About

The turbulent economic, environmental and regulatory challenges facing California and the world today mean that more and more organizations need the information, tools and leadership to operate more sustainably. Business and society as a whole are facing crises that will only reinforce the failure of older, rationalistic approaches to problem solving. The Idea Hive was formed to meet those needs and to help organizations prepare for future challenges.

The Idea Hive is a team of Green MBAs offering research, consulting and facilitation services to businesses and organizations in the Bay Area and beyond. By combining sustainability practices with cutting-edge thinking, the Hive helps individuals and organizations flourish and realize the power of creative collaboration.

Our mission is to promote sustainability as a strategy for thriving organizations.

Our vision is that sustainability becomes the new “business as usual.”

The ten founding members of The Idea Hive bring a rich background of experience and skills. The team practices what it preaches, using systemic methods such as conversation maps and learning narratives to enhance company decision-making. Individual members have professional background in management, high tech, graphic design, marketing and public relations, entertainment, education and curriculum design, and environmental technology solutions.

Please contact: thebees@theideahive.com if you would like to learn more

The ten founding members of The Idea Hive have extensive experience in consulting, research, high tech, facilitation, project design and management, marketing, graphic design and many aspects of environmental science and sustainability. The team met through the Green MBA program at Dominican Unviersity of California; and sharing the Green MBA experience and values is one of our core strengths.

Sasho Emlen brings a passion for workshop facilitation and organizational development to The Idea Hive. He is focused on the political implications of storytelling, especially through grassroots media. He is currently conducting research for a group of Native American tribal environmental directors in Nevada to assist with community-based recycling initiatives. Sasho has a background in sales, event management, wilderness leadership, and photography. He holds a B.A. in Drama and Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College, where he was fortunate to study with environmental pioneer Donella Meadows, the Moscow Art Theater, and Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed. He has an M.B.A. in Sustainable Enterprise (GreenMBA) from Dominican University of California.

Vanessa Fincher’s 15 years of combined professional experience in higher education, management, entertainment media, and marketing informs her current work with The Idea Hive and other organizations. She was the Director of the Film and TV Department at Merkantilt Institute of Norway, where she designed the curriculum, launched the program and taught the core classes. She has taught film and television courses at The University of Bergen, Norway and at Columbia College, Chicago. As founder and CEO of TigerLily Productions, a media company in Chicago that specialized in titles that promote social change, she wrote, directed and produced features, plays, PSAs, promos, and documentaries. In the last three years, she has developed marketing and social media strategies, in addition to alternative transportation, waste management plans for media businesses and municipalities. She also has designed and facilitated workshops on long term sustainability strategies. She holds a B.A. in Theater and Media from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois and an M.B.A. in Sustainable Enterprise (GreenMBA) from Dominican University in San Rafael, California.

David Hodgson has held lead engineering positions with Microsoft, Electronic Arts and Sony. He specializes in performance-oriented visualization of complex systems, Internet mediated communication, and software usability. Along with a GreenMBA, he has also studied systems thinking, system design, agile software development, user experience design, hypnotherapy, open space, cynefin, network weaving, and big picture thinking. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Imperial College in London. David co-founded the IdeaHive LLC, GreenYourManagement, and the Center for Sustainability at Dominican University of California. He is currently an adviser to Treevestors, FarmsReach.com, the GreenMBA and Burners Without Borders.

Hee Jung Lee has 12 years of experience in engineering and program/project management for high-tech and Internet companies including Google/YouTube and eBay/PayPal. She is currently a Technical Program Manager at Google, where she manages projects that help scale YouTube to meet its explosive growth in usage. She has also led marketing efforts for the Climate Savers Computing Initiative to redesign its website and to create a viral video competition campaign. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and a Masters of Electrical Engineering from UCLA and is completing her M.B.A. in Sustainable Enterprise (GreenMBA) at Dominican University of California.

