The Acadia Group
Collaborators/Advisors
THE ACADIA GROUP
The Acadia Group of collaborators and advisors has emerged (and will continue to do so) out of The Acadia Initiative’s “one story, one person at a time” process. It has been a process of discovery and transformation.
We believe Buckminster Fuller’s “trim tab” effect is a means to bring about effective change through The Acadia Initiative and The Acadia Group's professional services. We also believe “we all need to find each other.”
Collaborators
Founder/CEO
BRAD RENDLE
Brad as been there both as a CEO and working with Boards and executive teams, thus bring both an experienced and consultative perspective to leadership challenges and demands.
A creative systems thinker, he has a natural ability to see beyond obvious horizons for systems approaches and solutions to a business opportunity or dilemma.
His skills and passions include curating and connecting original thinkers and doers to deliver solutions to complex problems. he has worked with cross-cultural, geographic and generational teams – in person and virtually – for over two decades.
Brad is also the Principal of The Rendle Company.
Systems Change
PETER BATTISTI
Peter is the Executive Director of Future of Fish, an international non-profit consultancy and advisor supporting innovative, systemic solutions in the Blue and Green Economies globally. Peter's specific focus is on supporting the design and deployment of creative finance and digital solutions to incentivize small producers to adopt best practices that support improved livelihoods, equity, and sustainability.
Peter has served many roles in his career both a an entrepreneur in the private and civil sector as well as an advisor to investors and entrepreneurs.
Financial
ERIC WATERS
Eric has over 20 years of senior leadership experience in several industries. His for-profit experience includes leading new business initiatives nationally for a large multinational company. His work focused on implementing systems and technologies to increase the efficiency of healthcare and education organizations towards improved operational results at a lower cost.
Leadership Development
ROBERT CARE
Robert is a Director of Care Collaborative Pty Ltd, focused on strategic infrastructure advice, coaching and mentoring C-suite people, and developing high-performance teams.
Robert is Chair RedR International and RedR Australia; Professor of Practice UNSW; Independent Consultant & Director Care Collaborative
He was a member of the Arup global Group Board from 2008 to 2014, Chair of Arup Group’s UK, Middle East, and Africa region from 2010 to 2013, and Chair of Arup Group’s Australasia Region from 2004 to 2010.
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Water
DAVID LLOYD-OWEN
David is Envisager Limited's founder and managing director. Envisager works for clients individually and with a network of companies and contacts forged across the past thirty-five years. Since 1995, Envisager has developed a unique series of global databases covering companies active in the water and wastewater sectors and the markets they serve.
He has worked for corporate clients, institutional investors, multilateral agencies, and government bodies.Publications include ten books on water, along with papers, columns and conference presentations.
Story Telling
RICHARD HYTNER
Richard was Saatchi & Saatchi’s CEO for EMEA and, for 8 years, its Worldwide Deputy Chairman. In 2016, he founded beta baboon to help leaders rip apart, play with and solve their business problems. Richard’s work as Blue Hat Man involves facilitating candid conversations and more effective collaboration among senior leaders, helping them to land their best ideas.
Whilst spending much of his career as CEO of creative businesses, Richard prefers leading from the shadows, the subject of his book, Consiglieri: Leading from the Shadows, published by Profile Books. It is a celebration of the craft of leadership that supports, counsels, challenges and checks the out and out charismatic leader.
Advisors
Environment and Society
JULES PRETTY
Jules is Professor of Environment and Society at the University of Essex. He was Head of the Department of Biological Sciences from 2004-2008, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Science & Engineering) from 2010-2012, then Deputy Vice-Chancellor from 2012-2019. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and the Royal Society of Arts, Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, former Deputy-Chair of the governments Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment, and has served on advisory committees for BBSRC and the Royal Society. He was appointed A D White Professor-at-Large by Cornell University from 2001, and is Chief & Founding Editor of the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. He received an OBE in 2006 for services to sustainable agriculture, and an honorary degree from Ohio State University in 2009.
Capital and Climate Change
BRYAN MARTEL
Bryan is Managing Director of Environmental Capital Group. He founded ECG with the goal of addressing global environmental problems by significantly expanding private equity investment in effective clean technologies. Bryan is appreciated as a vital link in the industry, fostering strategic connections and relationships between the investment communities, cleantech solution companies, scientific leaders and policymakers.
Systems, Economics and Nature
RICK SMITH
Rick conceptualized and developed John Hancock’s institutional forestland investment business, which began as a novel pilot program and became the Hancock Timber Resource Group (HTRG) Under Rick’s leadership and management the HTRG became the largest organization managing forestland investments for institutional investors, ultimately transforming the ownership and management of commercial forestland in the U.S. and beyond. Rick has been recognized as a visionary for his pioneering efforts in the transformation of forest ownership and management by embracing a holistic strategy to the forest system.