digital strategy, ensuring SCI FI remains at the forefront of digital growth and innovation and overseeing the launch of a successful new broadband channel, SCI FI Pulse, and exclusive digital programming, as well as a new technology blog, DVICE, and the genre's first user-generated database of knowledge on all things sci-fi fantasy, SCIFIPEDIA.

Howe has played a lead role in SCI FI's consistent ratings and revenue growth, firmly establishing its top 10 cable network ranking and culminating in its best year ever in both ratings and revenue in 2007. SCI FI is widely regarded as one of the best-branded and marketed channels on television. The Channel has been honored with numerous accolades, including a D&AD award, a Clio, countless PROMAX & BDA awards, two Cannes Lions, two One Club Awards, as well as a 2004 Gold Effie Award for the campaign promoting Taken.

In 2003, Howe was the recipient of the prestigious Brandbuilders Award. Presented by PROMAX & BDA, Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News, the honor was awarded in recognition of his industry leadership and outstanding dedication to branding in the electronic media.

Prior to joining SCI FI, Howe spent 15 years at the BBC in London, most recently as head of the BBC's on-air marketing and creative services division (now part of Red Bee Media), where he is credited with building the BBC's multi-award-winning in-house creative team, which has delivered acclaimed on- and off-air campaigns, as well as world-class branding for the BBC's 17 UK and international TV channels, including BBC America, BBC World and the UK flagship broadcast channels BBC One and BBC Two. As Creative irector of the BBC's new channels, Howe also directed the branding and on-air launch of the BBC's five new commercial channels, UKTV, and the re-launch of the BBC's new on-air corporate identity and program branding initiative.

Howe also led the teams responsible for positioning and launching over 10 new entertainment and news channels in the UK and internationally, including BBC News 24, BBC America, BBC Canada, BBC Choice, BBC Knowledge, BBC Three, BBC Four, UK Horizons, UK Drama, UK Style, UK Play and UK Food.

In addition to his impressive marketing track record, Howe has a programming background, having produced numerous television projects for the BBC, including Points of View with Anne Robinson (of Weakest Link fame). He also produced award-winning television spots for BBC One and BBC Two comedy, music and arts, sports, current affairs and purchased programs.

Howe is a member of the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Royal Television Society, UK. Fluent in English, German and French, he is also a classically trained pianist and oboist and played percussion in a local symphony orchestra.

Shaun Jones

Internationally recognized expert and published author in advanced technology development; naval surgeon, bio-terrorism expert.

Shaun Jones, MD, is an internationally recognized expert and published author in advanced technology development. His experience includes twenty-five years in the National Defense and Security communities, coinciding with service in the United States Navy.

Dr. Jones's unusual career has produced an expansive expertise in both medicine and advanced technology-and a singular understanding of the impact of merging these fields. He has run a clinical practice in head and neck surgery and has medical and operational experience in Naval Undersea Warfare, Surface Warfare, and Special Operations. He has managed research in virtual reality, tele-informatics, surgical robotics and simulation, advanced biomedicine and biotechnology, biological warfare defense and human biosignatures.

After retiring from government service, Dr. Jones joined the Biodesign Institute at ASU as senior advisor for strategic integration. His expertise is sought domestically and internationally by a diverse and eclectic clientele.

Michio Kaku

Renowned theoretical physicist; author of "Physics of the Impossible"; co-founder of string field theory.

Dr. Michio Kaku is an internationally-recognized authority in theoretical physics and the environment. A tenured professor and published author, Dr. Kaku is co-creator of string field theory, a branch of string theory associated with Einstein's "theory of everything."

Dr. Kaku is the author of several scholarly, Ph.D.-level textbooks and has had over 70 articles published in physics journals. His best-selling books include Beyond Einstein and Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century. His book Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos, was selected as a finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction (UK) and for the Aventis Science Book Prize (UK).

