Suzanne Maxx

The vision of a world team inspired Suzanne on a journey to use media to actually "tell-a-vision,” and as an entrepreneur she launched the World Team project. She is the Founder and President/Chair of the non-profit organization, World Team Now, and she is the leader of the World Team project, and founding partner of World Team Building, LLC. The World Team project’s platform crossed through the worlds of international broadcast distribution, television, journalism, extreme sports, events promotion and gamification.

She pioneered the positive non-scripted genre "Actuality Television" that helped create the genre of reality television, with the development of the World Team™ television series, as the creator, writer and producer, which began after her first multi-media international co-production sponsored by Coca-Cola in Japan, as part of the World Expo. Through the journey to develop World Team, Suzanne worked on many global productions: Ashes and Snow, the International Yoga Expo, and the Earth Train for Peace. She is a professional writer, producer, and actress, athlete and international public speaker. In true entrepreneurial spirit, Suzanne started "Sports to the Maxx," where as a sponsored pro, she coached others to go beyond what they believed to be possible in extreme sports: in-line and roller skating, skiing, and horseback riding. As named in "Best of LA" and featured on "Eye on LA," she has mobilized masses of people in clinics and classes around the world. Locally in Malibu, she started the skate program and camp plus helped to build the skate park— a continuation of her native NYC roller skate roots. She has worked with children, pro athletes, the disabled, and celebrities. Suzanne's in front of the camera work includes a soap opera, episodic night time television, commercials and film. As a journalist, she wrote about film, sports and travel for a local Malibu paper, and as a public speaker she has addressed many international audiences.

The business plan for the World Team Project, and WTN's Challenge developed through rare opportunities at universities to work with students and faculty. With office space gifted to incubate World Team at Columbia University's Computational Learning Systems (CCLS), Pepperdine University's Graduate School of Public Policy and the International University of Monaco's Business School, she bridged the gap between academia and professional worlds. Her Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College gave her the architecture to acquire knowledge and inspired her global travels that wove an adventure for an ongoing creative education. Suzanne's vision is contagious, as evidenced by all the people who have dedicated their time and resources to the World Team project. Life to the Maxx, maybe her creed, but it is also the working title of the book she has been asked to write on leadership.

Albert Boulanger

is Director of Technical Strategy for World Team Now. He is with the Center for Computational Learning Systems (CCLS) at Columbia University. He is currently a member of a team at Columbia who are jointly developing with Con Edison and other partners the next generation Smart Grid for intelligent control of the electric grid of New York City funded by the Department of Energy. For the past 16 years at Columbia, he has been involved in forward looking research and development in energy with electrical power now at CCLS, and prior, with oil and gas while at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. He is a founding member of CALM Energy Inc. and World-Team Building, LLC. For two years beginning in 2000, Albert was on leave of absence from Columbia and worked as the CTO of vPatch Inc. Prior to coming to Lamont, he spent twelve years doing contract R&D at Bolt, Beranek, and Newman (now Raytheon BBN Technologies.) He has extensive complex system integration experience. His forte is in integrating numerical, intelligent reasoning, human interface, and visualization components into seamless human-oriented systems. Albert started his career working for a cloud seeding group at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) during high school and college. He remembers fondly the starry nights of the Everglades while repairing equipment at his job at NOAA. Albert strives to use his body in equal proportions to his mind. To keep fit and sane, he roller skates, and loves all forms of dance, especially swing. A trumpet player, he enjoys big band jazz, and all kinds of music. His photography and other artistic endeavors can be seen at www.aboulanger.com. Albert Boulanger received a B.S. in physics at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida USA in 1979 and a M.S, in computer science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois USA in 1984.

Walter Andrews

is Director of Energy and the Environment for World Team Now. Nearing retirement, Walter was looking for a way to continue to be involved in the environmental movement and public health. The mission and goals of WTN offered me the opportunity to continue my work on global warming and environmental justice from a global perspective.

Walter retired from The US Environmental Protection (EPA) Region 2 in January 2010 after serving forty (40) plus years. He is a charter member of EPA having joined the Agency in 1969. Walter held many management positions over the years; however, his last position was that of Chief of the Drinking Water and Municipal Infrastructure Branch (DWMIB) in the Division of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP), Region 2.

During his tenure at EPA, Walter was involved in several noteworthy cases that help define EPA’s authority such as; 1) The Belmar Sludge Case where he led the team that inspected and sampled the off shore discharges form sewerage treatment plant along the Long Island and New Jersey shores. The resulting body of data was used by a judge to determine that sewerage sludge was a solid and not a liquid. As this practice was a violation of the Rivers and Harbors Act, the determination led to the eventual cancellation of Ocean Dumping in the New York Bight. 2) The General Electric Fort Edwards PCB Case: Walter led the team that did the first comprehensive investigation and sampling of the General Electric Plant in Fort Edwards, New York. The report found extensive discharges of PCBs and other toxic agents into the Hudson River which was a violation of its discharge permit. Thirty years after that report, EPA began removal of PCBs from the Hudson River as part of the Superfund Program. 3) While Walter was Chief of the Rochester, NY Field Office, one of his staff engineers investigated the company plants in Niagara Falls, NY that had discharged hazardous waste into a pond that was later covered over. Homes were eventually built over the filled waste pond area. This area and case became to be known as Love Canal.

Community Service: For a five year period Walter served as the EPA Liaison to the North River Community Environmental Review Board (NRCERB) in West Harlem, NYC. He was chairman of the DEPP Environmental Justice Workgroup (DEJWG) in Region 2. Further, he is the chairman of the nonprofit, House of Hope Community Development Corporation (HOHCDC) in Metuchen, NJ. Walter is also chairman of the nonprofit, Sphinx Scholarship Fund, Inc. in Somerset, NJ. Walter became a Board member of World Team Now in October 2009.

Education: Walter earned his B.S. degree in Biology from Wilberforce University in Ohio and his Masters of Public Health Degree (MPH) in Water Quality from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Liana Foksheneanu

has 20 years of experience in the international trade, high technology and financial industries. 

Previously Liana has been the Director Business Development for the Merage US-Israel Trade Foundation located in Irvine, CA, a non-profit organization that provides services to Israeli young companies interested in developing trade relations with the US.

Prior to that, she served for 5 years as the Economic Officer at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, working on the government-to-government trade portfolio, and business-to-government portfolio. The position included negotiations on bi-lateral and multilateral trade agreements. She represented mainly the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but provided necessary and required services for the Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Transportation and other economic ministries. She also represented the BIRD Foundation in the Greater Washington area (including MD and VA). 

The previous 10 years were spent as the Commercial Officer at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, where she was responsible for the high-tech and finance industries, assisting companies to do business in both countries and fostering joint ventures.  Before joining the US Department of Commerce team in Tel Aviv, she has worked in the private sector.  Liana holds a BA and an MA in English Literature from Tel Aviv University.