Storm Cunningham

Gregory Storm Cunningham (he goes by his legal middle name: Storm) was born July 24, 1951. He is an American author, writer, entrepreneur, consultant and public speaker and is and the publisher of Revitalization News: The Journal of Urban, Rural, and Environmental Resilience. He is best known as the "father" of the global restoration economy.

BIOGRAPHY

File:Https://revitalizationnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/storm-cunningham-preservation-maryland-conference-2016.jpg

Storm Cunningham keynoting the annual conference of Preservation Maryland in 2016.

Cunningham was born in Teaneck, New Jersey to an American father and an English mother. He lived in Wanstead (then a suburb of London) went to school in England for several years when very young. Cunningham grew up in New Jersey, Iowa, Nebraska, and California. He lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife, Dr. Maria MacKnight, owner of Wellness Restoration.

After graduating from Pioneer High School in Campbell, California 1969, he spent three years hitchhiking through, and briefly living in, dozens of countries in Asia, Europe, and North America in a "search for truth.”

Upon his return, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in February of 1972, and became a Green Beret SCUBA Medic in B Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group. He attended Windham College in Putney, Vermont, a now-defunct liberal arts school where he majored in business and minored in biology.

Much of his professional and entrepreneurial experience following college focused on conserving and restoring natural resources. In the early 1990s, one of his companies, ecoActivity (now defunct) focused on breeding marine creatures in order to reduce the damage being done to coral reefs by the tropical fish industry. That company licensed a technology that was patented at the Smithsonian Institution's Marine Systems Laboratory. All of Biosurvival's employees were moonlighting Smithsonian scientists.

From 1996 through 2002, Cunningham was Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), a technical society of some 14,000 architects, engineers and construction product manufacturers based in Alexandria, Virginia.

In the late 1980s, Cunningham had an experience that planted the seeds of his present professional focus; restorative development. He spent a week in Jamaica with German scientists Wolf Hilbertz as a volunteer. Hilbertz had invented an ingenious technology (called BioRock) for rapidly regrowing damaged coral reefs, and needed volunteer SCUBA divers to help him install his experiments on the ocean floor.

It was this experience that opened Cunningham's eyes to the fact that humans don't have to be satisfied with "merely" saving what's left of our undamaged natural environment (conservation), or reducing the amount of new damage we do (sustainable development). As essential as those activities are, he realized that economic growth can actually be based on undoing the planet's vast inventory of existing damage. He immediately started preaching this "restoration gospel" at every conference he attended, and was one of the first 200 members of the Society for Ecological Restoration.

Cunningham was also one of the earliest members of the U.S. Green Business Council (USGBC) when he was the staff liaison to USGBC from CSI. During the creation of the LEED certification system in the 1990's, he was the primary advocate for focusing more points on reusing and retrofitting existing buildings (something that didn't happen until many years later). He was on the program committee of USGBC's inaugural GreenBuild Conference (in Austin, Texas).

WRITING

That insight was the genesis of his first book, The Restoration Economy, which is widely credited with advancing many of today's largest economic, professional and scientific trends that redevelop cities, remediate contaminated properties, adaptively reuse buildings, and restore natural resources. This book also introduced the terms "restoration economy" and "restorative development".

Tim Fields, Senior Vice President, Tetra Tech, Inc. and former Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste & Emergency Response, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said "Little more than a year after being published, The Restoration Economy is already being hailed by business, political, environmental, and academic leaders as a modern classic. Few books in recent times have so quickly and effectively reshaped our dialogue and assumptions about the future of economic development at the community, corporate, and global levels.”

Amos Brandeis, Vice Chairman of the Israel Planners' Association, said "The Restoration Economy is an extremely important and fascinating book. A real must for everybody who is interested in our future, or who wants to be part of the global restoration economy." Brandeis eventually brought Cunningham to Israel to keynote the annual conference of the Israel Planners Association. Afterwards, Brandeis said "Of the six international speakers we’ve had in three years, Storm was the best!”

William H. Hudnut III, former 4-term Mayor of Indianapolis and Senior Fellow at the Urban Land Institute said "This book is an original, a first! I profited from it greatly, and I quote from it in my speeches, especially regarding the importance of restoration in the economic life cycle. Cunningham convincingly demonstrates that tremendous markets for new products and services hide just beneath the surface of the deteriorating assets in our natural and built environments. He points us toward restorative development as a smarter, more economically compelling alternative to sprawling new development.”

