Dean is co-founder and Managing Partner at Kila Ventures, a networked enterprise engaged in business creation and “hatching,” from ideation through team formation, funding and launch. Hatched companies are set up as independent entities in which Kila often plays a coaching role as an equity partner.
Kila was founded in February 2010 as an expression of the founders’ desire to strengthen communities – the building blocks of society – by combining their community-building expertise with emerging social technology. The mantra of Kila Ventures is: “Everyone can play.”
Dean has lived and worked in Europe, Asia and The Americas, with projects in technology, community, media, performing arts, paper & forestry, food, packaging, restaurants, the environment and social justice.
In 2009 Dean co-founded and started up Raw Space all-ages performing arts center and the adjacent Bertine’s cafe in the downtown historic district of Ellensburg WA.
Dean was a co-founder of the strategy consultancy ReVision Labs in 2008. RVL designs and implements online and offline community-building strategies for world-changing projects, products, and services.
Also in 2008 he led the BETA launch of festivore, a principle-driven culinary and lifestyle resource online. The site included a restaurant guide based on fundamental principles of sustainable living. The guide served as a roadmap for travelers and locals seeking to “eat well, live long, and enjoy life.”
That same year, he consulted on the business design of the new elliot bay cafe and Vios Cafe at Third Place in Seattle.
In 2006, Dean founded the fourth element, a consumer advocacy organization dedicated to creating natural habitats for better living — restaurants, natural products, communities and sustainable lifestyles.
Until 2007, Dean was an executive of Weyerhaeuser Company, leading their $300 million food packaging materials business. He has completed language training at Écôle Berlitz in Geneva and attended the summer program in global forestry policy at Green College, University of Oxford. He received a BS in Applied Science from Pennsylvania State University and an MS in Physical Chemistry from Northwestern University in Chicago.
Advocacy…
- Member of the Advisory Council industry concentration on Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems at Bainbridge Graduate Institute. BGI offers MBA programs in sustainable business.
- Advises the Global Business program and the Global Social Entrepreneurship competition at the University of Washington Foster School of Business.
- Board member of Lumana, empowering rural communities through education and entrepreneurship. This exciting startup is based in rural Ghana.
- Co-founder and board member of Friends of Seattle, a political organization dedicated to building a more healthy, livable, and sustainable city.
- Member of the chefs collaborative, a growing community of chefs, farmers, fishers, educators, and food lovers dedicated to promoting sustainable cuisine.
Previously…
- Participated United Nations organizing meetings on global warming and biodiversity (Europe)
- Member representative to the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (Europe)
- Active in the formative stages of the “Group of ’95” in London for the Forest Stewardship Council
- Chaired the World Affairs Council Board of Trustees until 2007 and later chaired its advisory council.
- Representative to founding meetings for ISO 14000 certification for forestry (Europe and New Zealand)
- Worked with environmental leaders across Europe on global forestry policy
- Trained with Karl-Henrik Robèrt and The Natural Step (Sweden)
