Brian O’Hara is a recognized leader in the U.S. offshore wind industry and has led development, policy, and advocacy efforts in the Southeast since 2009. He has over 15 years of combined experience in offshore energy, project development, project management, engineering, and finance.Prior to entering the offshore wind industry, Brian gained first-hand operational experience as an engineer in ExxonMobil’s international offshore drilling group, working primarily in West Africa. He also led development teams and finance efforts in the real estate industry, gaining a depth of experience in permitting, entitlements, and environmental studies. He holds an MBA and master’s in engineering from Stanford University as well as a BS in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech.

In addition to leading the Southeastern Coastal Wind Coalition, Brian offers professional consulting services in the energy industry.

At 10, Dipika Kohli lost her closest friend when a terrorist bomb exploded in the underbelly of that friend’s plane. This happened in 1985, just off the coast of Ireland, where Dipika chanced to find herself an expat 15 years later. She’s chronicled the story of love, loss, chance, and hope in a four-volume memoir titled Kismuth, which means “destiny” in Hindi.Trained in engineering at N.C. State, where she was a John T. Caldwell Alumni Scholar, now Dipika turns her attention to the quiet space of memoir, of introspection and immersion in stories of chance, the heart, and fate.

“Physics always intrigued me,” she says. “Philosophy, too. I think about the way Max Planck and the early quantum physicists were called ‘natural philosophers.’ It’s not unrelated, you know. The quest for query, exploration, and the human will to seek. For the heart to search for story in unrelated patches of events.”
Her work has been published in: The Irish Examiner, AbroadView, Tokyo Notice Board, J@pan, Inc., The Independent Weekly, and what used to be the Triangle’s own Spectator and Urban Hiker magazines. Dipika lives in Durham and is half of Design Kompany. http://www.kismuth.com

Arthur E. Apolinario, M.D., M.P.H.  is a Board-Certified Family Physician, entrepreneur, and Social Artist. Earning his MD and MPH from Tulane University School of Medicine, “Dr. Art” went on to embrace unorthodox learning pathways, studying Hypnotherapy, Neuro-linguistic Programming, and Emotional Freedom Technique. These integrative methodologies have enhanced his medical practice helping patients with disorders ranging from obesity, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and fibromyalgia.

The pathway that led to this integration was that of the Social Artist.  After a divorce, he set out on the path to self-improvement in his relationships with “in the trenches” training under the Pickup Artist community, made famous by Neil Strauss’s best seller “The Game.” Art became one of the top social-arts instructors in the United States, presenting at the PUA World Summit 2010, 2011 and recently, the Ultimate PUA Convention this September 2012.

Dr. Art served two terms as Board President of the U Care Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Program, served on the NC Governor’s Crime Commision, Council on Domestic Violence under Governor Easley, holds an AMA Young Physician’s Section Community Service Award for his work in domestic violence prevention and was a nominee for the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence: Men for Change award.

 Jeff Fischer, Ph.D. has been on all sides of career coaching and business development; chasing the brass ring, and catching quite a few. He’s been a banker, consulting firm partner, fund manager, and corporate executive. He even picked up four graduate degrees along the way. Jeff found his own career resonance by following the CORE principles he now teaches. Jeff firmly believes that developing your career involves knowing who you are and what you do naturally and having the courage to find where that fits in the world. The key to doing that is Resonance. And it has everything to do with how you can land the business or job you want.  You can learn more about Jeff at http://www.corecareercoaching.com.

Larry grew up in Seattle, ended up in Raleigh by way of earning his PhD in Economics at NC State, which didn’t happen, because he switched from studying economics to practicing it by starting one of the first coffee houses in the Triangle in 1994. He eventually sold the coffee house to focus on sourcing and roasting coffee. In 1999, motivated by searching out more wildly unique coffees, he became one of the founding members of Cooperative Coffees, the country’s first and still the only cooperative of indie coffee roasters completely committed to sourcing Fair Trade.  In 2001, he went on a Fair Trade delegation to Chiapas, Mexico and found himself utterly inspired by the conviction of the farmers.