Hudnut was so enthusiastic about The Restoration Economy that he wrote the Foreword to Cunningham's second book, Rewealth (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2008). That book also garnered many accolades.

Bill Leary, former Director of Natural Resources, White House Council on Environmental Quality, said "This is the book world leaders should be talking about! ...they will find the path to revitalizing our economy, restoring our environment, and renewing the quality of our lives.”

George L. Ochs, Managing Director, Global Real Assets, JP Morgan (London) said "reWealth is the secret weapon of responsible redevelopers, successful real estate investors, and effective community leaders." Of Cunningham, Ochs says "Storm Cunningham is the world's thought leader on community revitalization and natural resource restoration.”

His third book, "RECONOMICS: The resilient prosperity process for nations, communities, organizations and careers" will be published in 2019.

Storm also writes chapters for the books of other authors, such as Project Management Circa 2025 on the future of the project management profession (Project Management Institute, 2009) and Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes (CRC Press, June 2010).

Storm volunteers his time to advise a wide variety of public service efforts, such as serving on the Education & Outreach Committee of the National Working Waterfronts Network (an initiative of the U.S. EDA, NOAA Coastal Management, and NOAA Sea Grant).

SPEAKING

Cunningham is a speaker and workshop leader for professional associations, environmental groups and local governments worldwide. A partial list of clients follows:

