- Donald Tuttle, CEO
- Brian Young
- William C. McCurdy
- Talitha Haller
- Mark E. Ritchie
Donald TuttleFounder and Chief Executive Officer
Jadora LLC founder Don Tuttle has a range of talents and experiences that have served as a foundation for his leadership position.
After attending the University of Washington in Seattle, he owned and operated Rain City, a haven for confiscated exotic and endangered species, in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In conjunction with Rain City he also founded the Institute for Research of Extant Species. Don spent a brief but instructive time working in the financial sector with Oppenheimer securities, and he gained exposure to politics working for Congressman Jim McDermott in Washington D.C., before finally turning full-time to environmental services and conservation.
Don worked with the Smithsonian Institute and the California Academy of the Sciences in Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia) eventually founding the Insular Species Conservation Society, where he continues his involvement as a board member. Additional field time in the West Indies and Central America introduced Don to carbon sequestration and alternative energy and sparked his desire to pursue land use alternatives using sustainable models. Recently he worked for the Woodland Park Zoo, where he transitioned from animal management to a senior management position in their development department, before leaving to found Jadora early in 2008
Brian Young
Operations
Mr. Young was the founder and principal of Element Strategic Partners LLC, a clean-tech consultancy focused on public affairs, policy development and due diligence. During his time with Element he led a variety of projects with multi-national companies and government entities including The Boeing Company, the Washington State Clean Energy Leadership Council and the Malaysian government.
Prior to starting his own company, Mr. Young was the Director of International Business Development at Imperium Renewables Inc. and a member of its strategic development team. As one of Imperium’s original employees, Mr. Young spearheaded the development of the biofuel company's logistics capabilities, feedstock procurement framework, corporate sustainability criteria, and research and development project planning and execution. Mr. Young is Vice Chairman of the National Biodiesel Board's Sustainability Task Force. Previously, Mr. Young was a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy working in naval operations and engineering. He holds a B.S. from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
Mr. Young currently resides in Seattle, Washington, with his beautiful wife Kristen. He spends his free time in the outdoors or as a ski patroller in the Cascade Mountains.
William C. McCurdyPrincipal
As a Principal and angel investor in Jadora LLC, Bill worked closely with founder Don Tuttle in the early stages of setting up the corporation and maintains an active role in the company's strategic direction and operations. He is an innovative leader and has over 15 years of experience with Fortune 50 Companies in the U.S. and internationally. He specializes in organizational development, team building, project planning, cost control, and risk management.
Bill received his Bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Philosophy from Vanderbilt University with concentrated coursework in the School of Engineering and has conducted extensive field studies in Latin America. He also holds a Master's Certificate in Project Management from The George Washington University School of Business.
Mr. McCurdy resides in Redmond, Washington with his wife, Heather, and their daughter, Annabelle.
Talitha Haller
Finance
Talitha Haller received both her Bachelor of Business Administration and her Master of Accounting from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Involvement in an ecotourism startup in the Amazon sparked her initial interest in for-profit strategies to mitigate climate change, and her education at Ross consequently refined her belief that for-profit ventures play a crucial role in transforming our approaches to economic development and environmental protection.
Talitha has diverse experience in community development initiatives throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean, participating on teams with doctors, environmental engineers and religious groups. She also worked briefly in the IT sector in India, where she authored an e-course on search engine optimization and marketing.
Most recently, she worked in Brazil for the environmental non-profit organization Ecologica Institute. In this role she helped administer the organization’s certification standard for carbon offset projects and contributed to its manual for applying the standard in forestry projects.
Mark E. Ritche, Ph.D.Chief Technical Officer
Mark is a broadly trained Ph.D. scientist in terrestrial ecology with numerous applications to natural resource management, agriculture, and economics.
A Professor of Biology at Syracuse University, he is an expert in data analysis and modeling of complex ecosystem processes in grasslands, wetlands, and forests, with field research focused in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania and other sites in East Africa. His research interests extend to wildlife conservation, livestock management, and economic valuation of natural capital.
He recently applied his ecological and economic expertise into founding Soils for the Future, LLC, a grassland carbon project development company that has partnered with Jadora International to develop methodologies and carbon offset projects for grasslands and savannas.
Founded on more than $4 million in research grants from various government agencies in the U.S. over the past 20 years, he has published more than 60 formal research papers and a technical book on biodiversity. He has served as a consultant for large private ranches, environmental consulting firms, government land management agencies, and international financial institutions. He also has advised international research institutes and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Other non-professional interests include various sports, karate, playing guitar, songwriting, and all types of outdoor adventuring.