Ghazal Badiozamani currently serves as a Program Officer at the UN Forum on Forests Secretariat in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). Ghazal is charged with facilitating the participation of civil society and the private sector in the inter-governmental negotiating process and also represents the Division in a number of inter-governmental negotiations including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol.

She joined the UN in July 2000 as an advisor in the Division for Sustainable Development where she undertook a number of initiatives aimed at highlighting the value of public-private partnerships through a partnership with the World Bank entitled the Global Initiative on Transport Emissions. She was active in the preparations and implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002. It was during the WSSD that she helped launch the International Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles, a collaboration of industry, governments and non-governmental organizations.

She also served as a member of the jury for the Stockholm Partnership for Sustainable Cities in 2002, helping to choose the winners of a prize awarded for innovative partnerships by the King of Sweden.  In addition to her working duties, Ghazal has served as Director of DAWN, a women’s organization in New York working to promote professional development among young women in the city; on the Advisory Board of Arzu, a non-profit organization working to promote entrepreneurship and fair trade among female rug-weavers in Afghanistan; and on the Board of Directors of the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Centre, a community-based organization working to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Ghazal completed her undergraduate degree in Economics from Stanford University and holds an MSc in Economics with a focuse on Development Studies from the London School of Economics.

Nadinne CruZ is the former Director of the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University.  She previously taught at Swarthmore College and is currently a well reknowned Speaker, Author, and expert in applying theoretical abstracts into practical actionable solutions, she dubbed Praxis. 

Tarana Harris is an amazing producer for ABC News. She has produced segments for Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, & Nightline. Tarana received her BA from Stanford University and was a Coro Fellow.

Jeremy Herman a former Olympic Athlete was Captain of Stanford's Varsity Gymnastics Team.  He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa and was also the Executive Director of several Non-profit organizations in Las Vegas. Jeremy received both his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Philosophy via the Ethics in Society Program at Stanford University.

Ed Hrybenko is Vice President and Director of Communications at OppenheimerFunds, Inc. - an Investment & Asset Management company based in NYC.  Ed received his undergraduate and Masters Degrees from Cornell University. 

Adam Politzer was recently named the City Manager for Sausalito. He was formerly Director of Parks & Recreation for the City of Belmont California, Director of Parks for the City of Sausalito and Director of Parks & Recreation for the City of Palo Alto.  Adam's leadership and love for nature is exemplified by his many accomplishments and roles bringing the comnunity back to nature.

Karim Simplis is currently an Associate at First Q Capital a Hedge Fund based in Newport Beach.  Born in Belize, he moved to South Central LA with his family at the age of three and developed a passion for education and working with inner-city youth.

As a University of California Regents Scholar, Karim attended the University of California at Santa Cruz where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors in economics & business management, and received the Benjamin E. Mays Award for academic and community service work.

He then moved to New York to work as an investment banker for Merrill Lynch, and later became a private equity analyst at JLL Partners.  While in New York, Karim continued his volunteer work by teaching at a local high school where he taught personal finance and exposed the students to Wall Street.

In 2003, Karim enrolled in the MBA program at Stanford University where he volunteered with a program that adopts a first grade class and follows it through 12 years of its educational development. At Stanford, he was a Soros Fellow and Toigo Foundation Fellow.  Upon graduating from Stanford's MBA program in 2005, he now spends his weeks in Newport Beach working for a hedge fund called First Q Capital and the weekends in LA to spend time with his family and friends.

Laying the foundation and providing the shade for other seedlings to grow, Eco Umbrella (tm) brings together education, sustainable development, non-profit, government and business enterprise to forge a new path in the field of social entrepreneurship.