Blake Canterbury

Blake is the Founder and CEO of beremedy – the simplest way to help other people. beremedy is an organization that uses social media to connect those in need with those that can help. It’s based on the concept that there are the resources in every community to meet the needs of that community. beremedy has been named one of the “3 best twitter usages worldwide” by CNN (3/20/11). beremedy was one of the leading organizations in bringing aid to Haiti after the earthquake using social media to network organizations, the UN and U.S. Marines. Through social media they have been able to help thousands of people and they’re just getting started.

Myrlie Evers-Williams

Myrlie Evers-Williams, a Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at Alcorn State University, is an African-American civil rights leader, who for decades has broken barriers of racial and gender inequality in the workplace, in government and in society. Her legacy evokes leadership in activism, journalism, politics and public service. A native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Myrlie Evers became a symbol of courage as well as tragedy in the civil rights movement, and went on to become a championed leader of civil rights herself. In 1995, Mrs. Evers-Williams became both the first female and first full-time chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) — a post she held until 1998. During her tenure leading the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, Ms. Magazine named her Woman of the Year. Mrs. Evers chronicled the life of her husband Medgar Evers, and the civil rights struggle in Mississippi in a co-authored book, For Us, the Living and anchored a special HBO production, Southern Justice, the Murder of Medgar Evers. Other books include Watch Me Fly: What I learned On the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be, and most recently, The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero’s Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters, and Speeches.

Wren LaFeet

Wren LaFeet is the founder of Nomad Dance, created with the mission to re-establish social partner dance as an integral component of popular culture. As an instructor, performer and choreographer, Wren has spent almost half of his life dancing, both in groups and solo, but mostly in partnership with others. With Nomad Dance, he offers the experience and the opportunity to learn the skills of connection, non-verbal communication and how partner dance contributes to the creation of a conscious culture.

Sidney Rittenberg

Sidney Rittenberg has known every Chinese leader: Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the notorious “Gang of Four,” Deng Xiaoping, and the present president and premier. The Army trained Sidney in Chinese Studies during World War II, and sent him to China. He later joined the UN Relief Program, met and formed a friendship with Zhou Enlai, and in 1946 accepted the invitation to help train Chinese journalists working in English. He became a leading translator for the Works of Mao Zedong, and was the only American citizen accepted into the Chinese Communist Party, until he withdrew from the party during the Cultural Revolution. In China, Sidney found Yulin, his dream girl and lifetime partner; she has been for 56 years the source of his happiness and the strength behind his achievements. 16 of Sidney’s 35 years in China were spent as a prisoner in solitary confinement on charges of being an American spy. He was freed in 1977 and eulogized by the post-Cultural Revolution Chinese government as a true friend of China. His family became a myth and a legend, giving them easy entrée to China’s leaders — a great advantage for their consulting work. As consultants, Sidney and Yulin have helped clients like Intel, InFocus, Nextel, Levi Strauss, Hughes Aircraft, ARCO, Microsoft, and Teledesic, as well as CBS’ Dan Rather and Sidney’s close friends, Mike Wallace and the Reverend Billy Graham. Sidney has appeared on virtually every major TV and Radio interview program, he has been interviewed or revieweed by every major newspaper, and frequently gives seminars on the China business. He has been Distinguished Professor of Chinese History at the University of North Carolina, where an endowed chair has been announced in his honor, and is currently Visiting Professor of China Studies at Pacific Lutheran University. Sidney’s 35 years in China are chronicled in “The Man Who Stayed Behind,” co-authored with (then) senior Wall Street Journal writer, Amanda Bennett.

A feature documentary THE REVOLUTIONARY has just been completed on Sidney Rittenberg’s life. You can view the trailer here: http://revolutionarymovie.com/trailer.html

David Hume Kennerly

David Hume Kennerly is a native Oregonian who won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for his photos of the Vietnam War, was President Gerald R. Ford’s personal photographer, and is an Emmy-nominated film producer. American Photo Magazine namedhim“One of the 100 Most Important People in Photography.” He has contributed to Newsweek, Time & Life, and George magazines. His books, Shooter, Photo Op, Seinoff: The Final Days of Seinfeld, Photo du Jour, and, Extraordinary Circumstances: The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford have been must-‐reads in the photo community. He was executive producer and principal photographer of Barack Obama: The Official Inaugural Book. Kennerly is on the Board of

Trustees of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, and the Atlanta Board of Visitors of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). His archive is at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas, Austin. He resides in Santa Monica, California where he’s participating in an Egyptian work-‐ release program.

Malerie Pratt

After working as a volunteer with children in Zambia in 2005, Malerie Pratt, a college student and native of Bend, Oregon, realized that something needed to be done to help orphaned children in vulnerable and abusive situations. Returning to Bend, she and Marlena Bellavia founded a non-profit organization called VIMA LUPWA HOMES, raising funds to build the first home, not an institution, but a family-style home. The first VIMA LUPWA HOME, Lupwa meaning “family” in the Bemba language, provides education and medical care, leadership economic opportunities, and environmental awareness that facilitates self-sustainability for these children, the family, and their community.