Dr. Kaku's accessible approach to explaining complex physics, quantum mechanics and other areas of science has also made him a popular figure in mainstream media. Dr. Kaku hosts two weekly syndicated radio programs: Explorations, which examines science and the environment; and the nationally-syndicated Science Fantastic, which addresses the future of science. Radio guests have included Nobel Laureates and researchers in areas such as time travel, black holes, gene therapy, aging, space travel and artificial intelligence. In addition to his weekly radio program, Dr. Kaku has appeared on NPR's Science Friday, Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell, as well as George Noory and BBC- International.

From interviews to documentaries, Dr. Kaku has explained fascinating and complex scientific theory in ways that are both elegant and easy to understand. His television appearances include CBS' 60 Minutes, CNN's Larry King Live, the PBS shows Nova and Innovation, and ABC's Nightline and Good Morning America. He was featured on the PBS documentaries Einstein Revealed, Stephen Hawking's Universe, and Science Odyssey. In 2006, he hosted a four-part, four-hour TV documentary on BBC-TV called Making Time, about the mystery of personal, biological, geological and cosmological time.

Dr. Kaku has written articles for Time Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, in addition to cover stories for Astronomy Magazine, New Scientist Magazine and BBC's Focus Magazine (UK). He has also been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, U.S. News & World Report, the Sunday London Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Diego Union Tribune, and the Chicago Tribune, among others.

Dr. Kaku graduated summa cum laude, receiving a B.S. from Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. from the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California. He later held a lectureship at Princeton University. He holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in Theoretical Physics at the City College of New York, where he has taught for over 25 years. Additionally, he has been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, as well as at New York University.

Dean Kamen

Inventor, entrepreneur, and science advocate; invented the Segway® human transporter.

Dean Kamen is an inventor, entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for science and technology. He is the founder of DEKA Research & Development Corporation, where he develops internally generated inventions and provides research and development for major corporate clients. He holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents for innovative devices that have expanded the frontiers of healthcare worldwide. Some of his notable inventions include the first wearable insulin pump for diabetics, the HomeChoice™ portable peritoneal dialysis machine, the INDEPENDENCE® IBOT® Mobility System, and the Segway® Human Transporter.

Among Mr. Kamen's proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use, and enjoy science and technology.

Mr. Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000 and the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineers and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005.

Neal Lane

Malcolm Gillis University Professor at Rice University; served White House science advisor under President Clinton.

Dr. Neal Lane is the Malcolm Gillis University professor at Rice University. He also holds appointments as senior fellow of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, where he is engaged in matters of science and technology policy, and in the department of physics and astronomy.

Dr. Lane served in the Federal government as director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and member (ex officio) of the National Science Board from 1993 to 1998. From 1998 to 2001, Dr. Lane served as assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Dr. Lane first came to Rice University in 1966, joining the department of physics as an assistant professor. In 1972, he became professor of physics and space physics and astronomy. Dr. Lane left Rice in 1979 to become the director of the division of physics for the NSF. From 1984 to 1986, he served as chancellor of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. From 1986 to 1993, Dr. Lane served as provost and professor of physics at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Lane received his Ph.D., M.S. and B.S. in physics from Oklahoma University.

John Podesta

President and CEO of the Center for American Progress; served as chief of staff to President Clinton .

John Podesta is the president and C.E.O. of the Center for American Progress and visiting professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Podesta served as chief of staff to President William J. Clinton from October 1998 until January 2001, where he was responsible for directing, managing, and overseeing all policy development, daily operations, Congressional relations, and staff activities of the White House. He coordinated the work of cabinet agencies with a particular emphasis on the development of federal budget and tax policy, and served in the President's Cabinet as a principal on the National Security Council.

From 1997 to 1998 Mr. Podesta served as both an assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff. Prior to that, he was assistant to the president, staff secretary and a senior policy adviser on government information, privacy, telecommunications security and regulatory policy.

