Deron gets fired-up by four things: 1) the mental chess of negotiating a big deal; 2) outdoor adventures like climbing frozen water falls; 3) spending quality time with his wife and children; and 4) creating positive social change through Changents…not necessarily in that order.

Leading the Changents team with two decades of entertainment industry experience, Deron is passionate about pouring his expertise into businesses that catalyze positive social change. Prior to launching Changents, Deron served as Vice President for Scholastic Entertainment where he spearheaded the joint venture to launch Qubo, a children’s programming venture in partnership with NBC Universal. Deron also served as Vice President of Digital Ventures for PBS where he represented the network in putting together the successful preschool cable network, Sprout – a joint venture with Comcast Corporation.

Deron's business acumen extends to space and the tropics. He directed market entry strategies for British Telecom's international satellite television service and expanded distribution for US cable networks throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Deron is also a principal in Frontier Media Ventures, a media rights company that is developing a motion picture film and television documentary about an extraordinary survival story involving several Jewish families who escaped the Nazis by hiding for a year and a half deep inside the caves of Western Urkaine.

Deron is fluent in both Southern and Northern English languages, thanks to a BA in Journalism from University of Georgia and an MBA from McGill University (y’all / eh!?). As a cancer survivor, he understands fighting the good fight under the toughest of conditions. Whether ice climbing, kite boarding or launching a start-up, Deron brings a life-on-the-edge ethos to everything he does.

Drop him a line: deron at changents dot com

Alex only ever wanted to be a rock star. Since the Replacements are long gone and KISS isn’t hiring, he leads the backstage management of Changents.

Alex is an entertainment business development and management specialist who drives the tour bus at Changents. He got his start in the industry 15 years ago heading up live concert tours for major label artists like Radiohead, PJ Harvey and The BoDeans, while rocking out with his own band in the off-hours.

Alex is no stranger to online business (ad)ventures and pioneering. His music tours segued into consulting and project management gigs with Sony Online Entertainment, Mattel Online and Disney/ABC Cable Networks Group – where he initiated the Internet advertising and e-commerce referral businesses on DisneyChannel.com in addition to producing dozens of original Internet entertainment and marketing features.

Before jumping off the proverbial start-up cliff, Alex was Senior Director of Digital Ventures at PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), where he launched the advertising business on pbs.org – one of most highly-trafficked dot org sites on the Internet.

Alex’s pioneering spirit is also evidenced by his westward-expansion education tactics: an MBA from UCLA Anderson followed a BA at University of Wisconsin – Madison. Changents is now live and on tour in your city every day. Alex keeps our journey directed, cool and knows the worthwhile spots to stop along the way.

Drop him a line: alex at changents dot com

Growing up on a dirt road in rural Northern Virginia, the Internet was one of the few escapes from boredom that Eleanor had as a young child. Since she began logging on to the Kids Section of AOL.com at the age of 11, Eleanor has been fascinated with the Internet's ability to spread thoughts and ideas – far and wide – in a matter of seconds. Today she's putting that phenomenon to good use as the Editorial & Community Manager on Changents.com.

Eleanor's mission on Changents is to manage content development but, more importantly, to connect Change Agents with people all over the world who want to help them. She'll be putting her skills as a formal Help Desk Technician to good use as she assists these agents of change use the myriad of tools available to them on the site – blogs posts, video embeds, photo uploads, podcasts, and even a real-time Twitter integration – to broadcast their unique and amazing stories.

After emigrating to the Big City of Boston to attend Emerson College and major in video production, Eleanor was struck by how much she missed the country life – in particular the grass, trees, creeks, and, yes, the cows of Virginia. It was then that she realized that even though big buildings, crowded streets, and speeding taxis can have a certain appeal, the environment is absolutely something to be cherished and protected. She's thrilled that she can put this passion to good use at Changents.

Drop her a line: eleanor at changents dot com

Edwin loves his family, exploring his adopted hometown of Portland, Oregon and its awesome surroundings, cooking for and spending time with friends, to play games (card, board, role playing games, anything really), and integrating technologies to make people's lives better. Though he carries a Dutch passport, he considers himself first and foremost EdwinTwents. After studying information science and computer science at the Technische Universiteit Twenthe and het Hogere Informatica Onderwijs, wanderlust took him to strange foreign countries.

Professionally, Edwin has never done anything but study computer science and information science and apply it. He has developed software frameworks, products and services in Europe, England and America for over twenty years, in companies ranging from multi-nationals to someone with an idea. Edwin is responsible for all of Changents' technologies, from the daily operations of changents.com, to (managing) the development of new features and extending Changents to new platforms, to developing and maintaining our technology roadmap, laying out how we are going to use what social media technologies to help people make social changes.

His current interest in open source software, software development best practices, Drupal (the framework that changents.com is built upon), and fostering communities is reflected in his activities supporting the Portland Drupal Group, organizing DrupalCamp PDX 2009, and the non-profit organization EPIC (Emergency Preparedness for Infrastructure and Commerce), to help build a more disaster-resilient private sector (initially in) the Portland Urban Area.

In his spare time (hah!) Edwin, with two friends, published an old-fashioned Role Playing Game (Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne), with yet another friend he is working on a new version of the Amber Diceless Role Playing Game, and he helped organize this year's Ambercon US, a diceless roleplaying gaming convention (using Drupal, of course).

Drop him a line: edwin at changents dot com