When Larry says, “once you start doing things to make the world better, it’s addicting,” he speaks from personal experience. In 2004, through his creative blends program, he made his entire inventory 100% organic, shade-grown and fair trade. He then developed a program that let customers track their bag of coffee’s entire document trail from the farm to the roaster. And has since spearheaded FairTradeProof.org, scaling out that transparency to all members of Cooperative Coffees. He switched his company’s local delivery vehicle to a  school bus running on used vegetable oil collected from area restaurants. He established and continues to host Raleigh’s only Biodiesel 100 pump. He “green-o-vated” the company’s warehouse and roasting facilities, incorporating a passive solar clear story, active solar radiant heating, rain-water harvested supplied restrooms. He invested to create what may have been the industries first biodegradable coffee bag. And he is in the midst of several efforts to raise the bar on overall product transparency, which he sees as a key force for transforming the intelligence and ethics of the marketplace.

Jim Whitehurst was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat in December 2007.Before joining Red Hat, Whitehurst held various positions at Delta Airlines, most recently as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for Operations, Sales and Customer Service, Network and Revenue Management, Marketing and Corporate Strategy. Prior to joining Delta, Whitehurst served as Vice President and Director of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and held various leadership roles in their Chicago, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Atlanta offices.

A native of Columbus, Georgia, Whitehurst graduated from Rice University in Houston, Texas, with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Economics. He also attended Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, Germany, holds a general course degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Phil Freelon is the founder and president of The Freelon Group, Architects – a 65 person firm based in Durham, NC. Focusing on higher education, science & technology and museum/cultural center projects, Freelon’s firm has successfully delivered award winning building design within a collaborative and innovative studio environment. The firm has completed major museum projects in Baltimore, MD, San Francisco, CA, Greensboro and Charlotte, NC. The team of Freelon Adjaye Bond is leading the design for the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture currently under construction on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Recent commissions include libraries in Washington, DC, Atlanta, GA and Chicago, IL as well as a commemorative park in Houston, TX and a museum in Jackson MS. The Freelon Group has received forty-five American Institute of Architects (AIA) design awards and has also received AIA North Carolina’s Outstanding Firm Award in 2001.

Freelon has served as an adjunct professor at the College of Design, North Carolina State University and has been a visiting critic and lecturer at Harvard, the University of Maryland, Syracuse University, the University of Virginia, Kent State University, the University of Cincinnati, Catholic University and the University of California-Berkeley, among others. Freelon currently holds a Professor of Practice appointment at MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning where he has taught since 2007.

Freelon is one of 30 licensed architects and 31 LEED® Accredited Professionals in his firm and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. In 2009 he received the AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture and in 2010 he was awarded AIA North Carolina’s Gold Medal. In 2011 he was appointed by President Barrack Obama to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. Freelon is also a recipient the Loeb Fellowship from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

A native of Philadelphia, PA., Freelon holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design (Architecture) from North Carolina State University’s College of Design and a Master of Architecture from MIT.

Mr. Burke has served as President and CEO of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina since March of 2009, previously serving as founding board chair and lead initiator from July of 2007. The Biofuels Center is a private, non-profit corporation established by the State of North Carolina to implement policy and strategic commitment for large biofuels capacity. The Center is judged the nation’s only agency working within a long-term and comprehensive framework for all aspects of biofuels development.

Mr. Burke has been an active participant in the national and international life science and biotechnology communities since the mid-1980’s. He speaks nationally and internationally on life science technology development, with particular attention to:
-The policies, issues, and development of biofuels
-The factors, strategies, and issues shaping effective biotechnology and life science communities
-The international and cultural imperatives of biotechnology development

Mr. Burke departed the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in 2009 as senior vice president for corporate affairs. Over 24 years, he helped shape the approach and strategies of the Center, the world’s first targeted initiative for biotechnology development. He was responsible for varied activities and programs addressing strategic, governmental, policy, societal, and international issues.

Prior to joining the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in 1985 as its fifth employee, Mr. Burke taught Instructional Design at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has an undergraduate degree in Religion and Literature from Duke University, and a Master of Education in Instructional Design from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He owns, curates, and informs about the nation’s largest collection of American folk art buildings.

