Who We Are


M17.jpegMaggie Kaplan -  ITP Founder and Executive Director
Maggie oversees the day-to-day operations and drives strategy for ITP.  After participation in The Philanthropy Workshop West (Precursor to Forward Global), a nine-month donor education program in 2006-7, Maggie launched ITP to catalyze new strategies to address climate challenges. Born from her desire to sustain the health and vitality of our planet and steward the preservation of its ecological integrity, ITP began as an early-stage incubator that sought to seed new ideas, make connections, nurture networks and spark collaborations. ITP has evolved over the almost 2 decades to include annual gatherings of each year’s Grant Partners to “ invoke a collective pause” and share their work, encourage new insights and cross collaborations. In 2021, a new iteration shifted to a 3-year Cohort from 2022-2024. with projects selected from those who were prior ITP Grant Partners. Some have continued their prior project trajectories and others are creating entirely new work. We are currently planning another program shift in 2025.

The evolution of ITP has been informed in part by Maggie’s work supporting other non-profit organizations dealing with climate challenges and the  environment, women’s economic empowerment, education of the “best and the brightest", youth change agents, wildlife conservation, and expressive arts and spirit. Prior to launching ITP, Maggie’s professional life included practicing law, serving as general counsel for a real estate development company, and creating art in a variety of media as part of an artist’s collaborative (painting, encaustics, printmaking, mixed media). She is passionate about preserving the beauty of our world for future generations, and spends some of her spare time continuing to create art, as well as enjoying  bodily based practices including yoga, pilates, gyrotonics, soul motion dance, hiking, and explorations around the globe.

Advisory Committee:





Kristin Coates - CEO, Regenerative California
kristin_1.jpeg
Kristin Coates is the CEO of Regenerative California, a pioneering nonprofit dedicated to transforming California into a regenerative economy through a place-based strategy.  In this role she leads the overall strategy for regional and state project design and implementation and partner and stakeholder collaboration with a depth of focus on economic development and climate action. Kristin is a seasoned entrepreneur and leader that has been creating positive change in the private, non-profit, and public sectors for over 20 years. After nearly a decade of working in the nonprofit sector in land conservation, green building, and environmental media, Kristin launched Coates Consulting, a sustainable tourism firm, where she and her team helped to create dozens of award-winning (National Geographic, T + L, Conde Nast) hospitality destinations from Patagonia to APAC and throughout North America. Each property has been lauded for its excellence in service and experience while also being leaders in environmental stewardship and supporting the creation of local, regenerative economies. (www.coatesconsulting.net)  For nearly 7 years Kristin held the role of VP of Food and Nature-Based Solutions at SecondMuse, an innovation company that works with visionary corporations, cities, governments, organizations, and startups to create 21st century economies.  Through experience design, systems thinking, and the power of connection, Kristin led a global portfolio to drive local, national, and global change. Within her portfolio was the Food System Vision Prize funded by The Rockefeller Foundation; the launch of a new regional food system initiative called Urban Food Hives in partnership with Oxfam, and the design and implementation of entrepreneurial and innovation accelerators.  Kristin received degrees in International Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont and Sustainable Tourism at George Washington University. Kristin sits on the board of a number of nonprofit organizations and is a 2024 fellow of the With Life Program (a collaboration of Capital Institute and nRhythm) - “a diverse community of leading changemakers dedicated to bringing health to the world's systems and ushering in a regenerative future.”  









Brock Dolman - Co-Founder; Program Director, Occidental Arts & Ecology
Brock.jpg
Brock Dolman is a wildlife biologist and is nationally recognized as a restoration ecologist and renowned innovator in watershed management and Permaculture design.  Brock integrates wildlife biology and watershed ecology with education about regenerative & Just design as a Life Literacy Coach towards illuminating what it is to live in partnership with a living, emergent Earth while engendering societal transformation. Brock co-founded the Sowing Circle, LLC Intentional Community & Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC) where he continues to reside and act as a co-director of OAEC’s Permaculture/Resilient Community Design Program, Wildlands Program and WATER Institute. He has taught Permaculture and consulted on regenerative project design in 15 countries on 5 continents and widely in the U.S. Brock graduated with honors from the University of California Santa Cruz in Agro-Ecology and Conservation Biology.









