People
The Arctic Ice Project is made up of a highly accomplished team, bringing together top scientists, experienced leadership and a world class advisory board to restore Arctic ice.
Who We Are
The Arctic Ice Project is a non-profit organization that aims to slow climate change by restoring ice in the Arctic. We’re researching safe, localized techniques to improve ice reflectivity, enhance the Earth’s natural ability to reflect solar radiation out of the atmosphere, and slow the rate of global warming. Our scientific research in sea ice surface albedo modification (SAM) represents a moonshot opportunity to rescue our planetary heat shield.
Meet the Team
Scientific Advisory Board
We created our Scientific Advisory Board in order to assure that the Arctic Ice Project is taking the correct precautions and measures in our research.
The board includes several prominent Arctic scientists, and has endorsed the need for prudent research into these technologies as a science-based climate solution.
The impacts of climate change are quickly mounting and will continue to accelerate due to feedback effects.
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER AND RESOURCE ECONOMIST
Dr. Gary Wolff
Dr. Gary Wolff, P.E.
Environmental Engineer and Resource Economist
Dr. Gary Wolff is an environmental engineer and resource economist with vast experience in the private, public, non-profit, and academic sectors.
His formal training was at Stanford University (M.S., 1984) and University of California at Berkeley (M.S., 1995, Ph.D., 1997). His career has included service in the private, public, non-profit, and academic sectors. He founded and later sold a consulting engineering firm specializing in solid waste management and recycling. He served on the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California State Water Resources Control Board, appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger and confirmed by the California Senate.
He has taught resource economics at the graduate level and was the Principal Economist at the Pacific Institute for Studies in Environment, Development, and Security. He has served on several non-profit or government boards and advisory commissions, including as Chair of WaterKeepers of Northern California (now San Francisco BayKeeper).
POLAR EXPERT
Professor Robert Dunbar
Professor Robert Dunbar
Rob Dunbar, whose research interests span climate change, marine ecology, oceanography, glaciology, and conservation science, heads a Stanford research group that works on past, present, and future climate change and its impacts on oceanic and coastal environments.
He is the W.M. Keck Professor of Earth Sciences and a Senior Fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford. He works regularly with governments as well as the United Nations and several NGO’s to help develop and implement solutions to environmental and resource problems. Dunbar is an experienced field scientist and has led over 70 research expeditions and cruises since 1980, with the majority to ice covered regions of the Antarctic. He has studied the impact of sea ice on local and regional climate as well as unique microbial communities that exist within and beneath sea ice. In 2016, he was awarded the Medal for Antarctic Research by the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR). Dunbar is an avid nature photographer and mountain climber.
POLAR PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHER
Professor Lars. H Smedsrud
Professor Lars Smedsrud
INTERNATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY EXPERT
Pam Hirtzer
Pam Hirtzer
SINTEF Ocean
Dr. Mimmi Throne-Holst
Dr. Mimmi Throne-Holst
Dr. Throne-Holst is the Research Director for the Department for Climate and Environment at SINTEF Ocean in Trondheim, Norway. She holds a PhD in microbiology from the University of Lund, Sweden. Her main research interests are in how different stressors, including climate change effects marine life and development of marine environmental technology to mitigate adverse effects. She is passionate about the sustainable development of the ocean economy and always try to see the big picture across environmental, economic and social interest. In that respect Throne-Holst enjoys working interdisciplinary and her department is comprised of scientists, engineers and technicians spanning fields from biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and oceanography to economics and political sciences. The department also has extensive laboratory facilities and long experience in field work, development of marine environmental models and conducting sustainability analyses.
NASA Ames
Dr. Steve Zornetzer
Dr. Steve Zornetzer
Fmr Associate Director, NASA Ames Research Center
Steve and his wife, Lynn, live in Sunnyvale, CA. Steve serves as the Vice-Chair, Board of Directors, Arctic Ice Project and as a member of its Scientific Advisory Board. He retired from NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley where he served as the Associate Center Director for Research and Technology. Steve was recognized for his contributions to NASA by receiving the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award in 2001 and the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award in 2008 from President Bush. In 2010 he received NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal. While at NASA, Steve conceived of and led the team responsible for building, Sustainability Base, one of the greenest buildings in the Federal Government. Before joining government service, Steve was a faculty member at the University of California, Irvine. He has nearly 100 journal publications and has published 3 books.
Steve is an avid hiker and environmentalist. His concern for the world, his three grandchildren, and the world they will inherit motivates him to do what is possible to slow global warming now. Steve believes strongly we must quickly marshal the concerted efforts of science and society to effectively implement measures to protect future generations and the planet from what otherwise will be a more dangerous and unforgiving environment.
Board of Directors
Partner and Co-founder, Architect Partners
Steve Payne
Chair
Steve Payne
Partner and co-founder, Architect Partners
Steve met Leslie when their kids were in school together, and has been on the Arctic Ice Project Board of Directors since 2012.
