About Us

Leah Atwood. Director of Programs & Partnerships. Leah joined MESA in 2004 and now serves as Collaborative Director. Her Humboldt farmland roots instilled a love form farming.  Upon her graduation from UC Berkeley with degrees in Environmental Policy and Spanish. Leah has spent many months abroad in Latin America (Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Cuba and Nicaragua) and in Bangladesh working and volunteering on behalf of social, environmental and food justice. As a result of her travel and work experiences she gained insight into international agriculture systems and the value of socio-ecologically mindful practices. Leah’s past non-profit experience includes working in program development for International Institute for Bengal Basin to address water rights and pollution mitigation in Bangladesh, India and Nepal and with East Bay Sanctuary Covenant where she worked in translation and fund raising on behalf of indigent refugees seeking legal guidance. Her other passions include practicing and teaching yoga, cooking, surfing, raising goats, salsa dancing and gardening.

For more than 20 years, Theo Ferguson has worked as an advocate, an entrepreneur, and a sponsor of public dialogue, undertaking deep inquiry into the impacts of food, farming and finance enterprises and their true costs within our capitalistic economic system. Theo currently serves as CEO of the California social-purpose corporation Healing Living Systems (HLS), focused on creating climate stability through agroecology and inquiring into what legacy tools, frameworks, and perspectives we can generate to enable our young people to build forward as they grapple with the global problems they are inheriting from previous generations.

A founding member of  Slow Money National, Slow Money NorCal, and SOIL (Slow Opportunities to Invest Locally, Slow Money NorCal’s investment group) and an 18- year member of the Social Investment Forum, Theo has developed a broad local food, farming, and finance infrastructure portfolio anchored in local relationship-driven investment. This portfolio can serve as a blueprint for other investors who likewise wish to see their wealth work for the good of the planet and all of its inhabitants.

As an entrepreneur, she has founded three corporations, each focused on developing solutions to the environmental, social and economic challenges we must face together as a united global system comprising all living creatures and the very forces of nature. She is a student of Shamanism and studied under the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in San Francisco. This relationship led Theo to create the programs Systems to Heal the Climate and Spectrum to Heal the Climate.

She has also founded and supported numerous not-for-profit ventures; has held senior positions in the City of Nurenberg, Germany, and the (US) National Science Foundation; founded ISAST, the International Society for Art, Science and Technology as a host for the Journal, Leonardo, in the US, and served on the staff of California Assemblyman Leo Ryan as well as the National and Northern California offices of Kaiser Permanente. Theo is a frequently published author in Green Money Journal.

John Kuhry Asset Manager, Mendocino Forest Products, the largest producer of sustainably sourced redwood in the world. Focus: All non-timber revenue and Real Estate transactions. Economic Development & Financing Corporation(EDFC)
EDFC is a 501c3 Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) with a mission of “Connecting money and ideas with entrepreneurs to create sustainable prosperity in Lake and Mendocino Counties.”  EDFC provide economic development financing and incubates projects like woody biomass utilization, small scale meat processing, broadband, and local investment to create jobs through entrepreneurship.

Gerardo Omar Marín “GeRa”, raised in the Chihuahua desert border of El Paso, TX is Indigenous/MeXicano/Latino of mixed Guachichil Chichimecatl, Ashkenazi, & Spanish descent. He is a passionate Facilitator, Thriving Teams Consultant, Traditional Mexican Healing Arts Practitioner and Deep Fulfillment Coach rooted in interfaith values of love, compassion, determination, and service. He is based in San Antonio, TX (Yanaguana/Somi-Sek) where he serves community-led organizations, youth empowerment networks, leaders, and mission-driven businesses to achieve success on their highest terms.

Over the last 15 years he has dedicated his energy to draw out the inherent wisdom, resilience, and creative imagination of young leaders and adults.  Gera knows that the answers are already in our brilliant communities and is driven to create interactive experiences that engage multiple learning styles where all participants are teachers, learners, planners, and change-makers.  He is an ambassador for the Full Moon Healing Action Network and lovingly coordinates synchronized healing offerings, regenerative land action, and unified prayer to strengthen the healing of Mother Earth and to generate solidarity amongst young traditional healing arts practitioners, regenerative farmers, and climate justice organizers.

Li An Phoa is the founder of Drinkable Rivers that raises awareness
and mobilizes people to act towards a world with drinkable rivers. The
foundation runs a successful citizen science initiative that monitors the
water quality of rivers around the world. Her work initiated the Mayors for
Drinkable Rivers Network, which has committed to create a drinkable
Meuse River from Southern France through Belgium and the Netherlands
To the delta in the North Sea. Li An is trained in whole system ecology,
philosophy, and business and works as a systems thinker and actor. She
walked more than eighteen thousand kilometers on five continents
studying and teaching about watersheds. Her 1000km walk along the
Meuse river is featured in a full-length documentary.
www.DrinkableRivers.org.

Loren Valliant is an operations consultant as well as the CFO of Healing Living Systems. He works with nonprofits and mission-oriented organizations to streamline and improve their administrative systems.

Loren knows that food is the fundamental building block upon which all other systems are built, and is proud to support Healing Living Systems in its mission.

Loren holds a Bachelors in Psychology from San Francisco State University.

Adrionna Fike (she/they) is a communications consultant with Healing Living Systems and a devoted organizer for Bay Area worker cooperatives.

