Introducing the Board
-
– Advisory Board
Jay Calkins was born in Orono, Maine and was raised by a family who loved the outdoors and all things natural. His mother claims that he was teethed on a canoe paddle and he continues paddle in the Everglades in the winter and Maine in the summer, where his family still has lakefront property.
He began his college and professional training with thoughts of becoming a research scientist in the marine sciences with first a Bachelors in Biology from the University of Maine, followed by a Masters from Florida State in Oceanography and Science Education. Education got its hooks in him for ten years first at Hollywood Hills HS where he began one of the first year-long oceanography courses for high school students in Florida, and then taught one year at Manatee HS before becoming a Sea Grant Academic Scholar back at the University of Maine. He completed a Doctorate at the University of Maine where he had the opportunity to produce a documentary video program on fisheries in the Gulf of Maine for the Sea Grant College Program.
Dr. Calkins spent the next nine years as the Associate Director of the University of Georgia’s Marine Extension Service and the Director of The Marine Extension Center in Savannah, GA. where he spent much of his time teaching teachers about the natural environment, developing curricular materials and writing grants.
While paddling in the Everglades, Jay met his future wife and moved to Miami to work as a teacher and science/math Department Chair at MAST Academy. During his five years at MAST, he developed one of the first AP Environmental Science courses in Dade County and also taught marine biology. Ransom Everglades School recruited Jay to join their faculty, to be science Department Chair, and to teach AP Environmental Science. Ransom Everglades School over 100 years old is very committed to ‘greening’ and has placed Dr. Calkins in charge of the ‘Greening of Ransom Everglades.’ He continues to be actively involved in the outdoors, camping, diving, fishing and paddling, of course.
-
- Co-Founder
Carlos is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. After graduating West Point, he served tours of duty with the 101st Airborne Division (Ft. Campbell, Kentucky), the 2d Infantry Division (Camp Stanley, Korea), and the 18th Airborne Corps Support Group (Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia). Early in his Army career, Carlos also served as a Minority Outreach Officer for the United States Military Academy, performing public relations in a five-state region. While in the military, he achieved the rank of Captain and qualified to wear the Army Aviator Badge, Parachutist Badge, and Army Air Assault Badge. As an Army aviator, Carlos piloted the UH-60 Black Hawk assault helicopter, the OH-58 scout helicopter, and the UH-1 Huey utility helicopter.
Carlos is presently a senior associate with the Miami law firm of Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A. He graduated from the Florida State University College of Law in 2001. While in law school, Carlos was a judicial intern at the Florida Supreme Court. As a practicing attorney, he has represented numerous clients in all areas of commercial litigation. He is a member of a legal team that has twice led a successful defense of the Republic of Honduras in federal Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act litigation. For the last several years, Carlos has also participated in Put Something Back, a pro bono legal assistance program sponsored by Legal Services of Greater Miami, where he successfully advocated for an eighty-five year old elderly citizen who was the victim of predatory lending.
Carlos is a 2005 graduate of Leadership Miami, a leadership development program for Miami-Dade County professionals. Carlos also participates as a local member of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). He attended the LULAC national convention in 2005 as a Florida delegate. In addition, he has actively served on the Board of Directors for the West Point Society of South Florida since 2001.
-
- Director
Bachelors in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech;
J.D. from the University of FloridaChairman, Managing Director and Founder of the Landist Society of Companies, a community of real estate companies and a family of funds in varying stages of development, maturity and independence; formerly an Engineering Associate at the Southern Company, a leading electricity generator company.
-
- Director
Jane Gilbert helps organizations develop innovative strategies and programs that mobilize & leverage resources to address community needs. Her greatest talent is to assess complex situations and develop appropriate responses by facilitating productive planning amongst diverse constituencies; designing innovative, cross-sector programs; inspiring and preparing highly-effective work teams; and clarifying roles and responsibilities amongst organizational partners.
With early and extensive experience in social entrepreneurship, Jane approaches all consulting assignments with an eye on innovative, cross-sector revenue and program solutions. She has a particularly strong track record in advancing and stabilizing organizations facing dramatic growth or organizational crisis as a result of financial, governance, and/or staffing issues.
Jane has consulted to corporate, public sector and nonprofit clients for 8 years. Among her nonprofit clients are Dade Community Foundation, Center on Nonprofit Effectiveness, South Florida National Parks Trust, Education Fund and Dream in Green.