Steve has been a high-tech operating executive, a venture capitalist and an investment banker in Silicon Valley for over two decades. He co-founded Architect Partners, a tech M&A advisory firm, in 2009 and prior to that was Managing Partner of the Ignite Group, a trans-Pacific venture capital partnership with funds in Silicon Valley and Tokyo. Earlier, he was EVP Product Development and Marketing at SegaSoft. Two bubbles ago, Steve left management consulting to head product marketing for a Kleiner Perkins/Sequoia Capital startup. He has been a Director on private and non-profit boards and mentors startup CEOs via the CleanTech Open, the Global Social Venture Competition and the Harvard New Venture Competition.
Steve holds a BS in Engineering and Public Policy from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Steve races sailboats on the San Francisco Bay, cycles throughout the Santa Cruz mountains and follows his two kids to ultimate frisbee and lacrosse competitions around the country.
Fmr Associate Director, NASA Ames Research
Dr. Steve Zornetzer
Vice Chair
Dr. Steve Zornetzer
Fmr Associate Director, NASA Ames Research Center
Steve and his wife, Lynn, live in Sunnyvale, CA. Steve serves as the Vice-Chair, Board of Directors, Arctic Ice Project and as a member of its Scientific Advisory Board. He retired from NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley where he served as the Associate Center Director for Research and Technology. Steve was recognized for his contributions to NASA by receiving the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award in 2001 and the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award in 2008 from President Bush. In 2010 he received NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal. While at NASA, Steve conceived of and led the team responsible for building, Sustainability Base, one of the greenest buildings in the Federal Government. Before joining government service, Steve was a faculty member at the University of California, Irvine. He has nearly 100 journal publications and has published 3 books.
Steve is an avid hiker and environmentalist. His concern for the world, his three grandchildren, and the world they will inherit motivates him to do what is possible to slow global warming now. Steve believes strongly we must quickly marshal the concerted efforts of science and society to effectively implement measures to protect future generations and the planet from what otherwise will be a more dangerous and unforgiving environment.
Dr. Gary Wolff P.E.
Dr. Gary Wolff, P.E.
Environmental Engineer and Resource Economist
Dr. Gary Wolff is an environmental engineer and resource economist with vast experience in the private, public, non-profit, and academic sectors.
His formal training was at Stanford University (M.S., 1984) and University of California at Berkeley (M.S., 1995, Ph.D., 1997). His career has included service in the private, public, non-profit, and academic sectors. He founded and later sold a consulting engineering firm specializing in solid waste management and recycling. He served on the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California State Water Resources Control Board, appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger and confirmed by the California Senate.
He has taught resource economics at the graduate level and was the Principal Economist at the Pacific Institute for Studies in Environment, Development, and Security. He has served on several non-profit or government boards and advisory commissions, including as Chair of WaterKeepers of Northern California (now San Francisco BayKeeper).
Carol Sontag
Secretary
Carol Sontag
Clinician, Palo Alto Unified School District
Carol Sontag is a governing board member at Arctic Ice Project, where she supports and shares her hope that we can make a positive impact on our climate. Carol has served the Arctic Ice Project through her work in development and communications. She was part of the 2018 team that helped retrieve data in the Arctic at Utviaquik, AK . She has worked for over 12 years as a Diabetes Nurse Clinician at Palo Alto Unified School District, caring for elementary school students with Type I Diabetes. Prior to this, her career was devoted to clinical research management at UCSF where she was responsible for the Hypertension Clinical Trials site and at the Palo Alto Center for Pulmonary Disease Prevention where she coordinated Smoking Cessation clinical trials. Her concerns about the environment include the desire to make sure that we have a planet that is habitable and healthy for future generations. She is an environmentalist and a wilderness and outdoor enthusiast who has taken her respect for nature and transformed it into her work towards preserving our climate.
Carl Hekkert
Treasurer
Jennifer Dulski
CEO and founder, Rising Team
Jennifer Dulski has a wide range of leadership experience including executive roles at Facebook, Google and Yahoo!, and founder, CEO and president roles at early stage and scaling startups. She is currently CEO and founder of Rising Team, a company that provides tools, training and community to help managers build happier and more successful teams.
She has deep board experience across public and private companies and non-profit organizations. In addition to the Arctic Ice Project, she currently serves on the boards of WW, formerly Weight Watchers (NASDAQ: WW) and the Change.org Foundation.
Dulski writes about leadership for LinkedIn Influencers, Fortune and Forbes and serves as a lecturer in management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Her first book, Purposeful, about how each of us can be a movement starter is a Wall Street Journal Bestseller.
She joined the Arctic Ice Project board because she believes the climate crisis is the most important issue of our time, and that AIP can make a critical difference in helping us find solutions to protect the planet.
