Blue Earth board members are selected for their diverse expertise and commitment to furthering the mission of Blue Earth. The board is assisted by a select group of advisory board members.
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John Commiskey, Secretary
Since earning an MBA from the University of Notre Dame, John has worked at leading internet companies including Expedia and Amazon.com, where he currently serves as a Senior Product Manager. John is an amateur photographer interested primarily in outdoor, wilderness, travel and adventure photography. In addition to his work with Blue Earth, John also serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center.
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Benjamin Drummond & Sara Joy Steele
As a documentary team, Benjamin Drummond and Sara Joy Steele have been telling stories about people, nature and climate change for almost a decade. Their personal project, Facing Climate Change, has been featured in Orion magazine, Photo District News and Mother Jones, in exhibitions from Napa's Ansel Adams Fine Art Gallery to Houston Center for Photography, and as a multimedia presentation shown at a variety of venues, from conferences and prisons to universities. Benj and Sara are currently serving as project representatives on Blue Earth's Board of Directors. Facing Climate Change has been sponsored by Blue Earth since 2007. www.bdsjs.com
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Natalie Fobes, Vice President
Pulitzer Prize finalist Natalie Fobes has shot assignments for National Geographic, Smithsonian, Audubon and others. Her images of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill are iconographic and she is known as the “salmon lady” due to her 10 year book project about the fish and its cultures. The author of three coffee table books, her work is represented by Corbis, Getty, National Geographic Image Collection and Science Faction photo agencies. Natalie’s fine art portraiture is nationally recognized. Natalie is a co-founder of Blue Earth Alliance and teaches courses at lynda.com in addition to her local workshops.
www.fobesphoto.com -
Gary Halpern
Gary Halpern is the publisher/owner of PhotoMedia Magazine an award-winning publication (8 Maggie Awards in 33 nominations, 11 APEX Grand Awards, 14 APEX Awards of Excellence) that has served the photo industry for more than 25 years. Gary was producer/director of PhotoMedia Expo, a highly respected 3-day photo trade show and seminar series from 1993-1996. He also produced World in Focus in 2003, a prestigious photo contest culminating in a 7-week, 91-print exhibit of the winners in downtown Seattle along with a 3-day seminar series, both concentrated on nature, the environment and endangered cultures photography. Prior to his publishing and event experience, he was a photojournalist and also assisted notable commercial and editorial photographers. Gary has traveled extensively throughout the world, enjoys playing the piano, and is an avid swing and salsa dancer.
www.photomediaonline.com -
Gary Hawkey, Treasurer
Gary's passion for imaging and science led him to pioneer techniques for photo restoration, edition printing and the application of computers to all phases of graphic design and photo reproduction. He has a 35 year history in the graphic arts and photographic businesses. Currently he is the managing partner at iocolor, a premier book production company which produces work for museums, artists, photographers as well as university presses and major publishers. iocolor is located in the historic Pioneer District in the building that housed the first printing company in the downtown area of Seattle.
www.iocolor.com -
Jason Houston
For over 20 years Jason Houston has worked to make a living making work that matters. As a result, most of his projects are a combination of long-term personal efforts with related assignments for editorial and NGO clients. Recent subjects include deforestation in Borneo, fisheries in the Sea of Cortez, and agricultural heritage on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. From 2004-2012 Jason served as picture editor for Orion magazine and in 2011 he founded the media company, Take One Creative, to produce documentary films and story-driven communication content in all mediums for clients led by their missions and passions. He has exhibited widely and has lectured often on his work at venues including Mountainfilm, San Francisco Art Institute, Harvard, Yale, Duke, Williams College, The New Mexico Museum of Art, and the Nevada Museum of Art. He lives in Louisville, CO.
www.jasonhouston.com and Take One Creative -
Chase Jarvis, Creative Vice President
A sports, lifestyle, and pop culture photographer, Chase has been working with corporate clients like Vulcan, Volvo, Nike, Microsoft, Columbia Sportswear, REI, Patagonia, and Jeep. Chase is also a member of ASMP, EP and ASPP. Chase Jarvis Media has offices in both Seattle and Paris. www.chasejarvis.com
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Dan Lamont, President
During his 30 year career in photojournalism, Dan has covered issues of the environment, land use, and social change for many publications. Dan is former Director of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), and immediate past-President of the ASMP Foundation. www.danlamont.com
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Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director
Bart acts as the Executive Director for Blue Earth in Seattle. He has extensive experience in academia and in the non-profit sector advocating for progressive issues including GLBT human rights. He is strongly committed to the preservation of biodiversity and a passionate supporter of animal rights.
Social Media Intern
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Patrick Harkey
Patrick Harkey is a student at the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University studying marketing. He will be graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in the fall of 2014. Previously working as an on-campus representative for Vittana, his current post as Social Media Intern at Blue Earth is his second recent position at a nonprofit organization in our local community.