Who We Are

Dr. Stuart Cowan

BFI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dr. Stuart Cowan brings 25 years of experience in regenerative design, finance, and systems and is a skilled systems thinker, transition designer, researcher, and leader of transdisciplinary initiatives. He is the Co-Founder of Autopoiesis LLC, which works to regenerate communities, ecosystems, and organizations. He was the founding convener of the Regenerative Communities Network from 2018-20, supporting 15 bioregions on their journeys of regeneration. He brings a diverse range of experiences including Chief Scientist at the Smart Cities Council, Transaction Manager for the sustainable investment fund Portland Family of Funds, and Conservation Economy Research Director at the non-profit Ecotrust. He is the co-author with Sim Van der Ryn of Ecological Design (Island Press, 1996/2007), and received his doctorate in Applied Mathematics from U.C. Berkeley with a focus on Complex Systems and Ecological Economics. He has taught and facilitated internationally for academic institutions, cities, companies, indigenous groups, government agencies, and NGOs. He is also an advisor to several international regeneration initiatives including Common Earth.

Sara Blenkhorn

BFI Director of Innovation

Sara Blenkhorn leads BFI’s Innovation Lab and works to translate Fuller’s legacy of Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science into funded, systems-level action.

Sara has spent her career building new models that make existing ones obsolete. She founded Canada’s first Circular Innovation Lab, the Textile Lab for Circularity, mobilizing 25 competing fashion brands into a coalition that influenced policy and created entirely new industry infrastructure. She revived Social Venture Network, a 40-year-old coalition of 600+ purpose-led executives facing collapse, rebuilding its governance, membership, and leadership from the ground up. She has produced 50+ interactive art installations, led Vancouver’s Zero Waste 2040 strategy, and developed AI interventions with thinkers at Google X and Anthropic.

As a coalition architect and fundraiser, she has raised millions of dollars from family offices, corporate sponsors, and government partners, and has convened leaders across continents, sectors, and languages. Her work has earned recognition from C40’s Women4Climate Award and shaped climate policy at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels in Canada.

At BFI, Sara brings that track record to bear on the initiatives that matter most right now: life-centered AI, Amazon Basin biocultural restoration, ocean regeneration, and bioregional governance and finance.

Her approach is grounded in a simple belief: design the right conditions, and people show up for each other in ways that change everything.

Jalen Gildersleeve

BFI Ecosystem Developer | Marketing Lead

Jalen Gildersleeve brings over a decade of experience in technology, marketing, and community building, and is a skilled growth strategist, investor, and innovation specialist dedicated to stewarding integral stakeholder economies. For the past five years he has led technology, marketing, and community support at the Buckminster Fuller Institute, building the digital and capital infrastructure that scales Fuller’s legacy of Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science into regenerative action. He is the Founder of Leaders Innovate, a consultancy supporting impact businesses, startups, and fourth-sector enterprises to optimize, innovate, and grow. His nonprofit work includes collaborations with the Social Enterprise Alliance, Criterion Institute, Climate Foundation, and Seed Life Foundation, where he has shaped strategy, digital systems, and community development for some of the field’s most influential conveners of social and regenerative finance. His earlier career includes growth strategy at Uber, where he supported platform expansion in New York City and helped scale UberEats across Atlanta, onboarding hundreds of thousands of users in under three months. He has advised, developed, and invested in numerous startups, small businesses, and nonprofits across corporate, civic, venture capital, and impact investing communities, and is an active researcher across advanced machine learning (AI), emotional intelligence (EQ), axiology, blockchain, and integral impact investing. Anchored in Fuller’s essence to make the world work for 100% of humanity through spontaneous cooperation and without ecological offense, Jalen builds the tools, relationships, and capital pathways that turn comprehensive anticipatory design science into the operating system of a regenerative future.