Raj Dhingra

Raj Dhingra is a twenty-year veteran of the technology industry with an extensive track record of building strong, sustainable and profitable industry leadership positions in new and emerging categories. Raj brings entrepreneurial drive and success, and a rich depth of corporate experience across general management, business development, product development, sales and marketing functions. Prior to joining NComputing in April 2011, Raj was VP and GM at Citrix where he led the company’s desktop virtualization business from zero to half a billion dollars growth in sales over a 3 year period. As well as his leadership role in global virtualization companies such as Citrix, Dhingra has held executive leadership positions in public companies such as McAfee, 3Com, SonicWALL and startups such as IntruVert Networks (acquired by McAfee) and PortAuthority Technologies (acquired by Websense).

Eric Plantenberg

As the CEO of Freedom Personal Development, Eric Plantenberg shows people from all walks of life how to make a greater impact in all areas of their lives.
Eric has an uncanny ability to take things from concept to reality. He believes that when one person lives a life of Purpose, the entire world becomes a better place because of it.

His wife Michelle says the “craziest thing about Eric is that he really thinks he’s just living a normal life.”

Most people wouldn’t use the word “normal” to describe Eric’s life. In addition to inspiring people across the globe, here’s a snapshot of a few things he’s done in his free time:

- Started a school for homeless children in Egypt – while learning Arabic
- Completed the IronMan four times
- Volunteered at orphanages in India
- Climbed to the Summit of Mt. Everest from the North
- Chases tirelessly after his 2 year old daughter

Charles Jennings

A successful Internet entrepreneur, author and speaker on technology and government, Charles Jennings founded the companies Swan Island Networks (where he is currently CEO); GeoTrust (acquired by Verisign in 2007 for $250 million); and Preview Systems (2000 IPO). With Esther Dyson and Lori Fena, he also founded the Internet privacy assurance leader, TRUSTe, whose privacy assurance mark consistently is one of the Internet’s most recognizable symbols.

Jennings is the author of six books, including The Hundredth Window: Protecting Your Privacy and Security in the Age of the Internet (Simon & Schuster, 2000), which has been translated into four languages and distributed world-wide. Jennings is a periodic op-ed columnist for The Oregonian, and his work with Swan Island was the focus of a major feature story in WIRED Magazine’s December 2005 issue.

Jennings has been a speaker at top conferences worldwide. In 1999, he was a keynoter at the United Nations 50th Anniversary Conference on Human Rights in Toulouse, France. In 2000, he debated Shawn Fanning, founder of Napster, before 5000 people at a high tech conference in New York City. In the past year, he has been speaking about Web 2.0 and “private cloud” services at events ranging from the U.S. government’s National Fusion Center Conference in Kansas City, to the Nobel Public Services Summit, an annual event held in conjunction with the Nobel Prize Awards in Stockholm and Oslo.

Honors in high tech include the Federal 100 Award given by Federal Computer Week to the 100 most influential people in government technology; and the Oregon Entrepreneurial Networks’ Individual Achievement Award (one of the highest business awards in Oregon).

Jennings holds two patents for secure content distribution over public networks and one for secure wide-area emergency networks. He is the architect of Oregon’s award-winning Connect & Protect information sharing system, a finalist for the Mitretek Innovations Award in Homeland Security given by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard; and of Swan Island Networks’ current TIES® platform.

Jennings served four years as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at The Northwest Academy, an award-winning, honors-based private high school. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife of 38 years, the artist Christine Jennings.

Duke Stump

Duke Stump believes in bonfires. His role is that of a Sherpa, responsible for sparking the bonfires.

He finds nutrition in the wisdom of nature, the compassion of horsemanship, the vision of Buckminster Fuller and the inspiration of Sister Corita Kent. However, he thrives when he is living the simple life with his wonderful wife, two amazing daughters, horses, and chickens in the genius of place called Ojai, CA.

He believes in adventures that make him uncomfortable…in a good way. That said, his adventures to date have led him to NIKE (VP Product Marketing – subsidiary), Seventh Generation (CMO), The Northstar Manifesto (Principal), Marlboro Graduate School (Adjunct Faculty), Presidio Graduate School (Expert-In-Residence), Biomimicry Institute (Board member), Easton Bell Sports (SVP Culture, Creative & Brand Innovation) and The DO Lectures USA (host/curator).