She also has 12 years of experience working within nonprofits as executive director and senior staff and 10 years of experience serving as a foundation trustee. She is perhaps best recognized as the founding executive director of Arts for Learning/Miami. In only seven years she built that organization from a mere idea into a formidable entity serving over 15,000 children at over 125 schools and community sites throughout the county with an annual budget of over $2.4 million.
Jane hold a Master’s in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a B.A. in environmental science from Barnard College, Columbia University. She speaks Spanish and Portuguese.
-
- Chairman & Co-Founder
Nick Gunia was born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in Miami, Florida. He graduated from Dartmouth College (home of the Big Green!), where he received his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Nick earned his Juris Doctor degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law, where he was on the University of Miami Law Review .
He began his career at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City, where his practice areas included mergers and acquisitions, banking and investment management. At Davis Polk, Nick advised Fortune 500 clients, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., AT&T and Johnson Controls, as well as private equity funds and investment advisers.
From June of 2003, Nick was C.E.O. and General Counsel of K.G. International, Inc., a leading Miami-based distributor of packaging and raw materials. He is a 2005 graduate of the Leadership Miami program of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. Today is President of Alterna Corp., the leading supplier of green building products in Florida, Georgia and the Caribbean. In his spare time, Nick enjoys painting, collecting contemporary Chinese art and going to the beach.
-
- Advisory Board
Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Claude Bernard in Lyon, France
M.S Science Education, Lebanese University; B.S. Life Sciences Lebanese University• Science Department Chair, MAST Academy, a magnet high school for marine sciences and technology; currently teaching three honors classes in renewable energy at MAST.
-
- Director
BA Columbia University
Gracia Larrain is a Senior Account Executive in Edelman’s Miami office serving both consumer and tourism clients. Gracia works primarily with the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club and Flor de Caña managing program development, local and national media relations, and event coordination.
During her time at Edelman, Gracia handled the coordination for UPS Americas, managed the launch of Delta Air Lines’ U.S. Hispanic media relations program and assists in leading the Multicultural practice efforts and projects for the Miami office.
Prior to joining the Edelman Miami team at the beginning of 2006, Gracia worked for The Jeffrey Group, headquartered in Miami Beach, where she handled all aspects of the public relations programs for key international clients including FedEx Express and Sony Ericsson. Gracia was responsible for the management and execution of comprehensive PR/integrated marketing plans, development of executive visibility and thought leadership platforms, crisis communications and simulations, special events and media relations in several key Latin American markets.
Gracia brings to Edelman a broad background in corporate communications, public relations and public affairs in both the public and private sectors. Gracia has been responsible for project management/coordination, advocacy relations and drafted several letters and articles.
As the daughter of a Chilean diplomat, Gracia has lived all over the globe.
-
- Executive Director
Edith McClintock was born in Tennessee and moved to Miami in the early 80s. She began working in the environmental field as a college freshman and has strong governmental experience in South Florida, most recently as manager of the City of Miami’s Office of Sustainable Initiatives. While at the City, Edith was instrumental in the passage of environmental ordinances on green buildings, green fleets, green purchasing, and green space management, as well as the completion of the City’s Climate Action Plan. Edith has also worked as an aide to Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson and for Miami-Dade County’s Environmentally Endangered Lands and Adopt-a-Tree programs.
Edith has extensive nonprofit management experience, including three years as Executive Director of Citizens for a Better South Florida, an environmental education nonprofit. Over the past seventeen years she has managed a variety of environmental education programs and communications campaigns with the Florida Public Interest Research Group, World Wildlife Fund, and The Nature Conservancy, working on issues ranging from sustainable wildlife management in Suriname to Everglades Restoration in Florida.
Edith has conducted research in the areas of community-based ecotourism in southern Belize, capuchin ecology and behavior in the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, and smart growth and transportation planning for Florida International University. She is Vice Chairperson of the Environmental Education Providers of South Florida Board of Directors and holds a BA in Liberal Studies and an MS in Environmental Studies from Florida International University. From 2000-02, she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Suriname. In her spare time, Edith is writing her second murder mystery and enjoys salsa dancing and trekking through natural areas in search of wildlife.
-
- Director
B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania
AJ works as the Director of Global Business Development at Watsco, Inc., the country largest distributor of air conditioning and heating products. Watsco is working to increase awareness of high-efficiency HVAC as a means to dramatically reduce energy consumption and homeowners’ environmental footprints. Born and raised in Miami, AJ currently splits his time between Miami and New York City and will matriculate at New York University’s Stern School of Business in Fall 2008.
