Board Member Biographies

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” which 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,” whereas 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 nighttime 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 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

Albert G. Boulanger is Vice President and Director of Technical Strategy for World Team Now, bringing decades of experience in intelligent systems, energy innovation, and complex system integration. A systems thinker with a respect for nature, he is dedicated to designing solutions that harmonize human, technological, and environmental needs.

Albert’s professional background includes extensive work with Columbia University, where he contributed to major research initiatives in energy, smart buildings, and intelligent urban infrastructure. At Columbia, he was part of a multidisciplinary team collaborating with Con Edison and other partners on next-generation Smart Grid technologies for New York City, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. His roles at the Center for Computational Learning Systems (CCLS) and within scientific research groups at Columbia centered on applying advanced computation, machine learning, and systems engineering to complex scientific and societal challenges.

Earlier, at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Albert worked on projects integrating large-scale datasets with advanced computational tools, broadening his expertise in building systems that combine numerical modeling, intelligent reasoning, visualization, and human-oriented interfaces.

Albert is a founding member of CALM Energy Inc. and World Team-Building, LLC. From 2000 to 2002, he served as Chief Technology Officer of vPatch Technologies, Inc., where he continued developing integrated computational systems for real-world applications. Before his years at Columbia, he spent twelve years at Bolt, Beranek, and Newman (now RTX BBN Technologies), contributing to pioneering work in intelligent systems, expert systems, and applied machine learning.

Albert began his scientific career with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). While still in college, he served as a co–principal investigator on lightning research in the Everglades, contributing to the design of data acquisition electronics and the deployment, operation, maintenance, and analysis of the field instrumentation. He also summarized numerical mesoscale model results in actionable forms for use by research staff. The fieldwork—often conducted under the clear, star-filled skies of the Everglades—was an early and meaningful experience that shaped his understanding of environmental measurement and natural systems.

In his role at World Team Now, Albert advises on technical strategy and systems integration across the organization’s environmental and community-focused initiatives. He works with the organization to help demonstrate intelligent methods to live regeneratively with our resources, recognizing that sustaining existing systems is not sufficient for long-term planetary well-being. His contributions support projects involving water, oceans, islands, renewable energy, and systems-level approaches to community and environmental resilience.

Albert is a hands-on contributor to World Team Now, while also bringing valuable technical connections, including his position with Columbia University’s Center for Computational Learning Systems. His contributions and network have supported board development, website creation and maintenance, and broader information technology needs across the organization.

Albert contributed to World Team Now initiatives related to alternative vehicles, the transformation of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory toward renewable energy, and the development of a renewable energy microgrid for the town of Orangetown, New York. Building on the Orangetown work—which involved extending a microgrid to integrate diverse renewable energy resources—he proposed World Team Now’s hierarchical reinforcement learning–based microgrid controller, Micro Maxx, in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to ARPA-E.

He also supported World Team Now’s participation in New York State’s Energy Efficiency Hub proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy and contributed to the development of an innovative electric vehicle charger and educational kiosk concept for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). In addition, Albert helped advance World Team Now’s initiative to explore a solar-hydrogen infrastructure in collaboration with Fijian ministries, as well as other efforts in California and Hawaii.

Albert was a trial participant in World Team Now’s Ocean-Float program in both Florida and Hawaii. He is involved in the Ocean-Float program’s data collection and contributes to the science components of the program’s curricula.

Albert is a co-author with Suzanne Max and others on a reference paper, “Vehicle Electrification: Status and Issues” in the June 2011 Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Outside of his technical work, Albert values keeping both body, mind and spirit active. He roller skates, dances—especially swing—and plays trumpet, enjoying big band jazz and many other musical styles. His photography and creative projects can be seen at https://albert.aboulanger.com.

Albert holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of Florida and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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 50 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 helped define EPA’s authority such as; 1) The Belmar Sludge Case where he led the team that inspected and sampled the offshore discharges from 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, the EPA began the 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 was the Director of 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.

Before 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 bilateral 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.