Expert Commentators for Revelation to Action: Your Place. Your Idea. Your Change.
Expert Commentators for Revelation to Action: Your Place. Your Idea. Your Change.
Meet our Expert Commentators who are all doing great work in the sector and sharing their insights, expertise and feedback right here on our competition discussion forum. We invite you to follow their contributions:
Harrie Bakst
Harrie’s experience and leadership provide the backbone for Carnegie Sports & Entertainment, Inc. Through Carnegie, Harrie has transformed the world of philanthropy by integrating sports and entertainment business platforms with altruistic endeavors. He has worked with clients such as Grassroot Soccer, The Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company, Switch2Health, FAN4KIDS, Teachers Without Borders, Let All The Children Play Foundation, The Cole Hamels Foundation, Maccabi Tel Aviv vs. New York Knicks event, Jerry Seinfeld 2008 with Stand Up For A Cure, Street Soccer USA, Findr Interactive, Right To Play, and the Conrad Foundation. Additionally, Bakst has worked with some of the top organizations and properties in the world including Coca Cola Co., Nike, CBS, PUMA, Chipotle Mexican Grill, GM, New York Road Runners, Major League Soccer, Reebok, The James Beard Foundation, and Memorial Sloan Kettering-Cancer Center, among others. He has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC.com, FOX News, The New York Times, The New York Post, and the Sports Business Journal. Harrie’s remarkable story is highlighted in A Race Like No Other (Harper Collins) by The New York Times sportswriter Liz Robbins, where he overcame cancer, started Carnegie, and ran the New York City Marathon a mere 5 months after his 33rd and final treatment. He also serves on a number of boards and committees including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Generations Against Genocide, and is chair of Right To Play’s Young Board of Trustees. Harrie was born in New York City (from the only borough worthy of a “The” in front of it), and is a graduate with Magna Cum Laude honors from New York University, where he was presented the Allie Sherman Sports Business Leadership Award & the President’s Service Award. Harrie was also named by Partnership Activation as one of forty-eight Rising Stars in the sports and entertainment industries. He continues to run marathons raising money and awareness for cancer research. Harrie currently resides in Manhattan, and is cancer free.
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Robert Billington
Billington, a trained cabinetmaker, works to bring sustainable tourism principles to the Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution: the Blackstone River Valley of Rhode Island. He founded the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council in 1985 and has created several dynamic public/private partnerships in the Blackstone Valley. His long interest in the planning and organizing authentic tourism places guides the development of Blackstone Valley of Rhode Island.
He serves as a federal appointee to the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, and is a member of the Board of several arts and educational institutions. Billington developed six riverboats, one being a British-built canal boat bed and breakfast and is creating river access landings in 5 communities. He assisted in the development of, and manages two year-round Visitor Centers.
He has been invited to the White House to meet President William Clinton and he has hosted First Lady Hillary Clinton in the Blackstone Valley. He has met with the President of Taiwan at his Presidential Palace in Taipei, Taiwan and was invited to meet First-Lady Laura Bush and received White House financial support for cultural tourism projects in the Blackstone Valley.
His interest in community development, main streets, job creation, creating healthy, livable authentic landscapes and education have all come together under the non-profit agency he has lead for 25 years; the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council. He founded the Sustainable Tourism Planning and Development Laboratory to help communities develop sustainable programs. Since it's founding in 2005 the Tourism Laboratory has presented semi-annual conferences educating 75 to 125 professionals from New England each session.
Billington has spoken at tourism conferences in the US, England, Scotland and Hong Kong and Madrid. He has teaches at Boston University's Graduate School, Johnson & Wales University and Bristol Community College where he coordinates the tourism curricula.
In 2006 the United Nations World Tourism Organization presented Billington with the Ulysses Prize. In the same year the United Nations World Tourism Organization certified the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council in Tourism Governance with its S.Best program.
In 2008 the World Travel and Tourism Council presented the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council their Tourism for Tomorrow Destination Award. In 2008 the World Travel Awards, recognized Billington as the North American Travel Personality of the Year. He chaired the second Civic Tourism Conference in 2008 in that same year the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities presented him with the Tom Roberts Prize for Creative Achievement in the Humanities.
Billington spends his free-time with his Dad, building a boat for the for the Blackstone River.