Our Team
These members play a crucial role in the advancement of research and policy to protect and preserve the Arctic.
Tom Light
Executive Director
Tom Light
Executive Director
Tom oversees the leadership team to advance the organization’s strategic vision, goals, and objectives.He helps set the strategic direction and represents the organization and its work to potential funders and adopters.
Tom has nearly 20 years of experience in the investment banking and non-profit sector, where he has spent the last 7 years working exclusively in the climate action sector.
As a climate finance leader, Tom was a founding member of WaterEquity, the first-ever impact investment fund manager with an exclusive focus on climate change adaptation with solutions to the global water crisis. Serving as the sole Managing Director, he scaled the firm from the start-up phase to a mature organization with multiple funds under management.
Tom’s prior experience also includes executive-level positions at UBS Investment Bank and serving as the senior-most leader responsible for the Grameen Foundation’s impact investment strategy in the capacity first as a fund manager and later as the Head of the Capital Management & Advisory Center.
He received his BA with honors from the University of Michigan in Quantitative Economics, holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
When he’s not at work, Tom enjoys parent teaching at his son’s preschool, marathon running, kayaking in the bay and watching his favorite telenovelas from Colombia. He is an annoying University of Michigan football fan (Go Blue!) and credits his spiritual upbringing for guiding him towards the social sector later in life.
Anthony Strawa
Technical Director
Anthony W. W Strawa, Ph.D.
Robert Moss
Fundraising and Outreach
Robert Moss
Fundraising and Outreach
Avid environmentalist, outdoorsman and strong team leader across multiple disciplines, Robert brings creativity, energy and teamwork to everything he does. At the Arctic Ice Project, Robert is responsible for critical fund raising, partnership development and funding operations. He and his team collaborate with the board of directors, environmental groups, corporations, private equity and venture firms and the general public to ensure Arctic Ice’s mission in slowing global warming is clearly communicated, understood and supported by a broad range of public and private champions.
Having travelled the world after graduating in Environmental Science from Eckerd College in Florida, Robert focused on an environmental career including wetlands and mountain park restoration, controlled fire management in forestry and multiple other projects in environmental protection and restoration. Outside of work, he is an avid photographer, skier, scuba diver, water polo player and backpacker. Robert is one of the good guys, with the experience, commitment and passion to help us all save the Arctic, and ultimately our home.
Dr. Leslie Field
Founder
Dr. Leslie Field
Founder and CTO
Leslie is the founder of Ice911, and has been working since 2006 to slow climate devastation to make time for the world to transition at full speed to sustainable fuels and energy solutions.
She earned BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering from MIT, and her MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering with a MEMS specialization from UC Berkeley, where she won the Sam Silver award. She’s an inventor with 58 issued U.S. patents who has worked at who has worked at HP Labs and Agilent Labs. At HP, she was the Micromechanics Project Leader, and she earned the Technical Achievement Award. She has also founded two technical MEMS consulting companies; MEMS Insight and SmallTech Consulting.
Additionally, Leslie is an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University, where she has been teaching a highly-rated annual seminar class on “Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Climate Change” since 2011. She’s a devoted mother and loves hiking, wildflower gardening, and painting, as well as singing with her family in Schola Cantorum, a semi-professional community chorus.
M. Jordan Payne
Social Media and Web
Jordan Payne
Website and Social Media
Jordan is a creative professional with an activist bent. A degree in Environmental Studies and Humanities from Whitman College serves as the foundation for his work. With the professional goal of serving as a connective tissue between climate organizations and the public, he brings essential environmental concerns into the public eye in a digestible and attractive manner. He uses his background in corporate social media management, journalism, design, and photography to assist and elevate small environmentally-oriented organizations. An occasional columnist for the environmental publication Mountain Journal and a freelance creative, he is more concerned with the vision of the organizations he works with than the exact position he finds himself in. He understands that to fight climate change, we need an intersectional and out of the box approach.
He grew up surrounded by the cohesive network of Peninsula Open Space preserves on the San Francisco peninsula, giving him an immense and early appreciation for conservation efforts and the push to avoid the planetary collapse we are currently facing. Jordan spends his free time backpacking, surfing, writing articles and fiction, volunteering with the Sunrise Movement and painting.
MEMBERS
Volunteers
Dr. Tony Manzara
INSTRUMENTATION, DATA ANALYSIS, TESTING
Dr. Doug Johnson
INSTRUMENTATION, DATA ANALYSIS, TESTING
Dr. Laura Nereng
INSTRUMENTATION, DATA ANALYSIS, TESTING
Tim Player
DATA ANALYSIS, PROGRAMMING, LIASON
Haider Sohail
DATA ANALYSIS
Arctic Resource Development Committee
Carol Sontag
CHAIR
Deb Smith
Meredith McClintock
Bo Magnussen
Heidi Magnussen
Kholoud Zaman
OUR PARTNERS AND SPONSORS
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