Panel of Experts

Panel of Experts

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In order to give the Ideal Bite subscribers truly objective, well-researched information on tips, Ideal Bite is recruiting an Expert Panel to weigh in on tips in their area of expertise.

Interior Design: Penny Bonda
Business: Christine Arena
Business: Gil Friend
Food & Drink: Cynthia Sass
Beauty: Caroline-Morgane Choisy-Rossi
Household Goods: Debra Lynn Dadd
Travel: Anne Loehr
Pets: Stephanie Shain

 

Penny Bonda - Interior Design Expert

Penny Bonda works in the field of environmental communications and is a prominent writer and lecturer. As the Eco Editor of Interior Design magazine, she is a monthly contributor to their online resource, The Green Zone. She is the founding chair of the US Green Building Council committee for LEED Commercial Interiors and is a LEED Accredited Professional. She is the recipient of the 2003 USGBC Leadership Award.

Bonda's focus on green buildings stems from her 27-year career as an interior designer as head of her own firm and as the interior design director for leading design and architectural firms. She continues her active participation in the field, serving in 1996 as the 21st national president of the American Society of Interiors Designers and on many advisory councils. Bonda has also been named a Fellow of ASID. She authored Creating Sustainable Interiors, a monograph for NCIDQ and is co-author of a book on sustainable commercial interiors to be released in the fall, 2006.

 

Christine Arena - Green Chip Company Showcase Expert

Christine Arena is the author of Cause for Success: 10 Companies That Put Profits Second and Came in First. The book is the first to present detailed case studies told from the inside perspective of CEO's that clearly demonstrate how social responsibility can drastically improve corporate health, growth and competitive edge. Each 'high-purpose' company featured in her book approached a serious world problem, such as poverty, inequity or global warming, as a business opportunity, and made more money as a result.

Arena's principle mission is to constructively engage with the corporate world by helping companies find profitable ways to make their operations more responsible, sustainable and restorative. Currently, she runs Cause for Success Seminars?, a program that fosters and promotes high-purpose leadership. She also serves as an advisor to major corporations and as an adjunct faculty member at McGill University's Graduate School of Management.

Arena's latest effort is an upcoming Fall 2006 book entitled The High-Purpose Company from Collins Business (Harper Collins).

As a catalyst and thought leader in the field of corporate responsibility, Arena's insights have recently been featured on NPR's Motley Fool, Money Matters and The Faith Middleton Show, Fox Network's Mary Jones Show, Talk America's It's Your Money, Business, Talk Radio's Future Talk, Comcast Local Edition, Headline News and numerous other channels. She regularly presents at industry and academic conferences on topics such as redefining success, the new consumer, moral intelligence in the workplace and the future of corporate ethics.

Prior to entering the corporate responsibility field, Arena was Managing Director of Boston-based Polese Clancy. In this role she reinvigorated the firm and developed marketing strategy and communications programs for clients such as British Telecom (BT), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Thomson Financial. Previously, she was a Strategy Director for Zentropy Partners (Interpublic) where she spearheaded research, product development and marketing initiatives for Citigroup. She has also founded several of her own companies, including research and brand agency IF where she worked with Timex and Coach. Arena started her career at Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve.

Arena received a Masters of Arts from New York University and a Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University. She currently resides in San Francisco, California with her husband Michael. Her website is www.causeforsuccess.com.

 

Gil Friend - Green Business Expert

Gil is President and Chief Executive Officer of Natural Logic, Inc., a strategy and systems development company that helps companies and communities prosper by embedding the laws of nature at the heart of enterprise. Tomorrow Magazine called him "one of the country's leading environmental management consultants." Gil observes, "Nature's ecosystems have spent 3.85 billion years building efficient, complex, adaptive, resilient systems - why should we reinvent the wheel, when the R&D has already been done?" Gil writes The New Bottom Line, a monthly column on business strategy, a Sustainability Sundays column for WorldChanging.com, and a blog on strategic sustainability and other matters of interest. He holds an MS in Systems Ecology from Antioch University, a black belt in Aikido, and is a seasoned practitioner of "The Natural Step" environmental management system.

 

Cynthia Sass - Food & Drink Expert

Cynthia Sass is a nationally known nutrition and health expert, and a go-to resource for the media. She has been extensively quoted in numerous national and international publications, including the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Prevention, Vegetarian Times, Eating Well, Alternative Medicine, Organic Style, Body & Soul, Real Simple, and many, many more.

Cynthia is a summa cum laude graduate of Syracuse University where she received both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in nutrition science. She completed a second master's degree in public health including coursework in social marketing and environmental health at the University of South Florida (one of only 36 accredited colleges of public health in the country).

Cynthia is a registered dietitian (R.D.) and a licensed dietitian/nutritionist (L.D./N.) in the state of Florida. She also completed formal culinary training at the Institute for Culinary Awakening in Portland, Oregon.

Since 2001, Cynthia has served as a national media spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association (ADA), the largest group of food and nutrition professionals in the world. In 2005, Cynthia was named one of ADA's Recognized Young Dietitians of the Year. She is a member of several ADA practice groups including Food & Culinary Professionals, Nutrition in Complimentary Care, Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, and Nutrition Entrepreneurs.

