Leadership

Rick Wayman brings over 15 years of experience in leadership positions in socially responsible startup businesses, nonprofit organizations and international networks. He was part of the core civil society team at the United Nations that negotiated the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017, an achievement for which the campaign received the Nobel Peace Prize that year. He has a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and a Master’s in Political Advocacy and Nonprofit Management. Download Rick’s full bio.

Dr. Erica Dodds holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Evaluation and an M.A. in International Development Administration. Erica’s lifelong interest in poverty reduction led her to study abroad in West Africa, intern with an NGO in rural India, and work for the Evaluation Office of the International Labour Organization in Geneva. She is committed to seeing climate action work for today’s youth in addition to future generations, and she believes that the key is setting a goal of restoring a safe and healthy climate.

Maria Finnegan is a seasoned philanthropy professional with over twelve years of experience building relationships at leading universities and organizations. She began her fundraising career at the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., and then went on to roles at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology and Harvard Law School before returning to her home state of New Hampshire. Most recently she led individual giving efforts at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, the state’s oldest and largest land trust, where she worked to help fund forest carbon practices through land conservation.
Prior to her work in philanthropy, Maria was a journalist and member of the media. She attended the SI Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and worked at NPR, NBC, ABC Sports and ESPN. She is still a storyteller at heart, and enjoys working with people to help bring change. Growing up Maria had two career goals: to play in the NBA, and to try to save the planet. She is grateful to be able to fulfill one of those (but she still isn’t giving up on the other one).

After spending nearly a decade as an event planner with notable companies and organizations, Hilda Berganza joined the Foundation for Climate Restoration as a Project Manager. Hilda graduated from Metropolitan State University in 2011 with a B.A. in Hospitality with a concentration in events and tourism. Hilda developed a passion for environmental sustainability after noticing the effects that travel and tourism have on ecosystems worldwide. Upon participating in growth and development companies, Hilda developed strong leadership skills which allowed her to partner with global organizations that are actively working on mitigating the impact humans have had on the oceans and forests. Thus, during the 2020 global pandemic, Hilda took her passion for making a difference and the environment, combining it with her years of professional experience to bring awareness through events, video editing and community of the importance of climate restoration. Hilda is committed to working side by side with environmental organizations from all sections and bringing climate restoration to the front lines of the climate movement.

Delaney focuses her work on addressing key environmental and humanitarian issues in the current world. Through community engagement, education, and advocacy, she hopes to increase the awareness of and focus on the intersectionality between the climate crisis and inequality for oppressed groups. She arrived at the opportunity to join the climate restoration movement following her time generating community and fundraising support for programs that provided nutritional food, shelter, education, healthcare access, and counseling to assist and empower orphaned and vulnerable children in Mexico and Nicaragua. She has worked, studied, and traveled throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia where she became increasingly aware of the global impact humans have made on the natural world and one another. Motivated by her firsthand interactions with melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and natural disasters, Delaney hopes to play a key role in prioritizing equity and justice in the work of carbon removal and the greater goal of climate restoration.

Terri Pugh holds a Masters in International Policy Studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, where she studied practical solutions to the world’s problems through well thought out policy implementation. She learned more about living and prioritizing values from her experiences as a mother of three and member of her family. Her lifelong interest in justice and the environment and her need for scalable, realistic solutions for solving climate change and environmental issues drew her to the mission of the Foundation for Climate Restoration. The idea of setting the goal for climate restoration as a means of achieving the task, satisfied the policy analyst, advocate and mother inside of her. When not working, Terri can always be found outside in the fresh air.

n award-winning strategist, Alexandra brings over 12 years of PR experience to the Foundation for Climate Restoration. Rooted in her passion for climate justice, Alexandra leverages her expertise in crafting strategic communications to give the Foundation a significant platform to spread awareness around their mission to restore the climate.

