Peter Meisen (President and Director)
 

Peter Meisen is the Director of the World Resources Simulation Center (SIMCenter). After graduating from UCSD with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Engineering Sciences, he was influenced by the work and thinking of visionary engineer, Buckminster Fuller and his World Game™ simulation. Peter founded the non-profit research & education organization, Global Energy Network Institute (GENI) in 1989. GENI’s work focused on the interconnection of high-voltage electric networks between regions and nations with an emphasis on tapping abundant, remote renewable energy resources. GENI organized workshops and was featured on numerous trade magazines, earning the endorsement of 7 Nobel Peace Laureates.

In 2009, Meisen embraced Fuller’s proposal for the SIMCenter. The SIMCenter visualizes problems and solutions in an immersive, surround facility – enabling users to see past trends, project future options and make informed choices quicker. Peter hosted hundreds of international interns and offered sustainability events to the San Diego community. Continuing his international interests, Peter co-founded Global San Diego in 2015 with 6 aligned international organizations. This group provides local resources for the globally minded, living the example of “think global, act local.”

Paul-Michael Dekker (Research, Information Technology Director)

Mr. Dekker received a degree in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada), in 1980. He joined the GENI organization in September of 1993 and is IT Director. He speaks locally about the GENI Initiative and the SIMCenter and writes occasionally on specific technical projects (GENI WMS Server, The GENI Model). He worked for nine years with UNISYS (Winnipeg, Manitoba), and one year with the Board of Education of the City of York (Toronto, Ontario). He is a principal of Green Star Standard, a Life Cycle Assessment consultantcy. Locally, he served on the Boord for the Sustainability Alliance of Southern California, where he advocated sustainable community policies. He participated on the Energy and Water Committee and Green Products Committee of the San Diego Regional Sustainability Partnership. He is a former member of the IEEE and the San Diego Chapter of the Institute of Management Consultants.    

Michael Russell (A/V Production, Education Department)
 

"Michael has elevated the SIMCenter audio/visual capacity to a small web production studio." - Peter Meisen. Currently working on Global San Diego's web presence, and developing curriculum that incorporates project based experiential learning at the SIMCenter with the wisdom of R. Buckminster Fuller, Mike is dedicated to expanding public awareness of the realities and solutions surrounding issues of global climate change. Mike is also an energy consultant, and can help with non-profit business development via Grant Writing Specialists.

Ms. Bobbi DePorter (Director)
 

Bobbi DePorter is Founder and President of Quantum Learning Network (www.qln.com), nearing its 40^th year.

She is an early pioneer in the applications of accelerated learning, which she first applied in her highly successful business school. Results lead her to launch SuperCamp® learning and life skills academic summer camps for youth in 1982. SuperCamp has achieved worldwide success with over 80,000 student graduates from the program. Educators noticed and she was invited to provide programs for schools. Her Quantum Learning methods are now in thousands of schools and reached over 100,000 educators and millions of students.

Author of over a dozen books, she is acknowledged by many as a leading authority on effective learning and youth development. Bobbi is also president of Learning Forum International, a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational corporation based in Oceanside, California.

Ms. Joanalys B. Smith (J.D) (Secretary)

Ms. Smith graduated from the University of Virginia, majoring in organizational communication and later studied law at the University of Texas. Prior to law she was a banker on Wall Street, a marketing representative for Norton Simon, and aide to former New Jersey Governor James Florio. Ms. Smith is now a partner in her law firm, the Law Offices of Joanalys B. Smith, and is on the faculty of the University of Texas.

Mr. Michael Powers (University of Missouri-Journalism) (Director/Treasurer)
 

Mr. Powers is VP of Sales & Marketing and co-founder of Stellar Solar LLP, the licensed provider of photovoltaic solar energy systems for The Home Depot and BP Solar in San Diego. He also helped to launch The Home Depot's national solar energy program in 2001. He is a writer and marketing professional with over 30 years experience in the field. He has been an avid supporter of GENI since 1986, when he first read Buckminster Fuller's book "Critical Path" and was inspired by the Global Energy Grid concept.

Mr. Nyhl Henson (B.S) (Director)
 

Mr. Henson is a 20-year veteran of the communications industry. He was Chairman and CEO of CMT (Country Music Television), served as Nickelodeon's first general manager, and helped create MTV Networks, Inc. He is president of his own Florida-based entertainment consulting firm, Nyhl Henson Enterprises, and serves as executive producer of Branson Hills Productions, in Branson, Missouri.

Mr. Thomas Young (B.A, Journalism, The George Washington University) (Director)
 

Thomas has extensive international experience as a team leader, negotiator, crisis manager, and director of large organizations supporting multiple government agencies located at U.S. embassies abroad. Tom led energized, motivated, and productive teams that consistently earned high marks from customers for innovation, service quality, and efficiency. During Mr. Young's Foreign Service career, he represented U.S. government interests to senior foreign-government officials and overseas business leaders emphasizing a collaborative approach to achieving operational goals and accomplishing successful international negotiations. Currently, Tom serves as a director on the boards of two San Diego-based nonprofit organizations. Contact him at tomyoung158@hotmail.com.

