Since the group’s inception in late 2007, the Portland Cello Project (or, PCP, as their fans affectionately call them), has wowed audiences all over the country with extravagant performances, everywhere from Prairie Home Companion to that punk rock club in the part of town your grandma warns you not to go to after dark. The group has built a reputation mixing genres and blurring musical lines and perceptions wherever they go. No two shows are alike, with a repertoire now numbering over 800 pieces of music you wouldn’t normally hear coming out of a cello.
Russell Redenbaugh
Russell lost his sight at the age of 16 and has learned to “read the world” without being able to “see” any of it.
Russell has a skill for learning – not just information, but how to move in a changing and uncertain world. Forming a commitment not to live like he was blind, regardless of how others treated him, he graduated 6th in his class from Wharton.
Chad Russell
Returning home from Iraq was not an easy transition. But Chad learned to gain valuable insight through the support of others, often including Vietnam Vets. Now married to his wife Taneal and a successful business person living in Portland, Chad realizes that the impact of his time in Iraq will always be part of him. And he knows that the returning Sailors, Marines, Soldiers and Airmen have a long road of recovery.
Amber Case
Amber Case is a researcher exploring the field of cyborg anthropology and the interaction between humans and technology. She is the founder of Geoloqi (geo-low-key), Inc., a company bringing the future of location to the world.
Growing up in and around the entertainment industry gave Caitlin insight into what really went on behind the scenes of the media, and she started speaking at junior highs, high schools and colleges about body image, peer pressure, and bullying. Caitlin started a ‘Pay It Forward’ jewelry business called “The Giving Keys.” They engrave inspiring words on used keys. Once someone wears it, they must give it away at some point to a person they think needs the message on the key and then go to the website www.thegivingkeys.com to blog the story about why they gave it away.
Jelly Helm is creative director of Studio Jelly in Portland, Oregon. He helps people and companies connect with their purpose and powerfully express it to the world.
A serial entrepreneur himself, Joe has started, grown and exited three companies of his own and invested in over 20 growing startups. He is author of Entrepreneurial DNA: The Breakthrough Discovery That Aligns Your Business to Your Unique Strengths (McGraw Hill 2011). . Joe also serves as an advisor to entrepreneurship programs domestically and around the world.
Kelley Kalafatich
Kelley is an adventure guide, explorer, and novice-filmmaker who paved the way for women to become guides in the adventure travel industry. Today, paralyzed from the waist down after ingesting a waterborne parasite on the first descent of the Blue Nile River, Kelley continues to illustrate the need for courage to make the world better.
Eric Simpkins
Eric leads a team seeking to give Oregon a once-in-a-century chance to lead a new industry built upon civilian space systems. These new technologies will create a new robotics infrastructure that will support all cutting-edge modern industry.
Patrick Renvoise
Patrick discovered the buy button inside the brain and spent two years researching and formalizing a science-based map to access that button. Patrick received a Masters in Computer Science from the National Institute of Applied Sciences (Lyon, France). He is the co-author of “Neuromarketing: Understanding the buy button inside your customer’s brain.” He is currently serving as Chief Neuromarketing Officer of SalesBrain.