David Casey is a graduate of UC Berkeley in Political Economy of Industrial Societies, with concentrations in Global Poverty & Practice and Energy & Resources. David has lived and worked in seven countries in Latin America, where he has built an extensive network of connections to individuals and organizations. His work has focused on marketing, social networks, experience design, and event production. He is the co-founder and CEO of NuMundo, a platform that connects people and impact centers, encouraging resource sharing on the web and on the ground to catalyze planetary regeneration and individual transformation. NuMundo has recently been accepted into Startup Chile, a prestigious business accelerator facilitated by the Chilean government. With his strong vision and clear articulation and conviction, he is able to attract wide support from multiple sources in the form of donated labor, land, and financial capital. Among other things, David is also the founder and co-producer of Cosmic Convergence, an annual gathering of art, music, tribal technology, education for conscious living, and Mayan culture on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, and a co-founder of Tribal Alliance Retreat in Costa Rica. David successfully bridges the worlds of technology startups, permaculture, international development, and retreat and festival production.

2016 Convergence Workshop: Networking the Transformational Ecosystem

Marisha Auerbach is a permaculture teacher and consultant based in Portland, OR.  She has been actively practicing, studying, and teaching Permaculture in the Pacific Northwest for over a decade, specializing in food production, seedsaving, ecology, and useful plants. Her practical experience has been gained while living in both rural and urban locations.  Currently, Marisha teaches at Portland Community College, Bastyr University, Pacific University, and offers an online permaculture program through Oregon State University.  She also works with a number of non-profit organizations including The City Repair Project, Aprovecho Education Center, Lost Valley Education Center, Fertile Ground Community Center, and Planet Repair.

Marisha is committed to sharing her passions for food security, regenerative design, biological diversity, seedsaving, permaculture, ecology, cottage industry, and positive futures. She has developed several permaculture based businesses including a plant nursery, providing edible flowers and other gourmet specialty food items to restaurants, plantable greeting cards, and herbal medicines.  Marisha has offered permaculture work from the forests of Vietnam to the Rocky Mountains of the United States to the stressed conditions of Haiti.  She holds advanced permaculture certificates in Permaculture Aid Work and Keyline Planning.

Marisha graduated from the Evergreen State College in 1998 where she focused on ethnobotany, ecological agriculture, and sustainability studies. She currently resides in Portland, OR.  Marisha can be found online at www.herbnwisdom.com.  Visit Marisha’s garden blog at:  http://marishabee.wordpress.com.