Board of Directors

Dr. John Birks, Chair

Dr. John W. Birks is co-founder and President of 2B Technologies, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado and Director of the GO3 Project. He is also Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Fellow Emeritus of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) of the University of Colorado, Boulder. John earned a B.S. degree in Chemistry with High Honors at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 1968 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 1974. He began his academic career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1974. In 1977 Prof. Birks moved his research group to the University of Colorado where he could collaborate more closely with CU, NCAR and NOAA scientists on research in atmospheric chemistry. Prof. Birks is best known for quantifying the rates of several chemical reactions key to understanding ozone depletion in the Antarctic “ozone hole”, his seminal work in 1981/82 with Paul Crutzen (Nobel Laureate, 1995) in developing the "nuclear winter" theory, and his invention of new instruments for chemical analysis at ultra trace levels. Prof. Birks has published more than 130 scientific papers, edited 3 books, and holds 6 U.S. patents. Prof. Birks has supervised the research of 39 students earning Ph.D. degrees and 9 students earning M.S. degrees. His awards include Alfred P. Sloan and John Simon Guggenheim Fellowships, the Thomas Jefferson Award of the University of Colorado, the Witherspoon Peace and Justice Award, the Colorado Section Award of the American Chemical Society, the Leo Szilard Award for Physics in the Public Interest of the American Physical Society, and the American Chemical Society Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology. He was the recipient of the 2000 Hazel Barnes Prize, the highest faculty award of the University of Colorado. After 25 years of service, in 2002 Prof. Birks retired from the University of Colorado and joined 2B Technologies, a company he co-founded with Dr. Mark Bollinger in 1998. At 2B Tech, Dr. Birks is working with a team of scientists and engineers to develop a new generation of instrumentation for environmental and biomedical analysis. He also is co-founder of InDevR (Instrument Development and Research), a Boulder technology company specializing in the invention and development of new analytical instrumentation for the biomedical sciences. 

Shannon Rodriguez, Treasurer

Shannon Rodriguez is Vice President for Finance at 2B Technologies, Inc., Director of Finance at InDevR, Inc. and Director and Secretary-Treasurer of the corporate Boards of both 2B Tech and InDevR. Shannon earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2001. At both 2B Tech and InDevR, she is responsible for grants management, accounting, budgeting and forecasting, and human resources. Shannon led the development and implementation of the ISO 9001:2000 Quality System at 2B Technologies where she serves as the ISO Management Representative.

Revi Sterling

Dr. S. Revi Sterling directs the Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD) graduate program at the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is a member of the high level panel of advisors for UN-GAID, and has worked extensively in sustainable development efforts in both the field and at the policy level. Her research is in distributed and interactive technologies for rural communities, and her expertise is in community readiness and participation, ICT curriculum development, gender and development, ICT to support cross-sector efforts, and the geographies of development, Prior to ATLAS, she was at Microsoft Research for a decade, working on technologies to empower communities. She holds a Ph.D. in Technology, Media and Society from ATLAS, where she teaches ICTD and research methods for development.

Jessa Ellenburg, Secretary

Jessa Ellenburg earned a degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado and spent six years designing complex bridges throughout the United States, including bridges in California, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania and the New Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge near Seattle, Washington.  As an engineer, she was active in K-12 outreach by involving students in current engineering projects and related career possibilities.  In 2006, she worked at the University of Colorado as the Outreach Coordinator for the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation, a national organization of laboratories dedicated to studying the effects of earthquakes on bridges, buildings, dams, and other structures.  Jessa is now focused entirely on her passion for education and the environment as the Outreach Coordinator for 2B Technologies in Boulder, Colorado where she is developing the Global Ozone (GO3) Project.  She is a registered Professional Engineer and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional. 

Karen Hunter

Karen Hunter has a B.S. degree in education from the University of Illinois and a M.Ed. from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is currently the Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA) Coordinator for the St. Vrain Valley School District in Longmont, Colorado. During her 45 years as an educator, she served as a classroom teacher for 23 years, a science coordinator for 11 years, and MESA Coordinator the last 11 years. As science coordinator, she focused on curriculum, assessment and professional development for K-12 science educators. Mrs. Hunter assisted with writing Colorado Model Science Content Standards and was a district level facilitator for the Colorado State Systemic Initiative (CONNECT) for science. She was Co-Principal Investigator for a state wide Goals 2000 grant on standards-based instruction and assessment. Prior to her affiliation with MESA, Mrs. Hunter was a liaison for education outreach programs at the University of Colorado at Boulder including Space Grant's Citizen Explorer Project, the Multicultural Engineering Program, Integrated Teaching Lab, and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Studies (CIRES) at CU Boulder. Mrs. Hunter is an advocate for cultural diversity and received the 2008 Boulder County Multicultural Award for Partnerships. As MESA Coordinator, she continues to form valuable educational outreach partnerships that benefit MESA students from diverse backgrounds.

Michael Minard

Michael Minard is a semi-retired senior executive. Most recently, he was Executive Vice President (1998-2002), Vice President (1995-97) and Director (1994) of GE Access (formerly owned by Lockheed). He has also worked for IBM (1992-94) and Time Arts Inc. (1987-92), and he designed, built and managed his own retail business (1976-87). Michael specializes in focused organizational assessment and development as design and implementation of corporate strategy. He has in-depth experience in managing sales teams, marketing and operations. As a General Electric and Lockheed executive, he was responsible for creating and launching major new lines of business with resulting revenue streams in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Over the past few years, he has worked with dozens of large and small clients to assist them in refining their business strategy and improving the performance of their teams. Michael's undergraduate studies were in geology at Ohio State University. He holds professional certificates from the University California, San Diego in Software Design and Systems Analysis.