• Staff

  • Peter Meisen (Founder, President)
  • Paul-Michael Dekker (Webmaster)

• Directors

  • Dr. Graeme M. Edwards (Vice-President)
  • Sara Beattie
  • Jim Cathcart
  • Bobbie DePorter
  • Nyhl Henson
  • Janathin Miller
  • Michael Powers
  • Don Robinson
  • William A. Shopoff
  • Joanalys B. Smith (Secretary)

GENI International Staff

Mr. Peter Meisen (Founder) B.S.
President and Director

Mr. Meisen is a graduate (1976) of the University of California, San Diego with an Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences degree. In 1983, he CO-founded SHARE (Self Help and Resource Exchange), North America's largest private food distribution program, currently serving more than a million people each month in the U.S., Mexico and Guatemala. He is an internationally recognized speaker on the global issues of renewable energy, transmission and distribution of electricity, quality of life and its relationship to electricity, the environment and sustainable development.

Mr. Paul-Michael Dekker (B.A.Sc.)

Mr. Dekker joined the GENI organization in September, 1993. He received a B.A.Sc. (Systems Design Engineering) from the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada), in 1980. He worked for nine years with UNISYS (Winnipeg, Manitoba), and one year with the Board of Education of the City of York (Toronto, Ontario). He owns Byte Butler, a company with projects in systems design, online marketing, video email, and telecommunications. He is a Director for Intercept Hunger, a San Diego-based hunger-relief organization.

GENI International Board of Directors:

Dr. Graeme M. Edwards (M.B., B.S., B. Med. Sci.)
Director

In 1991, Dr. Edwards founded an Australian-based firm, Streamline International Pty. Ltd., consulting in the areas of strategic planning, organization design and human resource management. A graduate of the University of Queensland, Australia, Dr. Edwards, trained in emergency medicine and intensive care, has been involved with executive administration since 1978. He has diverse management experience with numerous professional, educational and volunteer organizations, both nationally and internationally.

Ms. Sara Beattie
Director

Ms. Beattie is a cosmopolitan entrepreneur residing in Hong Kong since 1963. As Managing Director of the Sara Beattie Group of Companies, she has a wealth of experience in the dynamic Asian business markets. Her companies are involved with the training, placement and recruitment of executive personnel, as well as language and business studies.

Mr. Jim Cathcart (CSP, CPAE)
Director

Mr. Cathcart is an author and professional speaker with twenty years of professional presentation to more than 2000 audiences worldwide. His expertise is in helping businesses grow. As founder and president of Cathcart Institute, La Jolla, California, he serves an international clientele. In 1989, Mr. Cathcart was president of the National Speakers Association and in 1993 received their Cavett Award for a lifetime of leadership and service. Mr. Cathcart is the author of Relationship Selling and The Acorn Principle. He co-owns a software firm in California and a training institute in North Carolina. Mr. Cathcart was the 2001 recipient of the Toastmasters International Golden Gavel Award, the highest achievement award for professional speakers.

Ms. Bobbi DePorter
Director

Ms. DePorter is president of Learning Forum, a California-based company producing programs for students, teachers, schools and organizations in the U.S., Singapore, Hong Kong and England. As a co-founder of Burklyn Business School and having studied with Dr. Georgi Lozanov, father of accelerated learning, Ms. DePorter offered these successful learning techniques to students in SuperCamp, starting in 1982, to help students relearn how they learn and reshape their lives. She is the author of Quantum Learning: Unleashing the Genius in You and Quantum Business and was president of the International Alliance for Learning.

Mr. Nyhl Henson (BS Communications)
Director

Mr. Henson is a 20-year veteran of the communications industry. He was Chairman and CEO of CMT (Country Music Television), served as Nickelodeon's first general manager, and helped create MTV Networks, Inc. He is president of his own Florida-based entertainment consulting firm, Nyhl Henson Enterprises, and serves as executive producer of Branson Hills Productions, in Branson, Missouri.

Dr. Janathin Miller (Ph.D.)
Director

Dr. Miller was president and co-founder of Access Research Corporation, an engineering company, as well as a board member of its parent company, TYX Corporation. Holding a doctorate in education with a focus on systems management from Cornell University, Dr. Miller is a founding trustee and member of the Board of Directors at California State University, San Marcos, California. She holds teaching credentials in higher education in New York, Massachusetts and California and serves as guest or adjunct faculty at several prestigious universities. In recent years, Access Research won achievement awards for Women in Technology and Successful California Women-Owned Business. In 1987, she received national recognition as Entrepreneur of the Year by Arthur Young/Venture Magazine. She enjoys membership and affiliation in numerous engineering trade associations (IEEE, NSIA,AFCEA,ASTD,and NSPI).

Mr. Michael Powers (University of Missouri - Journalism)
Director, Treasurer

Michael Powers is a writer and marketing professional with over 25 years experience in advertising, publishing and direct marketing. His support of GENI began in 1986, when he first learned of the Global Energy Grid concept through Buckminster Fuller's book Critical Path. For the past two years, he has been working with AstroPower Inc., the nation's largest independent solar cell manufacturer, to launch a partnership with The Home Depot that makes solar home energy systems both affordable and readily available to the average homeowner, coast-to-coast (see http://www.hd-solar.com).

Mr. Don Robinson
Director

Mr. William A. Shopoff (M.B.A., BS, C.C.I.M)
Director

Mr. Shopoff, a graduate of the University of Texas, has been involved in all aspects of the real estate business for 17 years, including owning and operating real estate brokerage firms and a property management firm. Since 1992, he has been Vice President, Corporate Treasurer and a shareholder of Asset Recovery Fund, Inc., acquiring over $200 million (purchase price) in real estate and mortgages. He is responsible for due diligence, financial modeling, pricing and creation of the appropriate capital structure for the majority of ARF's acquisitions, including the creation of joint ventures and syndication partnerships. He also has oversight and management of the firm's accounting division. The firm is currently involved in acquisition and development of residential subdivisions in Southern California, and the acquisition of office and retail properties throughout the southwestern U.S. Additionally, ARF has begun a program of acquiring and renovating low-income apartment housing. Mr. Shopoff is a Certified Commercial Investment Member, a distinction awarded by the National Association of REALTORS. Contact him at bshopoff@ebridgepartners.com

Ms. Joanalys B. Smith (J.D.)
Secretary

Ms. Smith graduated from the University of Virginia, majoring in organizational communication and later studied law at the University of Texas. Prior to law she was a banker on Wall Street, a marketing representative for Norton Simon, and aide to former New Jersey Governor James Florio. Ms. Smith is now a partner in her law firm, the Law Offices of Joanalys B. Smith, and is on the faculty of the University of Texas.