Health! That’s the name of the game for Ryan. During her first career, she improved the mental health of individuals and families–working both in the United States and France. Strengthening intercultural well-being also came naturally through her work, travel and Rotary International experiences. Recently graduated from an MBA program specializing in Managing for Sustainability, Ryan now focuses on business health.

She feels she hit the jackpot in working with the urban farm startup, Raleigh City Farm, because urban farms positively impact the well being of: the economy, the environment, individual physical and mental health, and community health.

Raleigh City Farm grows food from local rain, local sunshine and local compost, less than a mile from the city center. We are working to change the predominating industrial food paradigm by inspiring people to reconnect with food and community. Come visit us on the farm! raleighcityfarm.org

Aaron Syrett was appointed director of the North Carolina Film Office in April of 2007. He comes to North Carolina via Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was the Director of the Utah Film Commission. He holds a BS degree in Film, Television, and Radio from the School of Communication at the University of Utah, and a certificate in Producing from Rockport Film School in Rockport, Maine. In 2009, Aaron became one of the first film commissioners in the world to attain the professional designation of Certified Film Commissioner CFC awarded by the Association of Film Commissioners International. Aaron’s work experience includes: Canal + US, KZHT 94.9, Carmike Cinemas, Mann Theaters and the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s office producing crime prevention videos. Aaron is married and has a son and twin daughters.

Anthropologist-turned-fashion maven Marissa Heyl is founder of newly launched Symbology Clothing, an ethical fashion label with global perspective. She is a pioneer in the fashion industry, fusing handmade artisan fabrics from developing countries with fashion-forward designs–or as she puts it, fair trade made sexy.

Prior to founding Symbology, Heyl strategized with nonprofits on how to utilize multimedia platforms to promote positive change. She received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellowship at UNC, where she also founded Patchwork magazine, the university’s first international publication. She has worked with a multitude of artisan communities around the world, thanks in part to her experience as the 2007 Duke Enterprising Leadership Fellow at Ten Thousand Villages. Heyl’s inspiration to start Symbology developed from her research as a 2006 Mahatma Gandhi Fellow, in which she researched how fair trade empowers craftswomen in India.

facebook.com/symbologyclothing

David is a visionary and passionate advocate for downtowns who relentlessly pursues innovative solutions for every aspect of his work. During David’s tenure (2007-present) as CEO of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DRA), Raleigh’s Central Business District has attracted over $1 billion in new investments. DRA is the nonprofit leadership organization responsible for expanding on the ongoing revitalization of downtown.

In 2006, David received the Bronze Star for his service as an Army Intelligence Officer in Operation Iraqi Freedom. David has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Virginia Tech and he did his graduate work in City & Regional Planning at Cornell University. In 2011, David earned a certificate from the Harvard Business School for Excellence in Nonprofit Governance. David was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Philadelphia. David, his wife Emily, and twin boys Xavier and Ansel, live in the downtown neighborhood of Pilot Mill in Raleigh.

A.J. Ware is the executive director of Inmates to Entrepreneurs, Sageworks’ community outreach program that teaches current and former inmates how to start low capital businesses. A.J. is responsible for the overall growth and operations of the organization.A.J.’s entrepreneurial experience started at the age of 15 when he co-founded Mobile Radio Communications Company (MRC). In 1985, A.J. decided to change the company’s direction from selling CB radios to selling cellular phones. That decision took MRC from being a paying hobby to a true business that was sold three years later to Cellular One.

A.J. still has the entrepreneurial spirit, running a painting company and a motorsports park in addition to his work with Inmates to Entrepreneurs.

From the humbling beginnings of honing his craft on the street to catapulting into high demand in the corporate world, Shaun Jay truly is an alchemist. Most people call it magic, but he likes to think of his talent as a blessing that helps him express and communicate sales messages for corporate clients. He combines improv-style comedy with meticulous sleight of hand to create presentations that are enjoyed by audiences of all ages, leaving boring presentations a thing of the past!

