SFIP benefits from an extraordinary range of intellectual and creative capital, with the talents and experience of its Board of Directors and Advisors, as listed below. Many of these experts will help form the Innovation Park’s collaborative teams. Click on any name to go to that person’s biography.

Jesse Berst, Advisor; Managing Director, Global Smart Energy
David Breecker, SFIP Board President; Principal Consultant, dba, inc.
Charles Buki, Advisor; Principal Consultant, czb, llc.
Michael Anton Dila, Advisor; Partner, Torch Partnership
Alexander Dzurec, SFIP Board Member; President, autotroph design.
Lisa Faithorn, Advisor; Research Anthropologist consultant, NASA
Zane Fischer, Advisor; Journalist, community development expert
Gary Geernaert, Advisor; Director, Climate and Environmental Science, DOE
Saul Kaplan, Advisor; Chief Catalyst, Business Innovation Factory
David Karshmer, Advisor; Principal Consultant at dkonsulting
Peter Rachor, SFIP Board Secretary; director of commercialization and entrepreneurship programs,  University of Portland
Steve Smith, Advisor; President, Los Alamos Visual Analytics
Gong Szeto, Advisor; Co-founder and CEO, Doxa 2, Inc.
Daniel Werwath, Advisor; Community development and fundraising expert

Jesse Berst is Managing Director of Global Smart Energy, Inc., a strategic consulting firm. He is also the founder and Chairman of the Smart Cities Council, an industry coalition led by a dozen of the world’s top technology companies, including AT&T, Cisco, Electricite de France, General Electric, IBM, Itron, Microsoft and others. He was formerly Chief Analyst at SmartGridNews.com, the internet’s largest and highest-ranked smart grid site. Jesse was a co-founder of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative, a nonprofit that unites utilities, vendors, and consumer advocates with the goal of accelerating the adoption of a consumer-friendly smart grid. He also serves on the Advisory Council for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which conducts some of the nation’s most advanced grid research. He sits on the advisory boards of Voyager Capital, a leading West Coast venture capital firm and GridSense, which makes intelligent monitors and sensors for the power grid. Top of the Page

David Breecker is a founder and President of SFIP, and Principle Consultant at David Breecker Associates, Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in strategic planning for business, industry, and economic development. He earned his MBA from Harvard in 1982, and has acquired some 30 years of general management experience. He is an award-winning writer, a former musician and graphic designer, and worked for nine years in Hollywood as a film Production Executive. David was the principle author and architect of the New Mexico Media Industries Strategy Project for Governor Bill Richardson’s office, and the Santa Fe regional TREE plan for renewable energy and sustainability technology-based development. He also organized the Santa Fe Regional Telecom Coalition to bring advanced broadband infrastructure to the region. David most recently worked with the New Mexico Technology Commercialization Council (comprising the two national labs and three research universities in New Mexico) on a state-wide clean tech industry development plan and strategy; and prepared Santa Fe County’s long-term economic development plan in 2014. Top of the Page

Charles Buki is Principal Consultant at czb, a neighborhood planning firm specializing in deep dive analysis, strategy development, and implementation of revitalization plans. Before establishing czb, Charles was a consultant to the Millennial Housing Commission. He has held senior positions at the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation and The American Institute of Architects. He was a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies at Harvard University and a Mesa Fellow at the Common Counsel Foundation. He has lectured widely on revitalization and gentrification; in 1992 he was a panelist at the United Nations Conference on Human Settlement. Since founding czb in 2001 he has continued to speak out on the need for a new approach to community development based on markets, investments, demand, and outcomes. Major czb clients have included the Fannie Mae Foundation, the Metropolitan Planning Council of Chicago, and the Federal Reserve Bank, the the WK Kellogg Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Harvard University. Charles presently serves as board member for both the International Sonoran Desert Alliance (ISDA), and Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. (COI). Top of the Page

Michael Anton Dila is a Partner at the Torch Partnership. Torch counsels executives and communities of practice on innovation leadership, and shapes strategic conversations to create new capabilities. For the last 15 years, Michael has brought intellectual rigor to the discipline of design and the emerging field of innovation and design thinking. His clients have included the Thomson Corporation, Thomson Reuters, the Woodbidge Company (majority shareholder of Thomson Reuters and CTV Globemedia), TD Bank Financial Group, Fidelity Investments, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Michael is also co-founder and Chief Strategist of the Strategic Innovation Lab at Ontario College or Art & Design, a centre for research and development in design, innovation and strategic foresight. He is one of the founders of Overlap, and is the inventor and co-developer (with Matthew Milan) of Innovation Parkour, a framework for training people to become more innovative. He most recently founded Moso,a venture-backed startup building a social platform for innovation. A philosopher by training, Michael’s Ph.D. research concerned ideas and norms of objectivity, and he has written and lectured on topics in the history and philosophy of science, legal and political theory, psychology and criminal law. He earned his BA from Earlham College and an MA and PhD in Philosophy from the University of Toronto. Top of the Page