Thomas Lauderdale

Thomas Lauderdale (piano) was raised on a plant nursery in rural Indiana. He began piano lessons at age six with Patricia Garrison. When his family moved to Portland in 1982, he began studying with Sylvia Killman, who continues to this day as his coach and mentor. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest and Oregon Ballet Theatre (where he collaborated with choreographer James Canfield and visual artists Storm Tharp and Malia Jensen on a ballet based on Felix Salten’s Bambi, written in 1923).

Active in Oregon politics since a student at U.S. Grant High School (where he was student body president), Thomas served under Portland Mayor Bud Clark and Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt. He also worked under Portland City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury on the drafting and passage of the city’s civil rights ordinance. He graduated with honors from Harvard with a degree in History and Literature in 1992. He spent most of his collegiate years, however, in cocktail dresses, taking on the role of “cruise director” … throwing waltzes with live orchestras and ice sculptures, disco masquerades with gigantic pineapples on wheels, midnight swimming parties, and operating a Tuesday night coffeehouse called Café Mardi.

Instead of running for political office, Lauderdale founded the ‘little orchestra” called Pink Martini in 1994 to play political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment, affordable housing and public broadcasting. In addition to his work with Pink Martini, Lauderdale collaborates with international superstar and singing sensation Meow Meow, the surf band Satan’s Pilgrims and novelist/writer Tom Spanbauer. In Spring 2008, Lauderdale completed his first film score for Chiara Clemente’s documentary Our City Dreams, a portrait of five New York City-based women artists of different generations. In 2008, he performed as the featured piano soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia with the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland under the direction of Roger Doyle, and Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Christoph Campestrini.

Lauderdale currently serves on the boards of the Oregon Symphony and Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon. He lives in Portland with his boyfriend artist/designer Philip Iosca.

Eric Simpkins

Eric leads a team seeking to give Oregon a once-in-a-century chance to lead a new industry built upon civilian space systems.Taking the lead in civilian space systems will make Oregon a world leader in sensor development, data acquisition and analysis—with emphasis on earth sciences and the environment—law enforcement, and energy-efficient transportation. These new technologies will create a new robotics infrastructure that will support all cutting-edge modern industry.

Eric has served as a quality control engineer, designed and manufactured space systems—including nuclear-powered spacecraft—and has worked at the national and regional level to shape alternative energy policy and develop fuel cell businesses.

Chad Russell

Chad served 3 tours (a total of 2.5 years) in Iraq as a Marine in a variety of positions, including being a sniper. While with the sniper teams, he conducted surveillance for intelligence purposes and eliminated enemy forces that would try to harm coalition forces or local civilians. Chad was also a Team Leader, Assistant Team Leader, Radio Operator, and Forward Observer who called in air strikes. And he trained some of the first Iraqi Army units and Iraqi Police Departments.

Returning home from Iraq was not an easy transition. But Chad learned to gain valuable insight through the support of others, often including Vietnam Vets. Now married to his wife Taneal and a successful business person living in Portland, Chad realizes that the impact of his time in Iraq will always be part of him. And he knows that the returning Sailors, Marines, Soldiers and Airmen have a long road of recovery.

Chad grew up in Bend, graduating from Mountain View High School (Go Cougars). As a kid he had an array of interests: Chad loved soccer, tee-ball, and football. He was part of the Jazz Choir, participated in the Navy Junior ROTC program, and volunteered for the Deschutes County Search and Rescue.

Patrick Renvoise

Patrick discovered the buy button inside the brain and spent two years researching and formalizing a science-based map to access that button.

Neuroscience is exiting the hospitals to reach the aisles of your grocery store. Companies like Coke and Pepsi want to better understand how and why you decide to buy their products, movie makers want to know what trailer will best promote their films, and politicians want to predict what issue will make them win or lose your vote – and they are all looking for answers inside your brain!

Patrick received a Masters in Computer Science from the National Institute of Applied Sciences (Lyon, France). He is the co-author of “Neuromarketing: Understanding the buy button inside your customer’s brain.” He is currently serving as Chief Neuromarketing Officer of SalesBrain.

Russell Redenbaugh

Russell lost his sight at the age of 16 and has learned to “read the world” without being able to “see” any of it.

Russell has a skill for learning – not just information, but how to move in a changing and uncertain world. Forming a commitment not to live like he was blind, regardless of how others treated him, he graduated 6th in his class from Wharton.

His journey from welfare to wealth has included working as a Partner and Chief Investment Officer for a $6 billion investment firm, being a Commissioner on the US Civil Rights Commission, and becoming a Jujitsu world champion.

Kelley Kalafatich

Kelley is an adventure guide, explorer, and novice-filmmaker who paved the way for women to become guides in the adventure travel industry. Today, paralyzed from the waist down after ingesting a waterborne parasite on the first descent of the Blue Nile River, Kelley continues to illustrate the need for courage to make the world better.

