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Kris D. Kimble
Partner, CEO
Kris D. Kimble has been a business professional for 26 years. Starting a profitable business with social benefit has been a long term dream. Growing up in Michigan, Mr. Kimble is the son of parents who recycled, bought health food by the pallet and sought sustainable alternatives “before it was cool”.
A graduate of Michigan State University, Mr. Kimble has developed his sales, marketing, management and leadership skills with firms such as IBM, Motorola, and Pagenet. The environmental and energy conservation interest manifested itself in positions with Waste Management, Lighting Technology Services, and Sun Energy Solutions.
The entrepreneurial aspect of Mr. Kimble’s professional development has been the formation of DDK & Associates, a real estate LLC completing 13 real estate projects and most recently the green hive.
Mr. Kimble participated in the Leadership Manhattan Beach program resulting in his appointment as Commissioner with Parks & Recreation Commission for the City of Manhattan Beach.
Mr. Kimble has been married since 1990 and has two sons.
Kimberly Robinson
Partner, COO
Kimberly Robinson brings a broad range of creative talent, goal driven vision, project management, sales and marketing experience to the Green Hive. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and holds a professional certification in Architecture from El Camino College, where she also studied Construction Technologies. She is currently pursuing LEED AP certification.
Kim developed skills in leadership, team building, sales and inventory performance analysis, and a working knowledge of retail-financial metrics working with Banana Republic/GAP Inc. In City Sports Magazine, Kim had responsibility for advertising strategies, developing new business, and maintaining existing accounts. After Kim’s mother was diagnosed with ALS, in 2000 Kim returned to the family home in the Washington DC area, to assist in her care. Through this life changing experience, Kim and her sisters founded The Rupertus Foundation to Cure ALS, a non-profit foundation to raise money for research, awareness, and patient support. Additionally, Kim became acutely aware of the need to make of our built environment accessible to the disabled. Spending the summers of her childhood with her family in a remote area of upstate New York influenced her passion for sustainable building design and green living. Living ‘off the grid’ with nature and observing the declining health of a precious environment, has made Kim both conscious of and dedicated to conservation and stewardship.
For the last 10 years Kim has been involved in building design, construction, and project management either on her own projects or for others. She is committed to sustainable alternatives within the industry, locally and globally. Her mission is to facilitate mainstreaming environmentally sustainable approaches to modern living. As a business woman who is also dedicated to public service and community advocacy, Kim serves on the Board of Directors for the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation, as an Executive Board Member and treasurer of the Manhattan Beach Youth Basketball Program, and as part of the Cool Cities Initiative- is a representative of The Green Schools Committee.
James R. Meyer, AIA
Partner, Creative Director
James Meyer founded the Architectural Design/Build practice of LEAN ARCH. As Principal he has overseen the design and execution of residential and commercial tenant improvement projects throughout the Los Angeles area. James was featured in the March 2005 issue of LA Architect Magazine and recipient of the 2005 Meliora Award for Best Renovation presented by the Los Feliz Improvement Association. He is a member of the National Council of Architectural Registration Board and the American Institute of Architects.
Prior to founding LEAN ARCH, James worked for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP (1995-1997) in New York, Johnson Fain Partners (1997-1999) and Lubowicki Lanier Architects (1999-2000) in Los Angeles. During his tenure with SOM, James served as an influential member of the design teams for well-known projects including The John F. Kennedy International Arrivals Terminal in New York, Logan International Airport in Boston, and The U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada. SOM was awarded Firm of the Year (1996), by The American Institute of Architects, and all of the above-mentioned projects were featured as part of the firm portfolio deserving of the honor. At Johnson Fain Partners in Los Angeles, he served as Senior Designer for The Department of Education and General Services East End Complex in Sacramento, the new MGM Tower at Constellation Place in Century City, as well as for several design proposals for the Robert Mondavi Wineries. The East End Complex was certified by LEED, The Leadership in Environmental Design program of the U.S. Green Building Council.
He is an active educator, spending time with students at Cal Poly SLO, USC, and Santa Monica City College, and has taught Interior Design at Brooks College in Long Beach. James has participated in urban and architectural study programs abroad. In 1991, he attended CVUT in Prague, Czech Republic, and in 1994, the Washington Alexandria Architecture Consortium in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1994, James received the scholarship for Professional Degree Candidates from the American Institute of Architects. He has interned with Holt Hinshaw Jones Architects in San Francisco (1993), and STUDIOS Architecture in Washington DC (1994). James graduated in 1995 from the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor of Architecture degree.
