Erik Cutter is Managing Director of Alegría Fresh, headquartered in Laguna Beach, CA. Alegría Fresh is a zero-waste, regenerative urban microfarm employing organic soil-based growing systems. Mr. Cutter is also Founder of the Alegría Farmacy, an integrated carbon neutral food production system designed to grow superior produce anywhere, anytime. Mr. Cutter has over 35 years experience growing ultra nutrient-rich produce using regenerative organic techniques and is a leading pioneer in developing cost effective growing systems that can be deployed over man-made surfaces close to where people live and work. See www.AlegriaFarmacy.com and www.SoxxBoxx.com. He has a background in biochemistry and oncology, and possesses a lifelong passion for creating haute cuisine using the finest ingredients, most of which he grows himself. Mr. Cutter’s mission is to increase adaptability and resilience and combat auto-immune disorders by creating greater awareness of the numerous health benefits of consuming fresh, regenerative organic food. The company’s goals include connecting individuals with where their food comes from and how it should be grown in living soil to optimize microbiome health, influencing positive change in resource management, teaching healthy eating habits, promoting entrepreneurship programs and creating green jobs in urban agriculture. Mr. Cutter’s interests include photography, marketing, design and engineering, cooking, and all outdoor activities including camping, trekking, volleyball and skiing. He is constantly scouring the web for information on health-related topics and enjoys teaching those around him how to feel better and create more balance in their lives. Mr. Cutter takes full advantage of all the wonderful opportunities we have at our fingertips to maintain a healthy mind, body and spirit. It has been said that his closest friends are tired of hearing, “and it’s really good for you!”.
Who We Are
“Time is our greatest gift. How we use it determines who we are and how we will be remembered.” – Erik Cutter
Jan Allen, P.E, CMQ/OE, has 40 years of experience in zero waste planning, biological conversion, thermal conversion, biomethane systems, material handling, contamination control, de-packaging, wastewater treatment, biosolids management, and odor control. He is based in Seattle, Washington, and his design portfolio includes 10 million tons of organic waste diversion through Composting and Digestion. This includes 10 MW of installed biomethane production from urban source separated organics conversion.
He is the founder and President of Impact Bioenergy (2013 – 2016), which specializes in quick deployment, prefabricated, portable anaerobic digestion, composting, and wood fuel processing systems. He also specializes in bulk material handling, product marketing, and odour control facilities. He is qualified to provide engineering, quality management, zero waste planning, material handling, permitting, and environmental controls.
Jan earned a B.S., Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Purdue University in 1979 with Distinction.
Craig M. Kolodge, Ph.D., is the former academic advisor, field plant pathologist and county director for the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) in Santa Clara county. He also served as the superintendent of the UC Bay Area Research and Extension Center (BAREC) and was instrumental in developing the City of San Jose’s green waste utilization program focused on re-purposing recycled organics to deliver agricultural and ecosystem benefits. Dr. Kolodge served as statewide chairman of the U.C. Small Farm Workgroup and was a member of the UC Sustainable Agriculture Workgroup where he promoted the principles of regenerative agriculture and soil health.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors for California’s Association of Compost Producers (ACP) and is the Business Development and Sustainability Manager for San Pasqual Valley Soils located in San Diego county. He is a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC) and a Trainer of Record (ToR) for California’s Storm Water Industrial General Permit. He resides in San Diego county and travels throughout southern California demonstrating and teaching the practical application of compost-based Sustainable Management Practices (SMP’s) including urban regenerative agriculture, storm water management, post-wildfire damage mitigation and land conservation/restoration.
Kathy Kellogg Johnson has been referred to as the “First Lady of Compost” by the President of the U.S. Composting Council. She currently serves as Chairman of the Board for Kellogg Garden Products, entering its 95th year of continuous family ownership and operation. Kathy and her brother Hap represent the third generation of this family-owned enterprise.
For three decades, Kathy has been a leader in the compost industry. Spotting a disconnect among business, cities, and county governments who were all striving toward the same goal of standardizing and implementing unified composting definitions and practices, she brought them together to meet regularly. This forged a pathway for the industry by forming the Association of Compost Producers (ACP), the California State Chapter of the USCC.
As Chief Sustainability Officer at Kellogg, Kathy initiated a comprehensive study of the company’s carbon footprint, long before this concept had gained traction in business practices. Seven years of research and independent verification confirmed that Kellogg is a “zero-waste” company — 99.995% of everything entering a Kellogg facility leaves as a product. An independent team of scientists, calculated Kellogg’s annual carbon footprint at negative 500,000 tons of CO2e.
