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Sustainability Experts
5th World Regenerative Living Experts
The 5th World team comprises leading experts in engineering, architecture, and design with several decades of experience designing and building regenerative living solutions.
We Blend Form and Function to Create Regenerative Havens
We have expertise in regenerative living solutions focused on food, water, and energy. Our unique talent seamlessly integrates form and function, crafting spaces that promote human and ecological wellness.
Eng. Marc Ziade
Chief Executive Officer
Marc’s diverse background in fintech, Web3, and cleantech led him to developing his vision of a globally interconnected network of autonomous regenerative communities built on the foundation of new coordination and governance layers. Under his leadership, 5th World has honed its mission, business, and product strategies towards accelerating the world’s transition to regenerative, distributed energy, water, and food systems.
In early 2016, a pivotal meeting with Joseph Lubin led Marc to become one of the early employees at Consensys. There, he co-founded Consensys Labs, incubating and nurturing Ethereum startups, including Metamask and Infura, which have become cornerstones of the Ethereum ecosystem. Marc also spearheaded multiple initiatives in crypto-economic research and design. Furthermore, Marc co-founded Helena, a decentralised application built on top of the Gnosis infrastructure, aimed at harnessing prediction markets for decision-making.
Marc holds a degree in electrical and computer engineering from the American University of Beirut, complemented by an MBA from Columbia Business School. His career trajectory has seen him in leadership roles across both corporate and startup environments in various sectors. Notably, at Mastercard in New York City, he directed web3 product initiatives and commercialization efforts. Additionally, at Zoomo, a venture-backed light electric vehicles startup, he led the company’s entry and growth within the North American consumer and enterprise markets. Early in his career, while working at Strategy& and Booz Allen Hamilton, Marc provided strategic advisory services to numerous fintech and cleantech firms. His work spanned a wide array of multinational projects, with a focus on governance, operating model design, sectoral and corporate strategy formulation, and the development and launch of new products.
Eng. Rob Avis
Chief Engineering Officer
Rob Avis is a leading voice in the land regeneration movement. He has combined an extensive background in engineering with a passion for regenerative practices to develop a clear process for land design and management.
His knowledge of engineering gives Rob a unique insight into the complexity of a land’s ecosystem and the ways in which systems can work together to create abundant supplies of food, water, and energy.
Rob’s background was as a Mechanical Engineer in both industrial food processing and industrial energy (oil and gas).
Conflicted by the practices he saw in place in those industries, Rob left the world of oil and gas in 2008 to learn everything he could about better ways to care for and manage our natural resources.
Rob studied renewable energy in Denmark for six months and the principles of permaculture for three years.
After that, he launched two businesses to help educate and empower landowners with a passion for regeneration.
Verge Permaculture was founded in 2008 and quickly became a premier permaculture design and education company, teaching the design process to more than 5,000 students.
Adaptive Habitat was created to be a unique, cutting-edge design and management firm helping landowners apply the principles of permaculture and regenerative design.
Now, 5th World is Rob’s next evolution as a leader in the field. In this work he draws on more than 18 years of mechanical engineering experience. Rob specializes in the intersection of biology and thermo and fluid dynamics. This includes low energy consumption, water systems, passive solar greenhouses, irrigation, broad acre water harvesting, and renewable energy systems.
Most importantly, as Rob teaches other landowners the path forward, he’s living it himself. He currently lives on a 160-acre farm in central Alberta where he is building a multi-generational, regenerative farm that is built on the ecosystem principles he teaches on permaculture design and engineering.
Naheed Henderson
Chief Product and Marketing Officer
Naheed is an experienced and proven senior leader and builder. With a career in global business and innovation, she has a hyper focus on early-stage market validation, creative problem solving, key stakeholder relations, and product development.
With empathy and a growth mindset, Naheed has led significant growth in reputable global companies by applying digital transformation, developing and validating innovative products, optimising operational capacity, and building and leading high-performing commercial teams.
Naheed has built world-renowned edtech solutions and global startup acceleration and incubation programs in partnership with key government, Indigenous, and educational partnerships. She has led go-to-market strategy and execution for leading global brands, built key strategic government and industry stakeholder relations, and led product, programming, commercial and digital teams cross-organizationally.
Eng. Joseph Lubin
Strategic Advisor
Joseph Lubin is a Co-founder of Ethereum and the Founder and CEO of Consensys, the leading blockchain and Web3 software company.