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Alisa del Tufo
Alisa Del Tufo has changed the debate on family violence and other deep social challenges by shifting attention and resources to root causes and to the creation of community engagement strategies rather than services and crisis intervention. As the founder of Threshold Collaborative she is helping others learn to solve their challenges by using narrative, needs identification and strategic planning.
After founding Sanctuary for Families in 1983 she began using narrative and constituent focused social change strategies in 1992. Del Tufo founded CONNECT (1993) to end family and gender violence by transforming the beliefs that fuel abusive behavior, and empowering those closest to the problem to come together to find solutions. The group supports men and boys as well as women, and encourages self and community empowerment to break the cycle of violence.
Alisa has a BA from Colgate University and an MDiv from Union Theological Seminary. She is the author of several books and the recipient of numerous awards including a Revson Fellowship for the Future of NY and a Rockefeller Fellowship at Columbia University. She is the recipient of Union Theological Seminary’s prestigious Distinguished Alumna Award and Colgate University’s Humanitarian Award. She is currently an Ashoka Fellow.
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Jen Silbert
Jen Hetzel Silbert, MSOD, is a change maker with a relentless drive for strength-based, collaborative change. A co-founder of Innovation Partners International (www.innovationpartners.com) and partner of Social Venture Partners of Rhode Island (www.svpri.org), Jen brings over 15 years experience supporting social-profit, private and public sector organizations in the U.S., Canada, and around the world.
Jen is a leader in the design and implementation of strength-based, collaborative approaches to strategic planning, organization design, workforce development, and change leadership. Some past and present clients include the Rhode Island Department of Education, the United Nations Development Programme, the U.S. Agency for International Development, American Red Cross, Sprint-Nextel, Neighborhood Centers Inc., and YMCA.
Before co-founding Innovation Partners International, Jen was a management consultant for Bearing Point (formerly KPMG Consulting), Electronic Data Systems (EDS), PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and International Business Machines (IBM). In 2007 Jen was honored by Providence Business News as a “Forty Under 40” award recipient, which recognizes RI-based professionals for demonstrating outstanding leadership in their field and in service to their community. She recently co-authored a book, Positive Family Dynamics: Appreciative Inquiry Questions that Bring Out the Best in Families (©2008, Taos Institute), which underlines her principles of applying strength-based change to both her work and life. Jen holds dual BS degrees in economics and international studies from American University and a MS in organization development from Johns Hopkins University. You can find Jen, a former marathon coach, running with her dog along the shores of South County, where she lives with her husband, Tony, and two young daughters.
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Megan Camp
Megan Cowles Camp has worked at Shelburne Farms for twenty five years and has been the Vice President and Program Director since 1989 with responsibility for organizational development as well as leadership of education programming. She is a recognized expert in the subjects of sustainable communities, environmental and agricultural education, and the importance of local food systems.
Megan Camp is the Vice President and Program Director of Shelburne Farms and advisor to a number of organizations and educational projects. Shelburne Farms is a 501(c)(3) non-profit education center, 1400-acre working farm and forest, and National Historic Landmark Property located in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. The mission of Shelburne Farms is to cultivate a conservation ethic by encouraging learning about the stewardship of natural and agricultural resources and by practicing sustainable rural land use.
Since 1991, Megan has served as a lead consultant and partner for the Institute for Sustainable Communities, working with national and international sustainability projects. The Institute for Sustainable Communities, an independent, nonprofit organization that helps communities in existing and emerging democracies create sustainable development solutions Among other affiliations, Megan is an affiliate representative to the North American Association of Environmental Education, a partner of the U.S. National Park Service’s Conservation Study Institute, a member of the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) Commission on Education and Communication, The Vermont Sustainable Agriculture Council, and an advisory board member of the University of Vermont College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and the National Forum of Children and Nature. She recently completed her seven year tenure on the board of the Vermont Fresh Network, the nation’s first statewide organization established to connect chefs with local farmers and food producers.
Megan is a recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award for Environmental Education from the New England Environmental Education Association, the National Wildlife Federation’s Conservation Education Achievement Award, the United States Environmental Protection Environmental Merit Award and the Earth Institute Community Award.
Megan Camp is a passionate voice for how food brings to life the tangible benefits of sustainable communities. “A healthy civilization depends upon a healthy food system and people are making those connections today,” explains Megan. “I don’t think there’s anything better than food to bring together all of the complex issues of sustainability. Food is relevant to everybody. Through stories about food, we can contribute to larger learning, and build a deep sense attachment and caring for place.”
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