Board of Directors

Chairman/Founder of Gaia Trust, Denmark. Originally from Canada, Ross has an educational background in physics, management and economics, specialising in operations research. Ross was for many years a management consultant and IT systems designer, working in various branches of the business world, eventually specialising in international finance, where his foreign exchange know-how provided the financing for Gaia Trust’s programmes to support a more sustainable world. Ross is the author of many books including Occupy World Street, We ARE Doing It, and Building an Ecovillage Future.

Tim has worked in a wide variety of positions for European institutions over three decades, rising to the rank of EU Ambassador for eight of those years. Through this work he developed a passion for a range of issues, such as community-led development; the fight against injustice and inequality and for the dignity of the most vulnerable; for women’s, girls’ and children’s rights; for environmental conservation; for mitigation of the impact of climate change; for food security; for conflict prevention and mitigation; for culture and inter-cultural dialogue; for good governance and democracy-building; and for eco-innovation and eco-development. He is now officially retired yet currently pursuing pro bono work in support of several of the above issues.

Rajah is a fourth generational tea planter in Darjeeling, Indian Himalayas. After graduating from London University in 1970, Rajah returned to the family-owned plantation and transformed the estate by pioneering biodynamic practices in the tea plantations and tropical farmlands, saving 450 hectares of primary forest, with tea as a permacultural island. The model has inspired 90% of Darjeeling tea growers and a neighboring state, Sikkim, to go organic. Rajah is a social activist for tea labourers and small organic farmers, an anthropologist who works tirelessly to preserve the cultural heritage of the Himalayan region and an environmentalist who fights to conserve its rich biodiversity.

John has been studying and exploring the evolution of culture and consciousness since the late 1960s. His work currently focuses on community and ecovillage development, philanthropy, networking, investing and sustainability education. He’s especially interested in healthy soil and sustainable food systems. John is President of the Hygeia Foundation for Health Science and the Environment, which he founded in 1977 in the USA, supporting and sponsoring a variety of projects, particularly those that promote sustainable and holistic living. John has been closely associated with the Findhorn Foundation Community in Scotland since 1974. He currently represents the Findhorn Foundation and Gaia Education at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

Monica has been leading social integration programmes in Brazil since her teens. She graduated in Journalism, before doing an MBA in the USA. A Faculty member of Gaia Education since 2009, Monica has facilitated the first Gaia in Transition in Vila Brasilândia, the largest low income community in South America. In 2016, her company, Oficina para Sustentabilidade, was elected by B the Change as one of the best social enterprises in the world, and she was nominated a Rockfeller Fellow amongst 21 global entrepreneurs. She is currently investigating how to measure social impact in societies by adopting systems thinking in a series of international collaborations.

Shane is from the north of Ireland and was a UK senior civil servant until retirement. He held government roles in health, education, agriculture and public sector reform. Trained in planning and business, much of his career focussed on economic and rural development. As Head of European Structural Funds at the Scottish Government he managed major funding programmes and worked on collaborative projects across many peripheral regions in northern Europe. His particular interest is in helping individuals, communities and organisations grow and thrive.