Team

PRODUCTION & EDITING

Bradley Grove Hyson is a Producer and Host of The Peace Revolution.  He is a visionary teacher, speaker, author, organizer and artist who has written over 100 songs, released two albums, and appeared on bills with Richie Havens, Allison Krauss & Union Station, Don McLean, The Pixies, They Might Be Giants, and Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson. In his twenties, Brad founded what would become one of the largest environmental sustainability organizations in the state of Rhode Island. Under Brad’s leadership they built an environmental education center and award winning, state of the art ecological housing model; educated thousands of students and adults through programs, workshops and special events; produced a regional sustainability festival for almost ten years; and helped shape sustainability legislation and policy in the state.  Brad is a health and wellness expert who has studied a variety of healing modalities, diet and nutrition, meditation and yoga, religions of the world and conflict resolution.  He has appeared before thousands people of all ages and continues to speak and teach about efforts to build a healthy, sustainable, peaceful world.  He is also finishing The Book of Life: Foundations For A Healthy, Sustainable, Peaceful World and the Life Is A Miracle children’s book series.

 Joel Naftelberg – is a dynamic media & marketing professional known for delivering marketing and communications excellence to corporate and entertainment industry clientele.  Joel directed, marketed and managed the creation of Associated Media International, which developed media content for some of the highest visibility entertainers including: AC/DC, Sting, The Jonas Brothers, and Nickelback.   AMI also executed projects for CitGroup, The New York Mets, Hilton Hotels Corporation and Bacardi Rums.  Prior to AMI, under Joel’s partnership direction, TRG-Ragamuffin produced projects for Live Nation Artists, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Genesis, Beyonce, Usher, Carly Simon, We Will Rock You-Las Vegas, and National Tours of The Producers, Oliver & Oklahoma .  They also worked with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Habitats for Humanities, TVGuide, as well as clients such as the Vitamin Shoppe, Axcelerate by Speedo, Estée Lauder’s FLIRT!, The USO Benefit ‘Las Vegas Salutes the Spirit of America’, Intel, Rhino Records, Universal Studios, SonyBMG, The Soul Train Awards Show, and Time Warner-AOL.

Jonathan Skurnik, is a documentary producer, director and cinematographer whose films have broadcast on PBS and European Television, domestic Satellite and Cable stations and been screened at the Museum of Modern Art, Lincoln Center, art galleries in New York City, and at over one hundred film festivals throughout the world. He has won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the American Indian film festival, the Change Maker Award at the Media That Matters Film Festival, the Audience Award for best documentary at Outfest, the Harry Chapin Media Award for films about poverty, and Best Documentary Award at the UrbanTV film Festival.  Jonathan has worked all around the world and in addition to his documentary work, he founded the Workfare Media Initiative, The Youth and Gender Media Project and The Cante Sica Foundation, all foundation-funded outreach and engagement projects providing transformational educational experiences through facilitated screenings and discussions.  Jonathan teaches workshops and master classes in theory and production and broadcast investigative journalism at Chapman University and at the New York Film Academy.

Jerry Fried – has worked in the advertising industry for 27 years and helped create award winning commercials for dozens of major advertisers. He was elected Mayor of Montclair, New Jersey and served from 2008-20012. With Jerry’s support, the township has become a leader in sustainability initiatives and was the first municipality in NJ to adopt a “Complete Streets” policy, later adopted by the state of NJ itself. He has chaired the board of School Estimate, served on the town’s planning and library boards and liaison to the Montclair Parking Authority. He is the founder and former President of Bike/Walk Montclair, which works to make Montclair a safer place for pedestrians and cyclists and has been instrumental in procuring hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants for the town.  Jerry founded TrueJustice in the days after 9/11, an interfaith outreach group that organized visits, discussion forums, workshops and dinners among Muslim and non-Muslim congregations and groups.  He is active in the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair and has delivered sermons, taught religious education, chaired committees, taught film to troubled youth, served as a youth group advisor, and mentored teenagers.