Mr. Podesta previously held a number of positions on Capitol Hill, including: counselor to Democratic Leader Senator Thomas A. Daschle; chief counsel for the Senate Agriculture Committee; chief minority counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks; Security and Terrorism; Regulatory Reform; and counsel on the Majority Staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Knox College.

Brian Sager

Entrepreneur, inventor, composer, and writer.

As an entrepreneur, Brian Sager founded Nanosolar to enable the production of low-cost solar electricity enabled by nanotechnology (Nanosolar.com). As an inventor, he has more than 80 patents pending or issued, mainly in the areas of nano-scale chemistry and optoelectronic devices.

As a composer, he has written three symphonies for orchestra (newclassical.com), and has integrated orchestral symphonic music with electronic dance genres (sonatronic.com).

As an author, he has written broadly on a series of topics ranging from biochemistry to biotechnology and materials science.

He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, where he was a National Science Foundation fellow, and was a Whitney Fellow at Harvard University. Brian has been a vegetarian for more than thirty years.

Lee Schipper

Former Co-director of EMBARQ, the Center for Sustainable Transportation and the World Resources Institute, Washington DC.

Lee Schipper returned to the University of California in October 2007, as a Visiting Scholar at the UC Transportation Center. Dr. Schipper earned his Ph.D. at Berkeley in astrophysics, but has devoted his career to earthly problems of transport, energy and environment. Previously he had been Director of Research for EMBARQ, the World Resources Institute (WRI) Center for Sustainable Transport, which he helped found in April, 2002. He is now Senior Associate Emeritus of EMBARQ.

Dr. Schipper came to EMBARQ from the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, where he had been visiting Scientist from 1995 to 2001. Previous to that he was Staff Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for two decades. He worked in Group Planning at Shell International Petroleum Company in the 1980s and again in 2001, where he worked on two sets of Shell Scenarios. He has been a guest researcher at the World Bank, VVS Tekniska Foerening (Stockholm), the OECD Development Center, and the Stockholm Environment Institute.

Dr. Schipper has authored over 100 technical papers and a number of books on energy economics and transportation around the world. He takes part in numerous prestigious international panels and studies on energy and transportation, and is on the editorial boards of six major journals in the fields.

Dr. Schipper was a member of the Swedish Board for Transportation and Communications Research for four years, and is currently a member of the US Transportation Research Board's Committee on Sustainable Transport and Committee on Developing Countries.

As a consultant, Dr. Schipper works with Global Business Network/Monitor and has rejoined Cambridge Energy Research Associates as a Senior Associate. He also served as a consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other international groups. He also lectures widely around the world.

Dr. Schipper brings a unique twist to the transport and energy worlds, having obtained his BA in Music from Berkeley in 1968 (with course work at UCLA). One a member of the UCLA jazz quintet, he still leads a jazz quintet from time to time, and recorded The Phunky Physicist, with Janne Schaffer, in Sweden in 1973.

Peter Schwartz

Internationally renowned futurist; co-founder and chairman of Global Business Network.

Peter Schwartz is cofounder and chairman of Global Business Network, a Monitor Group company, and a partner of the Monitor Group, a family of professional services firms devoted to enhancing client competitiveness. An internationally-renowned futurist and business strategist, Mr. Schwartz specializes in scenario planning, working with corporations, governments, and institutions to create alternative perspectives of the future and develop robust strategies for a changing and uncertain world. His current research and scenario work encompasses energy resources and the environment, technology, telecommunications, media and entertainment, aerospace, and national security. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the board of trustees of the Santa Fe Institute, the Long Now Foundation, the World Affairs Council and Human Rights Watch.

From 1982 to 1986, Mr. Schwartz headed scenario planning for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies in London. His team conducted comprehensive analyses of the global business and political environment and worked with senior management to create successful strategies. Before joining Royal Dutch/Shell, he directed the Strategic Environment Center at SRI International. The Center researched the business milieu, lifestyles, and consumer values, and conducted scenario planning for corporate and government clients.

