Braden Trauth

President

Cincinnati, Ohio

Braden’s interest in permaculture stems from a background in Industrial Design. His search for sustainable living and right livelihood took him through several mainstream green endeavors that didn’t fill the bill. In 2002, he joined the Earthship Crew, working with Mike Reynolds to build off-grid homes in the US Southwest. After selling his own-built Earthship, he set out to study permaculture, an adventure that led him to Bill Mollison, David Holmgren, Geoff Lawton, Scott Pittman, Peter Bane, Dave Jacke, and others. He now teaches and demonstrates how to design a life in harmony with the planet in his home bioregion around Cincinnati through OM Valley Permaculture and Mutualistic Design, product and systems design consultancies based in Permaculture and Energy Theory. He is a co-founder of the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute, and has helped create the world’s first Permaculture Farm Certification, Permaganic Authenticated.

Drew Carlson

Vice President

Rio, Wisconsin

Drew has been studying Permaculture since 2009 when he first saw a case study video covering Sepp Holzer's property in Austria. He has received two Permaculture Design Certificates, one through The Madison Area Permaculture Guild (of which he is an active member) and one through The Permaculture Research Institute (Geoff Lawton). In addition to his PDCs, Drew is a certified PDC teacher. He is the lead organizer for the Wisconsin Permaculture Convergence which started in 2014. Drew designs and implements projects ranging from farm-scale water harvesting earthworks, living swimming pools to backyard food forests through his design and installation business Full Circle Designs LLC. He resides in Southern Wisconsin and owns and operates Full Circle Farmstead alongside his partner Suzanne Lindner. 

Drew has a bachelor's degree in Environmental Philosophy from UW Stevens Point and a Masters Certificate in Sustainability Leadership from Edgewood College. Drew worked in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sector for 6+ years and with experience in biomass heating, solar and wind energy projects prior to starting Full Circle Designs.

Sabrena Schweyer

Secretary

Akron, Ohio

Sabrena’s passion for the living world began in childhood on her family’s dairy farm, and continued as her life’s work: connecting people with nature. Since 1996, she has been transforming lives and landscapes through her award-winning design firm, Salsbury-Schweyer, Inc, based in Akron, Ohio.

Her education included history, agriculture, liberal arts, and horticulture, plus studies at Oxford University and with England’s National Trust. Well-known for creating sophisticated, spiritually-enriching spaces, Sabrena is also a recognized thought leader in ecological landscape design. She is a Fellow in the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) and the co-recipient of APLD’s “Leadership in Landscape Sustainability,” an international honor.

Sabrena and her partner, Samuel Salsbury, FAPLD, work and speak regionally and nationally, helping homeowners, cities, organizations, and professionals create landscapes to heal people, places, and planet. She came to permaculture in 2010 and has been bridging between horticulture, biomimicry, permaculture, farmsteads, and cities ever since.

Peter Bane

Treasurer

Montague, Michigan

Peter published Permaculture Activist magazine (now Permaculture Design) for 25 years, and authored The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming for Town and Country  (www.permaculturehandbook.com). A frequent speaker at conferences and public events and a permaculture teacher for nearly 30 years, he serves as Executive Director of Permaculture Institute of North America (www.pina.in), and as a Field Advisor in its diploma program. He holds diplomas from PINA, the Permaculture Institute USA, and the Permaculture Academy of Britain. 

A co-founder of Earthaven Ecovillage and a consultant to universities, municipalities, and community groups across the country, he works with landowners to create ecologically sound and economically productive human habitat. He has taught programs in all six states of the GRLPI region, and far beyond. A builder and remodeler of energy-efficient homes, a pioneer in renewable energy, and an innovator in ecological systems for waste, water, and food production, Peter farms and tends woodlands on 18 acres in western Michigan with his partner Keith Johnson and their family.

Marsha Finley

Horse Cave, Kentucky

Marsha settled in Kentucky after a 20-year military career to pursue her childhood dream of farming. Her final tour in the Army culminated in editing an international newsletter for the US State Department. She used that background in her own desktop publishing business from 1993-2011. Subsequently, she completed an online PDC with Geoff Lawton in 2014, and a live year-long course with Braden Trauth at the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute in 2015.

While in Louisville 2011-16, she worked with the Louisville Permaculture Guild MeetUp group, co-presenting talks on Permaculture Principles and Practices, including a live radio interview with a Louisville station. In 2017, she bought a small property outside Horse Cave, KY where she is establishing a Permaculture homestead, focused on organic medicinal herbs.

James Villalpando

Bloomingdale, Michigan

Chris Gutschenritter

Wisconsin

As Director of Land Protection and Stewardship, Chris manages Tall Pines Conservancy's existing easement portfolio and coordinates new easement and fee simple acquisitions. Prior to joining TPC, Chris worked as an independent legal consultant specializing in Clean Water Act permitting and agricultural law and policy. His clients included a federal environmental commission, state policy makers, community organizations and small farms across the country. Chris and his brother co-founded Three Brothers Farm in the Town of Oconomowoc in 2012, which has evolved into a pasture-based regenerative farm serving the local food market.

He is passionate about connecting communities with family farms, creating opportunities for new farmers to access land and using agriculture to regenerate our soil, heal our waterways and steward our collective wellbeing. Chris earned a Juris Doctorate and a Master of Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School, where he studied agricultural and freshwater law and policy. He is a Certified Farm Succession Coordinator and is working towards a Certificate in Holistic Management. Chris received his first Permaculture Design Certificate from the Madison Area Permaculture Guild in 2012, his second from Aprovecho in Cottage Grove, Oregon in 2015.