The Green Resource Hub is a local not-for-profit organization founded in 2006 and located in Ithaca, NY.

Mission: To expand the marketplace for sustainable living in the Finger Lakes region.

Vision: A vibrant and resilient regional economy that serves a healthy, happy, and self-reliant community.

The Hub is led by a small dedicated volunteer board. In our organization and our programming, we are deeply committed to a Triple Bottom Line balance of environmental, social, and economic values. We approach each other with trust and respect, and strive for transparency, diversity, and inclusiveness in our decision-making.

The Hub has been fortunate enough to contract expert talent from our community to take the lead and critical programs and initiatives. Many volunteers (including past board members) have played a crucial role in the fulfillment of the Hub's mission as well. It has been fantastic working with every one of you, and we'd like to extend a big THANK YOU to all of you that have helped out.

Learn more about the current Hub board and staff below.

The Hub Board

President
Bob Rossi is a founding board member and current president of the Green Resource Hub, a nonprofit organization committed to expanding the marketplace for sustainable living. The Hub has pursued this mission through community engagement, tools to support sustainable living, consumer education on green products and services, and the Sustainable Enterprise & Entrepreneur Network (The SEEN), the Hub's largest and most active program. Bob currently serves as the Communications Director for Comet Skateboards, a local producer of sustainably manufactured skateboards that are ridden globally. Comet has committed to environmental and community stewardship both locally as a member of the SEEN and internationally as a B Corporation. Bob earned his M.S. in Communication at Cornell and later lectured at Cornell on information systems, communication technologies, and public speaking. During these years, Bob developed a strong connection with Ithaca and has since remained active in the local sustainability and social justice movement.

Secretary
Scott Morris is a New Economist and the Founder of myLocal Cooperative. He works with community currencies and in addition to his work with the Hub, serves on Greenstar's council and organizes for the Ithaca HOURS. He is also an artistic travel and nature photographer. Learn more about his currency work at www.mylocal.coop and see his photography at www.CScottMorris.com.

Treasurer
Gay Nicholson has led Sustainable Tompkins since 2004 in designing and implementing an integrated program to advance the creation of a more sustainable regional community. As Program Coordinator, Gay emphasizes a systems approach to working with partners to build the infrastructure and social capacity for more sustainable ways of living and working. Projects and programs have focused on energy efficiency, green purchasing, sustainable community development, green jobs, sustainable enterprise, greening heath care, and economic/ecological justice. Gay was instrumental in the founding and development of the Green Resource Hub of the Finger Lakes, a subsidiary of Sustainable Tompkins, which focuses on consumer education and business support services in the areas of green building, renewable energy, green purchasing, and energy efficiency. Gay has previously worked in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, global warming, environmental ethics, land use planning, and land conservation. She has been an active volunteer in numerous community and environmental organizations, providing leadership from the local to the national level. Gay's undergraduate degree (with High Distinction) is in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia (1979), and her Master's (1982) and Doctorate (1991) are in Crop Physiology and Integrated Pest Management from Cornell University.

Nick Goldsmith has worked jointly with the Town of Ithaca and the Town of Dryden as the sustainability planner since July 2012. He sits on the board of Green Resource Hub of the Finger Lakes, and actively promotes the efforts of The Sustainability Center, and Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative. Mr. Goldsmith holds an M.S. in Energy Management and a certificate in Environmental Management from New York Institute of Technology, and a B.A. in Mathematics from Brown University. Before joining the sustainability field, Mr. Goldsmith worked for more than a decade as award-winning juggler and acrobat Nicholas Flair, providing unforgettable entertainment in venues worldwide.