Jake Kelley focuses on solving complex challenges in the global political economy by building innovative, action-oriented solutions and partnerships with various stakeholders. He received his M.A. in International Relations in the Netherlands at Leiden University, where his research concentrated on how technological transformations affect politics, economics and human rights. Working at the United Nations, at its UNICRI Centre for AI & Robotics, Jake advanced research, projects and governance frameworks that focused on the ethical, legal, social and security implications of how AI and other advanced technologies are utilized by criminals and stakeholders in security. He also worked in strategic planning at Tufts University and marketing at VICE Media. Jake is passionate about building global coalitions to achieve climate restoration, equality and sustainability.

Julia Dederer is a transformational coach in Silicon Valley with over 30 years experience supporting leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives to take the reach and scope of their impact to the next level.

Sharon Fiekowsky is a Nurse Practitioner with 17 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as extensive clinical experience in intensive care, hospice/palliative care, and pain management. 

In the 1970s a pioneer of socially responsible investing, in 1982 a founding board member of the Calvert Funds—first family of such funds now with $17 billion under management, orchestrated sale of Ben&Jerry\’s to Unilever that assured it remain a socially responsible company forever with Dr. Mollner on the board the last 18 years to facilitate the transition, since 1972 Founder and Chair of Trusteeship Institute best known for introducing the Mondragon Cooperatives to the US and for in the 1980s stimulating the creation in the US of Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) legislation, and author of Common Good Capitalism Is Inevitable and Our Mutual Blind Spot Since Our Invention of Words: HOW We Answer 7 Questions Will Mature Humanity.

Sandra is CEO and Founder of 10Power, a certified Benefit Corporation providing renewable energy in international communities that lack access to electricity. In Haiti, 10Power has developed and financed solar projects on water purification centers, health organizations and major international organizations. Previously, Sandra worked with AutoGrid using big data from smart meters to save energy. She sees renewable energy as the key to providing clean water, gender empowerment and access to regenerative technology – a concept explored in her TEDx talk “Fourth World Nation Building.”

Alan Hyman is is a Vietnam-era military veteran and Stanford University graduate. In addition to his work at Fremont Bank, he was a long-time director of the San Francisco Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He is a current member of the Holy Names University Board of Trustees, a Board Member of the Fremont Bank Foundation, and a founding board member of Americans for Philanthropy, a non-profit dedicated to the eradication of extreme poverty.

Pete co-founded Ryan & Wetmore with Michael Wetmore in 1988. A top-50 Washington, DC area accounting firm with 40 employees. Extensively experienced in many industries, Pete’s accounting and consulting specialties include government contractors, not-for-profit organizations, real estate and construction companies, employee benefit plans, technology companies, and international tax and litigation support services before the IRS. Pete has presented at major conferences on multiple topics throughout the United States. He has served on the Board of Directors for a number of successful nonprofit organizations, serving on the leadership board for the local chapter of the Alliance of Mergers and Acquisition Advisors and former board member of the National Philharmonic Orchestra for 15 years. He is currently an active member of the Villanova University Parents Program and mentors students at Archbishop Carroll High School. He is also the chairperson of Catholic University Athletics Cardinal Club.

Priya has dedicated her life to ensuring the modern economy includes and benefits the world’s most vulnerable communities. She is CEO of Future State and, in prior roles, built the financial inclusion practice at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founded the digital development strategy for USAID.

Nicole Gardner is a retired vice president of IBM’s Global Services and the co-author of a United Nations technology standard. She has launched and managed businesses at IBM and PwC ranging from $100M to $1.4B. Nicole was the first Chief Innovation Officer for IBM’s Global Services Public Sector and the first Human Capital Management practice leader. In her role with the United Nations, she collaborated with senior leaders across industries to forge a widely accepted global standard. She has served large commercial entities including Baxter Healthcare, ExxonMobil, ARMCO Specialty Steel, Cummins Engine Company and First National Bank of Chicago. In 2017 and 2018, Nicole was recognized as a FederalHealthIT 100 and in 2018 received accolades with a Women in Leadership Impact Award.