Kathy is a world leader in “soil as medicine.” Depletion of our country’s soil has placed the health of our food and families in jeopardy; the use of fungicides, agricultural chemicals, and neurotoxic pesticides in food production has become suspect in the decline of the bee population, and in the rise of cancer, autism, Parkinsons, Alzheimer’s, and many other neurological diseases. These chemicals are waging war against our soil and our society.
Kathy’s mission and focus is to restore the soil of the United States, both in backyards and farmland, by utilizing the organic materials readily available to us as soil conditioners and fertilizers.
Catherine Von Burg is a Founder and the President & CEO of SimpliPhi Power, a technology company that designs and manufactures non-toxic, efficient, and enduring energy storage and management systems that seamlessly integrate solar, wind, generator, or any other power generation source – in conjunction with or independent from the grid.
“Without energy storage, renewable sources of power are intermittent and unreliable, but so too is the grid in emergency and black out scenarios in which the centralized delivery of power breaks down,” says Catherine. “At SimpliPhi, we are empowering people and communities globally to generate, store and utilize power on their terms, anytime, anywhere, on or off the grid. Access to renewable energy stands to eradicate poverty and is the critical link between social equity, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. I’m proud to have helped build a company that adheres to the triple bottom line — placing equal importance on people, planet and profit as part of all of our strategic business decisions.”
Catherine’s career spans a diverse portfolio of strategic planning, policy development, executive management, and multidisciplinary team building in the fields of biomedical engineering and research, health and human services and environmental conservation. Committed to the transformation of the power grid and creating universal access to clean energy by leveraging distributed energy storage solutions, she has published white papers and spearheaded national program, policy and business-driven initiatives with organizations such as Pew Charitable Trusts, Rockefeller Institute, Columbia University, NY March of Dimes Foundation, John Hopkins School of Biomedical Engineering, Wilderness Education Association and First 5 Commission of California.
In 2017, representing SimpliPhi, Catherine was nominated to participate in an exclusive entrepreneur program hosted by the U.S. Department of State and the Unreasonable Impact Group. Global business leaders were carefully selected as being the best positioned to solve each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations. SimpliPhi’s energy storage and management solutions were chosen to represent UN SDG No. 9, ‘Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure’. Collaborators and mentors in this program included USAID & the World Bank, among others. Globally, projects with SimpliPhi’s energy storage and management solutions often address multiple UN SDG goals, serving to alleviate poverty, greenhouse gas emissions, lack of education, access to critical medical care, enabling economic opportunity and prosperity by leveraging the power of cost-effective energy storage to harness reliable, uninterrupted renewable sources of energy.
Erik Oberholtzer is the co-founder of Tender Greens, a pioneering fine casual brand founded in Los Angeles, CA in 2006 with a mission to democratize good food. A vision of the future he continues to drive as a Food Forever Champion on global biodiversity for the Crop Trust with whom he cooks globally alongside the world’s leading chefs. He joined the Rodale Institute’s board in 2019 to help drive awareness around soil health, regenerative organic agriculture and food as medicine. In 2009, he founded The Sustainable Life Program, a six month paid culinary internship program with a mission to provide a path forward for foster youth. Many of the students now hold leadership positions at Tender Greens, serving as beacons of success and inspiration to those at the edge of society.
Micheal Holecek is an innovator in the field of bio-physics and ecological design. Mr. Holecek has received awards for providing successful program training, administration and leadership on integrated land-use design, energy-efficiency, analysis of systems, and applications of sustainable economic development models.
As a compliment to Michael’s background in ecological design and project management, he has extensive training in the fields of phytochemistry, plant/soil pathology and biogenic health. Mr. Holecek has studied western herbalism at the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine with Michael Moore, and ortho-molecular nutrition with Dr. Michael Manion.
He has long-term experience with soil health and plant vitality, which came from working many years with permaculture design principles at the High Altitude Permaculture Institute in Basalt, CO. His related projects include the development and manufacture of plant-based nutrition products, utilizing algal and plant concentrates, working with Dr. Mitchell May of Synergy Company and Desert Lake Algae Technologies in Klamath Lake, Oregon. He is the co-founder of Algae Aqua-culture Technologies in Whitefish, Montana and Co-Founder of BioCarbon Technologies producing certified organic soil nutrients and biocarbon-based water treatment medias based in Missoula, Montana.