Back to the People

Since 2015 Creon Levit has worked at Planet Labs, where he is the Chief Technologist, Director or R&D, and a Planet Fellow. Prior to that, he worked at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, where he was one of the founders of the NAS (NASA Advanced Supercomputing) division, co-PI on the Virtual Wind Tunnel project, co-founder of the NASA Molecular Nanotechnology Group (the first federally funded research lab devoted to molecular nanotechnology), co-PI on the hyperwall project, investigator on the Columbia accident investigation board, member of the NASA engineering and safety center, investigator on the millimeter-wave thermal rocket project, the Stardust re-entry observation campaign, PI on the LighForce project, special assistant to the center director, and chief scientist for the programs and projects directorate.

Barry Arata served as a firefighter and Fire Engineer with the San Jose Fire Department in California. Throughout his career, he has been dedicated to public safety, responding to emergencies and advocating for strong community preparedness. In 2021, he became a prominent voice opposing vaccine mandates for city employees, emphasizing individual rights and the operational integrity of emergency services. Barry also joined legal efforts to challenge public health policies that he believed could impact the safety and efficiency of first responders.

Ron Johnson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010 after successfully running a manufacturing business in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for thirty years. From 2015 to 2021, he served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and remains a member of the committee. In September 2024, Senator Johnson led a roundtable discussion titled American Health and Nutrition: A Second Opinion, where he and an assembled panel provided a foundational and historical understanding of the changes that have occurred over the last century in agriculture, food processing, and healthcare industries, which impact the current state of national health. He currently serves as the Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and is also a member of the Budget and Finance committees. Senator Johnson was re-elected to his third term in the U.S. Senate in 2022 and resides in Oshkosh with his wife, Jane. They have three children and four grandchildren.

Mad Agriculture is a credit fund (think bank) that lends to farmers converting farmland to regenerative practices, at a profitable spread. Their mission is to help farmers and ranchers thrive ecologically and economically. They work on-the-ground with producers to create Regenerative Farm Plans, and don’t shy away from dreaming big about the ecological, social and economic potential of regenerative farming. They are healing landscapes that have been mismanaged and need love, care, and stewardship. Philip Taylor, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of Mad Agriculture. He co-founded the organization in 2016 with his life partner, Nicole Brinks, to reimagine and restore our relationship to the land, sea, and each other through good agriculture. Philip’s work has been published in numerous journals, including Nature, Nature Climate Change, and Ecology, and he has diverse international experience in both private and public sectors, having led research and business efforts throughout North America, Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Brandon Welch is on a mission to create a regenerative revolution in agriculture. In late 2017, he helped launch Mad! to help farmers transition their land to regenerative organic agriculture by providing agronomic and business planning support, building new crop markets, and providing access to aligned capital. Brandon led the launch of Perennial Fund I and Mad Capital, which is now working with farmers on over 79,000 acres in 15 states in the US, on track to transition 10,000 acres of land to certified organic. He manages the Mad Capital team and works actively across the company, spanning sales, credit, operations, asset management, fundraising, and strategic planning.

Nestled in the heart of California’s San Joaquin Valley, Burroughs Family Farms is dedicated to sustainable practices that nurture the land, respect the environment, and provide high-quality, organic products. Our family has been farming for over five generations, combining innovative techniques with a deep respect for tradition.