Her experiences include:

- Trainer for third-world locals who continue to earn living wages for their families as guides on their native rivers

- Guide on historic journeys that retraced the steps of great explorers such as John Muir’s expedition through Alaska and Teddy Roosevelt’s wilderness river descent through the rain forests of Brazil

- Stunt woman for Meryl Streep in the movie “The River Wild”

- Award-winning documentary film maker for the movie “Three Women, 300 Miles,” which chronicled her river-board (similar to large boogie-board)trip through the Grand Canyon

Kelley inspires listeners to live in the moment, embracing and not shying from fear. She uses her spinal cord injury to support all people in their pursuit of living the life they dream.

Jelly Helm

Jelly Helm is creative director of Studio Jelly in Portland, Oregon. He helps people and companies connect with their purpose and powerfully express it to the world. Clients include Starbucks, Nike, Wikipedia, The University of California, the New York Governor’s Office, Warner Brothers/DC Comics, Oregon Humanities and the Portland Timbers.

Caitlin Crosby

A native of Los Angeles, actress/singer/songwriter Caitlin Crosby started writing songs with Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and signed to his label under Arista Records at the age of 17. Caitlin has also appeared in film and recurred in dozens of TV shows and commercials.

Growing up in and around the entertainment industry gave Caitlin insight into what really went on behind the scenes of the media, and she started speaking at junior highs, high schools and colleges about body image, peer pressure, and bullying. She created www.LoveYourFlawz.com to aid in those issues. Caitlin was chosen as a spokesperson for Oprah’s top 10 favorite charities for O Magazine’s 10-year anniversary and Oprah’s Live Your Best Life events.

Additionally, Caitlin started a ‘Pay It Forward’ jewelry business called “The Giving Keys.” They engrave inspiring words on used keys. Once someone wears it, they must give it away at some point to a person they think needs the message on the key and then go to the website www.thegivingkeys.com to blog the story about why they gave it away. The Giving Keys has now employed ten people who were trying to transition out of homelessness and five of them have now moved into apartments from this movement. The Giving Keys have now been featured on The Today Show, The Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, and more.

Portland Cello Project

Portland Cello Project has gained a reputation as a group that welcomes new and diverse audiences by breaking down musical-social boundaries and building bridges between different musical communities.

Since the group’s inception in late 2007, the Portland Cello Project (or, PCP, as their fans affectionately call them), has wowed audiences all over the country with extravagant performances, everywhere from Prairie Home Companion to that punk rock club in the part of town your grandma warns you not to go to after dark. The group has built a reputation mixing genres and blurring musical lines and perceptions wherever they go. No two shows are alike, with a repertoire now numbering over 800 pieces of music you wouldn’t normally hear coming out of a cello.

The Cello Project’s stage setup ranges from the very simple (4-6 cellos), to the all out epic (which has included 12 cellos playing with full choirs, winds, horns, and numerous percussion players).

Amber Case

Amber Case is a researcher exploring the field of cyborg anthropology and the interaction between humans and technology. She is the founder of Geoloqi (geo-low-key), Inc., a company bringing the future of location to the world. She’s spoken at TED and around the world, and has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, WIRED and more.

Geoloqi was acquired by global mapping company Esri in Oct 2012.

Joe Abraham

Joe is the founder/CEO of bosiDNA.com, featured in the Wall Street Journal for its breakthrough technology and award-winning accelerator.

Entrepreneurship has given us Edison and Ford, Branson and Jobs. But has entrepreneurship seen its best days? We’ll learn why its best days are still ahead – and how a breakthrough discovery about entrepreneurial behavior is unlocking entrepreneurship’s greatest potential around the globe.

A serial entrepreneur himself, Joe has started, grown and exited three companies of his own and invested in over 20 growing startups. He is author of Entrepreneurial DNA: The Breakthrough Discovery That Aligns Your Business to Your Unique Strengths (McGraw Hill 2011). He has been featured on FoxNews, CBS, NBC, CNN, ABC, WGN and numerous nationally syndicated radio shows on topics related to entrepreneurship and small business growth. Joe also serves as an advisor to entrepreneurship programs domestically and around the world.

Charles Precourt

Precourt launched on his first space flight in 1993, aboard the Columbia. A highly decorated veteran of four different missions, Precourt was Chief of the Astronaut Corps from 1998-2002 and was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2012. He retired from NASA in 2004 and now leads ATK Aerospace Group, where he is overseeing the development of a launch system that he hopes will enable human-manned deep space exploration. Whoa.

Bob Hurley

Hurley founder and CEO Bob Hurley made his work his play from the beginning. Hurley started as a surfer and board shaper in Huntington Beach, before acquiring the license to Billabong USA in 1982, starting his own eponymous surf and skate company in 1999, and folding into the Nike brand in 2002, where he continues to lead the $252M business. Hurley’s instincts to make surf culture less insular and more inclusive have led the brand toward successful alignments in music, art and youth culture. He still surfs and shapes boards today.