Board

Scott Spielberger

Scott Spielberger is the former Vice President and publisher of Scientific American Magazine. Scott has a background in digital sales, business development, and marketing for start-ups or top tier global organizations. Scott has knowledgeable in developing and monetizing new online applications with deep expertise in social media, digital advertising, consumer and direct marketing, customer acquisition and branding campaigns.

Currently, Scott is a specialist sales executive of the the targeting and exchange Team at Microsoft, although he previously worked as a Senior Manager for Global Alliances at Yahoo and as a Group Director for Strategic Alliances at Organic Inc.

Bruce Brandfon

Bruce Brandfon joined Scientific American in September 2001, as Publisher. He was named Vice President in 2002. He assumed responsibility for all Scientific American business ventures in 2007. He recently left Scientific American to assume an advisory role within SciAm parent Nature Publishing Group (NPG).

Mr. Brandfon was instrumental in the creation of the “Scientific American 50” list — an annual editorial feature that salutes the most influential innovators and achievements of the year in the categories of research, business and public policy. He forged the partnership with The Financial Times that resulted in the special collaborative report, “The Future of Stem Cells,” that appeared in both publications in July of 2005.

Mr. Brandfon’s relationship with HSM, a leading global conferenceproducer, resulted in the first ever “World Science Forum,” which convened in New York in November of 2006. In collaboration with science and education ministries and university rectors, he has produced a series of internationalresearch sections on Italy, British BioScience, and the regions of Catalonia, Madrid, Baden-Württemberg, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Hessen, Valencia, Turkey and the Czech Republic. Working with AlwaysOn, Scientific American, under the direction of Mr. Brandfon, co-presented GoingGreen, a conference for financial executives, entrepreneurs and public policy officials in San Francisco in the fall of 2008 and in Boston in March 2009. Under Mr. Brandfon’s leadership, Scientific American successfully launched Scientific American MIND magazine and EARTH 3.0 in September 2008. Mr. Brandfon has ledScientific American’s digital business development since 2008, and Scientific American.com is currently the third most visited website for science and technology on the internet.

At Newsweek, Mr. Brandfon served as Advertising Director from 1998 until 2001 with responsibility for the development of Newsweek’s advertising strategies and the day-to-day management of the sales operations. He joined Newsweek in June 1995 as Eastern Regional Advertising Director.

Prior to Newsweek, Bruce spent 17 years at Time Inc. where he worked in ad sales management for Fortune as Washington DC Manager and New York Advertising Director.

Lydia Thomas

As former President and Chief Executive Officer of Noblis, Dr. Thomas was responsible for the general management and direction of the company’s overall technical, financial, and administrative activities. Noblis is a nonprofit science, technology and strategy organization working at all levels of government, in private industry and with other nonprofits in areas that are essential to our nation’s well being: national and homeland security, public safety, transportation, health care, criminal justice, energy and the environment, and oceans, atmosphere and space. Dr. Thomas is now a member of the Board of Trustees of Noblis.

Dr Thomas is a member of the following professional organizations: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Associate Fellow); American Society of Toxicology; National Defense Industrial Association; the Teratology Society; and the International Women’s Forum.

Dr. Thomas holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Cytology from Howard University, 1973; a Master of Science in Microbiology from American University, 1971; and a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Howard University, 1965.

Michael Silberman

Michael Silberman, co-founder and Partner, is a senior online campaigns strategist specializing in online organizing and grassroots citizen engagement. He is a frequent writer and speaker on the effective use of technology for converting online activity into real-world action. Silberman chairs the Web of Change conference, an annual event for leading thinkers and change-makers at the intersection of technology and social change.

Prior to EchoDitto, Silberman was the National Meetup Director for Howard Dean’s presidential run in 2004, where he led an online organizing team that regularly mobilized more than 189,000 local volunteers in over 1,200 cities worldwide. He also served as the 1Sky climate campaign’s Internet Director during its first year, where he implemented a successful nationwide internet organizing, communications, and fundraising strategy. Silberman graduated on skis with a B.A. from Middlebury College.

Jagadish Shukla

J. Shukla is a University Professor and founding Chairman of the Climate Dynamics Ph.D. program and the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences at George Mason University (GMU). He is President of the Institute of Global Environment and Society (IGES).