Michela O'Connor Abrams
President & Publisher, DWELL
Michela O’Connor Abrams is the President and Publisher of Dwell, the award-winning design and lifestyle media company. In 2006, Dwell hit the coveted Adweek HotList as well as the Advertising Age A-List, and was a Cappell’s Circulation Top Ten Performer for the second consecutive year. In 2005, Ms. O’Connor Abrams helped see Dwell to its first major award when the magazine won General Excellence at the National Magazine Awards. She was also honored in 2005 by Media Industry News (min) as Sales Leader of the Year. Prior to Dwell, Ms. O’Connor Abrams was the President of Imagine Medias Business Division, including the flagship publication Business 2.0. She has over 20 years of experience in publishing, trade show management, online branding strategies and strategic business development. She has held executive positions at IDG, Ziff-Davis and McGraw-Hill. Ms. O’Connor Abrams serves on the Board of Magazine Publishers of Americas Independent Magazine Advisory Group (MPA-IMAG, is an Operating Partner at Meriturn Partners, and holds advisory roles at GOOD Magazine, AdPerk and Enclave Rising.
Jack E. Williams III
President, Ceres Management Group
Mr. Williams has been a managing partner of Ceres Management Group, LLC, a property acquisition and management company for the past 10 years. Mr. Williams has more than twenty years in senior technical, strategic, and operational roles in the environmental management and sustainability industries including environmental impact analysis, air pollution control, and geographical information systems (GIS), bioremediation, and waste-to-energy for start-ups and Fortune 500 technology and environmental management companies including TRW, URS, and International Technology. He has extensive experience working with private equity firms, venture capitalists, and start-ups developing and commercializing sustainable technologies. From 2005 to 2006 Mr. Williams served as VP Operations and Business Development for CyberCity LLC, GIS/visualization software and digital modeling provider for infrastructure, planning, and architecture clients. He holds a BS in environmental science from University of California, Riverside, an MS in environmental engineering from University of Southern California, and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.
Rose Tourje
President, PSC
With over 26 years of experience in the local Los Angeles Interior Design Industry, Ms. Tourje possesses clear leadership and expertise as a certified commercial designer, manager and strategist. Prior to starting PSC, 3 years ago, Ms. Tourje was Senior Associate for DMJM Los Angeles, initiating and heading the procurement division for LACCD (Los Angeles Community College District) Program.
LACCD represents the largest community College district in the nation with a Bond Program of $2.2B. PSC currently serves the LACCD in several related sustainable capacities. Spear-heading and in development is a PSC, leadership program on closed loop post-consumer waste materials to new product generation; Cause Neutral – LACCD will initiate third party certified carbon offsetting to greatly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions for the life of the Bond Program.
In addition to her professional practice responsibilities, Ms Tourje is founder and president of ANEW, a non profit organization dedicated to re-purposing surplus assets to the underserved and those who support them throughout various communities across the nation. www.anewfound.org
Ashe Lockhart
Founder Lockhart + Huffman PLLC
As he has a general business and corporate practice focusing on startups, growth companies and technology businesses. Following graduation from law school, Ashe was a law clerk to Burley B. Mitchell, Jr., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He later practiced in general business, government relations and litigation with The Sanford Holshouser Law Firm in Raleigh.
Ashe returned to Charlotte and founded Lockhart + Hoffman, PLLC, and worked with startups and technology companies. After building the practice for two years, he merged L+H with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, where he continued to provide a variety of business, corporate and intellectual property legal services. Ashe was on the board of directors of the Business Innovation and Growth Council (BIG, formerly known as the Metrolina Entrepreneurial Council or MEC), where he served as Interim Executive Director, led the MEC’s reorganization and developed BIG's branding concept. Ashe also serves on the boards of the Charlotte Region of the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) and a number of other organizations. He has lectured on Internet law at UNC School of Law and in Mecklenburg County Bar CLE programs.
Ashe’s diverse background includes six years in banking following completion of the management training program at First Union. He was an electronic warfare and intelligence operator in the U.S. Army, Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). In 1983, he served in the Invasion of Grenada as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.
Ashe received his JD from the UNC School of Law in Chapel Hill and his BA from UNC-Charlotte with a major in History and a minor in International Studies. He is licensed to practice in North Carolina. Ashe is a native Charlottean and fourth generation North Carolina lawyer.