-
- Director & Co-Founder
B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania;
J.D. from the University of Miami School of LawDirector of Business Development at Special Counsel, a litigation support services firm; Board member of Legal Art and Dade Cultural Alliance; Chair of Miami Performing Arts Center Young Patrons Board.
-
- Advisory Board
B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Miami and B.S. in Environmental Studies from Florida International University;
M.S. in Environmental and Urban Studies from Florida International UniversityEducator at Palmetto Senior High School; Sunshine State Scholar Outstanding Science Teacher in 2005 and 2006; currently teaching five sections of Advanced Placement Environmental Studies at Palmetto.
-
- Director
LL.M. Tel Aviv University
Meital Stavinksy is an attorney with Greenberg Traurig, a law firm with 1,700 attorneys and governmental affairs professionals in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Based in the firm’s Miami, Florida office, she works as an Israeli Business Consultant and coordinates practice development and initiatives for the firm’s Israel Practice, a group of approximately 40 attorneys throughout Greenberg Traurig’s 29 offices. She is a member of the firm’s Global Climate Change Initiative, the Corporate and Securities Department and the Global Practice Group. Through frequent business trips to Israel, she has helped to connect numerous companies in Israel to joint venture partners, potential funding sources and to technology, intellectual property, and corporate and securities lawyers. Recently, she organized and served as a panel moderator for a “Global Resources Conference: The Challenge and the Opportunity,” a seminar held in conjunction with WATEC Israel 2007 (Water Technologies and Environmental Control) in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Prior to joining the firm, Meital served as director of legal and business development at Gilat Latin America Inc., a provider of telecommunications solutions based on Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite network technology. During the late 1990’s she was a legal correspondent for Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s largest daily newspaper. Meital received her LL.M. from Tel Aviv University and is admitted to practice in New York and Israel.
-
- Director
Eric Wenke was born in Queens, NY and has lived in several cities before settling recently in Miami Beach, Florida. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in the Biological Basis of Behavior with a Concentration in the Physiology of Neural Systems. After graduating, Eric began his career at the New England Consulting Group, a boutique strategy consulting firm where he worked with C-Level Executives at Fortune 500 clients on acquisitions and new business development . Representative clients included Sprint, Heinz, Nabisco, Acxiom, AC Nielsen, Tickets.com and Sprague Energy.
After consulting, Eric next co-founded a profitable Internet Telephony start-up, Civicom, Inc., where he served for several years as Chief Operating Officer and currently sits on the Board of Directors. Since April 2004, Eric has been leading the Strategic Planning and Business Development practice for Telefonica North America, supporting and managing several Telefonica SA operations in the region with a focus on developing and bringing to market innovative communications solutions.
Outside of work, Eric is an avid fan of life on the beach, reading, fitness/nutrition, music/entertainment and pop culture.
-
- Director
Ben Wolkov was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and raised in London, England. He graduated from New College of Florida, the Honors College of the Florida University System, where he received his Bachelor of Arts, in International Relations. Ben earned his Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law, where he was on the University of Miami Law Review, the University of Miami Moot Court Board and served as a Dean's Fellow.
Ben began his legal career in 2000 at the law firm of Hunton & Williams in Miami, Florida where he advised international power developers and financial institutions with respect to the development, construction, operation and financing of power plants and associated infrastructure in the US and Latin America. In 2005, Ben spent a year at Galicia y Robles, S.C., a prominent corporate law firm in Mexico City where he advised Mexican and foreign clients on a variety of cross-border transactions. In 2006, Ben spent a year at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, LLP where he deepened his expertise in infrastructure and energy sector finance transactions. Ben currently works at McDermott, Will & Emery LLP in Miami, Florida where he advises clients on cross-border and domestic corporate transactions.
Ben has experience negotiating standard power sector agreements including power purchase, fuel supply, tolling and EPC agreements and is familar with different types of power technologies both conventional ( e.g. combined-cycle, coal-fired, co-generating and hydro) and alternative (e.g. geothermal, wind, solar etc.). Ben also volunteers for Dream in Green, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which is focuses on promoting environmental sustainability in South Florida, including energy and water conservation, green building and renewable energy. Ben is fluent in Danish and proficient in Spanish and Portuguese. In his spare time, Ben enjoys running and expanding his music collection.
...and we would like to send out a big "THANK YOU" to all our supporters!
