Our team
John Fullerton
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
John Fullerton is an unconventional economist, teacher, writer, impact investor, and some have said philosopher. Building on and integrating the work of many, he is the architect of Regenerative Economics, first conceived in his 2015 book, “Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Patterns and Principles Will Shape the New Economy.” His companion book Finance for a Regenerative World was released in 2018.
John’s work is now featured in two pathbreaking live courses on Regenerative Economics and Regenerative Finance produced by the Capital Institute. They have been received to wide acclaim, with a growing, engaged, and activated alumni community of nearly 1500 people from more than 50 countries.
After a successful 20-year career on Wall Street where he was a Managing Director of what he calls “the old JPMorgan,” John listened to a persistent inner voice and walked away in 2001 with no plan but many questions. A few months later he experienced 9-11 firsthand. The questions crystallized into his life’s work with the creation of the Capital Institute in 2010, where his work reflects the rising evolutionary shift in consciousness from Modern Age thinking to Integral or Unitive Age thinking.
Capital Institute is dedicated to the bold reimagination of economics and finance in service to life. The work is guided by the universal patterns and principles that describe how all healthy living systems that sustain themselves in the real world actually work, and which happen to be remarkably aligned with the world’s diverse wisdom traditions. The promise of Regenerative Economics and Finance is to unlock the profound and presently unseen potential that is the source of our future prosperity and the reason for hope in these troubled times.
During his Wall Street career, John managed numerous capital markets and derivatives businesses around the globe and was JPMorgan’s Oversight Committee Representative that managed the rescue of Long Term Capital Management in 1998. Finally, he was Chief Investment Officer for Lab Morgan’s venture investment portfolio before retiring from the firm and walking away from Wall Street for good.
John was featured in the 2021 award-winning documentary Going Circular and the newly released documentary Man on the Run revealing the Malaysian 1MBD scandal. He is the co-founder of Grasslands, LLC, a board member of the Savory Institute, an advisor to numerous sustainability initiatives, and is a full member of the Club of Rome. He speaks internationally to public audiences and universities, and writes a monthly blog, The Future of Finance.
Strategic Operating partner
nRhythm serves as Capital Institute’s Strategic Operating Partner. nRhythm designs, operates and resources organizations, networks, and communities using the nRhythm Regenerative Framework, which takes a holistic, living systems-based approach to improving organizational outcomes while increasing the efficiency, effectiveness, and well-being of employees.
Team members contributing to Capital Institute include Tay Lotte, Tonya Price and Rachel Evans, alongside an international support team. Meet the whole nRhythm team here.
Contributors
Susan Arterian Chang
CONTRIBUTOR
Susan created and directed Capital Institute’s storytelling initiative, the Field Guide to Investing in Regenerative Economy, and is currently director of Hudson River Flows, a collaborative of writers, thinkers, practitioners, and network entrepreneurs writing a new narrative in support of a truly regenerative economic redevelopment of New York’s Hudson River Valley bioregion.
Susan has worked in the world of both global capital markets and local economies as a financial writer, currency analyst, and publisher of a community newspaper. In 2019 she purchased a 55-acre farm in Columbia County, New York, where she will oversee the restoration of her acreage’s soil health and biodiversity. She can be reached at [email protected].
Dr. Stuart Cowan
Systems Convener, Regenerative Communities Network
Stuart is the Founding Convener for the global Regenerative Communities Network, which is supporting 14 bioregional initiatives on 4 continents on their journeys of place-sourced regeneration.
Stuart is Co-Founder of Autopoiesis LLC, which applies complex living systems models to regenerate communities, ecosystems, and organizations. He also served as a founding team member with Portland Family of Funds, an innovative sustainable community investment fund that has closed $3 billion in transactions. While at Ecotrust, he led the development of the Reliable Prosperity framework for a regenerative bioregion, which provides a fractal integration of patterns of natural, social, and economic capital. He is the co-author with Sim Van der Ryn of Ecological Design (Island Press, 2007), addressing the whole systems integration of ecology and architecture, land-use planning, and product design.
He received his doctorate in Applied Mathematics from U.C. Berkeley with a focus on complex living systems and ecological economics. He has taught, presented, and facilitated internationally for universities, cities, companies, and state and federal agencies. He can be reached at [email protected].