Partner Members

Flourish HR

At Flourish HR, we are proud to work with mission-driven for-profit businesses and non-profits to enhance culture and ensure compliance. Our focus is on small to mid-sized companies. Each member of the team has extensive experience working in-house in mission driven companies and is passionate about supporting organizations that are giving back to their communities and the planet.

Flourish HR: Meet the Members

Diane Cowlin, Founder

As the Founder of Flourish HR, Diane works exclusively with small to mid-sized mission-based companies to deliver HR and and Organizational Development. Beginning within the maze of Fortune 500 company Human Resources, she quickly found a disconnect between her eco-conscious nature and big company ethos. In 2001 Diane committed to working with companies that align with her values and has worked in-house leading HR for Birkenstock USA, Avalon Organics and Numi Tea. As a consultant, she has partnered with many companies and nonprofits doing their best to change the world. When she isn’t working, you’ll probably find Diane in her vegetable garden, doing yoga or walking/ hiking the Bay Area with her husband and two dogs.

Prapti Rana, Senior HR Consultant

Prapti is a highly motivated human resource professional with a background in public accounting and payroll. Her mission is to support her clients using inclusive practices to help companies create and sustain a workplace that is equitable, diverse and represents their core values.

​Prapti believes that high-performance teams lead to high-performance organizations and loves working with Flourish HR as it allows her to continue to work with like-minded, mission drive companies that strive to make the world a better place. Prapti enjoys spending time raising her daughter and showing her that a mother/women can do it all!

Grounded Capital

Grounded Capital primarily invests private equity capital in food companies, processing, agriculture, forests, energy, and real estate. The firm employs an evolving framework to pursue ideas, develop strategies, and solve problems by considering all elements of five areas of focus: Places, Energy, People, Food and Nature. The firm believes that by taking a more holistic approach and defining the role of each element in the framework they can responsibly grow investor capital and achieve beneficial outcomes. Grounded Capital is an SEC-registered investment advisor, based in San Francisco, with approximately $2 billion of assets under management.

Grounded Capital: Meet the Members

Stephen Hohenrieder, CEO & Co-founder

Stephen serves as the CEO of Grounded Capital which he founded to invest private equity capital through strategies that build the health of human, ecological and financial systems rather than monetize the symptoms of unhealthy systems. Stephen began this work in 2007 after observing how commonly capital is invested in solutions to the symptoms of problems rather than solving problems. He noticed such reductionistic approaches to deploying capital sought silver bullet solutions to systems-based problems and resulted in financial motivation to exaggerate problems, not fix them. He spent 13 years exploring these ideas in the context of regenerative agriculture, our broader food system, the built environment, and energy prior to founding Grounded Capital. 

William Culler-Chase, Principal & Co-founder

William serves as Principal and Co-Founder at Grounded Capital. His work focuses on direct investments in food and agriculture that span farmland, processing, and food companies to support the production of food in ways that regenerate living systems and value all stakeholders in the supply chain.  Over the course of his career investing private capital in food, agriculture and natural resources, William has come to see the food system as a unique leverage point to rebalance our relationship with the world around us. Prior to Grounded, William was with PGIM Private Capital where he was responsible for structuring, underwriting, and monitoring private debt and structured equity investments, working with a broad range of food and agriculture-related businesses. Initially based in San Francisco, he relocated to Paris to help expand the firm’s private capital platform in Europe. He began his career in the Real Assets group at Hall Capital Partners in San Francisco. William graduated with Honors from Brown University.

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Davis Wright Tremaine was founded on three guiding principles: ability, integrity, and service. Those principles have remained constant even as the firm has grown to more than 600 attorneys in 11 offices coast-to-coast. They shape the ways we engage with and support our clients in an ever-changing legal landscape. We bring an industry-focused, multi-disciplinary, full service approach that enables us to provide value beyond market-leading legal counsel. DWT has particular industry experience in media and entertainment; technology and intellectual property; financial services and fintech; healthcare; food and beverage; energy, environment and natural resources; AI; and cannabis.

