An interdisciplinary group of artists, scientists, indigenous leaders, activists and entrepreneurs dedicated to a regenerative future for all.

Dr. Lauren B. Birney Ed. D. - Board Member

Lauren is an urban STEM educator with 30 years of experience encompassing both high school and university tenures. She is a Professor of STEM in the School of Education at Pace University preparing both pre-service and in-service teachers in the areas of curriculum and instruction, classroom management, teaching methodologies and research techniques. Lauren earned a B.A. in Biology/Chemistry from the University of San Diego, an M.A. in Counseling & an Ed. D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern California.

Dr. Birney works collaboratively with partners and affiliates in creating STEM content, defining curriculum & assessment systems, and conducting program evaluation services for the K-12 STEM community. Dr. Birney founded and is the Director of the STEM Collaboratory NYC®, which was established to be a leader in enabling students, teachers, faculty and scientists to engage in the fields of STEM education, create meaningful science curricula and provide interactive inquiry-based professional development for teachers. An integral component of STEM Education is the affiliation and partnerships between K-12 education stakeholders, Universities and the multinational corporations. The support of these partners in terms of funding, resources, and affiliate activities is critical for the success of STEM fields. Establishing a network that is multilayered and integrates aspects of business into educational practices will provide constituents with experiential learning and the ability to grow as a singular entity. Establishing multinational STEM Partnerships and collaborations will create unique opportunities for both Educational Institutions and corporations to become substantial powerhouses in the STEM arena.

Dr. Birney was awarded the largest grant in Pace University’s history in 2014 from the National Science Foundation. The project, entitled “Curriculum and Community Enterprise for New York Harbor Restoration in New York City Public Schools”, is being led by Pace University and implemented by a consortium of partners including New York Harbor Foundation, Billion Oyster Project, New York City Department of Education, Columbia’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, New York Academy of Sciences, University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science, Good Shepherd Services, New York Aquarium, The River Project, The Mark USA, Inc., ECS, and others. Building on the partners’ collective expertise in marine science education and restoration ecology,the grant significantly creates an accredited math and science teacher training program at Pace University, an interdisciplinary Harbor Literacy and marine STEM+C curriculum for NYC schools, a wrap-around model of afterschool STEM mentoring through the New York Academy of Sciences, museum and aquarium based programming, and a state of the art Digital Platform to support field science teaching and learning collaboratively with Morgan Stanley.

Kamal El-Wattar - Co-Founder, Board President

Kamal believes that the collective knowledge of all human languages and nature holds vital solutions for a regenerative future. With the coming wave of AI upon us (…written in 2018…), he focuses his efforts on the intersection of intelligence technology and nature’s knowledge as the fastest way to scale up solutions. In his previous life, Kamal managed software localization companies in the Middle East, Asia and South America. For 17 years, his teams adapted software into more than 100 languages for HP, Microsoft, Nokia, Adobe, Medtronic, Sanofi, Ford and others. Kamal co-leads a family fund which is dedicated to supporting biological and cultural knowledge such as indigenous language revival through Wikitongues, and natural solutions through AskNature at The Biomimicry Institute. He is a graduate of linguistics and biomedical sciences from The University of Manchester, UK.

A descendant of the Muisca people of Colombia, Evelyn is passionate about Indigenous self-determination and Indigenous-led philanthropy. She is the Founder and CEO of Indigenous Resilience Consulting (IRC), with the mission to build Native-led capacity and serve as a strategic advisor to both donors and Indigenous communities. She is the former Vice President for Native Conservancy, the first Native land trust in the US where a fundraising campaign she led raised millions and played a pivotal role managing daily operations with a focus on development, program, financials, and forward-looking strategies.

Evelyn helped to found and ran for 15 years the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP), a donor affinity group dedicated to supporting Indigenous communities. It was the first organize effort to bring hundreds of millions of dollars directly into Indigenous communities globally. Evelyn was one of the first voices for Indigenous-led philanthropy and notably led the effort for several donor publications, including the Foundation Center’s Funding Indigenous Peoples: Strategies for Support.

She currently serves on the Board and Development Committee for three NGOs: Biomimicry Institute, Fortunate Farm and Love Wild Horses, and is an advisor to Earth Codes Observatory. She is the co-found of Coastside Friendship Organize Garden (c-FOG) and served on the HMB Parks and Recreation Commission. She served as a board member of Cultural Survival for nearly a decade.