Mr. Schwartz is the author of Inevitable Surprises, a provocative look at the dynamic forces at play in the world today and their implications for business and society. His first book, The Art of the Long View, is considered a seminal publication on scenario planning and has been translated into multiple languages. He is also the co-author of The Long Boom, a vision for the world characterized by global openness, prosperity, and discovery; When Good Companies Do Bad Things, an examination of, and argument for, corporate social responsibility; and China's Futures, which describes very different scenarios for China and their international implications. Mr. Schwartz publishes and lectures widely and served as a script consultant on the films Minority Report, Deep Impact, Sneakers and War Games. He holds a B.S. in aeronautical engineering and astronautics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Rusty Schweickart

Space and satellite consultant, former NASA astronaut

Russell L. (Rusty) Schweickart is a retired business and government executive and serves today as Chairman of the Board of the B612 Foundation. The organization, a non-profit private foundation, champions the development and testing of a spaceflight concept to protect the Earth from future asteroid impacts.

Schweickart retired from ALOHA Networks, Inc. in 1998 where he served as President and CEO from 1996 through 1998. ALOHA was a data communications company specializing in high performance, wireless internet access equipment. Schweickart was formerly the Executive Vice President of CTA Commercial Systems, Inc. and Director of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Systems. Schweickart led CTA?s efforts in developing the GEMnet system, a second generation LEO communication satellite constellation designed to provide regular commercial electronic messaging services on a global basis. Prior to his CTA work Schweickart founded and was president of Courier Satellite Services, Inc., a global satellite communications company which developed LEO satellites to provide worldwide affordable data services.

Schweickart's satellite and telecommunications work involved him in the development of international communications regulations and policies, including participation in the 1992 and 1995 World Radiocommunications Conferences (WRC) of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). He served at the 1995 WRC as a U.S. delegate. He also worked extensively in Russia and the former Soviet Union on scientific and telecommunications matters. Schweickart is the founder and past president of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), the international professional society of astronauts and cosmonauts. The organization promotes the cooperative exploration and development of space and the use of space technology for human benefit. The ASE has a current membership of over 300 astronauts and cosmonauts from 29 nations. The Association's first book, The Home Planet, with a preface by Schweickart, was published simultaneously in 10 nations in the Fall of 1988 and was an immediate international best seller.

In 1987-88, Schweickart chaired the United States Antarctic Program Safety Review Panel for the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Washington, DC. The resulting report, Safety in Antarctica, a comprehensive on-site review of all U.S. activities in Antarctica, led to a restructuring of the program, increasing the safety of operations in that hazardous environment. At the request of the National Science Foundation, Schweickart also served on the 1997-1998 United States Antarctic Program Outside Review Panel, which reported to the Whitehouse (OSTP) and Congress on the future of US facilities in Antarctica. The US Amundson-Scott South Pole station has recently been fully rebuilt as a result of this work.

In 1977 Schweickart joined the staff of Governor Jerry Brown of California, and served in the Governor's office for two years as his assistant for science and technology. In 1979 Schweickart was appointed to the post of Commissioner of Energy for the State of California and served on the Commission for five and a half years. The Commission, which was chaired by Schweickart for three and a half years, was responsible for all aspects of energy regulation in the state other than rate setting, including energy demand forecasting, alternative energy development, powerplant siting and energy performance regulation for appliances and buildings.

Schweickart joined NASA as one of 14 astronauts named in October 1963, the third group of astronauts selected. He served as lunar module pilot for Apollo 9, March 3-13, 1969, logging 241 hours in space. This was the third manned flight of the Apollo series and the first manned flight of the lunar module. During a 46 minute EVA Schweickart tested the portable life support backpack which was subsequently used on the lunar surface explorations. On the mission with Schweickart were commander James A. McDivitt and command module pilot David R. Scott.