Elizabeth Gibbs – has taught grade seven science in Newport, Rhode Island since 1998. Committed to introducing her students to scientific endeavors worldwide, she has participated in several research experiences that she has shared “live from the field.” These include working with chimpanzees at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute at Central Washington University, documenting behavior of dolphins in New Zealand, and supporting a team of divers investigating seafloor ecology in Antarctica. Her most recent adventure involved diving on coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 2014, an experience that she will share with her students. She is a founding board member of the Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living. In addition to her life in education, she has worked as a writer and editor, serving as lead editor of A Guide to Rhode Island’s Natural Places, published by Rhode Island Sea Grant. She holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from Antioch New England University.

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Jason Diamond is a PMO Director, product manager, business analyst, and certified Scrum Master with a broad technology background. He has over 18 years of experience in launching successful and innovative web/mobile solutions and facilitating communication between stakeholders and development teams.  He has managed the analysis, design, development, and ongoing support of strategic business initiatives for the media, publishing, and financial services industries. He  possesses a deep knowledge of Software Development Life Cycles (SDLCs) and Methodologies and is experienced in all aspects of product management including: program/revenue strategy, business and functional requirements, user experience design, social media integration, product roadmaps, quality assurance, and analytics. He possesses outstanding technical project management skills in leading cross-functional technical teams such as Offshore Development / QA, 3rd party technology partners in leveraging agile application development methodologies (Scrum, XP) to deliver on time and under budget.

ORGANIZATION

Beth Tener is a Principal of New Directions Collaborative and a facilitator, organizational consultant, and trainer with over 20 years of experience in helping organizations and networks enhance their environmental and social performance. She specializes in helping people to collaborate across functions and organizations in pursuit of joint goals including stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, mapping networks, and developing commitment, consensus and action plans to implement change. Her work is informed by broad experience in how organizational change happens, systems thinking, and sustainability issues, gained through work with over one hundred companies.  She has served as Executive Director of Sustainable Step New England, training people in principles of sustainability and how to put these into practice in their work. She helped “change agents” take leadership within their organization to adopt green practices in government agencies, businesses, and non-profits. She has also convened dialogues between business leaders and government about advancing sustainable practices.  Beth was a Senior Consultant at Arthur D. Little, helping corporations create management systems to help meet sustainability goals. She has spoken to a range of audiences including MIT Sloan Business School, National Environmental Partnership Summit, the National Association of Environmental Trainers, and the NESEA Building Energy conference. She serves on the faculty of the Institute for Corporate Sustainability, a joint project of NH Business for Social Responsibility and University of New Hampshire Whittimore School of Business.  Beth has a B.A. in Political Science from Bates College and a M.S. in Environmental Technology from Imperial College in London.

Nick Lewis has worked as a lawyer, consultant/fundraiser, freelance graphic designer, and stay-at-home father. For twenty years, he was an employment and benefits attorney, representing labor unions, their pension and health funds and wronged employees and later worked as an Eldercare law attorney. In addition to his litigation and appellate practice, he acted as Managing Partner.  From 2008 to 2012, he served on the Montclair, NJ Town Council, after being elected as representative for the Third Ward and was a member of the Board of School Estimate, Development Committee, Parking Committee, Arts Council, Budget Subcommittee, Business Improvement District and chaired a number of special investigatory committees. Nick is an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair and served as its President, Fundraising Chair, and Membership Chair and on its Board of Trustees, Investment Committee and Finance Committee. He is currently Vice President and Head of Development for the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey, an organization that aims to bring liberal religious values in to the public discussion. During a three-year hiatus from his legal practice living in Sydney Australia, Nick was General Counsel for the Australian Baseball League, General Manager of the Sydney Wave and a baseball author during three years in Sydney, where is also taught at University of Technology Law School. He served as the Treasurer and many other positions of the Rand School PTA where he helped institute an after-school arts program.  He spent over ten years coaching Little League, served on the Board of the Montclair Academy of Dance and Laboratory of Music, Inc. and was President of the Arts Council of the Essex Area.

