AARON CONTORER – CHAIRMAN

Aaron is president of the Contorer Foundation, focusing on environmental sustainability and philanthropic studies; board member of Move San Diego, dedicated to better transportation in the San Diego region; and a board member of San Diego Social Venture Partners, supporting local nonprofits and developing highly effective philanthropists.

He served for eight years on the board of Northwest Environment Watch, now Sightline Institute, focusing on sprawl and sustainable economic development; and helped to build the Kirkland (Washington) Teen Union Building.

Aaron is a former executive of Microsoft Corporation, where he helped to build products including Windows, MSN, Visual Studio, and in-house engineering tools. He served on Bill Gates’s staff, and founded the Microsoft Big Gift Club for new philanthropists. He was also an inventor on several patents.

Aaron has also been an executive of three other small software companies. He holds degrees in computer science and psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

MARTIN R. BROWN

Executive Officer and Senior Vice President, Amylin Pharmaceuticals (Retired)

At the time of his retirement in October 2005, Mr. Brown was an executive officer of Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Services. He had previously served as Senior Vice President, Operations from 2000 to 2004 and prior to that Vice President, Operations from 1998.   During his tenure in various leadership positions, Amylin grew from 36 fulltime employees and a market cap of $25 million to over 1,100 employees and a market cap of over $4 billion with two approved and launched first-in-class products.   Prior to joining Amylin in 1994, Mr. Brown was Director, Information Systems, Europe, for Eli Lilly and Company from 1989 to 1993.   He served in various information management positions during his more than ten years with Lilly.  Prior to joining Lilly, Mr. Brown held various positions with General Signal Corporation from 1969 until 1983. Mr. Brown currently serves on the board of directors of Clinical Supplies Management, Inc and MedAvante Inc.   Mr. Brown received a B.S. in Commerce and Engineering and an M.B.A. in Operations Research from Drexel University.

DIANE ROSENBERG

Diane Rosenberg has brand management, strategy and marketing expertise with leading consumer products and electronics companies. In this capacity, she has developed and executed results-driven Branding, Marketing and New Product programs for Procter & Gamble, Dell Computer, Del Monte Foods, and Foodways (Weight Watchers Frozen Foods).

Diane earned her Master Naturalist certification in Texas, learning how to mitigate the effects of development and restore native habitats. She participated in San Diego Social Venture Partners Environmental 2004-05 Investment Cycle. Within the nonprofit sector, Diane served as Executive Director of San Diego Social Venture Partners, President of the Cleveland Ballet Council, and counselor for Silicon Valley Score, a resource partner of the Small Business Administration.

TREVOR CALLAN

Trevor co-founded Callan Capital with his brothers, Ryan and Tim, after a highly successful career at Merrill Lynch. He was selected through a rigorous testing process to be the first advisor to represent the Merrill Lynch Private Banking and Investment Group (PBIG) in San Diego, an operation dedicated to clients with substantial liquid assets in excess of $10 million.

Trevor earned a Certified Investment Manager Analyst (CIMA) designation following coursework and examination at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The CIMA attests to superior proficiency in asset allocation, investment policy, manager searches, risk management as well as a keen appreciation of ethics.

He began his career in 1992 at Shearson Lehman Brothers. In 1994, he transferred to Merrill Lynch, where ultimately he became a First Vice President and earned several service awards. Trevor is a former board member of the Chairman’s Roundtable and Treasurer of the San Diego Social Venture Partners. Trevor lives with his wife, Sandy, in La Jolla.

SCOTT GRIMES

Scott Grimes is a Program Officer at the Endangered Habitats League, a nonprofit organization that promotes the conservation of wildlife habitat and open space in Southern California. From 1998 to 2004 Scott served as Director of Research and Senior Program Officer at San Diego Dialogue, a university-anchored public policy center serving the San Diego region. Scott is the author of three books, as well as several reports, book chapters and papers on policy issues related to urbanization, urban development and regionalism. His published work has addressed such issues as K-12 education reform, welfare reform, growth management and regional planning. Scott holds a Bachelors degree from UCLA and a Masters in International Public Policy from UC San Diego.

PAUL EICHEN – STRATEGIC ADVISOR

Paul Eichen is Chairman of the Orca Fund, an environmentally-focused fund housed at the San Diego Foundation. Created in 2001, the Orca Fund's mission is to increase the capacity of environmental stewardship in San Diego. Mr. Eichen's has an entrepreneurial background having founded divergent start-ups Proxima Corporation and the Rokenbok Toy Company. Proxima was a pioneer in the emerging market for data projection, and Mr. Eichen served as Proxima's President and Director from 1982-1995, during which time Proxima became a public company. Mr. Eichen started the Rokenbok Toy Company in 1995 to create a "legacy quality" toy system focused on creativity, imagination and learning, and continues to serve as Rokenbok's Chairman. Paul Eichen grew up in Solana Beach and attended Occidental College, where he studied Mathematics; he holds a certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from the University of San Diego; and is currently enrolled in the USD's Nonprofit Management and Leadership masters program.

