Creating Community Resources Through Innovation
Today we are joined by Danny Knee, Executive Director of the Community Investment Corporation a non-profit, local, economic development organization, and alternative lender and Kevin Koch Co-Founder & Co-Owner of Technicians For Sustainability, a mission-driven company specializing in renewable energy and sustainable technologies for residential and commercial settings. On this episode, we discuss how innovative technologies and business models contribute to the conscious capitalism movement.
Guests
Danny Knee ( dannyk@cictucson.com )
Executive Director – Community Investment Corporation
Website: www.cictucson.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cictucson.org/
Danny has two decades of experience in the public and non-profit sectors with a focus on community & economic development. In his current position as Executive Director of Community Investment Corporation (CIC), a nonprofit local economic development organization and alternative lender, Danny launched a Social Impact Lending program which incentivizes community-minded borrowers through preferred rates and terms. CIC also helps nonprofit partners including the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, the YWCA, Catholic Community Services, Pio Decimo, and Local First Arizona, make loans to their clients in furtherance of their respective missions.
As co-founder of Single Focus Web, a website development company he started with his wife, Cecily, Danny also brings the perspective of an entrepreneur to his work. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University where captained the nationally ranked Division III men’s basketball team. He holds masters’ degrees in City and Regional Planning and Business Administration from Rutgers University and the University of Arizona respectively. He was named one of Biz Tucson’s “40-Under-40” in 2007 for contributions to his profession and the community. Following in the footsteps of his dad who was a lifelong educator, Danny was a kindergarten and middle school teacher early in his professional career, and to this day ranks middle school English teacher as the best job he ever had.
Kevin Koch ( kevin@tfssolar.com)
Co-Founder & Co-Owner – Technicians For Sustainability
Website: www.tfssolar.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tfssolar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TFSSolar
Kevin is one of the leaders at (TFS) Technicians for Sustainability which he helped co-found in 2003. TFS is a mission-driven company specializing in renewable energy and sustainable technologies for residential and commercial settings. TFS is a Tucson based, employee-owned cooperative that has also achieved the designation of a certified B Corp.
With a background as a neuroscientist and mountaineer, Kevin came to sustainability through his connection to nature. He believes in living symbiotically with his environment, which has led him to spend over eighteen years in the renewable energy field. He is NABCEP certified in Photovoltaics (PV). He and his family live with PV, solar hot water, and greywater systems.
About Your Hosts
McCraren Compliance
sarah@mccrarencompliance.com
Sarah McCraren is CEO and President of McCraren Compliance and is a Tucson native with a strong sense of community. Sarah spent many years in the corporate finance world specializing in the operational analysis, measurement and accountability systems, project management and software implementations. However, Sarah wanted to do work which was meaningful and would positively impact her community. She found that saving lives and reducing injuries through comprehensive safety programs fit that bill. Sarah leads the McCraren Compliance team by keeping everyone focused on their primary purpose and balancing the needs of all their stakeholders.
Sarah serves on the Board for the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Tucson Chapter, Southwest University of Visual Arts, Conscious Capitalism Arizona and are active with the Arizona Builders Alliance, Arizona Rock Products Association and Arizona Transportation Builders.
Follow McCraren Compliance on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Retirement Evolutions
jneis@retevo.com
www.retevobiz.com
Jeremy Neis is an Investment Advisor with Retirement Evolutions and a small business operator fueled by the desire to enrich the life experience. He grew up in the Chicago area and chased the sun to get a degree at the University of Arizona in human and organizational communications. After doing so, he returned to Illinois where over the next 15 years he would find joy in co-launching and growing a technology solutions company and establishing a family. In 2014 he returned to the desert to join his current venture, Retirement Evolutions, where his focuses are: (1) Conduct planning with individuals and families so that they can maximize the likelihood of leading secure and comfortable retirements. (2) Through the business services arm, Resourceful, empower business leaders to care for the people that they will rely upon to be thriving, sustainable organizations.
Jeremy is a proud contributor to the Conscious Capitalism movement as he views it as a powerful vehicle to bring about greater prosperity and reduced suffering for our human family. Over his career he has had the privilege to work closely with hundreds of different enterprises across many markets and industries. A common theme emerges among those firms that he’s seen excel and that is to be great not just with what they are bringing to market, but also with the manner in which they are doing so.
Connect with Jeremy on LinkedIn and follow Retirement Evolutions on Facebook.