Alexander Dzurec is president and managing principal of autotroph design, an architecture, planning and consulting firm based in Santa Fe. autotroph specializes in the design of ecologically responsive and sustainable architecture. He  has extensive experience in community and educational facilities, master planning, campus design, affordable housing developments, energy analysis and sustainable design consulting. Prior to forming autotroph, Alexander was a principal of Mazria Odems Dzurec, a leader in the field of sustainable design. He is dedicated to using design as a tool to improve the relationship between society and the environment. In addition to numerous commercial and residential projects in the Santa Fe area, he is the project architect for two City of Santa Fe projects: Warehouse 21 and Entry Improvements to the Genoveva Chavez Community Center. He is also actively involved in the community. Alexander has a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree from the University of Maryland and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of New Mexico. He is a licensed architect in New Mexico and a LEED Accredited Professional. He is a member of SFIP’s Board of Directors, and led the SFIP site and architectural design task force. Top of the Page

Lisa Faithorn is a research anthropologist, organizational consultant and educator. She has extensive experience working as a manager, applied researcher, teacher and group facilitator with groups and organizations in the United States and abroad, addressing theories and practices of social and organizational dynamics and change, leadership and management skills, collaborative team building and problem-solving and the development of effective virtual teams. For the last eight years Lisa has worked on applied research projects with NASA. Her current project involves participant observation and user studies with NASA Mission Flight Controllers at Johnson Space Center as part of a team developing new automation technologies for extended NASA missions. In addition to her on-going consulting practice, Lisa co-founded, directed and taught in the graduate program in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, from 1982 through the mid-1990s. She received her BA from Bennington College, her MA from Northwestern University, and her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, all in anthropolgy. Lisa lives in Medanales, New Mexico, and, with her husband Djann, is developing an organic farm and a demonstration and workshop facility for sustainable living practices. Top of the Page

Zane Fischer is a founder and principle at leading Santa Fe design studio, Anagram. He is a national-award-winning columnist, and was formerly web editor for the Santa Fe Reporter, where he wrote about economic development, planning and land use, public policy and sustainable development. Zane led the creative cohort task force for the initial SFIP planning process. Top of the Page

Gary Geernaert is currently division director for climate and environmental science at the U.S. Dept. of  Energy. Prior to this, he was director of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). He has held this position since 2002. His responsibilities include the management of collaborative research involving LANL scientists, university faculty, and postdocs and students. Prior to his appointment at LANL, he was director, Atmospheric Environment Division, of the Danish National Environmental Research Institute. Between 1989 and 1994, Gary was program manager for meteorology and air-sea interactions at the U.S. Office of Naval Research, in Washington, DC. Gary has a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences, and he has published four books and nearly 100 scientific articles, spanning meteorology, oceanography, remote sensing, air pollution, economic impacts, and climate change. Top of the Page

Saul Kaplan is the founder and Chief Catalyst of the Business Innovation Factory. He started BIF in 2005 with a mission to enable collaborative innovation. The non-profit is creating a real world laboratory for innovators to explore and test new business models and system level solutions in areas of high social importance including health care, education, energy independence, public safety, and quality of life. Prior to the Business Innovation Factory Saul served as the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and as the Executive Counselor to the Governor on Economic and Community Development. Prior to his state leadership role in economic development, Saul served as a Senior Strategy Partner in Accenture’s Health & Life Science practice and worked broadly throughout the pharmaceutical, medical products, and biotechnology industry. In addition to his client-focused work, Kaplan held many practice leadership roles within the organization and was instrumental in the formation and rapid growth of Accenture’s pharmaceutical and medical products practice. Earlier in his career, Saul spent eight years working for the Pharmaceutical Division of Eli Lilly and Company. He holds an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute focusing on the strategic management of technology and a BS in Pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island. Top of the Page