Through its product suite, including the MetaMask platform, Infura, Linea, Diligence, and the NFT platform, Consensys has become a trusted collaborator for users, creators, and developers.
Born and raised in Toronto, Lubin graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He held positions as Director of the New York office of Blacksmith Software Consulting, and VP of Technology in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs.
Through these posts, Joe focused on the intersection of cryptography, engineering, and finance. In 2014 he met Vitalik Buterin, a Canadian Programmer, Writer, and Founder of Ethereum and joined the Ethereum Project as a Co-founder. After the Project was launched, Lubin established Consensys.
Since 2014, Joe and the Consensys team have been working on the foundational software for Web3, aimed at empowering individuals and communities with economic and political agency through decentralized technologies.
MBA Dave Needham
Board Member
Dave’s journey to founding 5th World is a testament to his belief in the transformative power of self-organization, regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and decentralized technologies in reshaping our world. At 5th World, Dave and the team are dedicated to creating opportunities for humanity to engage in regenerative activities that benefit both the planet and their lives, leveraging healthy business models, core values-based cultures, and emerging technology to effect this change.
The inception of 5th World can be traced back to Dave’s experiences post-MBA. He worked at Westlund, a decentralized international organization in Canada, dealing with pipe, valve, and fittings distribution, which played a pivotal role in shaping his understanding of entrepreneurial cultures and living by core values.
In 2017, he left Westlund and shifted his focus to regenerative agriculture and how to integrate it with Web3 technology.
In 2020, he collaborated with Rob Avis to design and build ‘The Greenhouse of the Future’ at his ranch, Morningside. This collaboration highlighted the potential of merging Rob’s expertise in regenerative agriculture. Later on, Marc Ziade joined this vision, contributing his skills in decentralized business models, blockchain technology, and cleantech. Together, they form a team that seeks to make the vision of a regenerative way of living a reality.
Lic. Maurice L. O’Connor
Architect
Maurice L. O’Connor, RA is an experienced designer specializing in residential and commercial projects. With over twenty three years experience in top architectural firms on both Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, 2014 marked a fresh start as the beginning of his sole proprietorship. Mo combines his design skills and knowledge of local construction methods with powerful 3D computer modeling capabilities.
Mo has a hands-on construction background as well as degrees in both Architecture and Physics. He also holds a Permaculture Design Certificate from Verge Permaculture.
Dr. Jason Champion-Legendre
Remote Sensing Professional
Jason holds two Master’s degrees, the first in Remote Sensing and the second in Planetary Sciences. He also obtained a PhD in Astrophysics in 2017. His professional journey began in his native country, France, and expanded internationally with a two-year experience in Spain.
Dr. Laura María Solari
Dr. Laura is an expert in landscape ecology, GIS, multifunctional landscape design, biodiversity monitoring, environmental education, and project management. Dr. Laura assists 5th World with research and field testing on ecological health monitoring at the farm scale to develop parts of our methodology.
Kevin Dubienski
Regenerative Property Designer
Kevin is a permaculture expert specializing in passive solar greenhouses, rainwater harvesting, project management, phytology, land design, GIS, GNSS, and ecosystem education.
Dr. Yanina Sica
Dr. Yanina is an expert in landscape ecology, multifunctional landscape design, biodiversity monitoring, quantitative ecology, data science, geographic informations systems, and remote sensing. Dr. Yanina assists 5th World with research and field testing on ecological health monitoring at the farm scale to develop parts of our methodology.
Adrian Buckley
Ecological Landscape Designer
Adrian is an expert in phytology, GIS, and master design planning. He is passionate about understanding and applying the processes of natural systems toward landscape design to help landowners achieve a positive footprint.
Eng. Danilo Da Rosa
Software Engineer
Danilo is an expert in data science and technology, GIS, spectrometry modeling, and meteorological modeling. His professional goal is to use his software engineering experience to create impactful tools that accelerate the transition toward regenerative human cultures.
Jon Holland
Support Engineer
Jon has extensive experience as a data analyst with a background in engineering. At 5th World, he has had the opportunity to combine his technical background with his interest in regenerative agriculture and homesteading. He currently helps design and implement new tools and methodologies while also providing support to clients and internal users with GIS tools and proprietary software.
Lic. Daniela Atenea Gonzalez
Lic. Daniela is an expert in agroecology/organic production, biodiversity monitoring, restoration of native plant environments, geographic information systems, and remote sensing. Lic. Daniela assists 5th World with research and field testing on ecological health monitoring at the farm scale to develop parts of our methodology.