She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Cornell University. She is a Goldman Environment Prize nominator and a Donella Meadows Leadership Fellow. A Master Gardner of San Mateo and San Francisco County, California, Evelyn lives in the territory of the Pomo tribe (now called Mendocino) with her husband and three children. She spends her free time gardening and exploring the raw beauty of the land.

Mitch Ferguson - Board Treasurer

Mitch Ferguson is a highly accomplished and mission-driven technology leader with a strong background in information technology and security. Throughout his career, Mitch has held leadership roles at prominent organizations such as Tesla, Minted, First Republic Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, and OpenText, where he made notable contributions to product development, Engineering, IT management, Security, Automation, and process improvement.

Known for his strategic mindset and passion for cutting-edge solutions and partnerships, Mitch brings a wealth of experience in driving strategic technology solutions and building high-performance Product, IT, and security teams. Mitch specializes in technology and security strategies, capacity planning, SAAS application strategy, Data Center transitions, and Operations.

Mitch's expertise extends to implementing cutting-edge solutions and building stable, sustainable, and scalable IT infrastructure and security systems. He has a track record of implementing innovative technologies and ensuring the highest levels of security for organizations. His knowledge and experience in technology and security make him a valuable addition to the board of Earth Codes Observatory.

Joshua Sheridan Fouts - Co-Founder, Executive Director, Board Secretary

Joshua weaves passions for media, AI, the arts, games, education technology and cultural relations into all that he does. He began his career in Washington, DC in the 1990s where he worked at the US State Department and began to experiment with new ways to use radio, television and Internet technology for cultural collaboration. He went on to launch two first-of-their-kind think tanks focused on digital media innovation and cultural relations at the USC Annenberg School in Los Angeles. Recently he guided Bioneers as Executive Director.

Throughout his career, he has successfully launched and lead mission-driven, socially conscious, internationally-focused, arts, science, technology and culture non-profits, and philanthropic and social good businesses.

Cris Beasley

Cris has pursued the question "what makes people feel ALIVE" through a career in human-centered design in Silicon Valley, to a podcast called Hack Reality exploring emerging technology and has most recently went all the way off the map to explore esoteric traditions of energy work and conscious touch. She has founded three companies, had her projects featured in The Atlantic, Fast Company and the Verge, and is a top 50 writer for Medium. Her life's mission dissolving the illusion that art, beauty and spirituality are at odds with science, reason and logic. She's the creator of Becoming Dragon, an oracle deck to transform dark emotions into creative fire.

Cris is steering Earth Codes Observatory along the path to balance digital and analogue immersive experiences in the historic San Francisco space. She is also the producer for the upcoming podcast from the Observatory called “Biomimics” which explores the knowledge, skills and senses certain people are elucidating from nature.

Ahmed Rahim

Ahmed Rahim is the Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Alchemist behind Numi Organic Tea, the largest premium, organic, Fair Trade Certified tea company in North America. Ahmed is responsible for all of the unique Numi blends and products the company introduces to the marketplace. He started the company in 1999 in Oakland, California with his sister, Reem Rahim Hassani. 

At Numi, Ahmed travels to remote regions of the world seeking unique herbs and teas unknown in the United States, building partnerships with farmers and their communities. 

Ahmed chairs the Numi Foundation, focusing on the Together for H2OPE initiative, bringing clean water to Numi Inc's farming community.

At home in the Bay Area, he co-founded OSC2, One Step Closer to an Organic Sustainable Community, a national community of sustainable natural products CEO’s and business leaders driving positive change and building sustainable awareness in the food industry.

Ahmed sits on various for profit and non-profit boards enhancing their growth strategy and sustainability goals. Ahmed’s core goal is to be in service to those focused on caring for their community and creating positive change for our environment.

Daniel Bögre Udell

Daniel Bögre Udell's goal is to create a world in which everyone has the resources and the right to keep their language alive. He cofounded Wikitongues in 2014, establishing a global volunteer movement to expand access to language revitalization. Wikitongues helps speakers document and promote their languages online, safeguarding them for the next generation. All their initiatives work to sustain marginalized languages through media, so their language can be shared and taught. They are collecting videos in every language in the world.

Prior to this, Bögre Udell was an active contributor to the nonprofit news initiative Global Voices, cofounding the project's Catalan language edition and translating Catalan articles into English. He has a BFA in design and technology and a master's degree in historical studies from the New School University in New York City. In addition to Urdell's native English, he speaks Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese.

Daniel is helping the Earth Codes Observatory identify and incorporate knowledge from minority languages into its upcoming programming before much of it is lost.