ANN TARTRE – STRATEGIC ADVISOR

Ann Tartre is currently the Director of the San Diego-based US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership, a network of foundations on both sides of the border that aims to improve quality of life in the region.

Prior to joining Synergos, Ms. Tartre’s career focused primarily on sustainable development and conservation themes.  She has worked on these issues within the non-profit sector as well as in government.  As the Director of Donor Services  at the Maine Community Foundation (MCF), she managed all the foundation’s funds focused on conservation and the environment, and she also oversaw a portfolio of about 20-30 donors whose primary interests were environment or sustainable community development.  She initiated an environmental funder’s collaborative in the state, which is still going strong.  Ms. Tartre also has worked as a grants officer for the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe based in Hungary.

Ms. Tartre's experience outside of philanthropy includes working for US Senator George J. Mitchell in Washington, DC where she was responsible for advising the Senator on environmental legislation, and serving as a research associate for the Atlantic Center for the Environment, a non-profit entity that helps support conservation-based economic development in communities in Northern New England and the Canadian Maritimes.
 
Ms. Tartre holds a BA in International Relations and French from Tufts University, and a Masters degree from the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, where she focused on social ecology, property rights and marine ecosystems.

GINA ROGERS – STRATEGIC ADVISOR

Gina Rogers is a consultant and research economist.  The core of her career was spent at Data Resources, Inc (DRI), an econometric consulting firm now reformed as Global Insight, where she developed long-range forecasting models and worked with client organizations on industry analysis and strategic planning.  Gina’s projects in the environmental arena have included evaluation of the economic impacts of proposed legislative reforms related to mining on federal lands for the National Wildlife Federation, analysis and expert testimony on the impact of federal pollution control legislation and energy policies, and an early study on the economic impacts of returnable-bottle legislation. 

Most recently, Gina has been working as a healthcare consultant, focusing on health care quality and patient safety.  She was the founding executive director of a Massachusetts non-profit promoting statewide quality improvement initiatives, and has participated in the design and evaluation of collaborative projects to reduce medical errors and eliminate healthcare disparities.  Gina also worked at Applied Technology, a venture capital firm, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.  She has served on the Board of a local land trust in Massachusetts and volunteered with an inner city community health center and an ESL mentoring program and is an active volunteer with San Diego Coastkeeper. She is a graduate of Cornell University. 

JARED CRISCUOLO – STRATEGIC ADVISOR

Jared Criscuolo is financial advisor with Morgan Stanley.  His career started with in San Diego with UBS, and involved a recent move to Morgan Stanley.  He works with individuals and businesses, managing their assets and liabilities.  Prior to UBS, he taught History and French at Waterville Valley Academy in New Hampshire. 

Jared’s passion for the environment is an outgrowth of his hobbies, including skiing, surfing, and sailing.  He spends a significant amount of time volunteering with the Surfrider Foundation’s San Diego Chapter.  As a member of their Executive Committee, he co-chairs their Water Committee.  The focus of this committee is to educate Surfrider’s members and the general public on the state of our water sources, and the ways that our community can work together to improve the efficiency and sustainability of our water supply.

Jared graduated from Saint Lawrence University in Canton, NY with a bachelor’s degree in Government, and minors in History and French.

ELLEN M. KIRK – STRATEGIC ADVISOR

Ellen Kirk is a seasoned executive with more than 25 years of domestic and international experience ranging from start-up companies to established multinational corporations spanning a diversity of industries including wireless operations and technology, broadband, investment banking, and oil refining. Ellen currently is the President of AMI Consulting, providing broadband wireless technology strategy and implementation assistance. Previously, she served as Vice President – Marketing for Tropos Networks, the market leader in metro-scale wireless mesh networking, Vice President – Business Development for Qualcomm’s chip division, and EVP for Talaris Corporation (now Reardon Commerce). Earlier, Ellen was Vice President – Marketing, Regulatory and Strategic Planning and a crucial member of the executive team that led SnapTrack, Inc. from high-technology start-up to its $1 billion acquisition by Qualcomm. Prior to SnapTrack, Ellen held a number of mergers and acquisitions roles for AirTouch Communications and on Wall St., and began her career as a Chevron refinery process engineer.

Ellen is an accomplished public speaker who holds B.A. and Master of Chemical Engineering degrees from Rice University and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard. In addition to serving as a strategic advisor to Equinox Center, Ellen is actively involved with numerous philanthropic organizations including the Pan-Mass Challenge, San Diego Social Venture Partners, Cazadero Performing Arts Camp and the AMD Advisory Council of the Shiley Eye Clinic at UCSD.