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP: Meet the Members

Don Buder, Partner

Don Buder is a strategic legal advisor and corporate counsel to food and beverage, food-tech, and ag-tech innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors.

For more than three decades, Don has tried to provide every client with three basic services: to find cost-effective solutions to legal problems; to offer advice that is direct and practical; and to keep the parties involved in any negotiation focused on their common business objectives. He believes that a lawyer is effective only if he can protect his clients’ interests without frustrating their business judgment.As part of the service he provides, Don regularly participates in management team and strategic-planning meetings with his clients. He views his role as that of both a business partner and a legal advisor, helping his clients grow their business ventures over the long-term.

Don has a broad network of business service providers and professionals with whom he regularly consults to provide coordinated advice to his clients. This informal “keiretsu” of affiliated service providers (which include investment bankers, accountants, management consultants, branding firms, and commercial bankers) allows Don to help his clients put together a group of strategic advisors for their businesses. They work together closely to achieve the common goals of maximizing opportunity and minimizing risk for his clients.

Don is a founder and the board chair of Naturally Bay Area Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization, which is the first regional affiliate of Naturally Boulder. He was a founding faculty member and member of the Advisory Board of the Food Business School at the Culinary Institute of America (Napa Valley).

He is currently vice chair of the board of directors of KCETLink TV, the public television station in Los Angeles, and a member of the board of directors of the American Technion Society – Silicon Valley and San Francisco Chapters.

Don serves as a partner member of OSC, a national organization of sustainable business leaders, and as a mentor to cohort companies in Terra, a foodtech and agtech accelerator in San Francisco sponsored by Rabobank and Rocketspace.  Don’s clients are based in all of the major food and tech innovation hubs in the United States, including the San Francisco Bay Area; Boulder, Colorado; Brooklyn, New York; Austin, Texas; Chicago; and Los Angeles, as well as in Europe and Asia.

Creative Alignments

Creative Alignments is dedicated to using our recruiting work as a force for good. We help grow scaling companies that are making an impact through mission, product, positive culture, or social justice and DEI.

Creative Alignments: Meet the Members

Peggy Shell, Founder & CEO

Peggy Shell is the founder and CEO of Creative Alignments and the creator of Time-Based Recruiting®. Creative Alignments partners with quickly-scaling companies that are committed to people-first cultures and using their business as a force for good. For more than a decade, entrepreneurs in natural products/CPG, technology, climate/sustainability and more have relied on Creative Alignments as a trusted recruiting partner to help them find top talent and build successful teams for greater impact.

Peggy is a member of Entrepreneurs Organization’s Colorado’s chapter and has served on the board as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Chair.

She received her Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Education from Northwestern University and became a math teacher after college. Now a longtime Coloradan, Peggy lives and plays in Niwot with her husband, two sons and many, many pets. She enjoys staying active with yoga, tennis, softball, golf, hiking and skiing.

Shenna Fitzgerald, Director of Impact & Strategic Communications

Shenna Fitzgerald is the Director of Impact and Strategic Communications at Creative Alignments, a B-Corp certified recruiting firm that partners with purpose-driven companies to build talented teams for growth and impact.

DAF CAPITAL PARTNERS

At DAF CAPITAL PARTNERS, we are dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs who are committed to creating a regenerative future. We believe in the power of purpose-driven businesses to make a positive impact on society and the environment. Our team is passionate about supporting these visionaries and helping them achieve their goals.

David Cooper directs business development and co-creates funding strategies at DAF Capital Partners. He and his partners create opportunities that match risk with return and reconnect impact investors to the entrepreneur's performance. David’s work is focused on an industry-wide commitment to agroecological, social, environmental, and climate impact investing and asset management. He has 20-plus years of experience directing the acquisition, alternative financing, ownership, and disposition of early-stage mission- and purpose-driven entrepreneurs. He brings a deep knowledge of equity and debt transactions, including due diligence, structuring, closing, and operational management. David has a track record of profitable impact investing and strategic advising. He has long-standing relationships with crucial multi-cycle finance, growth, and disposition industry champions.