Schweickart served as backup commander for the first Skylab mission which flew in the Spring of 1973. Following the loss of the thermal shield during the launch of the Skylab vehicle, he assumed responsibility for the development of hardware and procedures associated with erecting the emergency solar shade and deployment of the jammed solar array wing, operations which transformed Skylab from an imminent disaster to a highly successful program. After the Skylab program, Schweickart went to NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC as Director of User Affairs in the Office of Applications. In this position he was responsible for transferring NASA technology to the outside world and working with technology users to bring an understanding of their needs into NASA.

Prior to joining NASA, Schweickart was a research scientist at the Experimental Astronomy Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His work at MIT involved research in upper atmospheric physics, star tracking and the stabilization of stellar images. His thesis for a master's degree at MIT was an experimental validation of theoretical models of stratospheric radiance. Schweickart served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force and the Massachusetts Air National Guard from 1956 to 1963. He has logged over 4000 hours of flight time, including 3500 hours in high performance jet aircraft.

Schweickart was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal (1969) and the Federation Aeronautique Internationale De La Vaux Medal (1970) for his Apollo 9 flight. He also received the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Special Trustees Award (Emmy) in 1969 for transmitting the first live TV pictures from space. In 1973 Schweickart was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for his leadership role in the Skylab rescue efforts.

He is a Fellow of the American Astronautical Society and the International Academy of Astronautics, and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Schweickart is an Honorary Trustee and a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. Schweickart was born on 25 October 1935 in Neptune, NJ. He is married to Nancy Ramsey of West Hartford, CT. He has seven children and eleven grandchildren. He graduated from Manasquan High School, NJ; received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1956 and his Master of Science degree in 1963, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His hobbies include golf, bicycling, and hiking.

Siel

Environmental writer and activist.

Siel writes Green LA Girl, an environmental lifestyle blog with a focus on the eco-happenings in the Los Angeles area. She's a contributing editor at BlogHer and a regular blogger for Lime.com. Previously, she headed up the Los Angeles Times' environmental blog, Emerald City.

Siel's most interested in using the always-everywhere web medium to incite timely, localized action. Her work explores how big picture ideas and initiatives filter down to the individual level -- and how personal action filters up to create large-scale changes.

Siel also writes poetry and holds a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. She lives in Santa Monica, Calif., and rides her pink Townie bicycle to the beach almost every day.

Steven Weber

Professor of political science and director of the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Steven Weber works at the intersection of technology markets, intellectual property regimes, and international politics. Weber is Professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley, where he directs the multi-disciplinary campus- wide Institute of International Studies; and Senior Policy Advisor at the Glover Park Group in Washington DC. His research and consulting work for the last decade have focused on the political economy of knowledge intensive industries, with special attention to health care, information technology, software, and global trade issues. He is also a frequent contributor to scholarly and public debates on US foreign policy.

Weber went to medical school at Stanford then did his Ph.D. in the political science department at Stanford. He served as special consultant to the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and has held academic fellowships with the Council on Foreign Relations and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Over the last 15 years Weber has consulted with multinational companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations on risk analysis, strategy, and business forecasting in the areas of international political risk, technology, and global economic change. Weber's most recent book, The Success of Open Source, is the leading study of the political economy of the open source software community. He is the also the author of Cooperation and Discord in US – Soviet Arms Control, the editor of Globalization and the European Political Economy, and has written numerous articles in academic and popular publications about international political economy, globalization, emerging security issues, etc. (most recently, "How Globalization Went Bad," in Foreign Policy (2007), and "A World Without the West," in the National Interest (Summer 2007). With co-author Jonathan Sallet he is currently writing a book on how to implement the principles of "openness" in business strategy and government policy across four critical economic sectors: telecommunications, software, pharmaceuticals, and media; and with co-author Bruce Jentleson of Duke, a book on how to best position the United States for a coming era of global competition.

Edie Weiner

Leading futurist; practitioner of social, technological, political, and economic intelligence-gathering .

