REGENERATION - Key Persons
André Leu was named international director of Regeneration International in 2017. Previously he was president of IFOAM-Organics International, the international umbrella organization for the organic sector. IFOAM, which has about 850 member organisations in 127 countries, was a founding member of RI. During his tenure as president of IFOAM, Leu served on the RI steering committee.
During 40-plus years of visiting and working in more than 100 countries, Leu acquired an extensive knowledge of farming and environmental systems across Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa and Australasia. He and his wife, Julia, run an organic tropical fruit farm in Daintree, Australia.
Leu is an international lecturer who has spoken at the United Nations and at conferences, seminars, universities and workshops. He advises governments, industry, farmers, consumers and NGOs on the multi-functional benefits of regenerative organic agriculture.
He is the author of "Poisoning our Children" and the "Myths of Safe Pesticides." He has contributed articles to magazines, newspapers, journals, conference proceedings, newsletters and websites.
Ben Dobson, is an agriculturist, entrepreneur and co-chair of the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal. He is also director of Hudson Carbon, an open source collaborative research institute, where he leads efforts focused on monitoring the carbon storage potential of soil, and aims to provide a model that is profitable while improving soil health and function. Throughout his career, Dobson has owned and managed several farms in the Northeast U.S. In 2007, Dobson founded Atlantic Organics, which was the largest organic fresh vegetable farm in Maine. Between this farm and his other venture, Locally Known LLC., Dobson provided the first 100-percent East Coast-grown and packaged organic salads for sale to the broader retail market in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Dobson has also worked in the Dominican Republic, where he learned about the production and export of organic bananas, coffee and mangoes, and where he developed an organic coffee business in Haiti.
Dr. Vandana Shiva is a scientist, philosopher, feminist, author, environmentalist and activist for peace, sustainability and social justice. In 1991, Shiva founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources. She is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award for her work in placing women and ecology at the center of the international development agenda. Shiva is the author of more than 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals, and more than 20 books, including "Soil Not Oil," "Who Really Feeds the World" and "Earth Democracy."
Ercilia Sahores is a founding member of and Latin America director for Regeneration International. She is also campaigns director for Mexico-based Association de Consumidores Organicos. Originally from Argentina, Sahores is based in Mexico City. She is a beekeeper and political scientist, specializing in international relations, adult education and community development. Sahores previously worked as executive director for several grassroots organizations in Latin America. She has more than 15 years experience campaigning and organizing in lower-income communities and rural areas. Sahores serves on several nonprofit boards, including Caminos de Agua in Guanajuato, México.
Hans Herren is a Swiss entomologist, farmer and development specialist. He was the first person from Switzerland to receive the 1995 World Food Prize and the 2013 Right Livelihood Award for leading a major biological pest management campaign in Africa, successfully fighting the Cassava mealybug and averting Africa's worst-ever food crisis. Herren is the president and CEO of the Washington-based Millennium Institute and co-founder and president of Biovision, a Switzerland-based foundation focused on food security and sustainable agriculture.
John D. Liu, filmmaker and writer, is director of the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP), ecosystem ambassador for the Commonland Foundation and a visiting research fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1997, Liu founded the Environmental Education Media Project to help educate the public about environmental and ecological issues first in China and then worldwide, producing, directing, writing, filming and presenting many ecological films broadcast worldwide.
Job Titles:
- Founding Director of EarthWisdom Consulting Co.
Precious Phiri is founding director of EarthWisdom Consulting Co., which directs community organizing and training in regenerative and restorative agriculture and holistic grazing practices in the Hwange Communal Lands region of Zimbabwe. Her work focuses on training rural communities and collaborating with networks in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and restore food and water security for people, livestock and wildlife and reduce drought and flood risks. Phiri's previous work includes nine years with with the Savory Institute Hub in Zimbabwe, focused on training and community engagement.
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, native of Guatemala, is the principal architect of a leading Regenerative Poultry System design under implementation in the US and internationally, he directs the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance with a mission to scale-up the regenerative poultry and a family of economically, ecologically and socially related sectors that make up the regenerative poultry system. He has won numerous awards for his work, including the Twin Cities International Citizens of the Year (1996), and the Northfield, Minnesota, Service to Mankind Award (SERTOMA), 2008. He recently was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship and one of MOSES-2020 advancing organic agriculture Changemaker Award. Haslett-Marroquin serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa. He is a founding member of Regeneration International and multiple regenerative initiatives. He is the author of "In the Shadow of Green Man."
Job Titles:
- Chairman in Bundestag ( German Parliament )
Renate Künast is a German politician of Alliance '90/The Greens. She was the Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture from 2001 to 2005. She now serves as chairwoman of her party's parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Always taking a firm stand, she has put herself fully behind the Save Our Soils Campaign.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and International Director of the Organic Consumers Association
Ronnie Cummins is co-founder and international director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and its Mexico affiliate, Vía Orgánica. Cummins has been active as a writer and activist since the 1960s, with extensive experience in public education, grassroots mobilization, and marketplace pressure campaigns. Over the past two decades he has served as director of U.S. and international campaigns dealing with sustainable agriculture issues including food safety, genetic engineering, factory farming, and global warming. Cummins has published hundreds of articles in the alternative and mainstream press. He is also the author of "Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers," and a series of children's books called "Children of the World."
Job Titles:
- CEO of Mercola Health Resources
Steve A. Rye, is CEO of Mercola Health Resources, an online natural health organization featuring natural health products and advice from Dr. Joseph Mercola. Mercola.com is the most visited natural health website in the world. Mercola Health is dedicated to giving back to the community and partnering with key organizations on promoting key health policy initiatives and education related to health, food safety, and informed consent.