Welcome! Please introduce yourself

Silver to Gold of UnITeWNC, the wheels keep growing! This week LeeAnne Tucker provided an opportunity where more than 2 dozen 'Area Agency on Aging' leaders learned of our initiatives. #unITeWNC

Paul B. Hartzog, father, husband, futurist, techno-shaman, writer, drummer, musician. Into scifi, lego, panarchy, complexity, ecology, commons, culture, politics, and economics. More info: http://engage.paulbhartzog.org/

My role with UniteWNC is as an instigator, colleague, and agent provocateur. I hope to bring in people and ideas from my networks and background, and support UniteWNC by creating more opportunities for collaboration and action.

My vision is that having a global "commons" institute in Asheville is the other half of having a local/regional initiative that is UniteWNC. Such a partnership would benefit both organizations greatly.

I also started/run http://meetup.com/Asheville-Futures-Meetup/ with fellow UniteWNC organizer Steve Cooperman.

Lamar Owen: much like Paul, I'm a father, grandfather, husband, bassist in a gospel bluegrass group, techie, fan of oddball scifi (Laurence Manning, for instance), punster ordinaire, fan of the verbivore Richard Lederer, hobbyist-level manufacturer of retro-vintage computing gear (such as a Z280-based CP/M singe-board), old-school Unix hack, aficionado of anything-but-Wintel personal computers, and full-time Linux user of 21 years.

I am native to Transylvania County, graduated from Rosman High School, and have lived in the area for all but 3 of my 49 years. I want to see today's tech-oriented WNC students have viable career paths with 'no relocation required.'

I am currently CTO for PARI, formerly the NASA Rosman STADAN (Spaceflight Tracking And DAta Network) station, next to which I grew up and still live. I have a reputation of being 'Mr. Make-Do' and have been compared to the Mythbusters due to my habit using equipment for purposes for which it wasn't necessarily designed.

I am passionate about working with others to create organizations and communities where everyone thrives. From my vantage point, the only thing stopping us from creating amazing life-giving systems is us. Though not a techie, I am a fan of technology as integral to supporting flourishing communities. I am SO excited about UniteWNC and all that it promises.

I am wife, mother, grandmother, and caretaker for 2 dogs and 2 cats. My husband is a retired molecular plant geneticist who taught at Warren Wilson College. One of my daughters lives here with her husband and son; the other lives in Houston. I love learning, challenging my assumptions and stretching my understanding of what's possible - talking is not enough for me, I also like to take action. I enjoy hiking, being on the water in any way, walks with our dogs, great food, music and dancing. I love seeing people come alive!

My professional work has focused on whole systems planning (all stakeholders in the room having great conversations about the best of what is, surfacing possibilities for the future, creating shared visions, and designing strategies for achieving those visions) and helping organizations shift from top down leadership to high engagement through collaboration and leadership at every level.

I am also extremely excited about bio-energy medicine and more specifically, a German product that restores resonance to our circulatory and nervous system in 8 minutes! Good circulation at the capillary level means our body can do what it's designed to do: keep us healthy and help us heal from many diseases without the need for big pharma or surgery! This product is helping millions regain quality of life and flourish into old age!

Hi everyone, I'm Ginger Kowal. I have spent most of my life in Asheville and I'm a champion of this region.

I have an academic background in spatial and landscape ecology, technical training in GIS, and a few years of experience now in programming. I work with the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University as an ecological modeler, building (simple) software tools that enable research in the field of ecosystem services. I work remotely from home in Asheville.

I'm excited to be a part of this group because I have a personal desire for greater connectivity with my community, and I've found that a good way to do this is to seek connections with folks interested in working together towards a common goal. It feels very consonant to me that my personal motivations for involvement (connectivity) mirror the goals of UniteWNC.

My husband is a farmer in Madison County, and I'm very passionate about local food and sustainable agriculture! I met my husband as an intern for ASAP while I finished college at UNCA. I also play violin a bit around town, including with the Asheville Symphony and Free Planet Radio.

Looking forward to continued work with you all!!

Hi All, I’m Rob Capozziello and I moved to Asheville (my wife’s hometown) four years ago from Charlotte. I fell in love with the mountains and western NC as a student at Appalachian State and can now say I’ve finally made it home.

My passion is collaborating and connecting people to help achieve their goals and solve big problems with technology. I believe we have a great opportunity to create a strong identity for our beautiful region to showcase what we do and how we do it which I think is a clear differentiator.

My professional background is one of a well-traveled career technologist starting as a developer/integrator then progressing to technical and executive leadership roles. I’ve built teams and delivered commercial products and custom solutions for startups to Fortune 500 firms in healthcare, energy, banking, hospitality, education and manufacturing industries.

Currently I provide CIO/IT Leadership consulting services, serve as mentor for Venture Asheville’s Elevate program and lead the Asheville CIO Roundtable, a regional IT leadership peer group that provides IT leaders a local opportunity for networking and connecting with similar regional groups. I look forward to getting to know all of you and working together towards our joint success.

I encourage our UnITeWNC family to update their LinkedIn page to include references to their initative. Even better, also write a LinkedIn article about UnITeWNC. Be on the lookout for Marc's upcoming Sliver-To-Gold LinkedIn article!