Reclaiming coal country, from abandoned coal mines to organic farms

-
WorkingNation is looking forward to documentary called From the Ashes  – Reclaiming Coal Country: From Abandoned Mines to Organic Farms that the National Geographic Channel will air on June 25 at 9pm EST/8 pm Central. Learn More: From the Ashes documentary The Harvard Business Review reports that “profitability for U.S. coal-fired power plants has been declining and coal use has dropped radically since 2007 – a trend that is expected to continue. This reduced profitably has driven a steep cut in coal plants.” The U.S. Energy Information Administration notes that between 2010 and 2012, 14 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired capacity was retired and that a total of 60 GW will be retired by 2020. WorkingNation is concerned about the “effect on coal workers and their families as coal mines close and one major coal company after another files for bankruptcy.” How will generations of coal workers transition their skills and continue to support their families as they are left with “pink slips and mortgages on houses with few buyers in blighted coal country?” Promising solutions are emerging as the coal industry transitions into other businesses like solar energy and organic farming, as the Great Big Story set to air will showcase. Watch a clip of the documentary above, here’s a synopsis from Great Big Story’s website: “After high school, West Virginian Chris Farley went to work in the coal mines. At first, it provided a decent living, but it soon became a precarious existence, as mines would frequently close. Now, instead of removing mountaintops, Farley helps bring the land back to life, transforming former coal mines into farms. Farley works for Refresh Appalachia, a project of Coalfield Development that provides opportunities to former coal miners in agriculture, entrepreneurship, renewable energy and other areas. Together with his trusty chickens, pigs, and a dedicated crew of hard-working farmers, Farley is part of a movement that’s helping rebuild the land.” The Great Big Story documentary was made in partnership with “From the Ashes”. You can support companies like Coalfield Development through the From the Ashes CrowdRise Campaign.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.