Chris Carmody serves as Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development. Chris has spent the better part of 20 years helping cities utilize social entrepreneurship, the arts and sustainability practices as catalysts for economic growth. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1989, Chris staffed Michael R. White in his successful bid to become Cleveland’s second African American mayor. He served in Mayor White’s cabinet in education policy and entrepreneurial government posts from 1990 – 1995, and on Cleveland’s Board of Zoning Appeals for six years. Chris holds an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, where he also served as graduate business student body president. In 1998, Chris founded the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, which brought over $55 million in new motion picture business to northeast Ohio including parts of Spider-Man 3 and films starring George Clooney, Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan. Chris has taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in non-profit strategic management and politics at Oberlin College and Cleveland State University. In 2002 he was selected for the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship.
Chris has served as Trustee of several organizations promoting local business, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, economic development and the arts. Some of the boards on which he has served include the Greater Cleveland Partnership (www.gcpartnership.com); the Cleveland Film Society (www.clevelandfilm.org); Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (www.e4s.org); and the Civic Innovation Lab (www.civicinnovationlab.org). Chris managed the first campaign for public funding of arts and culture in Cuyahoga County.
A 2009 MBA grad from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Sarah Kate studied Social Enterprise and Marketing. Prior to earning her MBA, she worked at Google as a Consumer Operations Strategist, where she experienced the power of integrating community and environmental principles into business activities. Sarah Kate is an avid technophile, having coordinated AdWords, Google Video, and YouTube project teams while at Google. While at business school, Sarah Kate was on the founding team at PlotWatt, a web-based residential energy efficiency start-up. She received a BA in Government from Dartmouth College in 2002.
Growing up in Niger and Morocco, Kirsten learned about sustainable development as well as environmental conservation first hand. Her passion of both brought her to the Institute. She is on the board of the Hausman Foundation for the Environment, a family foundation that concentrates on environmentally significant areas of the Caribbean. She received her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Denver in 2004. After moving from Colorado to North Carolina, she started working with the Institute for Sustainable Development in 2008 to assist in the launch of the Green Plus program.
Anne moved to Chapel Hill from Kentucky to complete a Masters in Social Work at UNC and graduated in 2007 with a concentration in community practice and a certificate in international development. A 2001 graduate of the University of Richmond with a Bachelor of Arts in French and International Studies, Anne’s personal and professional interests led her overseas, where she has worked in development in West Africa and Central and South America. Anne joined the Foundation in 2006 as a program assistant and, in August of 2007, began work as the associate director of the new Institute for Sustainable Development.
Aaron Nelson has been the CEO of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce since 2001 and was appointed Executive Director of the Chamber’s partner, the Foundation for a Sustainable Community upon its creation in 2004. Aaron currently serves on the Board of Directors of The ArtsCenter and The Carolina Club, the Steering Committee of the Regional Transportation Alliance, the Advisory Board of Small Business and Technology Development Center and the Board of Regents of the Northeast Institute for Organization Management. Aaron is a 1997 graduate of UNC Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy where he also served as Student Body President. Prior to his service with the Chamber, Aaron worked at UNC Chapel Hill holding several appointments including Special Assistant to the Chancellor and Coordinator of Local Relations. Aaron has been a resident of the Triangle since 1982 and lives in Chapel Hill with his wife Sonja, son Maxwell Isaiah and daughter Atlee Elizabeth.
Shana Starobin is a social entrepreneur and educator dedicated to creating innovative institutions and partnerships that promote social, environmental and economic sustainability from the bottom-up. Currently pursuing her PhD in Environmental Science and Policy at Duke’s Nicolas School of the Environment, Shana supports the Institute’s research and emerging initiatives, including the National Fellows Program and Sustainable Enterprise Clinic. At Duke, Shana served as President and Co-Founder of the Duke Microfinance Leadership Initiative (econ.duke.edu/microfinance), facilitating the growth of its interdisciplinary leadership team and launch of core programs, including the Investment Fund and Flip It, a collaboration with Institute. She has worked with a wide array of organizations in the U.S. and abroad around the issues of environmental sustainability, social enterprise, microfinance and community-based development, including AJWS, Ashoka, BRAC, FINCA, Friends of the Earth, and Green Corps. Shana holds two Masters degrees from Duke—in Environmental Management and Public Policy–as well as a BA from Harvard College.