Kas Neteler facilitates and co-facilitates meetings and innovation workshops; she is trained in systems thinking and Open Space Technology facilitation and designs. Clients include Open Space on Open Space 2010, BayNVC, She’s Geeky, WELL Network, Rose Press, GreenMBA, Institute for Environmental Entrepreneurship, and Gigantic Idea Studio. Her graphics background complements her facilitation techniques and use of innovative tools. Kas has 20 years’ experience in positions from graphic designer to senior art director for many award-winning magazines, including: Napa Sonoma Magazine, San Francisco Magazine, Diablo, the San Francisco Giants & Oakland Athletics official magazines and Curve Magazine. She has designed print publications in a variety of industries including finance, health care, lifestyle and sports. She holds a B.S. in Graphic Design from the University of Maryland College Park and has an M.B.A. in Sustainable Enterprise (GreenMBA) with honors at Dominican University of California.

Nancy Roberts has 20 years of experience in marketing and public relations, communications and project management for nonprofit organizations. Her current consulting focus is sustainable communications strategy and social media for several nonprofit clients. Under the auspices of the Environmental Finance Center, she is part of a team researching best practices of environmental finance in developing countries for the United Nations.. She served as client liaison and coordinator of a series of multi-stakeholder summits focused on bringing integrated green planning to California. She is co-author, with Lauralee Barbaria, of A California Green Plan: Making the Case for Business, commissioned by The Fred Gellert Family Foundation. Nancy writes regular blog posts focusing on global warming, pollution and progressive causes for Care2.com, the largest online community for healthy and green living. She serves on the board of directors of the vocal ensemble Clerestory and the Alliance Francaise de San Francisco, and is fluent in French. Nancy has an M.B.A. in Sustainable Enterprise (GreenMBA), from Dominican University of CA, and M.A. and B.A. degrees from George Washington University.

Allison Shrier has six years of business experience in Environmental Consulting, Project Administration, Construction Management, and Event Planning. She has aptitude and experience in research, project accounting, events, marketing, human resources implementation, employee software training, strategic planning and systems thinking. She holds an Interdisciplinary Social Science B.A. with cognate areas of Geography and Environmental Science and Policy and an M.B.A. in Sustainable Enterprise (GreenMBA) from Dominican University of California.

Matt Trocker is the Director of Sales and Marketing for Sirona Fuels, an Oakland-based sustainable biodiesel producer. Before joining Sirona Fuels, Matt was an Assistant Canvass Director with the Fund for Public Interest Research, where he worked on campaigns for the Sierra Club, the Human Rights Campaign, Environment California, and Environment New Jersey. He also has worked in the entertainment industry, holding posts at Paramount Pictures, The Disney Channel, and Phase Three Productions. Matt holds an M.B.A. in Sustainable Enterprise from Dominican University of California as well as a B.A. in Communications from UC Davis, where he was an active member of the CALPIRG chapter. He is also a really good snowboarder.

Sarah Wechsberg has an educational background in Art History, Environmental Geography, and Politics. The combination of all three disciplines, plus many years of international traveling, and a progressive upbringing within a contrasting traditional Southern culture provided a diverse and conscious foundation for Sarah’s commitment to Dominican University’s M.B.A. in Sustainable Enterprise (GreenMBA) degree, which she completed in 2009. Her work experience includes galleries and museum work, green building auditing, food system auditing, political campaigning, environmental policy research, organic farming, real estate business and marketing, marketing for local food systems, and currently eco food and green consulting.

Peter Whitford started his career as an Industrial Engineer, helping to streamline manufacturing processes both value added and non-value added including facilitation of implementing new Enterprise Resource Planners and cost benefit analyses for parts and equipment. He currently is focused on waste reduction: he has helped implement Zero Waste programs for the city of Palo Alto as well as develop business opportunities around reduction, reuse and recycling for Native American tribes in northern Nevada. Pete holds an M.B.A. in Sustainable Enterprise from Dominican University of California.