The Ayr Mountaineers are an Americana/Country band rooted in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. All songs are originally written by singer/guitarist Ella Bertram, with an array of handsome boys standing behind her in support. Their backporch-pickin’ sound warms the heart, taps the toes, and makes the bodies shake. On stage you will find Alan Best on the piercingly sweet accordion and mandolin, Jack Fleishman on the hoppy banjo, Stacy Harden playing his deep melodic bass, Since fall 2010 they have been playing in and around the Triangle, filling restaurants, bars, clubs and parks with their unique mountainous sound. Early 2012 marks the release of their debut, self-titled album which, as you will find, flows like a crisp mountain stream into a whiskey still.

Saving disconnected humanity through subversive woodworking is Roy Underhill’s mission on earth. He is the author of seven books on traditional woodcraft as well as the book “Khruschev’s Shoe” which explores the application of intelligence theory to informal education. Because it is cheaper to broadcast than the test pattern, Roy’s series on hand tool craftsmanship, “The Woodwright’s Shop,” has been on PBS since the days of silent television. A former master craftsman at Colonial Williamsburg, he labored in the restored colonial capitol until the relentless fife and drum music finally got to him. Roy Underhill now lives in a restored water-powered mill near his new Woodwright’s School in Pittsboro, NC and he carries his axe wherever he goes.

Douglas Hanna is the CEO of A Small Orange, a provider of high quality shared, VPS, reseller, and dedicated web hosting. As CEO, Douglas leads the company’s management team and is directly responsible for the company’s finance, business development, marketing, and M&A activities. He is also responsible for HostNine and SEO Web Hosting, two companies that A Small Orange acquired in November 2010. Before joining A Small Orange in March 2010, Douglas was the Customer Service Manager at HostGator.com LLC, a world leading web hosting company with more than 225,000 customers. At HostGator, he was responsible for customer service and customer service operations, as well as corporate communications and public relations. Douglas also founded and writes for Service Untitled, a leading blog on customer service and the customer service experience and has done customer service consulting for companies such as Dell.

Sam Davidson is a speaker, writer, and dreamer who tells stories that need telling in order to motivate others to change the things that need changing. Since founding Cool People Care in 2006, he has been on a mission to help people discover what matters and direction their passions towards making a difference. He is the author of three books, all of which help people get rid of the things that don’t matter in order to truly focus on what does.

Tony Rice is a Software Engineer at Cisco Systems in RTP, NC by day
and shares his passion for space by night. Tony is a volunteer in the
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Ambassador program where
he frequently talks with audiences in schools, museums, libraries and
planetariums around the Triangle and beyond on space exploration
topics.

Rice is active with the Chapel Hill Astronomical and Observational
Society (CHAOS) and their STEM outreach efforts in cooperation with
the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at UNC Chapel Hill as well
as the National Park Service, and Girl Scouts to offer public outreach
programs for all ages. Most recently Rice has been seen on the WRAL
Morning News discussing NASA planetary science and Earth observing
missions.

Tony shares ideas on getting kids excited about science and math on
his blog, http://utprosim.com, as well as via twitter @rtphokie.

In 2010, Alexa attended the prestigious Stella Adler Summer Teen Conservatory, immersing herself in the Adler Technique and studying Shakespeare with renowned NYU professor, Don Williams. This past summer, she attended North Carolina Governor’s School West for Theater. Currently, she is enrolled at University of North Carolina School of the Arts for theatre in her senior year, under the direction of Dean Kelly Maxner. Alexa was a National Semi-Finalist at The English Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition held at Lincoln Center in New York City, in May 2011. She has participated in the National Japanese Speech Contest in Raleigh and was awarded the award for best overall presentation in 2010, and returned to get 1st place for level 2 in 2011. She is represented by Talent-One. Alexa is humbled and honored to be invited to talk for TEDx today. She also takes her hat off to the Bard.

Aaron grew up living all over the world, raised in a Foreign Service family, including Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines before returning back to Silver Spring, MD. There he finished high school at Our Lady of Good Counsel and later graduating from NC State.

His mystical journey attempts to discover more about who we are and what humans are truly capable of. Aaron shares transformative, practical and easy-to-implement ideas with the world like: harnessing the power of creativity, increasing our intelligences, modeling heart-centered living and communication, understanding consciousness, spiritual science and Unconditional Love.