Dr. Robin Goins is an industrial, organizational, and educational psychologist. She is a knowledgeable worker. She holds weekly Executive Coaching Sessions about every aspect of business and personal live with an emphasis on “grow and change” as this it is your life’s opportunity. She emphasizes “Servant Leadership” in which your leadership nurtures your associates, your mission and your outcomes. Whatever leadership style you used before COVID, we are now living in a new paradym. We each have the opportunity to reevaluate what is important in our lives and factored in social justice and equity. And “yes!” it requires that EACH of US grow. Dr. Robins quotes Wayne Dyer “If you change the way that you look at things, the things you look at change.” She addresses “stress”–the effects of which are inheritable and multi-generational and teaches how to “take on” stress proactively. She addresses gratefulness as a practice in self awareness and positivity. Check Dr. Robis Goins PhD on drrobinsgoins.com.

Editor Pam Grant-Ryan has been taking delight in word crafting for most of a lifetime.  After 30 years as managing editor of MIT Press journal Leonardo, she now specializes in providing editorial support to progressive and visionary publications and enterprises seeking to bring light to our world through the written word.

She is also a singer-songwriter/musician, a retired homeopath and, before, during and after everything else, a dancer.

Gurumantra Khalsa is a catalyst for developing regenerative local food systems. Driven by a virtual question of “what could be?”, he is known for his abilittty to distinguish hidden value in any circumstance. Instrumental to the development of the Grow Riverside initiative, he served as the inaugural board chair of the Riverside Food Systems Alliance, helped establish the lowest agricultural water rate in Southern California, and co-chaired Riverside County’s Healthy Communities Food Access Plan.

Gurumantra is a founding member of a local enviraonmental group established to protect the city’s designated green belt and has a long history of cimmunity organizing including serving as chair of the TRiversideNeighborhood Partnership. He as worked internationally as a carpenter, is the publisher of Nutrition News, and ahs a BA from the University of Illinois.

His community centric path to value includes a food first approach to health, workforce development and economic equity. He serves as the Executinve Director of World Be Well, a not-for-profit cooperative incubator. World Be Well provides support to ensure that ANYONE who wants to become a Landscaper/Farmscaper, Cooperative Enterprise Owner, or participate in the formation of an independent Farm Cooperative, is successful.

Telma G. Laurentino, PhD is an evolutionary biologist and educator: she studies and teaches how species evolve and adapt to environmental change and creates multisensory, inclusive, education courses. In 2019, she founded evALLution, a project that aims to make evolution and biodiversity accessible for people with blindness.

While born and raised in Portugal, her scientific career has propelled her to live in 3 countries and learn from biodiversity across 5 continents.

Her scientific research has been published in several international peer-reviewed journals and her nature-as-teacher philosophy is expressed in her book “a love letter From The Forest to you, though me” where she interlaces science, spirit and poetry in an intimate portrait of her relationship with the surrounding ecosystem.

A first-generation high school graduate, she believes that a more inclusive, culturally-responsive, and holistic education system is key for a harmonic and equitable future where humans and nature are not a dichotomy but belong to each other, sustainably.

To know more about her work visit www.telmagl.com

Robert Mitchell has over 20+ years supporting non-profits. During the day, he is a Systems/Operations Director. In the evenings he is the web consultant for Healing Living Systems. Robert enjoys time with his wife and five kids, camping, backpacking, gardening, overseeing 9 chickens, pruning one of the 15 trees in the yard and when time permits, wood working.

Toki Nagala is the administrative coordinator of Healing Living Systems. They are based in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, with their partner and young child. Their passions include natural farming and cultivating ecosystemic ways of being and knowing.

Diane Rigoli is the hub and driving force behind Rigoli Creative. She produces relevant, contemporary designs born of an alchemy of keen insight, unique perspective and an intuitive sense of direction that allows her clients to communicate their messages more effectively. Her client group from the realms of sustainability, personal growth and social/environmental justice reflect her deep belief to pursue a “right livelihood.” She says, “To me, that means I feel good about contributing my skills and talents to the work of other people and organizations with whom I share values and whose work helps make the world a better place. That is incredibly gratifying!” She is the recipient of two recent Southwest Book Design & Production awards. See more of her work at www.RigoliCreative.com.

Beth Waitkus co-creates sustainable, healthy organizations, communities and ecosystems. With a systems-based approach to change, she engages with clients across diverse secotrs and ideologies, and provides a holistic approach to change management with multi-stakeholder engagement, group facilitation, strategic planning, as well as communications and resource development. Focus areas include climate equity and environmental justice, criminal justice, workforce development, food & farming, and youth health and wellness.

As part of her deep commitment to environmental, social and criminal justice, Beth founded the Insight Garden Program (IGP) in 2002 at San Quentin State Prison as a volunteer and then served as Executive Director from 2013-2020. During her tenure as ED, Beth oversaw expansion to 12 additional prisons and co-designed a reentry program to support people transitoning home. The organization grew to more than $1+ million in revenue, with less than 10% of participants returning to prison. Most importantly, IGP’s participants transfeomrmed their lives through connection to nature and have become leaders in their home communities. She brings he experience as an Executive Director to her current client work.

Accolades from her work at IGP include: A feture in the book Eco Amazons: 20 Women Who are Transforming the World by Dorka Keehn; Pepperdine University’s George Award and Waves of Service Award; the (California) Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA); American Correctional Associations Innovations in Corrections Award; and a segment on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer.

Seth Wilson develops markets around social-ecological systems. An experienced commodity trader and energy risk manager. Seth is adapting market-based strategies to build greater community health, wealth and local resiliency. He consults with businesses and organizations seeking securities crowdfunding for infrastructure and business development. As a social entrepreneur, Seth cofounded and served as executive director of the Riverside Food Systems Alliance. He is also a cofounder of a water clean-tech company. Seth holds a Master’s of Science in Information Systems and Decisions Science from the University of Memphis, and is a certified Energy Risk Professional by the Global Association of Risk Professionals.