ADVISORY BOARD

Jim Merkel is the author of Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth and directs the Global Living Project. GLP consults with campuses and municipalities and offers workshops and lectures on sustainable living. His recent work as Dartmouth college’s sustainability coordinator helped Dartmouth earn the highest grade given on the Sustainability Report Card issued by the Sustainable Endowments Institute for the years he led the campus’s sustainability efforts. Originally a military engineer trained in foreign military sales, the Exxon Valdez disaster and the invasion of Iraq prompted him to devote his life to sustainability and world peace. Jim founded the GLP and initiated it’s Summer Institute, where teams of researchers attempted to live on an equitable portion of the biosphere. While at Dartmouth, Jim worked to integrate environmentally and socially sustainable practices into the college’s operations and culture. His projects included Sustainable Dining, Solar Thermal Evaluation, Carbon Reduction, Sustainable Offices, Green Greeks and Solid Waste Reduction.

Bill Pfeiffer is a deep ecologist, cultural engineer and author of the book Wild Earth, Wild Soul: A Manual for an Ecstatic Culture.  In 1990, he founded Sacred Earth Network (SEN), a visionary not-for-profit environmental advocacy group. With SEN he traveled extensively in Siberia and North America to facilitate cultural exchanges and collaborate with indigenous elders and shamans on variety of issues. He has led numerous shamanic “culture change” experiences along with workshops from his home and forest base in Petersham, MA.  He brings decades of counseling and meditation experience into the mix and has received glowing reviews from participants.

Reverand Charlie Ortman is a senior Mister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Montclair.  Of his youth Charlie says “I had the great fortune of falling in with the wrong crowd at a very early age, and, in the end, it opened up all kinds of wonderful possibilities that I feel very grateful for.”  Alternative service as a Conscientious Objector during the Viet Nam War led him into a career in Social Work for many years. Being a child of the 50s and 60s opened him to communication through music and a 20 year career as a singer songwriter that took him around the world. After graduating from Meadville/Lombard Theological School, Charlie was ordained to the UU ministry in 1992. He has served congregations in Burlington, IA, Fitchburg, MA. and as the Senior Mister of the UU Congregation in Montclair for the past 19 years. He says, “For or me, ministry is working collaboratively to promote ever greater opportunities for transformation – individually, in the community, and in the world. Ministry is promoting the possibilities and probabilities of goodness in what often seems like a broken world. Reaching out beyond ourselves and our homes, the strength of the religious community is where I find the greatest hope for working cooperatively and sustainably with other like-minded persons in helping and healing our communities and our world.”  Charlie recently rode his bicycle across the country and published a memoir of the journey, Moving on… Lessons from the Road.

Cathy Pedevillano is a visionary healer, teacher, guide, seeker, a lover of animals and nature and all that is good and beautiful on this Earth.  Through her healing work, trainings, and workshops, Cathy assists more and more people in waking up to who they are and reclaiming their power. She is committed to sharing the teachings and practices of shamanism to help bring balance and healing to the world. Cathy began her professional life as a wildlife biologist, receiving a B.S. and M.S. in this field. She has worked as a wildlife biologist, wetlands scientist and environmental educator for a variety of state, federal, and private organizations such as the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Massachusetts Audubon Society, and Northfield Mountain. She has also taught outdoor leadership and teambuilding programs to children and adults. Cathy worked as a consultant for the Sacred Earth Network (SEN), a nonprofit environmental organization, for eleven years. At SEN, she coordinated exchanges of indigenous people from Siberia and the U.S., initiated a project to help save endangered snow leopards in Eurasia, and co-created and co-lead a workshop called “Healing Self, Healing Earth” which combines deep ecology and shamanism. Cathy is also a trained facilitator of “Council of All Beings” workshops and has worked with Deep Ecologists Joanna Macy and John Seed.