Dr. Shukla has made contributions to the science of meteorology and to the global society through fundamental scientific advances, institution building, and international cooperation in meteorology for the betterment of humankind worldwide. He has made significant contributions to the understanding of the predictability of weather and climate including the Asian monsoon dynamics, deforestation and climate change. His research has established that there is predictability in the midst of chaos and that there is a scientific basis for short-term climate prediction.

In 2008, he was appointed by the Governor of Virginia as a member of the Commission on Climate Change. He was one of the Lead Authors of the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Vice President Gore. In 2007, he received the International Meteorological Organization (IMO) Prize, considered to be the highest prize in the world of meterology. In 2005, he received the Rossby Medal; in 2001, he received the Walker Gold Medal; in 1982 he received the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal of NASA.

He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorology Society, India Meteorology Society and an Associate Fellow of TWAS (the academy of sciences for the developing world). He is the Author/co-author of 200 scientific papers and the Editor/contributor of four books. He has been the Ph. D. thesis adviser for about 20 students at M.I.T., Univ. of Maryland, and GMU. He was instrumental in establishing research centers in India and Italy. He has served as the Chair/member of about 50 national/international panels and committees. In 2008 he was the Chairman of the World Modelling Summit for Climate Prediction.

He founded Gandhi College for education of rural women in the village of his birth in India.

Christopher M. Schroeder

Christopher M. Schroeder is a leading entrepreneur and investor in interactive technologies and social communications. He is Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of HealthCentral, the highest quality collection of condition and wellness-specific interactive experiences focused on people finding and sharing real-life experiences related to their health needs. Backed by Polaris Ventures, Sequoia Capital, The Carlyle Group, Allen & Co., and IAC/Interactive Corp (IAC), HealthCentral also manages the leading condition-specific health online advertising network.

Schroeder is an investor and adviser for a series of technology start-ups and funds ranging from news and media, education, social networks and marketing. He is also engaged in exploring more global trends towards entrepreneurship, with a special focus on the developing world and the Middle East. He actively supports the Center for New America Security (CNAS), Business Executives for National Security (BENS) and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations, French American Foundation and American Council on Germany. He is a co-founder of activities through the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) connections between the US and Middle East CEOs.

A veteran of online media, Schroeder has also served as CEO and Publisher of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive and LEGI-SLATE, INC. He was also a partner with Thayer Capital Partners and with the investment bank Salomon Brothers in New York, and served in leading management roles in President George Bush’s 1988 and 1992 election campaigns and on the staff of Secretary of State James A. Baker with then Under Secretary Robert Zoellick.

Charles O. Holliday, Jr.

Chairman of the Board of Bank of America Corporation. Former Chairman of the Board and CEO of DuPont.

Under his direction, DuPont established its mission to achieve sustainable growth: increasing shareholder and societal value while decreasing the company’s environmental footprint. Member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Serves on the Board of Directors of Deere & Co, Royal Dutch Shell, CH2MHill, the Climate Works Foundation, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, the National Geographic Education Foundation. Past Chair of the Board of The Business Council, Catalyst, the Council on Competitiveness, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

James L. Buizer

James L. Buizer is Science Policy Advisor to Arizona State University (ASU) President Michael M. Crow, and Executive Director for Strategic Institutional Transformation in the Office of the President. He is a Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS) and Professor of Practice in Climate Adaptation Policy in the School of Geographical Sciences. Jim is also leading development of the ASU Center for Integrated Solutions to Climate Challenges. From 2003-2007 he served as founding Executive Director of the Office of Sustainability Initiatives in the Office of the President, where he led the conceptualization, design and initiation of the GIOS and its School of Sustainability, launched fall 2006.

Prior to ASU he was Director of the Climate and Societal Interactions Office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) where he was responsible for providing programmatic vision, design and leadership of NOAA’s integrated, multidisciplinary research and applications grants program positioned at the climate and societal interface. Led the establishment of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) and the Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment (RISA) program. He recently served on the National Academy of Sciences panel on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change. Jim received his degrees in Oceanography, Marine Resource Economics and Science Policy from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Jim is a native Spanish speaker.

