Debbie Cook served eight years on the Huntington Beach, California City
Council, serving as Mayor in 2002 and 2008. She held leadership
positions on many regional boards and commissions including the Southern
California Association of Governments, League of California Cities, and
California Desalination Task Force. As the Democratic Party nominee for
the 46th Congressional race in 2008, Debbie further expanded the
region’s understanding of our energy vulnerabilities.
Debbie currently serves on the Board of Directors of Post Carbon
Institute. Debbie continues to be active in her community educating the
public, elected officials, and policy makers about the energy challenges
facing the world.
Rod Diridon, Sr., the son of an immigrant Italian railroad brakeman, is the "father"
of modern transit service in California's Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County).
His political career began in 1972 as the youngest person ever elected to the
Saratoga City Council. He recently retired because of term limits, after completing
20 years and six terms as chairperson of both the Santa Clara County Board of
Supervisors and Transit Board. He is the only person to have chaired the San
Francisco Bay Area's (nine counties and 104 cities) three regional governments:
the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area Air Quality Management
District, and the Association of Bay Area Governments.
Rod has chaired over 100 international, national, state and local community service
programs and projects, most related to transit and the environment. He served, in 1993,
as the chairperson of the American Public Transit Association in Washington, D.C.,
and more recently as the North American Vice President of the International Transit
Association in Brussels. He has been an advisor to the Federal Transit Administration
and in 1995 chaired the National Research Council's Transit Oversight and Project
Selection Committee. Rod currently chairs the NRC's Transportation Research Board's
study panel on "Combating Global Warming Through Sustainable Transportation Policy."
He is frequently asked to provide testimony to Congressional Committees. He has
served on the operating policy boards for CalTrain, the Capital Train (Sacramento
to Silicon Valley), the Altamont Commuter Express Train (ACE, from Stockton to
Silicon Valley), and others. In mid 2001, he was appointed by the Governor to the
California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) Board, which he was subsequently elected
to chair.
Peter Muller has more than 30 years of experience in project design and
planning. Project responsibilities have ranged from client liaison, to
program development and funding, through detailed design and
construction documentation. Over the last 30 years, he has been
responsible for more than 250 different projects, including road, rail,
airport and PRT projects for over 80 different clients. These have
included transportation studies, feasibility studies, master plans,
route and site selection studies, conceptual plans, detailed plans,
specifications and contract documents, procurement documents, project
and program management and construction inspection.
Within the engineering design community, Mr. Muller has gained a
national reputation as an innovative thinker, particularly with regard
to the application of emerging technologies to operation of airport
terminals, passenger processing, and security. In 2000, he was invited
by DOT to participate in developing their Transportation Vision 2050. In
2001, he assisted NASA in development of their Blueprint for
Aeronautics. He has experience managing research projects for airport
security, PRT safety and security, and PRT operations.
Marcus Svensson is CEO of ByggVesta Development & ByggVesta Management.
As CEO of Byggvesta Development & Management. Marcus Svensson focuses on
the
development processes of Byggvesta´s development and rental properties
for sustainable and cost-efficient housing in attractive locations.
Approach, methods, and solutions in the building process are
characterized by
constant development, while Byggvestas properties are characterized by
lasting
added value in terms of ownership, management, and housing.
Christer Lindstrom is the founder of the Institute of
Sustainable Transportation (IST) and co-founder of INIST.
Furthermore, he is a board member of Carasoft AB, and
the co-founder of Encitra. Mr. Lindstrom is leading a
global effort to research and develop an urban podcar
transportation system. With the support of agencies and
government organizations in Sweden, he has created and
manages the Swedish-U.S. General Transportation Fund,
and has established an international industrial
consortium for sustainable transportation.
Ron Swenson is Co-founder and Executive Director of INIST. Also the
President of Swenson Solar and
cofounder of Encitra (Energy, City, Transport). Mr. Swenson has an extensive
background in design, mechanical engineering, and education focused on the
development of transportation systems powered by renewable energy. He
was deeply
immersed in solar car racing in the 1990's. He has conducted myriad
solar education
programs locally, nationally, and internationally. He is also a former
Assistant Professor
with the School of Engineering, San Jose State University.
Loren Kallevig is a co-founder and CFO of FeaturePics, Inc., also the co-founder
and President of Bridgeover, Inc. and is a director of INIST. Mr. Kallevig obtaining
his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from San Jose State University, joined
Arthur Young & Company as a CPA, and continued there for the next eight years. The
personal computer revolution drew him away from public practice and he has been
working with small computer systems since the early nineteen eighties. He has
substantial experience working with computer networks and has installed networks
and energy monitoring systems in Galapagos, Ecuador and the western United States,
as well as developing energy monitoring and systems maintenance software.
About INIST
INIST Organization and resources
INIST staff and partners have comprehensive skills and experience in the core disciplines
needed to build projects that dramatically improve quality of life – project management,
general design, energy analysis, innovative transportation solutions,
public outreach and more. INIST does NOT compete with traditional consultancy studies.
INIST provides conceptual designs in collaboration with students
professionals and advisors.
INIST establishes partnerships with top key professional organizations for best performance
available on all levels of a project – architects, developers, transit specialists,
solar consultants and virtual model providers.
INIST Methodology
A vital tool for INIST’s work is a communication platform designed to
facilitate collaboration by all parties interested in the development
of the urban landscape. The platform is based on visualization, simulation and
social networking to create a self-generated knowledge database that is easy to
understand and share. Participants arriving later in the project can easily pick up
and understand process that preceded them. This approach also substantially simplifies
the development process, as developers, consultants, and specialists have a common
operating platform for all to share.
INIST Collaboration
INIST does not require a city to provide any financial support for its
participation in identified projects. When offered a quality of life project,
the city will be asked to endorse the project and give authority to INIST to
negotiate with one or more local stakeholders to finance the development
work on a non-profit basis.
INIST Advisors and partners
INIST is organizing a group of advisors and a network of partners, all driven
by the goal of creating an environmentally sound economy based on rapid
innovation and proliferation of best practices for sustainable living.