Edie Weiner is president of Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc., a leading futurist consulting group in the United States. Formed in 1977, WEB has served over 300 corporate, academic, and government clients in identifying opportunities in the areas of marketing, product development, strategic planning, investments, human resources, public affairs and advertising. Clients have ranged from the U.S. Congress to many of the Fortune 500.

Ms. Weiner has been in the field of issues analysis and strategic planning for over 40 years, having directed the first industry-wide futures research program, the Trend Analysis Program of the American Council of Life Insurance. She is acknowledged as one of the most influential practitioners of social, technological, political and economic intelligence-gathering.

She was the youngest outside woman ever elected to the board of directors of a major financial institution when she joined the board of Union Mutual Life Insurance Company (now UNUM Provident Corporation). A guest lecturer at Wharton, Harvard, Brown and a number of other universities, Ms. Weiner has also published articles in the Harvard Business Review, the Futurist and the Wall Street Journal. She has co-authored four books with her partner Arnold Brown: Supermanaging, Office Biology, Insider's Guide to the Future and FutureThink. Aside from speaking at conferences, and appearing on television and radio shows, Ms. Weiner has conducted seminars for corporate leaders and written reports on the Underground Economy, Life-Extending Technologies, New Information and Communication Technologies, The Future of Leisure, and Barter and Countertrade.

In 1992, she founded and chaired the Esteem Teams, an innovative program, in which dozens of inner city at-risk girls were mentored by executive women. In the past, Ms. Weiner has served on numerous boards and advisory boards, including: UNUM, First UNUM, CompUSA, The José Limón Dance Foundation (Chair), EnviroSystems and FlexCorps. She currently chairs the board of ThinkQuest NYC, and is on many advisory boards, including: Boardroom Inc., the U.S. Comptroller General (U.S. G.A.O.) and the Women's Leadership Exchange. She is a member of the board of the New York Women's Forum, and she was the first recipient of the Fashion Group International's Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Anton Yelchin

Award-winning teen actor; film credits include "Star Trek" (2009), "Terminator IV", "Charlie Bartlett". TV credits include "Huff", "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and Steven Spielberg's "Taken" for SCI FI.

Anton Yelchin began to act professionally in 1999 at the mere age of nine. He made his film debut in the independent film A Man Is Mostly Water, and has worked continuously since that time in films such as Hearts in Atlantis with Anthony Hopkins (which earned him a 2001 Young Artists Award for Best Performer), Delivering Milo opposite Albert Finney and Bridget Fonda, 15 Minutes with Robert DeNiro and Ed Burns, A Time for Dancing with Peter Coyote, Along Came a Spider with Morgan Freeman; and in David Duchovny's feature directorial debut House of D with Robin Williams, for which he earned a Breakthrough Award from Hollywood Life for his performance.

In 2006/2007 he had three highly-anticipated feature films that hit theaters: Alpha Dog directed by Nick Cassavetes, based on the life of drug dealer Jesse James Hollywood and also starring Justin Timberlake and Sharon Stone; Fierce People, opposite Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland; and Charlie Bartlett, an edgy and heartfelt coming of age story in which Mr. Yelchin takes on the lead role of Charlie Bartlett opposite Robert Downey Jr.

In 2009, Mr. Yelchin will be co-starring in the hotly anticipated new Star Trek feature film, as well as the new Terminator with Christian Bale.

On television, Mr. Yelchin was seen in Showtime's original drama Huff as Byrd, Hank Azaria's teenage son. Yelchin has had a number of prominent guest-starring roles on TV shows such as; ER, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Without A Trace, The Practice, Judging Amy and NYPD Blue.

His other television credits include the Showtime original Jack, alongside Ron Silver and Stockard Channing; the Disney musical telefilm Geppetto, with Drew Carey; and SCI FI Channel's miniseries Taken, executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

In his spare time, Mr. Yelchin enjoys honing his skills on the guitar and piano.