Rahul Prakash

Rahul Prakash is President & Co-Founder of Earth Aid Enterprises. Earth Aid is a leading energy start-up that has developed the first free service that enables individuals to monitor all of their utility data streams from one central location and as a result drive significant energy savings. Most recently, Rahul served as part of the Founding Team & Vice President of Business Development & Marketing at 1 Block off the Grid (1BOG). Rahul scaled 1BOG nationally to 10 cities and profitability. 1BOG has recently raised $5 million dollars in venture capital from New Enterprise Associates. Prior to 1BOG, Rahul was part of the executive team at Spock where he served as Vice President and directed all marketing and operations for the leading people search engine. Rahul was instrumental in growing traffic to over 12 million unique visitors via distribution partnerships with leading Internet brands. Spock was successfully acquired by Intellius.

Rahul is a Co-Founder of The Clean Economy Network, the largest national advocacy association for the clean technology and green business community, a Co-Founder of the Full Circle Fund’s Energy Impact Circle: an alliance of emerging business leaders who help solve public problems through engaged philanthropy and public policy advocacy. Rahul was also a Co-Founder of Clean Tech & Green Business Leaders for Obama. Rahul serves on the Board of Directors at The Junior Statesmen Foundation, The New Leaders Council, Ethos Alliance, The Indian American Leadership Initiative and Universal Giving. Rahul serves as an advisor to several prominent elected officials across the country on energy and technology policy.

Rahul is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

John Isham

Jon Isham is a professor of economics at Middlebury College, where, he teaches classes about 21st-century global challenges, climate change, environmental economics, environmental policy, and microeconomics. In the last few years, students who have led research projects in his classes have gone on to found Brighter Planet, Step It Up, 350.org and Power Past Coal. Jon has an AB in Anthropology from Harvard College, an MA in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland.

Amanda Staudt

Amanda Staudt is a Senior Scientist in the Climate and Energy Program at National Wildlife Federation, where she provides scientific expertise for NWF’s research, policy, and outreach activities on climate change. A major aspect of her work is to effectively communicate to the general public and key decision makers the latest climate science and impacts. She authors highly accessible reports, engages in media outreach, and makes presentations to diverse audiences. Much of this work has focused on connecting the dots between extreme weather, climate change, impacts on communities and habitats, and available policy and management solutions.

Dr. Staudt also co-developed the NWF Eco-Schools USA Climate Change Connections curriculum for students in grades 7-12. These lessons integrate NASA data and resources into a program that helps students learn about science and about improving the sustainability of their schools. An additional focus of Dr. Staudt’s work at NWF is to help develop the intellection and practical foundation for climate change adaptation in the context of fish, wildlife and habitat conservation.

Prior to joining NWF, Dr. Staudt was a Senior Program Officer for The National Academies Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate. In this capacity, she directed the Climate Research Committee as well as several ad-hoc studies on topics ranging from future research directions in the climate and atmospheric sciences to how weather impacts road transportation. She also authored a 28-page booklet, Understanding and Responding to Climate Change: Highlights of National Academies Reports, a user-friendly summary of climate science, now in its third edition. She holds a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences and an A.B. in environmental engineering and sciences from Harvard University.

David Rain

David Rain is an urban and population geographer with extensive field experience in cities in Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Currently he teaches courses such as Cities in the Developing World, the Geography of Africa, People Land & Food, and History of Geographic Thought to classes ranging in size from 6 to over 80 students at the George Washington University in Washington DC. For more than 12 years he has done geographic research on urban environmental issues internationally. Prior to his appointment at GW, Dr. Rain was a technical advisor for the U.S. Census Bureau, consulting with statistical agencies of many countries on geospatial issues and conducting fieldwork in varied settings.

Dr. Rain has consulted with many governments, the World Bank, and the United Nations. He has worked with the National Research Council on investigating populations at risk from natural disasters. In 2009 he wrote a book with the United Nations on applying geospatial technologies to the conduct of population censuses. He is currently being funded by the National Institutes of Health to conduct research in Accra, Ghana, on the health and environmental impacts of urbanization.

A native of Michigan, David Rain grew up in the Boston area and served in the Peace Corps in Niger. He returned there to do fieldwork on land-use and migration change in Niger for his book Eaters of the Dry Season. Dr. Rain received his MS in 1993 and his PhD in 1997 from the Pennsylvania State University. He received his BA in Literature from the University of Michigan in 1984.

An avid outdoors person, Dr. Rain commutes by bicycle every day from his house in suburban Maryland, where he lives with his wife, Anna, a musician and yoga instructor, and their four children.