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Leadership
As believers we all have an opportunity and moral obligation to recognize our spiritual common ground; to rise above our differences; to combat prejudice and intolerance.
- Queen Noor of Jordan
Richard
McWilliams | Founder
Richard McWilliams has been a pioneer in the fields of science, technology, and engineering since he was a child. In 1973, at the age of 9, Richard sketched a design for an unmanned airplane on a piece of graph paper. He called it the Global Parasol Hawk. His design envisioned an armed aircraft that would patrol the skies above the United States and attack incoming threats. Richard's father accidentally took the drawing to work with him one day. He worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and the drawing was seen by Captain Riley, who was with the Air Force's Advanced Systems Division (ASD). Captain Riley recognized the concept as "20 years ahead of its time." He asked to meet with the young boy who drew it.
Richard's early design for the Global Parasol Hawk was a precursor to the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are used by the military today. Then in 1977, at the age of 13, he built a 3-kilowatt laser for a school science project, which caught the attention of General Lawrence A. Skantze, commander of the Aeronautical Systems Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. General Skantze invited Richard to work with the ASD, where he began his lifelong passion for innovation. The Air Force continued to monitor Richard's activities, and he eventually went on to become a successful engineer. Read More
Richard's Bio
Steven Geller
Executive Director
Founding Member
Steven Geller has led startup operations since the beginning of the dot-com boom in the early 1990s. With a degree in Environmental Planning and Management from the University of California Davis, he spent the first 9 years of his career as a licensed landscape architect, architectural designer, land planner, and golf course designer. Realizing that his unique talent was not in design but rather in leading people, operations and growing organizations, Steven moved from Southern California to Northern California to pursue this passion in the Tech Industry.
Steven’s expertise encompasses developing, reengineering, optimizing, and leading highly effective cultures and groups in almost every functional area in an organization. As COO, he has built startup and high growth organizations alongside CEOs in profit and non-profit sectors across a myriad of industries including IoT, E-commerce, AdTech, Digital Asset Management, Software, Hardware, Video and Educational Games, Recommendation Engines, and Outsourced Employment. His groups have successfully serviced Fortune 2000 companies including Dupont, Amgen, Electronic Arts, Charles Schwab, Bristol Meyer Squibb, NFL, BBDO, and Martha Stewart Omnimedia.
Steven has been a visionary in culture optimization since his foray into the early days of the dot-com boom. Recognizing the severe leadership gap in corporate America and the need to transform and optimize workplace cultures, he founded Workplaces for Humans.
Steven G
Kara S. Holtz
Juaquim “Jay” Burch
Founding Member
As a youth, Jay published an annual magazine, managed rock bands and made a slew of short films before graduating from The School of Cinematic Arts at The University of Southern California.
In 1999, he began working alongside his mother, artist and designer, Laurel Burch, serving in various capacities until becoming president and managing her eponymous lifestyle brand.
In 2011, recognizing opportunities to expand into collaboration with other artists, Jay founded a licensing agency based on what he gleaned from a decade managing the Laurel Burch brand globally. In the 2020s, Totemic Brands, LLC is a boutique agency working with high-profile art brands with global reach. Artists, designers and other creatives engage Totemic to facilitate brand innovation and development, leading to licensing programs in Publishing, Home/Garden, Apparel/Accessories, Craft, Children and Pets. Totemic has in-network offices in North America, Europe and Asia.
In 2022 Jay launched a regenerative agriculture initiative in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Northern California. 320 acres have been purchased. A land trust will be formed, and a separate organization, Totemic Forest Farms, will develop regenerative farming and ranching systems for the production of nutrient rich, healthy foods. The initiative will include other public benefit programs, from sustainable living education to housing and recreation. In 2023 Jay co-founded a tech start-up pioneering a 360-degree consumer brand product platform.
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