OFFICERS
Herman Greene, President
Herman Greene is the founder and president of CES. He is Thomas Berry Scholar-in-Residence of the Earth Law Center and is co-author and co-editor of the legal textbook Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law—A Guide for Practitioners. He serves on the Governing Board of the International Process Network. He is a retired business lawyer and holds graduate degrees in law (University of North Carolina-JD), theology (University of Chicago-MTh & MDiv, and United Theological Seminary-DMin), and political science (Stanford University-MA).
Simon Spire, Executive Director
Simon Spire, MA, MSW is a licensed psychotherapist, contemplative teacher, nature-based quest guide, interdisciplinary researcher, and innovator whose path has been inspired by questions such as, How can we create more life-supporting economic and societal dynamics in our world? And what does it mean to apprentice to life’s ongoing emergence—individually, collectively, culturally, and soulfully? He has held leadership positions in several organizations active in economic and societal innovation, international social entrepreneurship, and mental health, while also founding and developing bodies of work that serve individual and collective wholeness and emergence. Raised in New Zealand, Simon’s career in music led him to the shores of Los Angeles and New York before transitioning to his current life in North Carolina. Simon holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from the University of Auckland, a master’s degree in psychology from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His music and writing have been featured on commercial radio and TV networks in New Zealand and the US and in outlets such as MTV, AOL, Voice of America, the Ecozoic Journal, and Kosmos Journal. Simon is thrilled to have the opportunity to lead CES in its current expansion. Further info on Simon and his current projects at simonspire.com and airhungerhelp.com
Linda Wendling, Executive Director (SOEL) and Administrative Director
Linda Wendling, JD, LLM earned her BA in French with a minor in political science from Rutgers College, and her JD from Seton Hall School of Law. After leaving the active practice of law in 2001, she turned to academia. She joined the faculty of Union County College in Cranford, New Jersey as the Founding Program Director for Paralegal Studies. Living by the belief that learning never ends, after moving to North Carolina in 2007, she pursued a Master’s degree in Constitutional History at North Carolina State University. Additionally, Linda earned an LL.M. in Environmental Law in January 2016 from Vermont Law School. The culmination of her studies was an appointment to the Paris Climate Change Conference (COP21) as a U.N. delegate to assist Myanmar in preparing their position papers for international negotiations. Linda spent the next 10 years in higher education administration and has authored three legal textbooks on Paralegal Practice, Legal Ethics, and Contract Law. Taking a leap of faith to pursue her true passion for the environment, Linda became a legacy fellow at the Earth Law Center in May 2024, and then fortuitously met Herman Greene. She answered the “Call for the Formation of an Earth Law Society” and, after a year working with Herman, the Center for Ecozoic Studies (CES), and other volunteers answering that same Call, was elected as the Executive Director of the Society for Earth Law (SOEL) in September 2025 and serves as the Administrative Director for CES.
Laura Baldwin, Treasurer
Laura Baldwin was the owner and manager of Garden in the Koop, Inc., which produced the “Incredible Edible Garden in a Box,” and a line of children’s books, including Harry Loves Carrots, in which a lovable dog Harry promoted healthy eating and relationships with nature. She was also the proprietor of Gardens by Laura, Inc., a green landscaping business. She received her BA from University of California, Berkeley ,and her MBA from California State University.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Glenn Astolfi, Director
Glenn Astolfi is CEO and President of Atmospheric Plasma Solutions, Inc., a company located in Cary, North Carolina, that manufactures atmospheric plasma coating removal systems. Earlier he led a staff of 153 people as CEO and President of Gateway Bank Mortgage, a residential mortgage lender operating in seven states with origination volume in excess of $1 billion annually. He has held executive positions in the online, travel and retail industries, including at Barnes and Noble Superstores and Travelocity.com, and he was founder and Chief Operating Officer of TravelFest Superstores. Glenn received a BS in Finance from Florida State University and an MBA from the University of Texas.
Charles Coble, Director
Charles Coble wasProfessor of Science Education and later Dean of the School of Education at East Carolina University. He then served as Vice President for University School Programs for the 17-campus University of North Carolina System, Vice President for Policy Studies and Programs for the Education Commission of the States in Denver, Colorado, and Co-Director of the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative with APLU in Washington, DC. He has led higher education change initiatives in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, England, Italy, Germany, and Egypt. He has authored or co-authored ten books and numerous book chapters and articles. He received his BS in Botany from Mars Hill College and his MS in Science Education and EdD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Don Arbuckle, Director
Don began his professional career in 1981 in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a White House office of career analysts created to oversee three policy aspects of a president’s Executive Branch responsibilities (at least as they were prior to the Trump presidencies): regulatory affairs; statistical policy; and information collected or required by federal agencies from the public. Don worked there from the beginning of Ronald Reagan’s first term through the middle of George W. Bush’s second term, seven terms across four presidents and 25 years. The last ten years of that tenure he was the civil service head, or Deputy Administrator, of this small office of about 45 career analysts, within what one colleague of his was happy to remind him was “the 17 most political acres on the face of the earth.” Don retired in 2006, still standing, and spent the next 10 years as a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at Dallas. After retiring a second time and moving to Chapel Hill, Don became attracted to the ecozoic movement, and philosophy of Thomas Berry, through the generous gift of time and spirit by Herman Greene. Don brings with him a passion for the continuous learning that thinking ecozoically requires. He has a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania.