- Mission -
To assist people in understanding, accessing and growing the green economy.
Board of Directors:
John Miller
John Miller is an investor and executive consultant specializing in high performance growth companies. John began his career as a management consultant with Ernst and Young and managed the commercial real estate endowment for Stanford University. He served as CEO and in other senior management positions at several financial services and technology companies and has proven expertise in business development, mergers and acquisitions, finance, and strategic planning and implementation. He holds a BS in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, completed studies at Cambridge and Stanford Universities and is a graduate of the Executive Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
jhm615@gmail.com
541.382.7950
Kathryn Gray of Urbansun Designs
Kathryn Gray is a home designer specializing in passive solar homes. She has been principal of Urbansun SunSmart Homes since 1978, a firm which offers consulting services on passive solar and sustainable home construction, and has constructed dozens of passive solar homes over the past 25 years. Kathryn was appointed in 2004 by the Governor to Oregon's Residential Structures Board. Kathryn graduated from Portland State University and has spent much of her professional career as an urban planner focusing on natural resources and energy conservation policy.
kathrynkeenangray@gmail.com
541.330.0612
Dr. John Kitzhaber, former Oregon Governor
John Kitzhaber served as Oregon Governor from 1995 to 2003. He was President of the State Senate from 1985 until 1993. Gov. Kitzhaber has been closely involved with natural resource issues in Oregon and the West during his entire public service career. As Governor of Oregon, he was an advocate for finding innovative and cooperative solutions to the natural resource issues confronting the region. He served as co-chair of the Western Governors' Association efforts that developed a comprehensive strategy to address forest health and the risk of catastrophic fire throughout the West. He took the lead on Columbia River management issues. His administration developed and implemented the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds as a way to involve local communities in the recovery of threatened and endangered salmon runs. Gov. Kitzhaber joined with former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to develop the “Enlibra “ approach to resource management, and led the effort to address the forest health crisis in the Northwest through his work with the Blue Mountains Demonstration Area. He earned his bachelor of science degree from Dartmouth College and his medical degree from the University of Oregon Medical School.
503.221.2161
Founder:
Cylvia Hayes, MES
Cylvia is the founder and CEO of 3EStrategies, LLC, which is on a mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable building, energy and economic practices. As 3EStrategies evolved into a consulting firm and green product development company, Hayes launched the Green Economy Institute to continue the important impacts provided through the non-profit sector. In 2005, Cylvia was honored as a Top 50 Leader in Oregon by Oregon Business magazine. She was chosen by Cascade Business News as a 2006 Top 40 Under 40 and was named the 2006 Central Oregon “Earth Star”. Cylvia is currently serving as the co-chair of Governor Kulongoski’s Renewable Energy Working Group. Hayes was trained by former Vice President Al Gore to deliver the climate change presentation that is the basis of An Inconvenient Truth. She has reworked that presentation to focus on the opportunities provided by, and solutions to, the climate change challenge. Hayes is leading development of a Green Jobs Initiative for the State of Oregon.
History
In 1999, a small group of citizens founded a non-profit organization named Earth Connections and set out to help people adopt sustainable living practices. A few years later, realizing that unsustainable building practices, energy generation and consumption were at the top of the list for causing environmental harm, but could readily be changed to more sustainable alternatives, the organization focused on green building and sustainable energy solutions. The name was changed to 3EStrategies.
The hard working organization accomplished a great deal through its educational programs, advocacy work, publications and events. They developed the Oregon Green and Solar Homes Tours into the most coordinated, expansive green tour program in the nation. They created the Green + Solar Building Oregon magazine. They founded the Building Green Council of Central Oregon and the Business Alliance for Sustainable Energy (BASE). They helped to get important laws passed including the Oregon Renewable Portfolio Standard. They provided thousands of hours of educational programming for individuals, homeowners, building professionals and elected officials.
In 2004, 3EStrategies began providing consulting services on green building, clean energy, sustainable business operations, and economic development projects. The demand for those services grew steadily.
In 2008, believing that making the transition to a post-fossil fuel, low carbon economy, was no longer being hampered by lack awareness or concern, but rather by lack of actual examples of the green economy in action, 3EStrategies decided to become a limited liability company focused directly on policy development and consulting on concrete, successful green buildings, clean energy companies and low carbon footprint businesses.
While the entire Board and staff of 3EStrategies were unanimously in support of becoming a company, rather than a non-profit organization, they felt it was important to continue to provide tools for change through the non-profit world. And so, in January 2009, the Green Economy Institute was established with a mission of assisting people in understanding, accessing and growing the green economy.
