Our Team

Charisse McAuliffe

Founder and CEO

Passionate, determined, selfless and visionary are four adjectives commonly used to describe Charisse McAuliffe. A graduate of the College of Charleston in South Carolina with a degree in mass media communications, Charisse began her career working as a segment producer and field producer for Warner Brothers/Telepictures and as a production manager for ASAG Productions where she worked on shows for MSNBC, A&E;, MTV and CBS. Following a position as a broadcast producer for various advertising agencies and production companies, she decided to get her real estate license and began brokering commercial real estate projects. It was at that time that she discovered her passion for all things green. Starting with green building practices, Charisse explored other areas of the sustainable lifestyle and found this knowledge to be life changing. In 2006, Charisse moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado, where, upon her arrival, she began to pursue her environmental calling, which would eventually be known as GenGreen. She made it her life’s mission to make it easier for people in Colorado, the U.S., and hopefully one day the world, to live their sustainable lives easier.

Charisse was named one of the top 40 business leaders of under 40 for 2008 by the Northern Colorado Business Report and was named one of the “Hottest CEO’s of Cool Green Companies” by TreeHugger.com in Spring 2009. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Association and Northern Colorado USGBC and when she’s not working to save the planet, she’s spending time with her two daughters, Kylah and Abigail.

More about Charisse…

• Book on my bedside table: Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff and Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
• I would invent: A machine that every time you put a dollar in it, ten would come out the other end.
• Number One environmental pet peeve: The use of bottled Aquafina or Dasani water at any event.
• First thing I did when I woke up this morning: Turned on cartoons for my 5 year old, gave her some milk, and crawled back in bed for 15 more min.
• Favorite cartoon character: Lisa Simpson

Desmond Yap

CIO

Desmond Yap is a new media developer with a unique and diverse career. His technical accomplishments include the creation of professional web systems from dynamic and engaging interactive sites to full-featured e-commerce and intranet systems. Leveraging a unique balance of marketing, design and development skills, he helps businesses and organizations build on their solid reputations. Desmond studied psychology with an emphasis in art therapy at the University of Northern Colorado before transferring to Colorado State University to study computer information systems. Utilizing this unique skill-set, he blurs the lines between design and development to deliver software and web services with feature-rich, usable interfaces. He also brings a wealth of experience in the e-commerce industry having created a complete web-to-print solution that is used for corporations, educational institutions and organizations alike. If he’s not working on the next big thing for GenGreen, he’s probably on his bike!

More about Desmond…

• Book on my bedside table: Let my people go surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman By Yvon Chouinard
• Number one environmental pet peeve: Food waste. Food has an enormous carbon footprint that a lot of people don’t realize. There are so many hard-working people involved in growing, maintaining, distributing and selling the goods and I think they deserve a lot of recognition and the food they produce deserves a lot of respect.
• Last thing recycled: The aluminum foil from my Big City Burrito.
• Blended or on the rocks? Rocks…with salt.
• I would have dinner with: Ryan Leech

David Pearson

Strategic Advisor

David is an energetic, passionate and creative individual who aspires to live life in a continuous state of growth and service. A self-taught philosopher, keen observer of the human condition and avid outdoorsman, David was struck at an early age by the profound connection between inner awareness and our outer world and the way in which both affect each other. This observation inspires him daily to cultivate a healthy interior world, which in turn helps create a healthier external world and environment. David believes we all have the ability to heal the planet through hundreds of small choices we make each day and that we can have a blast while doing it.

In 2005, David merged his passion for conscious living into his professional life by co-founding zaadz.com, a dynamic social networking website with a purpose, and serving as its COO and VP of Business Development until its acquisition by Gaiam, Inc. in August 2007. David spent the next year as Director of Operations and Business Development at Gaiam, working to transform zaadz into Gaia.com, which continues to grow and thrive. Born with an entrepreneurial spirit, David feels most energized when he is creating and building something new. Thus, he is extremely excited and honored to serve GenGreen as its VP of Business Development.

In addition to working with conscious companies, David enjoys laughing, sharing good times with family and friends, spending time in nature, and making the most of every moment.

More about David…

• Books on my bedside table: Conscious Business by Fred Kaufman, The Simple Feeling of Being by Ken Wilber, and Nature, Man and Woman by Alan Watts.
• Number one environmental pet peeve: The lack of attention given to the huge footprint created by our food choices, namely meat and dairy factory farming and commercial fishing.
• I would invent: Kind of like a pace maker, but an inner peace maker.
• If I could live in any other time period: It’s all happening here and now. “Now is the time and we are the ones we have been waiting for.” ~Hopi Elders
• Muppets for Fraggles:Muppets! Although, I’m not sure that I agree with Kermit. It’s a lot easier to be green than we think.