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Staff
Mia Rose Maltz, Co-Founder and Executive Director
Mia Rose Maltz is a co-founder and Executive Director of the RITES
Project and has lived in Sonoma County for eight years. Mia has been
studying mycology, mushroom cultivation and mycorestoration for over
ten years and has taken several classes with Paul Stamets, founder of
Fungi Perfecti. She was certified in Permaculture Design at the
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in 1999 and again at Earth Activist
Training in 2002. In 2003, she was certified to teach Permaculture at
the Diamond Light Center in Oakland. Mia is a Fellow of the Leadership
Institute for Ecology and the Economy and she enjoys teaching about
Permaculture, mycorestoration, and bioremediation. She attended Colgate
University, completed her B.A. in Culture, Ecology, and Sustainability
from New College of California in 2000, and currently attends a Masters
Program in 'Action for a Viable Future' at Sonoma State University's
Hutchins School for Public Policy Studies and Community Action.
Devin Stubblefield, Co-Founder and Treasurer
Devin Stubblefield is a co-founder and Treasurer of The RITES Project.
She also works as the Project Coordinator of Permaculture in Paradise.
Devin received her B.A. in Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community,
with an emphasis in Ecoliteracy and Social Permaculture from New
College of California and has since contributed to a number of
Permaculture-based programs for children, teens and adults. Devin is a
practitioner of massage and other healing arts.
Erik Ohlsen, Co-Founder
Erik Ohlsen is a Permaculture designer and international
practitioner/teacher. He has a diverse background of experience,
including forming ecological non-profits and managing his own
Permaculture design business. For the past four years, he has worked
nationally and internationally with farmers and activists on tangible
solutions to industrial farming practices.
Benjamin Fahrer, Secretary
Benjamin Fahrer, a Permaculture designer and farmer, manages a small
certified organic farm in West Sonoma County. Benjamin studied
eco-dwelling at the New College of California in Santa Rosa and teaches
a variety of workshops in Permaculture, farming and ecological design.
He strives to incorporate aspects of Permaculture design, intentional
communities and biointensive farming into his everyday life. Benjamin
is the Project Coordinator for the Permaculture First Responder
programs.
Trathen Heckman, Co-Founder & Exec. Director, Daily Acts; Project Coord.,
Sustainability Tours
Trathen is the co-founder and Executive Director of Daily Acts, the
fiscal sponsor of the RITES Project. He is also the Project Coordinator
of the Sustainability Tours and the publisher of Ripples journal
produced by Daily Acts. He is also the Executive Director of Green
Sangha, an environmental Buddhist organization. Trathen is an author,
activist and wordsmith, who writes, teaches and organizes around
cultivating and harnessing the power of our daily actions to restore
our world. Trathen has given 100+ local, national and international
talks and workshops on Sustainability, Ecological Design and the power
of daily actions to renew the world.
Kevin Kohley, Project Coordinator of Eco-Gatherings
Kevin is the Project Coordinator of Eco-Gatherings, an International
Resource for Eco-Logical Event Production, and a core member of the
Symbiosis Gathering production team. He is also a graduate of the
Regenerative Design Institute, a year-long intensive Permaculture
training, where he studied under the guidance of Penny Livingston.
Kevin, in conjunction with Critical Mass Productions and the RITES
Project, is currently working on a film entitled Entheogen: Awakening
the Divine Within, which investigates the evolution of consciousness
and the spontaneous reemergence of rites of passage. Kevin earned his
Masters of Arts degree at California School of Integral Studies. While
there, he focused on historical trends of conscious evolution, rites of
passage, and complex systems during his studies in Philosophy,
Consciousness and Cosmology.
Karen Chen, Project Coordinator of Green Product Research
Karen Chen is a doctoral candidate at the California Institute
of Integral Studies focusing on sustainable design. She was certified
in Permaculture Design at the International Institute for Ecological
Agriculture in 2004. Karen works to green the hardware industry by
evaluating and distributing best-in-class home improvement and building
products to local hardware stores. She is co-founder of Ecogatherings,
an eco-logical event resource for festivals and large events, and a
project of the RITES Project. She is on the advisory board for
sustainable community initiatives at the Environmental Education
Council of Marin in Marin County, California. Karen works as a
sustainability and green products educator in an effort to make
community resources and healthier product alternatives accessible and
understandable to the general public.