Pamela Stambaugh

Pamela Stambaugh is the President and Founder of Accountability Pays. Her company provides advisory services to executive teams, gives guidance in executive management and distributes the Harrison Assessments Talent Solution to hire, retain and develop “A’ players. Pamela is a member of the San Diego Rotary Club and University Club of San Diego. A twenty-six year resident of San Diego and she is committed to making San Diego both economically and environmentally sustainable.

Andre Skupin

André Skupin is an associate professor of Geography at San Diego State University. He received a Dipl.- Ing. degree in Cartography at the Technical University Dresden, Germany, and a Ph.D. in Geography at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Areas of interest and expertise include text document visualization, geographic visualization, cartographic generalization, and visual data mining. Much of his research revolves around new perspectives on geographic metaphors, methods, and principles, outside of traditional geographic domains. Andre’s GIS expertise has been invaluable in developing the Geodesign San Diego program.

Thomas Bartley

Even during his high school years, Tom harbored an interest in vehicles and energy efficiency. He has over 30 years of experience in executive management, technical product design, and engineering research and development, particularly in heavy-duty hybrid-electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage technology. He is the recipient of a Lifetime California Community College Teaching Credential, a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), a life member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member and past vice-chair of the Transportation Committee of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Land Use Water and Energy and Technology committees of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the board of directors of the San Diego Clean Fuels Coalition the US Department of Energy Clean Cities group in San Diego. Tom holds a BS and MS in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a MBA from San Diego State University.

Phil Bona

Philip Bona, AIA, is currently a Senior Architect & Planner with AVRP Skyport in San Diego California focusing on Urban Design, Residential High Rise, Midrise, and Mixed-Use Developments, K-12 Schools, and Municipal building designs. In 2017, as AIA San Diego President, Phil championed the "Housing the Next 1 Million in San Diego County" movement to address the region’s housing crisis with community building and visionary design solutions. He was recognized by the San Diego Daily Transcript as one of San Diego's 50 Most Influential people. Critical to his mission is urban community-based design to educate the public about the imbalance between population growth and the need for housing equity and the impacts on Public Health and homelessness.

Jessica Block

Jessica Block, a staff research associate at Calit2, continues to use visualization technology to address environmental issues and natural disasters, particularly wildfires. She is part of a UCSD team, together with researchers from Australia’s University of Melbourne, who in 2012 received an Australian Research Council grant of $1.5 million to design, build, and install wireless streaming sensors that can withstand failures in the field. This leverages expertise developed at UCSD to allow emergency responders to access dynamic environmental data that were previously unavailable in real-time. Jessica previously worked at the immersive visualization Design Theater at Arizona State University, and brings that experience to the SimCenter.

Jacques Chirazi

Jacques Chirazi, certified Biomimicry Professional has managed the California City of San Diego’s Clean Technology Program since 2007. His focus is to create economic growth while fostering sustainability. One emerging initiative is to bridge cleantech with biomimicry. He develops and supports a clean technology cluster in San Diego.

Jacques served six years as Senior Project Manager at Bainbridge Inc., a strategic management consulting firm, which provides consulting services for Fortune 500 companies. He currently teaches sustainability courses and clean technology to business students at the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University. He holds a Masters of Arts from UCSD Graduate School of International Relations & Pacific Studies in International Environmental Policy and a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from San Diego State University. Jacques is also a certified Energy Manager (C.E.M.), Renewable Energy Professional (R.E.P.) and LEED-GC.

Thomas Zung

Thomas T.K. Zung, president of Buckminster Fuller, Sadao and Zung Architects was a student of Buckminster Fuller. Prior to joining Fuller, he served as principal designer and project architect to the internationally renowned architect, Edward Durell Stone for many years. While associated with Edward Durell Stone, Zung worked on such notable designs as the New Orleans International Trade Mart; the Master Plan for the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland; the General Motors Headquarters building in New York; and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Zung established Thomas T.K. Zung Architects, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio and the following year, 1968, designed the first elongated geodesic dome in association with Buckminster Fuller Synergetics organization. Thomas T.K. Zung Architects and R. Buckminster Fuller merged to form Buckminster Fuller, Sadao and Zung Architects designing numerous Geodesic domes, tensegrity structures, vector equilibriums, museum exhibitions, publications, and Fuller’s last invention, ‘Hang It All’. A Founding member of Buckminster Fuller Institute and SNEC, he is a Distinguished Senior Fellow to the Stanford University Libraries, and author/editor of Fuller’s ‘Anthology for a New Millennium’ published under St. Martin’s Press.

Shoji Sadao

Shoji Sadao (b. 1927), is a principal at Buckminster Fuller, Sadao, and Zung Architects (established in the 1970s). In the early 1950s, Sadao studied architecture at Cornell University, and it is there where he met Fuller, one of his instructors. The two began to collaborate in 1954, and their first project was the massive geodesic dome for the U.S. Pavilion at Expo '67 in Montreal. Other collaborative projects included the Dymaxion World Map, the design and fabrication of the tensegrity (tension + integrity) mast, and the Student Religious Center at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Sadao is also Executive Director of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc. in Long Island City, New York, and had worked closely with Noguchi on many public art projects, gardens, and playgrounds, blending sculpture, innovative materials, and landscape architecture and designs into functional environments. After Noguchi's death in 1988, Sadao oversaw his projects to their completion.