DAF CAPITAL PARTNERS: Meet the Members

David Cooper, Founding Partner

Dadascope Communications

Since 1999, we have been delivering results-driven earned media campaigns that propel business forward, so you can focus on changing the world.

Dadascope Communications: Meet the Members

Dana Smith, Founder & President

As the founder and president of Dadascope Communications, Dana has evangelized new trends, introduced national brands, trained executives for national appearances and developed effective communications strategies and messaging platforms for 25 years. Over the past decade, she and her agency have focused on amplifying the impact of brands and innovators working to make the world a better place through climate-positive solutions. She has worked hand-in-hand with award-winning journalists as clients, ensuring their important work reaches its maximum audience. Dana founded Dadascope in 1999 at the age of 26. She continues to bring her entrepreneurial spirit and enthusiasm for her clients’ stories to every aspect of the agency’s practice areas with a specific focus on crafting streamlined strategies that contribute to business success.

Alive Publishing Group

For more than 40 years, Alive Publishing Group (APG) has been Canada’s recognized leader in health and wellness. Today, the APG brand is synonymous with natural health and wellness, editorial integrity, and the empowerment of those we touch to make healthy, natural, and sustainable lifestyle choices.

But that’s not all we do! With a suite of more than 15 different consumer- and industry-facing touch points, APG is the number one go-to source for both consumers and businesses interested in advancing their knowledge and positions in the natural health industry in Canada, across North America, and around the globe.

Alive Publishing Group: Meet the Members

Ryan Benn, CEO & Group Publisher

Wanna be chef, family man, outdoor lover. Multi award recognized CEO with a demonstrated history of business and board management. Growth focused, with an aptitude for the buying and selling of companies, international business, strategic planning, operational execution, legal, HR, and finance. An inspirational leader who has managed complex business structures including employee owned private businesses. Ryan is a go to adviser to his peers and gives tremendously to Non-Profit roles.

Since 2005, Ryan has been the CEO of Alive Publishing Group Inc. (APG). Early under this leadership, APG completed a top-down restructuring that has led to breakthrough results. Over the past 18 years, APG has introduced numerous new products and services, making it a multifaceted media company. With the launch of alive USA, sage, delicious living, Canadian Natural Health Retailers, Live Naturally (Kroger), and APG’s most recent acquisition, Canada Wide Media Limited., Ryan and his team have taken a trusted Canadian brand and transformed it into a global wellness community of more than 30 million readers.

Ryan’s accomplishments have been recognized with several honours, including EY Entrepreneur of The Year Finalist; Marketing Magazine’s Top 30 Marketers in Canada under 30; a Business in Vancouver Top Forty under 40 accolade; and the BCIT Distinguished Alumni Award recognizing Entrepreneurial Innovation, the youngest recipient to ever receive this award. Ryan holds an Honours Marketing Diploma in Entrepreneurship from BCIT, where he was awarded the BCIT Top Graduate Award (School of Business). Beyond his professional achievements, Ryan’s commitment to philanthropy and community engagement is noteworthy. Ryan generously serves—or has served—on numerous non-for-profit boards. Highlights include YPO BC Executive (Chair), Magazines Canada, InspireHealth (Board Chair), Camp Kerry Society, Global Mothers, Canadian Health Food Association (Vice Chair), Canadian Organic Trade Association (Vice Chair), Organic Trade Association (USA), and A Better Life Foundation.

Ellen Wheeler, Vice President of Sales

Wife, mama, and sister | Seller of all things at APG | Loves reading, skiing, spending time with her boys, and feeding people | Compulsive entertainer | Maker of amazing salsa

Ellen has been with Alive Publishing Group (APG), in several different capacities, since 1997. After working closely with alive magazine founder Siegfried Gursche, Ellen left to get a different perspective on the industry. Working for both distributors and manufacturers added to Ellen’s understanding of the industry and allowed her unique perspective of her clients’ products and needs to develop. Since returning to APG in 2004, Ellen has employed her experience and commitment to provide excellent customer service and to continue doing the job she loves as Vice President of Sales.