David Karshmer has built a career leading healthcare initiatives and companies in the delivery of innovative products and services. As the Healthcare Practice lead for  the international consultancy IDEO, David worked with clients including Medtronic, Baxter Healthcare, Eli Lilly, Abbott, Pfizer, 3M Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson, Advanced Tissue Systems, Guidant Corporation, Heartsteam, Glaxo Wellcome, Bayer,  Becton Dickinson, Affymetrix, Origin Medsystems, Collagen Coporation, Genentech, Inhale, Applied Immune Systems, and HealthHero Network. David has also worked closely with the venture capital community, serving as an entrepreneur in residence at Mayfield Fund, and acting as a consultant for numerous other venture capital groups. David has spoken on the topic of innovation at venture capital meetings, medical industry meetings, and has been a panel judge for the ID Magazine Products of the Year review. He is a special healthcare advisor to social innovation consultancy Collective Invention, and has degrees from University College London, and the University of California at San Diego. Top of the Page

Peter Rachor is director of commercialization and entrepreneurship programs at the University of Portland. These programs include the joint University of Portland/OHSU Technology Entrepreneurship Commercialization (TEC) graduate program, and the nationally recognized Entrepreneur Scholars program. Previously, he was Director, Venture Development at the University of New Mexico, responsible for creation of start-up enterprises from technologies developed through various research programs. He has also worked with Los Alamos National Laboratory, assisting inventors, entrepreneurs and technology transfer staff in patent licensing, market assessment, and venture formation. Peter served as President of New Mexico Bio, that State’s bioscience industry organization, and on advisory boards of the New Mexico Economic Development Department, TVC Equity Capital Symposium, Coronado Venture Forum, and the Los Alamos Regional Tech Transfer Group. Peter previously founded or co-founded three technology ventures, and held international management positions with several telecommunications companies including Lucent Technologies, British Telecom, and Verizon Communications. As a result, he has had the opportunity to live and do business on four continents. Peter holds a BA in Finance from Michigan State University and often serves as a mentor, coach or advisor to early stage and emerging companies, assisting entrepreneurs, students, and scientists. He is a member of SFIP’s Board of Directors, and led the business and financial planning task force. Top of the Page

Steve Smith is founder and President of Los Alamos Visualization Associates (LAVA), a  systems development and consultancy firm specializing in visualization of complex systems.  Steve retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in 2008 after 27 years of service.  Steve came to LANL in 1981 to develop control systems for the Proton Storage Ring with Bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and physics. He quickly moved into and helped develop the new fields of computer graphics, distributed information systems, scientific visualization, information visualization, virtual reality development, simulation science and  visual analytics. Steve spent 2005 as a guest scientist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and has worked closely with the UNM High Performance Computing Center  since 1998.  Over the years he has also owned an art gallery, a graphic design company, and a bookstore.  Steve has an eclectic publication record on topics as wide as “Cellular Automota in Cytoskeletal Membrane,” “Symbiotic Intelligence,” “Network Intrusion Detection,” and “Multivariate Investment Decision Systems.” His main research interest is in “Layered Metaphor Complexes” and their application to “Perceptual Analytics” and in developing complex metaphors in virtual reality to support the exploration, discovery and analysis of complex systems. Steve serves as Board Secretary for Santa Fe Complex. Top of the Page

Gong Szeto is Co-founder and CEO at Doxa 2, Inc.,  a new tech startup company  dedicated to leveling the playing field for average citizens in the complex world of modern American politics. Gong is an internationally recognized designer, who recently served as the Director of Design and Product Design at PEAK6 Investments. He was formerly Chief Creative Officer of publicly traded Rare Medium, Inc. and Creative Partner at i/o 360 digital design, inc. in New York City. His clients have included Sony Corporation of America, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, XM Radio, USA Networks, The New York Times, ThompsonReuters, Dow Jones and Company, Microsoft, Nikkei, Fujitsu, Shiseido, Viacom, Barnes and Noble, Sotheby’s, Compaq, Cablevision, and First Data Corporation. Gong has lectured world-wide, is a recipient of numerous awards, and has work in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt Museum. He received a B.Arch (’91) in Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture and Planning, and has studied Business, Finance, Economics, and Intellectual Property Law at NYU Stern School of Management Extension School, and Harvard Business School Executive Education Program. Top of the Page

Daniel Werwath has broad experience in community development and funding, including housing, arts, youth development, education, and economic development. He has worked in program development and implementation, policy creation, executive leadership, and programmatic funding through federal, state and private granting sources. Daniel currently consults in grantwriting and program development activities with non-profits and provides technical assistance for the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and to communities around New Mexico.  He hashas served as Board President for the Warehouse 21 teen art center, and was recognized by New Mexico Business Weekly as one of the 40 most influential people under 40 years old in New Mexico in 2006.  Daniel was part of the SFIP education outreach task force. Top of the Page