Board of Directors

	Robert Costanza, Ph.D. Dr. Robert Costanza is the Gund Professor of Ecological Economics and Director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont. Prior to moving to Vermont in August 2002, he was director of the University of Maryland Institute for Ecological Economics, and a professor in the Center for Environmental Science, at Solomons, and in the Biology Department at College Park. Dr. Costanza received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1979 in systems ecology, with a minor in economics. He also has a Masters degree in Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Florida. Dr. Costanza is co-founder and past-president of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) and was chief editor of the Society's journal: Ecological Economics from its inception until 9/02. He currently serves on the editorial board of eight other international academic journals. He is past president of the International Society for Ecosystem Health. In 1982 he was selected as a Kellogg National Fellow, in 1992 he was awarded the Society for Conservation Biology Distinguished Achievement Award and in 1993 he was selected as a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment. In 1998 he was awarded the Kenneth Boulding Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions in Ecological Economics. In 2000 he received an honorary doctorate in natural sciences from Stockholm University. He has served on the Scientific Steering Committee for the LOICZ and AIMES core project of the IGBP; the US EPA National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT); the National Research Council Board on Sustainable Development, Committee on Global Change Research; the National Research Council, Board on Global Change; the US National Committee for the Man and the Biosphere Program, and the National Marine Fisheries Service Committee on Ecosystem Principles. Dr. Costanza's research has focused on the interface between ecological and economic systems, particularly at larger temporal and spatial scales. This includes landscape level spatial simulation modeling; analysis of energy and material flows through economic and ecological systems; valuation of ecosystem services, biodiversity, and natural capital; and analysis of dysfunctional incentive systems and ways to correct them. He is the author or co-author of over 300 scientific papers.
	Crea Lintilhac, M.S. Crea Lintilhac, of Shelburne, Vermont, is an environmentalist, activist, and philanthropist. As President and trustee of the Lintilhac Foundation, Crea has helped strengthen her community through innovative leadership and generosity. She earned a Masters degree from the University of Vermont in 1978 and has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to her alma mater. Crea is a member of the University of Vermont Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Reosurces Board of Directors and is chair of the Board's Research Committee. She also serves on the University of Vermont Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Lake Studies Advisory Committee and the Water Center Advisory Committee.
	Shuang Liu, Ph.D. Shuang is working on her PhD in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, UVM. The theme of her dissertation is ecosystem services - more specifically, the ecological background, economic valuation, and payment systems for ecosystem services. She is also interested in the linkage between biodiversity and ecosystem function, the economics of biodiversity, and the uses of economics in conservation policy. She uses value transfer, econometrics, ecosystem modeling, and geographic information systems (GIS) as tools for addressing these questions in addition to more qualitative methods. Her current research includes: exploring the possibility of dynamic ecosystem service valuation by integrating ecosystem modeling and valuation at different spatial scales, contributing a meta-analysis of the economic costs of invasive species in North America, and constructing a valuation database using the Access software package and developing a scheme for the transfer of ecosystem service benefits. She received her BA in biology and MSc. in ecology from Nankai University, Tianjin, China. For her masters thesis she used GIS to carry out an ecological risk assessment of land use change in a national wetland reserve in Tianjin.
	Matthew Sayre, M.Ed. Matt is a social entrepreneur who continues to study Ecological Economics as a foundation for developing solutions that improve community wellbeing. Before becoming Director of UVM’s Institute for Global Sustainability Matt started, operated, and sold Healthy Habitat, a Burlington, Vermont based environmentally-friendly cleaning service, started and served as the founding President and C.E.O. of Earth, Inc., a Vermont non-profit corporation working to strengthen Human, Social, Natural, & Built Capital, served as the Project Coordinator of the University of Vermont Leading by Design for a Sustainable and Desirable Future Project, served as a Senior Manager to help restart Bolton Valley Resort after two bankruptcies, and worked to re-engineer business processes at the University of Vermont as part of UVM’s Project CATalyst Finance Team. Matt also led effective community relations and fundraising initiatives as the Director of Medical Alumni Relations for the UVM College of Medicine and while working in Student Affairs at UVM and Northern Arizona University he planned and implemented experiential programming to strengthen the university's human and social capital. Matt has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from LeMoyne College, an M.Ed. from Northern Arizona University, and a Certificate of Graduate Study in Ecological Economics from the University of Vermont.
	Marjan van den Belt, Ph.D. As an independent consultant/researcher with 16 years of combined professional experience, Marjan has been successful in providing a neutral space to bring, often adversarial, stakeholders together into collaborative partnerships. She has led interdisciplinary teams, an international research project and consulted with corporations and governmental organizations. She convened groups of diverse stakeholders to address complex socio-economic/environmental challenges ranging from coastal zone management, to land use issues, to aquatic impacts of UV-b radiation and climate change, to energy planning. Marjan is an ecological economist and uses system dynamics and computer model building as a mediation tool. She is the founder of Mediated Modeling Partners, LLC (2000) and the author of Mediated Modeling; a system dynamics approach to environmental consensus building, published by Island Press, 2004. She published 9 additional journal articles and gave over 30 lectures. She currently teaches at the University of Vermont and has a particular interest in ecosystem service valuation. Marjan is an early partner (2001) in the development of Common Pastures, a 26-unit co-housing community / eco-village in Charlotte, Vermont including 125 acres. She has been a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Land Use committee for several years while raising her two children. She earned a Ph.D. in Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences from the University of Maryland (2000), where she co-founded a student-based consulting firm Ecological Economics Research and Applications, Inc. in 1996. Prior, Marjan lived in Stockholm, where she founded Waste Reduction Intā€™l in 1993, performing waste and energy audits and designing environmental management systems for industrial clients. Prior, she was worked for Vattenfall, Swedenā€™s largest energy generator and distributor. Born in the Netherlands, Marjan earned a masters degree in Business and Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1991.