About the Founders

Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons founded the Bioneers conference in 1990. It arose from three principal streams of work related to biological and cultural diversity, biomimicry and natural medicine. Kenny and Nina also brought strong backgrounds in event production and media. 

Kenny and Nina first met in the spring of 1987, became a couple and began working together. At the time, Kenny was completing production on his feature documentary film, Hoxsey: When Healing Becomes a Crime, documenting a longstanding medical civil war between conventional and natural medicine traditions that resulted in the obstruction of promising unconventional cancer treatments. Nina helped market the film.

Bioneers Conference

The idea for the Bioneers Conference arose from a 1989 meeting between Kenny and Josh Mailman, a visionary leader in social investment and philanthropy who was involved with Seeds of Change and the Hoxsey film. When Kenny described various biomimetic innovators and other breakthrough environmental solutions, Mailman proposed a conference and offered to fund it. Why not?

Nina volunteered to help produce the event. She brought a professional background in production, including theater, arts and music. She brought a strong orientation toward arts as an integral element for transforming culture, and infused the gathering with high-quality production values, aesthetics and performances. In the coming years, she brought a strong priority to invite women speakers (at a time when there was a dearth of women in certain fields).

We look forward to celebrating our 20th anniversary with you in 2009. Please join us in this ongoing co-creation story. The world is at stake.