Net Impact Seattle :: Professional Chapter

When: Wednesday, June 5th – 6:00-8:30 p.m.
Where: REI Seattle Flagship, 222 Yale Ave N, Seattle, WA. Map it.
Time: Doors at 6:00. Program at 6:30
Extras: Light food and beverages
Twitter hashtag: #TreadLightly2013
Tickets: Please RSVP to secure your spot. GET TICKETS.

Join OUT for Sustainability and Net Impact Seattle for an evening panel and mixer focused on the upcoming, hot topics within sustainable travel.

Grab a banh mi sandwich, a DRY Soda and engage with a panel discussion between Adventure Travel Trade Association, REI Adventures and EverGreen Escapes. These sustainable travel leaders will discuss the inspirations, challenges and the future of the industry.

Afterwards, grab more food, another beverage and get ready for a casual mixer of thought provoking discussions. Move about the room where experts will be leading casual discussions around a variety of travel-related subjects, including:

*Sustainability Standards: Eco-Certifications, Best Practices & Growing Pains
*Economy: Keeping the Money Local
*Environment: Small Steps Leading to Big Change
*Culture: How to Prepare Before Entering Foreign Cultures
*Technology: Innovations Towards Net Zero Travel

Bring your luck because at the end of the night we will be giving away a custom Timbuk2 bag!

Net Impact and Out for Sustainability are very honored to have so many talented experts representing this topic. Special guests include:

Alice Gifford
Panel Moderator
Table Topic Lead: Sustainability Standards: Eco-Certifications, Best Practices & Growing Pains
Alice is the Director of Community Development at the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), a global membership organization dedicated to unifying, networking, professionalizing, promoting and responsibly growing the adventure travel market. Her passion is to foster sustainable lifestyles and environmental and cultural stewardship within the outdoor recreation industry. Having worked as a guide for eco-tour operators and in travel media, she brings an in-the-field perspective to her work with the ATTA and its members around the world.
LinkedIn
@adventuretweets

Maureen Seeley
Panelist
Table Topic Lead: Economy: Keeping the Money Local
Maureen is the Program Manager for Global Active Vacations at REI Adventures. She leads itinerary development, operational consistency, quality assurance, sustainability, and risk management for her segment of the business. Prior to REI, she worked at Mountain Madness, a Seattle-based mountain guiding company. Maureen’s interest lies in creating extraordinary travel experiences that take into account travelling lightly, leaving a minimum impact on the culture and environment in places to which REI Adventures travels around the world.
LinkedIn

Courtney Hans
Panelist
Table Topic Lead: Economy: Keeping the Money Local
Courtney is the Program Manager for Weekend Getaways at REI Adventures. Prior to REI, Courtney worked at Living Social Adventures where she launched the Boise division of adventures. She has also combined her appreciation for fine wine and travel as a Sales and Marketing Director for Capitol Cellars (CA) and a Regional Specialist/Tour Leader for Backroads, a cycling tour operator. She earned her MBA from the University of California, Davis.
LinkedIn

Dan Moore
Panelist
Table Topic Lead: Environment: Small Steps Leading to Big Change
Dan is co-owner of EverGreen Escapes, Cascadia’s most reputable nature, adventure and epicurean tour operator, and corporate event planner.  Dan is a passionate traveler and outdoors person, with over 15 years of experience in environmental education and adventure travel. Dan spent most of a year after college in South America – trekking and researching tropical forests in Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. It is here he understood the importance of creating positive experiences for people in the outdoors. Says Dan: ”You can’t love what you don’t know, and people won’t protect what they don’t love.” Dan is also a board member of the Washington Tourism Alliance, a Faculty Member with the Adventure Travel Trade Association’s AdventureEDU, and overall a strong advocate for greater sustainability in the travel and meeting industries.
LinkedIn
@EverGreenEscape

Tyler Davis
Panelist
Tyler is an adventure ecotourism guide and International Program Director for EverGreen Escapes. He caught the travel bug at a very young age thanks to parents who saw the value in exposing him to the world beyond their doorstep. There are few things he enjoys more than sharing what he knows with others in a way that has a positive impact on not only them, but also the world around them. For Tyler, this is what responsible travel is all about.
LinkedIn
@EverGreenEscape

Tammy Leland
Table Topic Lead: Environment: Small Steps Leading to Big Change
Tammy is the co-founder of Crooked Trails, a nonprofit organization helping people broaden their understanding of the impacts of travel on the world’s cultures and ecosystems through educational outreach and sustainable travel programs. She also helped found Travelers Against Plastic (TAP), which spreads awareness about the negative impacts of plastic water bottles. In her previous work, she was a coordinator for college environmental education, a geologist in the Olympic National Park, and a wilderness guide in the Pacific Northwest. Tammy holds a Master’s of Environmental Education from Western Washington University.
LinkedIn
@Crooked_Trails

