Koreen has extensive experience in permaculture design and education, project management, non-profit projects, business incubation, and holistic economics using whole systems strategy and design. She has facilitated community development projects, organized events, organized permaculture style disaster relief in Haiti, coordinated with Chambers of Commerce and other business organizations on sustainability projects, organized natural building projects at Pine Ridge Lakota reservation, incubated nursery businesses, and currently manages a permaculture medicinal herb and fruit demonstration farm in West Central Florida and is an elder in permaculture.
She co-founded North American Permaculture Convergence, is a Board Member and Diplomate of Permaculture Institute of North America, was founding coordinator of Sustainable Urban Agriculture Coalition in St Petersburg, founding board member of Oglala-Lakota Cultural and Economic Revitalization Initiative at Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation in South Dakota, co-founder of Create Clearwater, FL, and was member of Greenprint Committee in Clearwater.
She is passionate about the power of collaboration and creating resilience and abundance in local communities and has dedicated her life to these efforts.
Steve Szmidt, Co-Founder
Steve holds the equivalent of a Masters in Computer Science with over four decades of designing and implementing technical solutions in Europe, Africa and the US. His main passions are helping people improve conditions and implementing technical solutions that benefit mankind without at the same time debilitating it with too much automation. Being a long term educator, with a passion for people and technology, he spends time each year educating others on how to integrate various technologies with permaculture. In addition he holds a firm view that education must result in the ability to apply what you study or it is to that degree a threat to society's survival potential.
Since 2015 Steve has been living on a permaculture farm he co-created in central Florida. As a partner in Grow Permaculture Steve implemented the Permaculture Design Course into an highly regarded online course.
He has volunteered for non-profit organizations since his mid 20's across several countries wearing many different hats both administrative and technical delivery. Able to think outside the box allows Steve to have a clear view of situations and approach them using pure logic. As a result nothing is completely new to him.
Some of his favorite hobbies include scuba diving, sailing, flying single engine planes, martial arts, tennis, building things large and small, electronics, racing cars, video production from start to finish, writing and arts in general, and above all being part of solutions that improves long term survival.
Diane Willis, MS
Diane has a Masters Degree in Botany and has worked as a wetland scientist in Florida for 32 years. She took a permaculture design course in 2013 and a water harvesting certification course in 2016. She is well versed in the botany, ecology, hydrology, climate, and soils of Florida. Over the years she has taught plant identification workshops to professional biologists, herbalists, and lay people and given presentations about native habitats, climate and rainwater harvesting to the Florida Native Plant Society, Gaia’s Guardian permaculture book study group, and the Sustainable Urban Agriculture Coalition. In addition, she has taught botany to herbalists for eight years and has learned from them how to utilize common weeds and garden plants as food and medicine. In the last few months, she used what she had learned to write a guidebook on herbal and home remedies to use to prevent and heal viral infections (particularly Covid-19).
In 2009, she lived and worked on an organic farm for a year, helping with seeding, planting, weeding, harvesting, prepping produce and selling at markets. After that she created her own food forest at her home with an extensive water catchment system. She has taught others about water catchment planning and implementation with rain barrels and earthworks to route water flows.
Constance Cranford
Conny is co-founder and President of Evolutions Healthcare Systems, Inc., a privately-owned healthcare company based in Tampa Bay, Florida specializing in developing customized preferred provider networks for the benefit of employers and their employees. A lifelong student of the environment, Conny received her BS in Biology/Aquatic Ecology from the University of Connecticut. Initially interested in aquaculture, she lived for a time in Norway studying the Salmon industry firsthand. After which, she continued developing her animal husbandry skills as an aquarist and curator in several public aquariums. Her favorite position was at The National Aquarium in Baltimore. Upon moving to Florida, Conny worked on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services' National Wetlands Inventory delineating wetlands along coastal Louisiana before entering the healthcare sector.
Conny has lived in New Port Richey, Florida with her husband and two children for the past 30 years. During that time, she has held several positions of responsibility within Boy Scouts of America as well as chairing multiple committees in her area. Recently she has joined the steering committee for FarmNet NPR, which focuses on promoting agrarian principles within the community. Conny has also served for the past 3 years as coordinator and cook for the FUMC of NPR community food kitchen which currently provides meals to over 100 food insecure persons weekly. Conny has a passion for living responsibly as a steward of our local resources. Her vision is to collaborate on projects focused on improving the community and the world. Her hobbies include converting her property into an edible landscape, studying permaculture and native plant identification for practical purposes, beekeeping, experimenting with fermenting foods, cooking, boating, scuba diving, hiking, camping and exploring the world with her husband and 2 Border Collies.
Caleb Quaid, MBA, LEED AP BD+C
Caleb Quaid is a Regenerative Consultant and founder of Regenerative Shift (regnerativeshift.com), an environmental consulting firm focusing on assisting businesses and communities with the transition to regenerative practices. In 2022, with Regenerative Shift, Caleb worked with Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL to plant the first regenerative planting project in North American professional sports, with an1,100-foot living fence of bamboo and native plants. He focuses on projects with mainstream, high-profile businesses, as a means to energize the regenerative movement into everyday conversations.
Prior to forming Regenerative Shift in 2021, Caleb spent 12 years working in the NFL, mostly with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a senior operations and project management role. During his time with the Buccaneers, he oversaw stadium operations, game operations, facilities, and construction management projects totaling over $200MM in renovations and new construction.
Caleb’s passion for regeneration blends into his personal and social life. He and his two sons, Kobe and Atlas, operate a small front-yard permaculture community garden from their home in Tampa, FL, where neighbors can pick their own produce to enjoy.