Dr. Lisa Micheli - Environmental Scientist
lisamicheli400x600__1_.jpg

Lisa focuses her work on accelerating the application of science to meet society’s most pressing global challenges through collaboration. A passionate and dedicated environmental scientist, she has over 20 years of experience in conducting applied research and convening action networks. Her strengths include program design and public-private team-building for sustainability, biodiversity conservation, water resources protection, climate mitigation and adaptation, and wildfire resilience. She has experience working in government, with private corporations including agriculture and technology, with indigenous leaders, and for philanthropic and academic institutions. Lisa is a champion for the resilience of those most vulnerable to climate threats at a global scale.






Nina Simons - Co-Founder, Bioneers
Nina_BW_Headshot_1.jpeg

An award winning social entrepreneur and visionary thinker, Nina co-founded Bioneers with her husband and partner Kenny Ausubel in 1990.  As co-CEO, she has helped to lead the organization through 28 years of identifying, gathering and disseminating breakthrough innovations that reveal a positive and life-honoring future that's within our grasp, today. Her work currently focuses on writing and teaching about women, leadership, diversity, systems thinking and resorting the feminine in us all.






Shilpa Jain - Leadership Consultant & Facilitator
Shilpa.jpg

Shilpa Jain is currently rooting herself in Oakland/Berkeley, CA. For 11+ years, she served as the Executive Director of YES!, working with social changemakers at the meeting point of internal, interpersonal and systemic change. Prior to taking on this role, Shilpa spent two years as the Education and Outreach Coordinator of Other Worlds and ten years as a learning activist with Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development, based in Udaipur, India. She has facilitated dozens of transformative leadership gatherings with thousands of multigenerational leaders from over 50 countries. She is passionate about dance and music, organic and natural farming, upcycling and zero waste living, asking appreciative questions and being in community. A focus on healing, forgiveness, compassion, love and wholeness permeates all of her work and life.






Vic_0096.jpegVictoria Woo PH.D. - Adjunct Professor
Vic is a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in start-ups, international management and in academia. She is an adjunct professor at Stanford University, Management Science and Engineering and at Presidio Graduate School. In Asia, she helped bridging academia and business communities by co-designing custom executive programs at INSEAD and Harvard where she helped Fortune 500 clients curate learning journeys for C-suite, senior leaders and high-potential managers.  In these roles, she also has facilitated dialogue and cooperation among world-wide business partners, alumni, and clients.  She is a mentor for blackbox.vc, and she advises early stage startups and serves on advisory board of the Artful Method. She founded the Marin Chapter of the Awesome Foundation and continues her research on discovering factors that contribute to sustaining and attaining eudaimonia.  Her research has led to development of measurements such as Transformation Quotient â„¢ and Thriving Transitional Experiencesâ„¢.  She proposes a formula to improve thriving in the highly complex and dynamic world in which we live and work, IQ*EQ*TQ. A simple formula designed to ground skillsets necessary for success; by harvesting the transformative power of change, through which individuals’ ability to thrive is enhanced.




McVickerK_headshot.jpegKelly McVicker - Workplace Experience Lead, IDEO
As Workplace Experience Lead for IDEO San Francisco, Kelly helps create the best possible conditions for our creative minds to come alive. Whether collaborating with a project team to design an experience that will dazzle clients or leading an unruly group of designers on an urban adventure, she is driven by the desire to connect, inspire, and make life at work (and life in general) more meaningful and fun. Prior to joining IDEO, Kelly founded McVicker Pickles, a small batch pickling company based in San Francisco. A certified Master Food Preserver and author of Essential Vegetable Fermentation, she has  developed custom pickles for clients including Shake Shack and hosted hands-on preservation workshops for Google, DocuSign and Credit Karma, among others. A hospice volunteer and advocate for transformation around end-of-life care, Kelly is pursuing her Master's degree in Gerontology through Kansas State University with a focus on using food-based rituals as a creative and therapeutic activity for older adults. She holds a Bachelor's degree in International Studies from Duke University.




Staff:


Arlene_1.jpgArlene Hilliard -

   ITP Executive Assistant