Board of Directors
WENDY BRAWER
Green Map System, Founder, Executive Director
Wendy created the first Green Map of New York City in 1992. Since then, she has published nearly 20interactive and printed Green Maps. Wendy initiated the global Green Map System in 1995 and continues to lead its development as it spread to 65 countries. She also directs a Lower East Side eco design firm that focuses on energy, resiliency and green living. Wendy has taught at NYU, Cooper Union and presented at more than 50 universities and conferences. Recognition includes being Designer in Residence, Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, an Utne Visionary, a Woman of Earth/Terre de Femmes, recipient of a Sea Change Award and a Spring 2017 TED talk residency.
JON CRUZ
Google, User Experience Designer
An accomplished, award winning User Experience Designer with team leadership and hands on design experience ranging from large scale consumer sites to web and mobile applications. Jon has managed and mentored teams of interaction designers, visual designers and content strategists. In his previous role as a UX design consultant some recent client projects include Facebook’s "Buy" button and the design of their Commerce and Payments web and mobile portals, IDEO’s education project for a multi national company, and Zinus Inc., a $150MM company that sells bed products at Walmart, Amazon, and Sam’s Club. Jon designed the Zinus e commerce consumer responsive website, sleeprevolution.com.
ANNA CUMMINS
5 Gyres Institute, CoFounder & Global Strategy Director/Board Member
With more than 20 years experience in environmental nonprofit work—including marine conservation, coastal watershed management, community relations, and bilingual and sustainability education—Anna Cummins is an expert in the field. Her “Synthetic Sea, Synthetic Me” TEDx talk has been viewed and shared by thousands. Anna received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, and a MA in Environmental Policy from the Middlebury Institute for International Studies.
MARCUS ERIKSEN
5 Gyres Institute, CoFounder & Research Director/Board Member
Marcus has led expeditions around the world to research plastic marine pollution, publishing the first global estimate and the discovery of plastic micro-beads in the Great Lakes, which led to the federal Micro bead free Waters Act of 2015. He and Anna Cummins began 5 Gyres with an 88day journey from California to Hawaii on the Junk Raft, built from 15,000 plastic bottles. Earlier, Marcus had rafted the Mississippi River, writing about the river and his experience as a Marine in the 1991 Gulf War in the book, My River Home (Beacon 2008). His second book, Junk Raft: An ocean voyage and a rising tide of activism to fight plastic pollution (Beacon 2017) recalls the rise of the plastic pollution movement, growing steadily today. He received his Ph.D from USC. Currently in development of the Leap Lab Institute
BARENT ROTH
Anthropocene.Design NGO Founder.
Sustainable Designer/Educator/Advocate
Dedicated to creating and teaching the importance of sustainable products, practices, and services. An educator at heart, he has taught at both of his Alma Maters, the University of Illinois where he received his BFA in industrial design, and the University of the Arts where he graduated with honors for his Master’s degree focusing on Sustainable Design. Co-founder of the award winning sustainable to restorative design firm grow-design, and the creator of the LA Green Drinks network, Barent started teaching a Green Living Workshop with Sustainable Works, a Santa Monica based non-profit committed to Environmental Education and Action, and quickly rose to Executive Director of the organization.
In addition to educating/advocating about the urgency to transition to a Circular Economy, he works to continuously improve his own personal impact by supporting sustainable businesses and cooperatives, enjoying a vegan lifestyle, purchasing renewable energy for his family, and participating in the emerging paradigm of collaborative consumption.
Contact founder Barent Roth
RACHEL SWITZKY
Inaugural Director, Siebel Center for Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Rachel Switzky is the inaugural director of the Siebel Center for Design. Prior to her current appointment, she has been a global design leader working with Fortune 100 companies over the past 20 years.
Most recently, she served as an Executive Director at IDEO, the company who pioneered the concept of design thinking. For the last decade in this role, she helped teams imagine futures and then put them into action, focusing on digital design, emergent technologies and impact at-scale.
Rachel attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, receiving her BFA and MFA in Industrial Design from the College of Fine and Applied Arts.
Gretchen Gscheidle
Gretchen Gscheidle is an eternal optimist, grounded realist and leader in the business of design. Her commercialized projects generate more than $800 million in annual revenue at global innovation brand Herman Miller. Gretchen's list of products includes the revolutionary Aeron chair, both 1994 "Classic" and 2016 "Remastered” versions. Aeron and other products fueled broader business growth and set multiple industry reference points for design, performance and lasting value.
In 2019 Gretchen initiated a career pivot, volunteering for an early buy-out. After checking some items off her bucket list, she thoughtfully and thoroughly contemplated what she enjoys, what she's good at, and how she wants to contribute to the world in the sequel to her extraordinary Herman Miller career.
Gretchen began sharing her thought leadership and experience in innovation best practices with those aspiring to raise the bar and grow through the value of design. She's enjoyed the variety of advising startups, consulting with established organizations, teaching university students at her alma maters and volunteering with organizations devoted to causes that are important to her personally, like Anthropocene Design.