Ellen also uses her knowledge and passion to live a happy and healthy lifestyle with her husband and two sons.

Ellen is a current member of the PBFA’s Retail Advisory Board and the head judge for the CHFA’s 2024 Launch Pad.

Planet FWD

Planet FWD is powering the next generation of sustainable brands. 60% of global emissions come from consumer use. Consumer brands have the power to stop the harm and start the healing. Planet FWD's mission is to guide consumer companies to achieve net zero by making it easier for them to improve their environmental impact and support a healthy planet. We're brand builders ourselves. We've learned first-hand what it takes to build a truly sustainable brand so that we can other do it to through our software.

Planet FWD: Meet the Members

Julia Collins, Founder & CEO

Julia Collins is the Founder & CEO of Planet FWD who’s on a mission to tackle climate change by making it easier to bring climate-friendly products to market.  Planet FWD is empowering the next generation of sustainable brands with our proprietary software that reduces the cost and complexity of creating sustainable and carbon-neutral products

Food has been Julia’s calling since she was a young girl growing up in San Francisco. It led her to New York, where she spent over a decade of her career launching and growing food brands such as Union Square Hospitality Group, Mexicue, and Murray’s Cheese Bar.  Julia also served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Harlem Jazz Enterprises, which holds The Cecil and Minton’s, a historic jazz supper club. During her time, The Cecil, an Afro-Asian Brasserie, won Best New Restaurant of the Year. and Harlem Jazz Enterprises (the company responsible for the award-winning restaurant, The Cecil).

In 2015, Julia moved back to the Bay Area and co-founded Zume Pizza, where she became the first Black woman to create a company valued at over a billion dollars In 2018, Julia became a mother. She gained clarity on her life’s purpose: bringing delicious food to people in a way that helps heal the planet for everyone, including her son.  In 2020, Julia launched Moonshot Snacks as the first climate-friendly snack brand and proofing ground for Planet FWD’s software. Today, Planet FWD’s carbon management platform is helping food, fashion, beauty and personal care brands take climate action and reach their climate goals.

In addition to leading Planet FWD, Julia sits on the advisory council for Launch with GS, the Food for Climate League board and she’s an EIR for Cleo Capital. Julia is an active angel investor focused on funding female entrepreneurs and BIPOC founders, as well as an Ambassador for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Lauren Gibbons,  Head of Partnerships & Growth Marketing

Do Good CFO

We integrate EQ and IQ, mission and margin, purpose and profit exclusively for mission-driven companies, depth of financial skills, and long-term, personal relationships. Since 2010, we have supported world-changing entrepreneurs in raising over $50 Million in equity and debt, growing their businesses, and dealing with recessions and facing everyday challenges. First-time CEO’s and founders who don’t have a finance background find that Do Good CFO is a great fit. That’s because we’re more than just a CFO. We are rooted in finance and offer experience in general management, strategy, and governance.

Do Good CFO: Meet the Member

David Guendelman, Founder & Principal CFO

Do Good CFO founder, David Guendelman, is a seasoned veteran of social entrepreneurship who cares about both social impact and financial success. From prototype to scale to exit, he’s been there. He has over a dozen years of experience as a co-founder, CFO, and consultant to early stage social ventures.

In 2004, he co-founded World of Good, a fair trade gift brand that scaled nationally, building distribution with Whole Foods, Hallmark and eBay, and was eventually acquired by eBay in 2010. Since then, David has worked with leading social ventures—Lotus Foods, Straus Family Creamery, Uncommon Cacao, Community Foods Market, —as virtual CFO and strategist. He has worked alongside his clients in raising over $50 million of dollars in equity and debt financing.

Perhaps it was David’s childhood fascination with Robin Hood, trips to his parent’s homeland of Chile, or the loss of his uncle Lucho to the Pinochet dictatorship, but David has a particular passion for social justice, boundary-breakers and supporting the underdog.

David has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UC Berkeley, and an MA in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. When he is not working with his clients, he can be found running through the redwoods, throwing one of his three children in the air, or shoveling dirt on his family’s small magical farm.