Who is working on the Seedstock project?
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Jordan Bober - Co-founder and DirectorJordan Bober first became fascinated by community currencies while studying Economics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and ended up choosing them as the subject of his Master’s thesis in 2007. He was amazed to learn about the hundreds of communities all throughout history and around the world that have created their own currencies to cope with difficult economic times, build local economic resilience and a greater sense of community. A few years later, Jordan met modern community currency pioneer Michael Linton, reigniting his interest in the practical applications of community currency and Open Money to address financial poverty and economic instability. The idea for a community currency devoted primarily to the strengthening and integration of the local food economy, and based on Michael Linton’s Community Way model, first occurred to Jordan - the son of a farmer - in 2011 and was further developed into what is now the Seedstock Project. As an active member of the Village Vancouver Transition initiative, Jordan sees the relocalisation of community economies as a vital key to a more sustainable, just and resilient future. Contact: jordan@seedstock.ca
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Andrew Perry - Co-founder and DirectorAndrew Perry has been observing the influences of culture on community since feeling alienated from the speedy growth in his hometown of Kelowna, British Columbia. He worked as an apprentice carpenter until being laid off during the Great Recession in 2008. After waking up from an inebriating haze following a stint bar tending during the 2010 Olympics, Andrew has dedicated himself to analyzing the nature of current financial markets and economic policies as a means of finding ways to liberate people from a system that is completely out of control. Stumbling across Michael Linton's Local Exchange Trading System while collaborating on a project to create co-operative business networks, Andrew recognized that the Open Money project was a necessary tool for the average person’s right to self-determination. He met Jordan Bober and Michael Linton during a discussion on how Open Money could be used in spontaneous communities such as the Occupy movement. Despite spelling relocalization with a 'z' instead of an 's', Andrew has been good friends with Jordan ever since and committed to making the Seedstock project a success! Contact: andrew@seedstock.ca |
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Paola Qualizza - Director and Radical DoerPaola Qualizza believes people can most effectively bring about real change at the local scale. Her university degree cumulated into a collaborative project designing a local food hub for Vancouver and a thesis on the practical application of sustainable community development. The value of community currencies as a tool for local economic resilience became apparent and she was inspired by stories of alternative exchange systems emerging spontaneously either out of necessity (Irish bank strike of 1970) or, just because they made sense (Deli Dollars). This is why she was excited to meet Jordan Bober and Michael Linton in 2011 and hear the initial musings of a local currency for Vancouver. A year later, after a few months of traveling and finding herself back at her chronic retail job, she reconnected with Jordan, met Andrew, and jumped into the Seedstock project with two feet just in time for its official launch. Quick to befriend Jordan and Andrew, Paola gives kudos to the universe for finding herself with such an ingenious team generating Vancouver’s first local currency. Contact: paola@seedstock.ca |
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Michael Linton - Adviser, collaborator and Open Money designerMichael Linton, originally from the UK, has been active in community currency development since 1982 when he designed and began the first Local Exchange Trading System in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island. Many if not most of the hundreds of LETS within the UK, Canada and Australia and probably thousands of similar systems elsewhere, involve a members' agreement identical to or based closely on Michael Linton's original LETSystem design. Michael is also the original architect of the community currency model that has been adopted by Seedstock. Previously, and briefly, he was a physicist, chemical engineer, computer programmer, business school graduate (MBA), research psychologist, truck-driver, ski instructor, school teacher, builder, fisherman, logger and retailer. He is also a qualified teacher of the Alexander Technique. He is now a systems designer, working primarily on systems for open society. Contact: michael.linton@gmail.com |
While the people whose profiles appear on this page are this project’s principle initiators and drivers, they have by no means been working alone. Many other passionate and talented people have and continue to contribute their knowledge, skills and energy to the project’s success. Seedstock truly is a community supported currency from the very start!