• Wildlife Habitat Council
• Leiden University, The Netherlands
• U.S. Department of State (5 events over 3-year period)
• Harvard University – Graduate School of Design (led 2-day workshop)
• European Property Italian Conference (EPIC), Rome, Italy
• Planning Institute of Australia: Keynoted annual conference of Western Australia chapter in Perth
• Planning Institute of Australia: Keynoted annual conference of New South Wales chapter in Sydney
• Green Building Council of Australia: Keynoted World Green Building Week event in Sydney
• Ontario Chamber of Commerce / Keynoted Ontario Economic Summit (former U.S. President Bill Clinton was the opening keynoter)
• Project Management Institute – Keynoted Global Congress, Washington, DC (former U.S. President Bill Clinton was the opening keynoter)
• Boeing
• Santee Cooper (South Carolina power utility)
• Institution of Civil Engineers (London, England)
• EMECS9: Global Summit on Coastal Seas, Baltimore, MD, USA Sponsors: NOAA, Johns Hopkins, USEPA, Univ. of Maryland (Spoke on the creation of regional partnerships for the restoration of estuaries, fisheries, and the revitalization of coastal communities.)
• Canadian Brownfields Conference, Toronto. (Storm has keynoted this national event 3 times)
• U.S. Embassy – Warsaw, Poland
• Smart Design Forum
• City of Tallahassee, Florida (Keynoted regional sustainability conference
• Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo (NY)
• U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA)
• Green Chips: The Southern Nevada Sustainability Portal, Las Vegas. Keynoted their 2015 annual regional conference
• City of Dubuque, Iowa, keynoted their 7th Annual Growing Sustainable Communities regional conference
• "Vital Cities" annual event (keynote), sponsored by The Calgary Foundation, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• Economic Development Association of British Columbia
• Israel Planners Association
• Urban Land Institute
• Niagara Economic Development Corporation
• U.S. Department of Commerce / U.S. Commercial Service / Discover America
• Preservation Maryland: Keynoted Summer School in historic preservation in Frederick, Maryland
• Federal Preservation Institute (U.S. Government)
• World Future Society
• Western Canada: Remediation & Reclamation for Contaminated Sites (inSight)
• Clean Air Partnership / Annual Smog Summit (Canada)
• National Executive Forum on Public Property (Canada)
• American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC)
• Leadership Cleveland Government Day. Sponsor: Cleveland Leadership Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. All-day workshop at Federal Reserve Building.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Brownfields conference (twice)
• Historic Preservation Advocacy Week (keynote), Washington, DC. Sponsor: Preservation Action Note: previous keynoter was U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
• National L3C Conference: Washington, DC USA (opening keynote). Sponsors: Americans for Community Development & Levy Entrepreneurship Center of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
• University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
• Toronto and Region Conservation Authority: Partners in Project Green, Toronto, ON, Canada (keynote)
• Innovations in Public Consultation & Engagement Summit, Toronto, ON Canada (keynote). Sponsor: The Strategy Institute.
• City of York, Pennsylvania
• Canadian Urban Institute
• National Association of Development Organizations (NADO)
• International Project Management Day, International Institute for Learning (IIL), New York City, NY USA
• 4th National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration (NCER), Baltimore, MD, USA. Sponsors: Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Geological Survey, University of Florida Storm conducted a 1/2-day workshop on how to create successful regional environmental restoration programs, integrating the renewal of agriculture, ecosystems, watersheds, infrastructure, and economic growth. He also keynoted this conference 4 years earlier, when it was in Kansas City.
• Nova Scotia Community College (twice)
• Association of Canadian Community Colleges
• University of Texas – Austin
• North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center (twice)
• Clemson University (thrice)
• University of Toronto (Natural City conference)
• Ryerson University (Toronto, ON)
• Annual L3C Conference, Americans for Community Development. Co-sponsor: Council On Foundations (keynote)
• George Washington University: Washington, DC.
• The Ohio State University
• University of Guadalajara (Mexico)
• Governor of Montana (Brian Schweitzer)
• Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction
• University of Maryland, Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development
• ICMA (International City & County Managers Association)
• London South Bank University (UK)
• Kingston University (UK)
• University of New Orleans
• University of Louisiana (Lafayette)
• University of Louisiana (Monroe)
• George Mason University
• British Columbia Institute of Technology
• West Virginia University
• Rutgers University
• Douglas College (Vancouver, BC)
• University of Maryland (Institute for Global Chinese Affairs)
• Community Futures Development Corporation
• Hamilton Chamber of Commerce (Ontario) ; keynoted annual Hamilton Economic Summit
• Blue Green Alliance Foundation, a coalition of labor unions & environmental organizations.
• U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution
• Towns of Simcoe & Port Dover, ON, Canada. (twice)
• Town of Ajax, Ontario, Canada. All-day leadership workshop (plus follow-up report) focused on redevelopment of old shopping center.
• Computers in Libraries 28th Annual North American Conference, Washington, DC USA. (keynote) Sponsor: Information Today.
• City of Albany, NY
• Region Zeeland (regional government agency of Denmark)
• City Club of Cleveland (OH)
• The Union Club (Cleveland, OH)
• Toronto-Frankfurt Colloquium
• City of Albany (NY)
• WRT Planning & Design (Wallace, Roberts, & Todd)
• Reed Construction Data / CanaData
• Rimon Law Firm anniversary event. Tower Club, Tysons Corner, Virginia USA
• Association for Preservation Technologies International (APTI), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Credit Valley Conservation Authority (Ontario)
• Society for Ecological Restoration – International conference (twice) + European conference in Ghent, Belgium
• Weston Solutions, Inc. (twice)
• Noisette Company (twice)
• Canadian Real Estate Association
• Canadian Property Tax Association
• Canadian Brownfields Network (keynoted national conference twice)
• International Association for Public Participation
• Seneca College (over a dozen times: they are the largest college in Canada)
• Restore America's Estuaries national conference (led half-day workshop)
• Liveable Communities Conference (Burlington, VT)
• Cement Association of Canada (thrice)
• American Institute of Architects (Baltimore and New Orleans chapters)
• Project Management Institute – National Capital Chapter
• College of New Caledonia
• BEM Systems (national engineering firm)
• Real Property Institute of Canada
• Ontario Centres for Excellence
• National Arbor Day Foundation
• American Society for Training & Development (ASTD)
• XL Environmental (insurance company)
• Commonwealth Club of California (largest, oldest public affairs forum in U.S.)
• Peninsula College
• Holland and Knight (international law firm)
• Restoration & Renovation Conference
• EnviroExpo (Boston, MA)
• Construction Writers Association (National Press Club, Washington, DC)
• Canaan Valley Institute
• Gaining Ground Conference
• Great Lakes Restoration Conference
• National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP)
• Residential Design Symposium
• CityWorks (New Orleans)
• Clark Fork Coalition (Montana)

External links

https://revitalizationnews.com https://stormcunningham.com https://restorationeconomy.com https://rewealth.com

Storm Cunningham

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