GreenBusinessOwner.com is a supportive, interactive community for aspiring entrepreneurs, small business owners and their managers who want to tap into the burgeoning green economy, to expand their business, to make a positive difference, and make money at the same time.

Our Team

Scott Cooney
Scott is the principal of GreenBusinessOwner.com, advising businesses on executive strategy and implementation of sustainable principles as a driver of business success. Scott is an author, professional public speaker, sustainable strategy advisor and serial eco-entrepreneur who has started, grown and sold several green businesses. Scott's book, Build a Green Small Business: Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur (McGraw-Hill), has been hailed by green business professionals, including Horst Rechelbacher (founder of Aveda), as a great starting point for aspiring eco-entrepreneurs to understand the wealth of opportunities available in the green economy for entrepreneurs, no matter what level of formal education or startup capital they have.

Scott was strategic sustainability advisor for Wells Fargo's Small Business Insight Series. He has given keynote addresses for multiple conferences, workshops, and academic events, and conducted social entrepreneurship workshops for a wide variety of audiences. Scott worked as project manager for global sustainability consulting firm Saatchi & Saatchi S, whose clients included Johnson & Johnson, NBC Universal, Frito-Lay, Wal-Mart, a Public Utility, and the City of Tallahassee. Scott brings this wealth of knowledge implementing sustainability tools on a Fortune 5 level to the small business community, where his heart truly lies. Scott is a Phi Beta Kappa who holds a double Master's Degree (Business Administration and Conservation Biology).

Scott also feels it is very important for businesses and their owners to 'walk the walk'. Scott is an avid cyclist, a vegetarian for his entire adult life, commutes car-free, grows a bountiful organic garden in his sunny backyard in San Francisco, and conducts free or low cost educational workshops like the Bay Area Green Business Meetup group.

Elli Sharef
Elli has broad experience in management consulting working for McKinsey and Company in New York, Sao Paolo, Sydney and Munich. Her clients have included major retailers, railroad companies, banks and non-profits. Elli is a graduate of Yale University and the winner of the 2005 Yale $50,000 Entrepreneurial Competition. She started her own small business in 2003 and is most interested in helping start-up owners transform their dreams into concrete and profitable businesses through fact-based planning and analytical decision-making. After working with large companies for the majority of her career, Elli is happy to be finally working on her true passion, sustainable entrepreneurship.

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