Joe Staiano
Table Topic Lead: Culture: How to Prepare Before Entering Foreign Cultures
Joe is a 20-year professional in responsible adventure travel, a 75-country world explorer, conference speaker and do-gooder.  Joe founded Meaningful Trip, a leader in responsible travel and the best in sights, activity, culture & comfort. In addition, each trip gives part of proceeds to support issues of women’s empowerment, poverty, health, education and hunger.  Meaningful Trip is 1-of-only-2 U.S. tour operators to sign the Code of Conduct to help fight trafficking and exploitation of children.
LinkedIn
@joestaiano & @MeaningfulTrips

Rocco DeVito
Table Topic Lead: Culture: How to Prepare Before Entering Foreign Cultures
Rocco is the administrative associate with Partners Asia, an organization facilitating community led initiatives in Burma. Before joining Partners Asia, Rocco was a Program Assistant/AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer with Social Venture Partners Seattle. He also has extensive international experience, having served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania (environmental educator, 2007-2009) and Liberia (high school science teacher, 2009-2010), and as a USAID intern (Ethiopia, 2011). Rocco holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Vermont and a Bachelor’s degree in Conservation Biology from the State University of New York College
LinkedIn

Mark Augustyniewicz
Table Topic Lead: Technology: Innovations Towards Net Zero Travel
Mark began his career with The Boeing Company in 1996 and has worked in engineering and strategy development assignments across the enterprise. In his current position he supports the Environmental Health and Safety executive team in developing and implementing companywide business strategies for environmental leadership. Mark has also been an adjunct professor at Seattle University’s Albers School of Business, having developed and taught graduate courses in Sustainability, Competitive Strategy, Innovation & New Product Development, and Decision Analysis from 2004-2010. He holds Masters in Business Administration from Seattle University.
LinkedIn

Brian Minalga
Table Topic Lead: Culture: How to Prepare Before Entering Foreign Cultures
Brian is a Regional Representative with the Peace Corps Northwest Regional Office. He started his service with the Peace Corps as a Community and Youth Development Educator in Niger, West Africa. Following this, he was an English and Library Science teacher at a primary school in Namibia. During his service in Namibia, Brian also volunteered as an Athlete for Equality with the DC-based LGBT rights organization, Human Rights Campaign. Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
LinkedIn

A special thanks to our sponsors:

James Harnois Photography
DRY Soda
Timbuk2

When: May 15
Where: FLOR Showroom. 2000 1st Avenue. Seattle, WA 98121

Early Bird Pricing: $10 (thru May 9th)
General Admission $15 (May 10-15 and at the door)
BUY TICKETS

Join co-hosts Net Impact Seattle and Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future for this evening hosted at the newly opened FLOR Showroom in downtown Seattle. Guests will not only get to learn from leaders in our community about how they contribute to a positive, strengths-based culture at work, but they will also get to see some of FLOR’s most innovative designs in flooring.

This panel event will feature Dave Carroll, VP of Umpqua Bank and Kippen Westphal, Director of Transportation for Interface who will share a bit about their personal leadership journeys and how a focus on their strengths, what they do best, has helped them to create engagement, personal achievement, consumer connections and a sense of community.  Both leaders have proven that in two industries (banking and airplane carpet production) in which sustainability and community are generally not associated, that their organizations’ values and missions have created innovative and socially responsible opportunities for them and others to thrive, built upon a positive workplace culture.

Umpqua Bank is ranked 55th this year and is a 7-year recipient of Fortune magazine’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” and is very intentionally becoming known as the Northwest’s community bank with a focus on community engagement through volunteerism and employee engagement.

Interface, a billion-dollar corporation, has received Fortune’s “Most Admired Company” and “100 Best Companies to Work For” recognition multiple times. Interface is “the world’s largest designer and maker of carpet tile, where design is a mindset and sustainability is the journey of a lifetime.” They have been an industry leader in sustainability imperatives while also remaining focused in achieving its business goals.

GUEST PANEL BIOS:
Kippen Westphal   http://wnsf-pacificnw.org/Kippen_Westphal/
Dave Carroll  www.linkedin.com/in/dacarroll1
Steph Sharma will moderate the discussion with these two leaders. She is the Executive Director of Lead The Difference, a consulting company focused on Human Value in the Workplace.

When: April 18, 2013. 6:30pm
Where: Global Partnerships Headquarters. 1932 1st Ave Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98101.
Cost: Members of Net Impact Seattle &/or YPIN: $10. General public: $15

Event Details:
The Global Partnerships business model is sophisticated, and many different stakeholders support their work financially (investors- individuals and banks; donors- major donors, foundations, and community donors). Each of these stakeholders has unique priorities and areas of interest so a tailored communication strategy is key to ensuring engagement.  Roll-up your sleeves to help Global Partnerships test and validate their communication strategy to all key stakeholders. This is a great opportunity to use your professional experience to give back!