Cynthia is co-author of the popular book Your Diet is Driving Me Crazy (Marlowe & Company) which received a glowing review in the New York Times, and was selected as a Books for a Better Life Awards finalist. She is also a freelance food and health writer. She has written for numerous publications including Prevention, Cooking Light, Eating Well, Vegetarian Times, Self, Shape, Fitness, Parade, and others. In Tampa Bay, she frequently appears on television, including a weekly food segment on Tampa Bay's 10, the CBS affiliate. She has also been a guest on television stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Dallas, and Philadelphia, as well as national television and radio programs.

Cynthia is a frequent speaker at national conferences and an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida (the 2nd largest university in the southeast with over 40,000 students). As president of Sass Consulting Services, Inc. she provides food, nutrition, wellness, and communications services to corporations, organizations, and media outlets including podcasts for the Wild Oats Natural Marketplace web site and a blog for Healthline.com, a 2006 Webby Awards People's Voice Winner.

As a green foodie Cynthia loves introducing people to fantastic food and drinks that tickle the taste buds while preserving the planet. Her fridge always contains fair trade coffee, locally grown produce, and dark chocolate.

 

Caroline-Morgane Choisy-Rossi - Beauty Expert

Caroline-Morgane is the co-founder and the Head of Research and Product Development for Nature Purity, a green company dedicated to promoting simply outstanding natural and organic personal care, holistic self-care and environment and animal protection. She believes beauty and health go hand in hand and people's awareness about what they use on their body needs to be dramatically increased. Nature Purity is the answer to the lack of organic cosmetic standards in the US. Its mission is to develop and offer products that are truly natural and organic -according to real organic cosmetic standards- efficient and toxic-free. A collaborative work with the leader for organic certification in Europe and Canada - Ecocert and certified producers in France allows her to devise exclusive formulas, cruelty-free, safe for people and for the environment. She has a PhD in Biology and spent 10 years in biomedical research before starting Nature Purity with her husband. Today, Caroline-Morgane uses her scientific background and knowledge to study the safety of cosmetics and shares her findings in her blog and articles about beauty and health. Nature Purity is a Compact signer and part of the Leadership group of the Safe Cosmetic Campaign sponsored by organizations like the Breast Cancer Fund and the Environment Working Group. She is the 1st Total Biology practitioner in the US. Caroline-Morgane is a big animal lover and an outdoor aficionada.

 

Debra Lynn Dadd - Household Goods Expert

Hailed as "The Queen of Green" by the New York Times, Debra Lynn Dadd has been a pioneering consumer advocate since 1982, specializing in products and lifestyle choices that are safer for human health and the environment. She is author of the highly-acclaimed book Home Safe Home and publisher of the on-line green product directory Debra's List, and a regular contributor to Natural Home & Garden magazine. Debra lives in Clearwater, Florida.

 

Anne Loehr - Sustainable Travel Expert

Anne is a graduate of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, certified life/executive coach and professional chef, has operated many facets of the travel industry for 20 years - restaurateur, hotelier, safari camp operator, tour operator, creator of national eco-rating policies (Kenya), travel column writer and executive coach. Her current company, Eco-resorts, tailor-makes interactive eco-adventure safaris in East Africa. Her latest adventures, "Safaris for the Soul", incorporate the best of adventure learning, executive coaching and leadership development for individuals, teams and organizations.

 

Stephanie Shain - Pet Expert

Stephanie Shain directs the Pets for Life program which aims to keep pets and their people together by promoting the human-animal bond and by helping caregivers find solutions to the challenges associated with keeping companion animals. Such challenges can include behavior issues, renting real estate with pets, and human health concerns. In addition, she runs programs for The HSUS that address other critical issues including puppy mills and pet shops, greyhound racing, dangerous dogs, and feral and free-roaming cats.

Prior to joining The HSUS in 2000, Ms. Shain spent five years as a program manager and lobbyist for The American Anti-Vivisection Society, a non-profit, animal advocacy and educational organization dedicated to ending experimentation on animals in research, testing, and education. Before that, she spent her early career at a Veterinary Hospital and SPCA shelter in Bucks County, PA. She holds a B.S. in Biology from Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture. Prior to joining The HSUS in 2000, Ms. Shain spent five years as a program manager and lobbyist for The American Anti-Vivisection Society, a non-profit, animal advocacy and educational organization dedicated to ending experimentation on animals in research, testing, and education. Before that, she spent her early career at a Veterinary Hospital and SPCA shelter in Bucks County, PA. She holds a B.S. in Biology from Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture.

Ms. Shain is one of The HSUS' leading spokespersons -- and one of the nation's top experts -- on pets. Among her appearances: The Today Show, CNN, The Early Show, and Good Morning Washington. She has also been interviewed for numerous print, television and radio stories.

Ms. Shain and her husband have two children, one dog, four cats and two guinea pigs (all from shelters) and live in Washington.

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Consideration for The Panel

If you would like to be considered for an Expert Panelist position, we have the following categories still available:

• Transportation
• Pets
• Entertainment