Karen Kohley, Wilderness Therapy Guide
Karen Kohley graduted from the Univerity of Iowa in 2003, with her B.A.
in Foreign Language Education. She is currently attending the
Regenerative Designs and Nature Awareness Institute, where she is
studying to reconnect people to their roots in the earth, their
ancestors, and their community. A certified teacher, she has led
various outdoor excursions for K-12 students throughout California,
Utah, and Costa Rica. She has taught Spanish, ESL, ecology, botany,
biology, astronomy, rock climbing, and snorkeling. In 2005, she worked
for a wilderness therapy company in Utah with at risk teens that were
experiencing difficulties. Upon returning to California, she began
working with Stepping Stones, an organization that is dedicated to
creating meaningful rites of passage for youth as they transition from
childhood to adulthood. As a certified Permaculture design student and
WFR student, she is a student teacher for the Permaculture First
Responder Certification course.
Nancy Hurwitz, Development Director
Nancy Hurwitz has been fundraising and grantwriting for non-profit
organizations for almost 10 years. She recently started working as
Development Director with the RITES and was certified in Permaculture
Design at the International Institute for Ecological Agriculture (IIEA)
in 2004. She worked as Program Associate for the IIEA and edited the
recently published book on alcohol fuel, Alcohol Can be a Gas!. Prior
to that, she worked as Project Director of ReThink Paper, a non-profit
project of Earth Island Institute, an organization focused on promoting
ecological paper production and consumption in an effort to protect our
world's forests. Before her work with ReThink Paper, Nancy worked as
Program Associate for Fiber Futures, a dedicated advocacy and
consulting group that focused on catalyzing the use of agricultural
residues and non-wood fibers for paper, building materials and
textiles.. She has also worked as Business Manager for Fiber Options
Paper Company, a tree-free paper distributing company. In 2001, Nancy
started Gemini Productions, a music production company that organized
environmentally-sound music festivals and booked tours on the West
Coast and in Colorado. She received her B.A. in Environmental Science
and Public Policy from Harvard University in 1997.
Matthew Garrambone, Mentor in the Enviromentorship Program
Matthew Garrambone graduated Northern Arizona University with a degree
in Environmental Communications. For two years, he worked with Friends
of Flagstaff's Future in Arizona co-coordinating a campaign to preserve
open space. Since moving to Sonoma County, he has studied Permaculture
with the Regenerative Design & Nature Awareness program, and works
full time at Harmony Farm Supply & Organic Nursery in Graton. He is
currently participating in the Leadership Program for A Sustainable
Future based in Santa Rosa, CA. and is continuing his education in
Permaculture and sustainable community building. Matthew is the Course
Administrator for the Symbiosis Permaculture Course in Angels Camp,
California, in September 2008.
Katherine Steele, Educator & Web Designer for Permaculture First Responder
Katherine Steele is a Permaculture activist, designer and educator. She
facilitates workshops on natural building and Permaculture and is the
founder of the Urban Permaculture Guild in Oakland. A graduate of the
Findhorn Foundation (Scotland) Ecovillage program, she is a designer,
facilitator, and educator of the principles of Permaculture in daily
living.
Stephen Weisz
Stephen Weisz is CEO and Founder of In Ticketing. A gifted
entrepreneur, Stephen has become a leader in the ticketing industry,
selling over a million tickets annually. His simple, strategic approach
is to deliver impressive results to event organizers utilizing
cutting-edge technologies he develops. Stephen champions sustainable
minded business practices. He has created the only hemp/flax, recycled
paper, soy ink tickets on the market, launched the "Tree Per Ticket"
program that has planted over 30,000 trees since its inception, and led
the company to be named an official Green Business by Co-op America.
Jeffrey E. Edelheit
Jeffrey's non-profit experience includes being Executive Director of
the Middle Way 501c3 for 3 years, member of the Board of Directors of
several organizations, and countless volunteer hours. He has over 30
years of solid business experience with start-ups, mid range and major
corporations with a concentration on strategy, development, finance and
administration. Jeffrey is recognized as an expert with bplans.com
providing business expertise to people worldwide. He has expertise in
the development of staff and policies to support customer service and
sales retention and he has extensive experience in the identification
and restructuring of operational deficiencies. He graduated from
Northwestern University in Chicago, and was the first American Manager
of Hitachi American Limited Semiconductors, now a multi-billion dollar
corporation. He currently works with as a Mentor for Contract Executive
Management in Sebastopol, California. Jeffrey is a Board Member of the
Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce and he has served as a committee member
for the City of Sebastopol. He is a guest lecturer at Sonoma State
University, has participated in their sustainable business forum and
was a member of the development team for their Sustainability
Conference in 2006. He is a featured writer in Upbeat Times and has
helped with the creation of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Park
Implementation, the new Community Garden Skatepark, Chemical Free
Sebastopol and the Teen Memorial Garden. Jeffrey is the RITES Project's
Financial Advisor, and acts as the Project Coordinator for the
Community Garden Skatepark.
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