Gladys Brangman strives to help people live and work in peace. Disagreement and conflict are interwoven throughout all of our life experiences, and Gladys' life has been no exception. After learning the benefits of well-managed disagreement, she decided to make the study and practice of healthy conflict the calling of her personal and professional life. Using her education in communications and conflict resolution, she created a company that brings honest communication back into the workplace and addresses conflict by training peacemakers. As the Principal/CEO of Integrity Communication Group LLC, Gladys brings over 25 years of experience to the table. She has worked for the Tompkins County Office for the Aging, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), large and small corporations, academia, churches and even the food service industry.  An Ithacan in the truest sense of the word, Gladys has been very active in the community. She has served on the boards of Better Housing for Tompkins County, RSVP, Project Share/Red Cross, and the Human Services Coalition. She is currently serving on the review committee for the Human Services Coalition and looks forward to doing good work on the Green Resource Hub Board.

Stefan Minott is the founder/CEO of GRTech Solutions, which offers a broad array of green technology services including Renewable Energy Technology, Local and State programs and Energy Efficiency consultancy.  He is also a Cornell Ph.D. candidate in Biological & Environmental Engineering.  Stefan serves on the 2013 Environment Program Committee for Tompkins County's Cornell Cooperative Extension. 

Lance Ebel is a dedicated, all-around natural resource professional. It has been a lifelong focus to improve our understanding and management of wildlife and natural resources. He approaches this challenge by combining a thorough knowledge of forestry and wildlife biology. After obtaining his bachelors in Ecology and Wildlife Biology at Unity college in Maine, he spent the next several years working in the field, tracking, capturing, and monitoring wildlife populations. His interests in forestry and wildlife biology, along with helping landowners, were the primary reasons behind forming Newleaf. Having grown up in the backwoods of Newfield, NY, he understands the challenges and perspectives of northeast landowners, and aims to provide affordable solutions to the challenges they face. By working with various programs (such as current use and cost-share), state and federal agencies (such as the DEC and NRCS), and non-pro.t organizations (such as the Upper Susquehanna Coalition and NYFOA), he hopes to bring greater opportunites to landowners interested in improving their property for forestry and wildlife.

The Hub Staff

Director of Strategic Development
Anna Kelles has focused her career around connections between nutrition, human health, and the health of our environment. Through a dual bachelor in Biology and Environmental Studies at Binghamton University, Anna began exploring the link between human and environmental health.  She then applied this education to promote sound nutritional and environmental practices in Ecuador, through work as both a teacher and an ecological guide.  In 2008, Anna earned a PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology from The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Her research explored the long term impact of globalization on divergent dietary and physical activity patterns between Filipino mothers and children.  Anna later became the Director of the School of Applied Clinical Nutrition at New York Chiropractic College. As director, Anna assembled a team of expert faculty to deliver one of the only online graduate programs focused on whole foods therapeutic nutrition.  A few of her accomplishments included hiring and training a full faculty team, developing online course structure and material, delivering training in Web 2.0 technologies including the use of social media in higher education, as well as marketing and outreach via multiple publications, interviews, and national conferences. Her dedication to the field of nutrition has lead to extensive involvement in legislative action to protect the rights of nutrition clinicians and maintain a diverse, competitive, and highly qualified nutrition work force.

Director of SEEN Programming
Joe Bish was born and raised in Candor NY, in neighboring Tioga County. He has a Masters of Science in Environmental Advocacy and Organizing from Antioch University New England. Prior to moving home to Candor in 2006, Joe worked in environmentally themed non-profit administration settings in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont on issues ranging from ocean conservation to alternatives to nuclear power. Joe's work has given him considerable experience in project management, public relations, event coordination, fundraising and grant-writing.  For the past 5 years, Mr. Bish has served as a project and outreach manager for an internationally operating non-profit that works to promote reproductive health, family planning, gender equity and environmental protection around the world through the use of entertainment-education strategies. Joe's work consistently engages him with the big, planet-scale challenges in the movement towards global sustainability. At the same time, he is looking forward to working at a local level to raise awareness of triple bottom line thinking -- and the economic, social and environmental benefits that can accrue to communities actively engaged in this evolving discipline.  Joe also works with his wife on their small organic farm in Candor, and is President of the Candor Farmers Market. In his free time, Joe likes to walk in the forests around the area, play the guitar and keyboards in various jam-band situations and take care of his property and home.