Founder/Organization Lead + Systemic Shift Facilitator

Keyvious, a "Community-First Economist," initially came to the Hudson Valley for school and found a deep connection with economics, social transformation, and the Kingston, NY community. Armed with a Masters in Economic Theory and Policy from the Levy Institute of Economics and a Bachelors in Economics from Bard College, he now serves as Council President of the Kingston Food Co-op. Keyvious is the driving force behind THRIVE ON! Network, a non-traditional economic development and systemic change organization based in Kingston, NY. His focus lies in empowering communities by implementing innovative tools like complementary currencies and community-governance structures. Additionally, Keyvious has been an educator at Yale University's summer transitional programs, teaching Startup Entrepreneurship, Business Negotiation, and Business Management, and he founded the first local-currency based market in the neighborhood of Ponckhockie, Kingston, NY.

Deputy Organization Lead + Early Thriver Facilitator

Candace has accumulated 8 years of experience in nonprofit management, serving as a Program Coordinator or Manager, including her most recent role at Brown University. Her responsibilities have encompassed system creation, project management, logistics oversight, event planning, and supervising up to 115 staff members. Prior to this, she excelled as the Assistant Director of Sales Services at a major regional theater in Washington, DC, driving her team to achieve sales and donation goals while providing exceptional customer service. Education has always been a central focus in her career, as evidenced by her roles as a teaching artist, mentor, tutor, and theater teacher for youth. Now, as THRIVE ON! Network's Deputy Organization Lead, she combines her skills and passion to address systemic issues and cater to the needs of marginalized communities in the Hudson Valley region.

Research Lead + Systemic Shift Supporter

Dr. Michael B. Marks, with over 35 years of experience in the juvenile justice and child welfare fields, now serves as a late career researcher/evaluator. Dr. Marks holds the distinction of completing the first doctoral dissertation focused on Time-Exchange currency systems, titled 'A theoretical and empirical investigation of co-production interventions for involuntary youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.' Since earning his Ph.D. in 2008, he has collaborated with social entrepreneurs, NGO leaders, and statutory officials as an action researcher, fostering community-level responses to address health, educational, and social challenges. Dr. Marks specializes in multi-site case study research and implementation, employing mixed method data collection approaches such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and direct program observation. His expertise extends internationally, leading workshops for various social innovation initiatives and collaborating on alternative incarceration program models in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Actively engaged in the International Social Innovation Research Consortium (ISIRC) and the Research Association on Monetary Innovation, Community, and Complementary Currency Systems (RAMICS), Dr. Marks has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed publications.

Findings Facilitator

Dr. Leanne Ussher, an economist and monetary theorist, is currently associated with Copenhagen Business School, Wolfram Blockchain Labs, and Bard College, she also serves as an Associate Editor of Frontiers Blockchain. Leanne's journey into monetary systems began as a Securities Analyst at the Reserve Bank of Australia, and she further pursued graduate studies at The New School for Social Research in New York, focusing on heterodox economics. With a Ph.D. in Economics (post-Keynesian), she has dedicated the past 14 years to academia and research, exploring diverse topics such as financial systems' microstructure, agent-based modeling, network analysis of corporate finance and local currencies, redesigning the international monetary system, and applications of blockchain and decentralized ledgers. Leanne has a rich professional background, including roles as a Senior Researcher at Consensys, consultant to the CFA Institute on international monetary reform, and Senior Economist at the Hudson Valley Current (a local currency cooperative). Beyond her academic pursuits, she co-founded the New York City Computational Economics and Complexity Workshop and holds affiliations with various institutions and organizations. In her leisure time, Leanne enjoys baking bread, composting, and tending to a garden that attracts butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.