Meet the small but mighty Thrive Team.
Our Team
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CONSULTANT
Hanna Layton
Hanna is a social entrepreneur and the founder and executive director of Thrive Consultancy. She co-founded the non-profit organization Epic-Cure that provides food to people in need while eliminating food waste. Hanna received her Master’s in Sustainable Solutions and a Bachelor’s of Science in Sustainability from Arizona State University. With Thrive she envisions uplifting a more equitable and sustainable economy in Arizona through the use and activation of values-based business models.
CO-DIRECTOR AND CONSULTANT
Huda Khalife
Huda became the executive co-director of Thrive in September 2022. She received her Master of Sustainability Solutions degree, as well as her Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability and Psychology from Arizona State University. She has worked on collaborative projects with communities globally to build socio-economic resilience, well-being, and food sovereignty through sustainability principles and practices. She is passionate about cooperative business as a tool for communities to build back better.
CONSULTANT
Courtney Talbot
Courtney received her Masters of Sustainability Solutions program at Arizona State University with 15+ years of Accounting experience. During her time at ASU, she focused on ways to advance sustainable business development in Arizona, specifically on how to strengthen and grow the employee ownership economy. She is passionate about helping worker cooperatives achieve their financial goals.
CONSULTANT
Alli Buchanan
Alli graduated with a Master’s in Sustainable Solutions from Arizona State University in the spring of 2021. Her studies have focused on sustainable local food economies and entrepreneurship. She has consulted on projects within Arizona’s craft brewing economy on sustainability assessment, B-Corp certification, and strategic planning.
CONSULTANT
Krisandra Provencher
Krisandra graduated with her Masters in Sustainability Solutions from ASU in 2022 and her B.A. in International Studies and Spanish from Elon University in 2019. She believes community wealth building and the advancement of democratic economics are critical pathways to the co-creation of a more inclusive and robust local economy. Krisandra’s experiences have revolved around an anti-colonial framework of justice that emphasizes reciprocity and an intersectional view of Nature and community.
CONSULTANT
Kaleigh Shufeldt
Kaleigh graduated with her Masters in Sustainability Solutions from ASU in 2022. She is passionate about integrating the tenets of climate justice and equity into sustainable business practices and models. So far, Kaleigh’s work has centered on strategy building and visioning, intersectional environmentalism, food justice and security, and community wealth building.
Our Board of Advisors
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Dr. Arnim Wiek
Professor and Director of the Sustainable Food Economy Lab in the School of Sustainability, and Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, Arizona State University.
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Lynn Whitman
Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame Board Director, Partner at Arizona Business Advisors, Board President of Partners of Paiute, and Venture Devils Mentor at ASU’s Edson Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institution.
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Darren Chapman
Community pro-activist committed to helping people in need. He is Founder and CEO of TigerMountain Foundation (TMF), which has implemented empowerment initiatives to uplift communities and eliminate blight.
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Sandra McCardell
Coordinating Director at the Cooperative Catalyst of New Mexico, Founder of the Green Jobs Collaborative of NM, and board member of the American Sustainable Business Council and working committee member of 1Worker1Vote.
Our Partners
A nonprofit organization that works to promote and advocate for strong local business communities.
A research group at Arizona State University that provides research services to enterprises and stakeholders in the sustainable food economy in Arizona and other regions
A nonprofit organization that provides community and workforce development services through urban gardening and landscaping projects.
The Office of Environmental Programs sponsors Thrive Consultancy’s training programs and ecosystem development workshops, advancing the circular economy in Phoenix.
A cooperative development center which serves to assist groups and individuals to develop cooperative organizations that serve their members' needs.