Ashley Meeky is a junior at Vanderbilt University. She is pursuing a B.S. degree in Human and Organizational Development, a B.A. degree in Economics, and a minor degree in Communication Studies. Ashley created the Youth Leaders 4 Climate Restoration certification program, which is now a full program at F4CR. She is also a Content Creator Ambassador for Beauty and Brains Organization, Assistant Director of Marketing and Finance for the Vanderbilt Black Student Leadership Conference, and Head of Onboarding for the Vanderbilt Impact Investing Group. She is an advocate for climate restoration, inclusivity, women’s empowerment, and domestic violence awareness. For fun, she enjoys playing tennis and serving as Practice Coordinator for Vanderbilt’s Club Tennis team. In her spare time, she operates her personal hair care business called Hair Chronicles by Ashley.

Tom Baruch currently originates startup companies focused on resource scarce and climate sensitive markets (energy, air quality, water, food and agriculture, and health care) out of his family office, Baruch Future Ventures, Ltd. (BFV, LTD.) located in San Francisco, CA. In addition, Tom serves as a Sr. Adviser to Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) where he sources investment opportunities and works actively as a counselor to BEV investment partners and startup company CEOs and Founders.

Marcus (he/him/his) brings over fifteen years of experience in organizational leadership, climate policy, and environmental law to the Board. He has worked in house and as a consultant across the private and nonprofit sectors with a focus on strategic planning, partner engagement, and risk mitigation, as well as governance, operations, and compliance. Marcus is a graduate of Bowdoin College and the University of Washington School of Law; he also conducted post-graduate work in international environmental policy at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. After walking, bussing, and hitchhiking 11,000 miles from Tijuana, Mexico to Ushuaia, Argentina while working on sustainably-run small farms, Marcus met and followed the love of his life to the mountains of Montana, where they chose to put down roots.

Marcus is excited to help F4CR continue to grow and shape the narrative around climate restoration.

Sharon Fiekowsky is a Nurse Practitioner with 17 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as extensive clinical experience in intensive care, hospice/palliative care, and pain management. 

Peter Fiekowsky is an MIT-educated physicist and engineer, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and a social innovator. He has worked at NASA and the Fairchild/ Schlumberger Artificial Intelligence Lab in Palo Alto, Calif; taught at MIT; and developed his own machine vision company, Automated Visual Inspection LLC (AVI).

He holds 27 patents and is on the board of Climate Capex, a fintech company to help complete the global transition to 100 percent clean energy by 2040 by tripling the rate of investment in solar projects.

A decade ago, when it became clear that global warming would endanger all our futures, Fiekowsky turned his energies to restoring a climate that will promote the flourishing of humanity and the Earth’s current ecosystems. He launched the Foundation for Climate Restoration in 2017 to work with top scientists, innovators, policymakers, and others, to create the understanding and policy needed to further climate restoration, and served as its Board Chairman until 2020.

Fiekowsky has worked closely with academic and entrepreneurial leaders who are developing viable, scalable, and permanent solutions that constitute the climate-restoration path.

He has been an investor in and advisor to many companies working in the climate restoration field, in particular synthetic limestone, clean energy financing, cold fusion, ocean restoration, kelp, and methane oxidation.

Fiekowsky lives with his wife Sharon in Los Altos, near his grown son and daughter in the heart of Silicon Valley.

In the 1970s a pioneer of socially responsible investing, in 1982 a founding board member of the Calvert Funds—first family of such funds now with $17 billion under management, orchestrated sale of Ben&Jerry\’s to Unilever that assured it remain a socially responsible company forever with Dr. Mollner on the board the last 18 years to facilitate the transition, since 1972 Founder and Chair of Trusteeship Institute best known for introducing the Mondragon Cooperatives to the US and for in the 1980s stimulating the creation in the US of Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) legislation, and author of Common Good Capitalism Is Inevitable and Our Mutual Blind Spot Since Our Invention of Words: HOW We Answer 7 Questions Will Mature Humanity.