Tom Grasso:
Bio: Tom Grasso is currently Senior Advisor at the EcoLogix Group a family of small companies working to promote sustainable solutions to complex business and environmental challenges. He is also a member of the Marlboro College “MBA Managing for Sustainability” graduate program. From 1999-2008, he served as Director of Marine Conservation Policy and Acting Director of Fisheries Conservation Program at the World Wildlife Fund where he worked a variety of ocean policy issues in Africa, southeast Asia, Europe, and the Pacific Islands. He is the Atlantic Salmon Federation’s 2003 recipient of the Lee Wulff Salmon Conservation Award, the highest honor in the United States for salmon conservation work. From 1993-1999, Tom worked as Executive Director of the Maryland office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation where he led efforts to promote the conservation of the Chesapeake Bay. Prior to that he worked with the National Wildlife Federation, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in Washington, DC.
In 2006-07, He was a “ELIAS Fellow” at MIT Sloan School of Management. The “Emerging Leaders for Innovation Across Sectors Fellowship” brought together 22 leaders from across the globe representing civil society organizations, multi-national corporations and government institutions. The 18-month fellowship explored ways to improve collaboration among stakeholders on complex social and environmental concerns such as climate change. He is a 1989 graduate of the American University Washington College of Law and received is BA in Political Science from the University of Rochester in 1984. He lives with his wife and two children in Brattleboro, Vermont .
Workshop: "Global Village Cafe"
Synopsis: Exploring opportunities for generating solutions through generative dialague and collective wisdom. The Global Village Cafe will use an adaption of the "world cafe dialogue" to explore how we as a community can create actions and solutions to our common concerns. This will be an informal and engaging session where we'll sit around small cafe tables and share ideas and practice a fun and useful approach to dialogue and conversation.