Charles Eisenstein is a speaker and writer focusing on themes of human culture and identity. He is the author of several books, most recently Sacred Economics and The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible. His background includes a degree in mathematics and philosophy from Yale, a decade in Taiwan as a translator, and stints as a college instructor, a yoga teacher, and a construction worker. He currently writes and speaks full-time. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife and four children.

Sivan spent the first part of his career in financial services at Bear Stearns, J.P.Morgan, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He has made private angel investments in the consumer product goods, health technology, events, and value-added agriculture sectors.

Separately, Sivan is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Porter Medical Center, a non-profit hospital and health care system in Middlebury, Vermont. He is also a member of the Finance and Investment Committees of the University of Vermont Health Network, and a board member of the Green Mountain Secure Retirement Plan, Vermont’s first-in-the-nation multi-employer retirement plan for small businesses.

Hanna Flanders is the co-founder of the Kearsarge Food Hub, a non-profit organization working to create greater access to local goods in the Kearsarge/Lake Sunapee region of central New Hampshire. Hanna studied Philosophy and Environmental Science and Policy at Smith College, where she realized that industrial food production methods are at the heart of most of the issues we face globally today, from climate change and environmental degradation to public health concerns and economic inequality. The Kearsarge Food Hub was formed collectively to begin tackling the hard yet necessary work of localizing food production to the greatest possible extent. Now in it’s 4th year, the Kearsarge Food Hub runs a year-round local food retail operation, Sweet Beet Market, where the team works to bridge the gap between producers and consumers by working with roughly 40 local farmers and producers to stock the shelves with fresh seasonal produce, fresh and frozen meat, dairy, baked goods, canned goods, arts, crafts and more. Other initiatives of the hub include local food education, minimizing food waste, food security, creating local food related job opportunities, wholesale local food distribution, and engaging the community on all things local. Hanna lives with her husband and two children in the Kearsarge region and is professionally and personally invested in creating community connections and building a robust and resilient food system for future generations.

Severine is a farmer, activist, and organizer based in Downeast Maine. She is director of Greenhorns, a grassroots organization with the mission to recruit, promote and support the rising generation of new farmers in America. Severine has spent the last decade gathering, bundling and broadcasting the voices and vision of young agrarians. Greenhorn produces many kinds of media, from documentary films to almanacs, anthologies, mix-tapes, posters, guidebooks and digital maps. They are best known the documentary film, “The Greenhorns” and the raucous young farmer mixers they've thrown in 37 states and 14 grange halls. Severine is co-founder and board secretary of Farm Hack, an online, open-source platform for appropriate and affordable farm tools and technologies. She serves on the board of the Schumacher Center for New Economics, which hosts Agrarian Trust, her latest startup, focused on land access for beginning farmers, and permanent protection of affordable organic farmland. Severine attended Pomona College and University of California at Berkeley, where she graduated with a B.S. in Conservation/ Agroecology.

Rachel teaches food entrepreneurship and directs Food Sol at Babson College, a platform for food entrepreneurs to gather, connect ideas, and build their ventures. Her writing has appeared in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and Boston Globe. The Economist and Financial Times have recognized Food Sol as a leader in food entrepreneurship education. Beyond Babson, Rachel advises her husband's Italian food-tourism company Food Stories Travel and is a Board Advisor to the Boston Public Market Association.

Stephanie Shiman is the owner of frabjous fibers & Wonderland Yarns, a wholesale hand-dye company located in Brattleboro, Vermont. Stephanie’s passion for colors and textures drew her to yarns and fibers back in 2004. Starting with $400 box of yarn on her dining room table, she has grown her love of color to a 6,000 sq foot studio and warehouse. She and her team of creatives process enough yarn to reach to the moon and back monthly and ship to over 600 retailers across 4 continents. Her unique designs have been featured in multiple publications and her success has gained the recognition of an assortment of business associations. She hopes to continue to bring her fiber innovations to the world, inspiring all creative minds to join the world of fibers.

Steve Swanson is the co-founder, along with his wife Jen, of Flourish Farm, the first cricket farm in Vermont. After the birth of their first child, Steve and Jen began researching food production and quickly realized that the system was broken. They then came across a report released by the UN in 2013 (Edible Insects, Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security) and thus began their experiment with edible insects, specifically crickets. They are currently settling in to their new facility in Williston.