Staff

Asher became the Executive Director of Post Carbon Institute in October 2008, after having served as the manager of our former Relocalization Network program. He's worked in the nonprofit sector since 1996 in various capacities. Prior to joining Post Carbon Institute, Asher founded Climate Changers, an organization that inspires people to reduce their impact on the climate by focusing on simple and achievable actions anyone can take. Some of his previous roles include:

• Partnership Director at Plugged In, an organization working in East Palo Alto, California that connects individuals and cultivates minds by creating the opportunity to produce, express, and contribute using technology;
• International Production Coordinator at Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation, which created the largest video archive in the world, containing more than 52,000 interviews conducted in 56 countries around the world; and
• Youth Manager at the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County, which engaged more than 800 teens a year in community service and education about social and environmental issues.
• Ghostwriter of the autobiography of a Polish Holocaust survivor who fought as a partisan in the forests of Belarus.

Asher has served as a consultant to a number of other nonprofit organizations, including Just Think and Okizu Foundation. He currently serves on the board of Transition United States. He recently served as a member of Senator John Edwards' Cleantech / Green Business Advisory Committee. Asher was born in the Netherlands, and has lived in Israel, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Connecticut, Colorado, and California. He currently lives in Santa Rosa, California with his wife and two children. Asher received his B.A. in Creative Writing from The Colorado College.

Barbara spent many years as a corporate finance and accounting professional in Bay area firms, primarily in the telecommunications industry. In the past few years she has focused on finance and accounting in non-profit organizations, both as staff and as a Board member. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the University of Cincinnati. She and her husband live in San Rafael where she is active in her neighborhood association and local non-profit groups which emphasize local sustainability and biodiversity preservation.

Crystal brings over 10 years of office management experience to Post Carbon Institute. While attending Sonoma State University (California), where she majored in Political Science and minored in Environmental Studies, Crystal was the CEO of the student organization Associated Students, a 501(c)3 non-profit. She then spent 6 years working in the field of health care, first with a local HMO insurance company, and then as the office manager for a small dental practice.

Crystal is a new mom, a part-time portrait photographer and a passionate cook. Crystal and her family have recently returned to Sonoma County after living abroad on the island of Mykonos in Greece.

As Publications Director of Post Carbon Institute, Daniel is the lead editor and manager of the Institute's major print publications—most recently the four-book Community Resilience Guide series (2012), a report series on shale gas production (2011), and The Post Carbon Reader (2010), a sixteen-author compilation on our interconnected sustainability crises. He is also the author of Post Carbon Cities (2007), the first major local government guidebook on the end of cheap oil.

Daniel has presented to professional, government, and public audiences across the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe, and Latin America. He has been interviewed in numerous radio, video, and print outlets, and has been quoted in major publications including The New York Times and Business Week. He has a Master of Urban Studies from Portland State University in Oregon, and has worked with urban sustainability and planning issues for fifteen years in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

Desiree oversees Post Carbon Institute’s creative and media strategies, website design, marketing-related projects, events, and Speaker’s Bureau. Desiree joined Post Carbon Institute in November 2007, bringing more than twelve years of experience in marketing, advertising and direct mail. Prior to joining PCI, she was Marketing Director for Travel of America and Robinson’s May Travel where she managed all marketing, promotions, and multi-media production for 40 locations. Desiree's previous experience also consists of art direction, and event management.

Ken White has devoted much of his career to enhancing opportunities for people and communities. A graduate of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government's mid-career program, he has worked with nonprofits for nearly two decades. Previously, Ken was the coordinating director of the Chaordic Commons, Inc., a group created by Dee Hock, the founding director of VISA. He was the executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, a citizen-led organization working for truly representative government. Prior to that, he directed communications for the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and Coalition of Essential Schools, and held similar posts with Oxfam America and the Institute for Defense & Disarmament Studies. Ken has also been a consultant to numerous nonprofits, and was a journalist not so long ago.

Simone has a background in managing different kinds of printed and web content from a career spent largely in the publishing and translation industries. A UK citizen with some Austrian heritage via her mother, Simone recently spent 6 years living and working in the US. For the past 2 years Simone has been working in the nonprofit sector to raise awareness around and promote responses to peak oil and climate change. When away from the computer, Simone is grappling with learning permaculture and gardening via a community garden project. She also enjoys reading, cooking and music.

Tod brings to Post Carbon Institute a strong background in message production, creative direction and business strategy. As a writer, producer, photographer and strategist, he has recently worked on projects for Converse, Microsoft, Mamus Creative, Scout Productions and the Sundance Channel among others. Tod's career arc has always run near the intersection of the arts and activism.

Prior to joining the Post Carbon team, Tod founded the artisinal production company, Drop City Media. Before that, he co-founded Roshambo Winery+Gallery. While he’ll always miss Portland and Chico, Tod has settled in Healdsburg with his family and a massive arsenal of vintage Polaroid cameras.