Aaron is the co-founder of The LOVEolution, a online global love media project dedicated to spreading Love through a blend of personal expression, social media, and technology. The LOVEolution seeks to broadcast Love Media, which encompasses the ideas, philosophies and perspectives from contributors across the globe on Unconditional Love. (http://www.love-olution.com)

I am a 27 year-old technology entrepreneur and social entrepreneur. I co-founded and am fortunate enough to lead an amazing company called iContact. We help small and mid-sized businesses succeed online. We’ve grown a lot in the past few years and now have about 300 employees.
I’m passionate about using technology and entrepreneurship as tools to change the world. I grew up in Bradenton, Florida as the son of an Episcopal Priest from Pennsylvania and a social worker from England. I’m an angel investor in companies in the U.S. and East Africa via the Humanity Fund, an author of a book called Zero to One Million, and work as Chairman of the non-profit Nourish.org.
I believe that you can achieve anything you set your mind to. I live to inspire others to reach their full potential and create positive change in the world.

In 2008, Miles helped form 8 Rivers Capital to craft innovative solutions to some of the biggest problems we face. Drawing on his aerospace background, Miles and his colleagues invented a revolutionary thermodynamic cycle to generate electricity from natural gas, coal or biomass with zero air emissions and lower cost than existing p technologies.

A distinguished innovator, engineer, and scientist, Miles has several patents and numerous publications in a broad range of fields, including biomedicine, aerospace, optics, communications, transportation, robotics, energy, and environmental technology. Before founding 8 Rivers, Miles served in the U.S. Air Force, was selected for astronaut duty and was a Senior Scientist for over 20 years at Science Applications International Corporation.

Nnenna Freelon is a captivating live performer with recent notable triumphs with Jessye Norman and indie band The Roots in Langston Hughes’ “Ask Your Mama” at The Hollywood Bowl, on PBS’ The Charlie Rose Show, on the cable hit “Mad Men’. Winner of The Eubie Blake Award form The Cultural Crossroads in New York, France’s Academie Du Jazz Award, and six Grammy Award nominations, Freelon’s talent as artist and producer knows no bounds. Nnenna’s works champions children’s causes like Partners In Education, all to change lives “One Child At A Time.” She has received the first “Legends” Award from the YWCA, and recently performed for the President and First Lady, 21 global heads of state, and 300 dignataries at the 2011 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Conference) where she was asked to perform an encore.

Whether sharing the stage with George Benson, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, or touring with her own band, Earl Klugh, Nnenna Freelon shares her gift abundantly.

A lawyer and practicing poet, John A. “Sean” Doyle teaches positive psychology at North Carolina State University and consults on matters of well-being for a wide range of individuals and groups, including army drill sergeants, a multi-billion dollar health care company, global law firms and foreign government agencies. Sean combines his training in psychology with nearly 20 years of attending to the business needs of clients, to connect-the-dots between the mission of organizations, and the strengths and virtues of their people. By paying attention to the poetry that embroiders our lives with hope, beauty and wonder, Sean’s clients find innovative solutions for their businesses, and more meaning and fulfillment in life overall. Find out more about Sean at www.RainStickConsulting.com.

Callie graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in December 2009 with both Business Administration and Economics degrees. Originally born and raised in New Hampshire, she moved to the south for warmer weather and ended up falling in love. She studied abroad in Ghana with Rebecca (below) in the Fall of 2008. As the street children began to trust them, they confided that what they really needed was a source of income. Since then, Callie has been attempting to pursue her position as co-founder of ABAN full-time and see her and Rebecca’s dream take off.

Rebecca graduated from Concordia University in California in 2010 with an Art Education degree. Her creativity helps the street children create and produce products, and her education expertise helps reach schools in the US as well as create curriculums for both US and Ghanaian children. She traveled to Ghana in the Fall of 2008 with Callie, co-founded the organization and has returned several times to help expand and drive ABAN.

Second Breakfast is a up-and-coming alternative band based in Durham, NC. For more info visit http://www.reverbnation.com/secondbreakfast