EKOS Founders

EKOS was founded in 1996 by Russell Barton, Ph.D., Cynthia Figge, and Lorinda Rowledge, Ph.D.

Russell Barton assists vanguard companies in designing and implementing strategies that combine world-class management technologies with strategic sustainability. He has been the lead advisor to the senior executive teams of many of North America’s most well-known companies as they have created organizational transformation to achieve enduring preeminent competitive advantage. Russell has led 14 private, in-depth Executive Study Missions to Japan and Europe, and is a widely acclaimed keynote speaker in North America, Japan, and Europe. Russell was a managing partner of Deltapoint Corporation, a leading consulting and publishing firm with an international reputation in advanced strategic planning processes and world-class Japanese management systems. He is co-author of the book, Mapping the Journey: Case Studies in Strategy and Action Toward Sustainable Development and author or co-author of 17 customized one-day to one-week executive seminars. Russell is also a founding member of the original group of trainers who helped introduce The Natural Step (TNS) to the United States and has presented The Natural Step to thousands of executives and employees since 1996. Russell’s clients include AT&T Canada, Ballard Power Systems, BECU, Bell Canada, Best Foods, Boeing, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Coca-Cola, Collins Pine, Darigold, ESCO, Glanbia, Hilton Hotels, Lucent, Mayo Clinic, Methodologie, Microsoft, Milliken, Monsanto, NIKE, Noranda Aluminum, Nortel, Premera Blue Cross, Quantum, REI, SC Johnson, SmithKline Beecham, StorageTek, Telus, US West, and Weyerhaeuser. Russell holds a B.A. in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Johns Hopkins University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from the University of Oregon.

Cynthia Figge’s expertise is in sustainability, new venture development, and start-up operations as a leading technology and new business executive and consultant for major North American companies for over 25 years. Her clients include American Public Media, Arrowsmith Technologies (biotech start-up), Boeing, Ballard Power Systems, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Coca-Cola, Covalence Corporation, Dow Jones, Hewlett Packard, Methodologie, Microsoft, Noranda Aluminum, Premera Blue Cross, and REI. Cynthia is also COO and Co-founder of CSRHub, the world’s largest CSR and sustainability ratings and information database which aggregates data from over 300 sources to provide access to ratings and information on 14,000 companies in 102 countries. Cynthia is Past Board President of Sustainable Seattle, and Advisor to Strategic News Service. She has been a speaker at the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, SNS Future in Review Conference, Sustainable Brands Conference, and SRI in the Rockies Conference. Prior to co-founding EKOS, Cynthia was Vice President of New Services Development for McCaw Cellular/LIN Broadcasting (now AT&T). She previously started a new plant for Weyerhaeuser, served as a Director for the New York Daily News, and was a consultant with New Ventures in New York City. Cynthia received her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Lawrence University, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Lorinda Rowledge has 25 years of experience helping clients create the vision, strategies, and implementation actions to achieve breakthroughs in performance and value. She guides leaders in integrating sustainability into their company’s core business strategy, product/service design and operations, and helps them embed CSR/sustainability into corporate brand and culture. As part of her consulting practice, Lorinda has conducted many global benchmarking and best practices studies in multiple industries and topics. Lorinda’s passion is accelerating sustainable business innovation as a vehicle for business advantage and positive impact in the world. She sees sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) as the next evolution of world-class management technology, and sustainability as a key platform for engagement and innovation. Her current research focuses on utilizing crowdsourcing technologies to mobilize employees and customers in accelerating sustainability innovation. Lorinda’s clients include Alaska Airlines, AT&T Canada, Ballard Power Systems, Bell Canada, Boeing, BECU, Best Foods/CPC, City of Seattle, Darigold/NDA, ESCO, Lucent, Mayo Clinic, Merchant du Vin, Milliken, Nature Conservancy Canada, Nike, Nortel, Port of Seattle, Quantum, SmithKline Beecham, StorageTek, AGT (now Telus), Tesoro, The Nature Conservancy World Office, US West, and Weyerhaeuser. Lorinda co-authored Mapping the Journey: Case Studies in Strategies and Action Toward Sustainable Development, a book featuring global businesses leading in the application of sustainability. Dr. Rowledge is also Founding Provost and former EVP Academic Affairs & Core Faculty of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI), the pioneering MBA program in Sustainable Business. Lorinda holds a Ph.D., specializing in Organizational & Community Psychology, from the University of Oregon.