Our Team

Board of Directors:

Alison Levine (founder) - is a climber, explorer, entrepreneur, and organizational leadership consultant ( daredevilstrategies.com ). She has served as team captain of the first American Women´s Everest Expedition, climbed the highest peak on each continent and skied 100 miles across the Arctic Circle to the geographic North Pole. The desire to give something back to the poverty-stricken communities she visited during her expeditions led to the founding of the Climb High Foundation. Alison raised funds to build two schools in Nepal and helped to fund the construction of a school for AIDS orphans in Uganda. Over the past few years she has conducted numerous speaking tours to raise awareness and money for girls´ scholarships in third-world countries. In 2005 Alison performed in The Vagina Monologues at the California Theater in San Jose, with the goal of broadening awareness about the need to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery.

Prior to founding the Climb High Foundation, Alison spent 11 years in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries in both the US and in Asia. Upon completing her MBA at Duke University she went to work for Goldman Sachs in the Investment Management Division. She left Wall Street in 2003 to serve as Deputy Finance Director for Arnold Schwarzenegger´s successful campaign for Governor. Alison is currently the co-chair of the west coast chapter of 85 Broads, a member of the Association of Women MBAs and was a founding member of World Wildlife Fund´s Young Partners in Conservation.

Steve Russell - is the founder and CEO of 3VR Security – the technology company that developed the world´s first third generation video recorder; a turnkey appliance that not only performs the functionality of a high-end digital video recorder (DVR), but also enables security professionals to find, sort and respond to data.

Prior to founding 3VR, Stephen was Vice President and General Manager of Inktomi. There, he successfully managed the post-merger integration of eScene Networks (a streaming media company he founded in 2000) and led their Edge Caching Division, which optimized the distribution of high-volume data over the Internet. A seasoned entrepreneur, Stephen Russell has built and sold several companies in the streaming media and distributed systems space. Stephen is a graduate of Stanford University with a B.S. in economics. He currently is a member of Stanford´s Leadership Circle and lives in the Bay-area.

In addition to serving on the board of directors for the Climb High Foundation. , Stephen sits on the advisory boards of Media Publisher, Vazu, StumbleUpon and Rainmaker Capital. He is also a member of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of the United Way.

Lesley Johnmeyer - is a Senior Manager with Deloitte performing Strategy & Operations work for Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industries. She has over 8 years experience implementing Shared Services and financial transformation projects. She has worked with clients to move forward key business strategies and she manages large scale technology implementations. Lesley received her Masters in Business Administration from Duke University and her bachelor’s degree in political science/international relations from the University of Southern California. She enjoys running and spending time with her husband, Edward Johnmeyer, at their home in Dallas, Texas.

Board of Advisors:

Godfrey Kasozi - lives in the town of Kasese in western Uganda, just outside of Rwenzori Mountains National Park. He completed an apprenticeship in agroecology at U C Santa Cruz in order to learn agricultural techniques that he could share with farmers in his homeland. In 1997 he co-founded the Centre for Environmental Technology and Rural Development (CETRUD) to tackle agricultural and social concerns in Uganda. He is currently the director of CETRUD, which now operates a six-acre teaching garden and orchard site that produces organic food for local markets, hotels, and families and supplies seedlings to the community. The center is also active in lobbying and educational efforts, hosting visits from government officers and nongovernmental organizations.

Christof Ballin - was born in India and spent his formative years living in Kenya before moving to the US. He is a successful entrepreneur and is currently the Chairman and CEO of GDS Group, Inc., an exclusive regional distribution company focused on representing U.S. consumer healthcare companies in the Asia Pacific region. Christof has lived on 5 continents and has nearly two decades of experience in global business operations. Prior to GDS he served as President of Omni Nutraceuticals and as a Managing Director for Allergan, Inc. with responsibility for all business units in South East Asia. Christof also serves as a director of Childlife and as an advisory board member of the American Academy of Nutrition. Mr. Ballin holds a B.A. degree in International Business from California State University, Fullerton.