Todd Klawin
Fonder Moon Tide Media, LLC
Todd is a proven entrepreneur and executive with 15 years of experience in traditional and online media and marketing. During his career he has provided senior-level marketing, media and customer relationship management consulting to scores of companies from startup to Fortune 500. Currently, he is CEO of Moon Tide Media, a profitable and fast growing start-up company and publisher of the Luxury Life & Style family of print and online magazines which he founded in 2006. Prior to Moon Tide Media, Todd was a pioneer and thought leader in the online Customer Relationship Management (CRM) category. In 1999, he was part of the founding team at Radical Communication, one of the first email marketing companies, where he co-authored the business plan and participated in every facet of the company’s capitalization which included $3 million in angel financing and a $15 million Series A private placement led by Lehman Brothers. As Vice President of Sales, he was responsible for the direction and execution of all the company's sales, new business development and consulting activities, teams and strategies. When the company was successfully sold to Avalon Digital, a publicly traded company, in 2001 he assumed the same role there where he managed global sales and business development. Later, Todd was Vice President of Business Development at Silverpop, Inc., where as part of the executive management team he directed all channel sales and strategic partnerships globally and helped grow the company into the #1 ranked (Jupiter Research, Forrester Research) player in the multi-billion dollar email marketing services industry.
Tania Konishi
President, Accordian Brands
Tania has twenty years experience in positioning and strategic design in corporate, retail, and service industries national and internationally. She had lived in Europe, the Middle East, and the USA with extensive additional experience in Pan Asia. Sensing the change that technology would bring to the branding process and understanding the role of design in marketing, Tania founded Accordion in 1997 utilizing many of the international relationships within the design industry that she has made in the last two decades. She is a strategic thinker, with vision.
Prior to starting accordion, she was managing director with Bright Strategic Design in Los Angeles. With Bright, Tania managed and developed business relationships with many large corporations. Past and present clients have included Western Digital (USA), Marauchi Furniture and Nihon Architects in Japan. Allergan (global), Monsanto, Kirin Brewing Company, and Miller Brewing Company, NATPE, Ceiva Logic , Latin e Ventures and IBM.
Sandra Dino, LEED AP
President, Accordian Brands
Upon graduating from Brooks College design school, Sandra began her career as a concept designer for fast food restaurants. Designing a concept was fun, but she yearned to detail, construct and build the supportive documents that would make a concept come to life.
Sandra spent several years in Boston as a commercial/retail designer and project manager. Projects included Thomas Weisel Partners, Siebel, and Au Bon Pain. While her objective includes demystifying the myths that surround sustainable building, her specialty lies in no/low cost approaches to green building.
At Environetics, she created the firm's green building initiative, which has grown into a Sustainable Interiors Department. Her client portfolio includes Fremont Investment and Loan, Fox Entertainment Group, Countrywide Capital Markets, and Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc.
Cynthia White
President, Strategic Marketing Operations (SMO)
With sixteen years of event production and strategic marketing under her belt, Cynthia White comes to the table with an excellent combination of varied vertical market knowledge, production know-how and branding acumen. She’s a veteran at targeting markets with events and interactive promotions that hit the heart of the demographic and prides herself on the ability to translate client needs into action and ROI.
Cynthia’s career started in concert and event staging and production where she worked on shows for various entertainment acts and developed event promotions and sales training tours for companies such as Lexus, Nissan and BMW. Her job path lead her to a booming IT industry in which she implemented marketing and event development in major programs across the U.S. and Europe for companies such as SAP, Informix, Datatec and Logical Networks. While working with an array of vertical markets through the IT industry she became a branding and business development expert in software, hardware and services which eventually lead to Internet campaign development. Due to her success she was given the opportunity to introduce a privately held German database warehousing company to the North American market, where she crafted profitable brand and market strategy and built key business partnerships.
After fine-tuning her skills in the IT industry, Cynthia returned to retail and services development when she became a member of the Omnicom Group where she creatively strategized product roll outs, produced promotional events and managed corporate operations for U.S. Marketing and Promotions. USM&P was named #1 in its field in 2000 and is credited for the creation of retailtainment as it’s known today. Her tenure at USM&P furthered her scope of retail in addition to adding to her knowledge of the latest in branding trends. She has lead accounts for companies such as Nissan, 7-Eleven, Toyota, Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble among many others. Most recently she put her skills into practice as an independent consultant where she designs promotions that are streamlined marketing efforts – from guerilla marketing to interactive promotions working with clients such as; U.S. Navy, George P. Johnson, The Alma Group (ethnic marketing), Nestlè, Nissan, The Huffmon Group, The Aristotle Group, Toyota, Honda, Campaigners’, AMCI, GT Events and USSMC.