Team ÆRTH
Adina Popescu
Founder / CEO ÆRTH
Adina Popescu is the founder and CEO of ÆRTH, a non-profit building a biodiversity learning model of the world - trained on biology rather than physics. For the past eight years, she has built the data infrastructure for planetary-scale environmental intelligence — uniting NASA/JPL and leading Earth observation institutions with marine scientists, oceanographers, and AI engineers around adaptive digital twins of local biospheres that learn from each other through federated learning. A philosopher with degrees from Berlin and The New School in New York, she conducted research with Friedrich Kittler on music and mathematics. She speaks regularly on AI ethics, collaborative tools and federated systems architecture at ETH Zürich, Berlin Science Week, Climate Week NYC, and the Future of Climate Summit.
Ion Vonic
CTO - PhD Engineer · Full-stack architect for AI/ML, real-time, embedded, and secure systems · 20+ years across defense, aviation, and telecommunications
Ion Vonica is a PhD engineer and systems architect with more than two decades of experience building mission-critical infrastructure across defense, aviation, and telecommunications. His career spans programs at Lockheed Martin, Leonardo, and Marconi, working at the intersection of AI, real-time and embedded systems, and high-assurance secure architectures. He has worked on NATO research and interoperability working groups on cybersecurity and communications, and held CTO-level leadership roles scaling high-assurance platforms and multinational engineering teams. At ÆRTH, he leads the technical architecture connecting environmental data, AI systems, and sovereign data governance - bringing defense-grade rigor to civilian planetary intelligence.
Sam Gbafa
Senior Software Engineer, SpruceID · Builder of privacy-preserving data and trust architectures - Founder Tiny Cloud
​Sam Gbafa is an AI infrastructure and decentralized systems engineer with nearly a decade of experience building privacy-preserving data, identity, and trust architectures. He is the founder of TinyCloud, a venture focused on sovereign user data and interoperable decentralized systems, and Senior Software Engineer at SpruceID, where he architects systems for verifiable identity and content authenticity using cryptographic attestations and zero-knowledge proofs. He participates in the W3C Linked Web Storage Working Group, helping shape open standards for sovereign data. With a background in electrical engineering and full-stack AI, he brings the cryptographic and sovereignty infrastructure ÆRTH needs to keep environmental data both shareable and protected.
Janne Kuka
Product & Design Leader · Former Design Lead at ÅŒura, Sonos, and Hinge Health · 18+ years in product and design across global consumer tech
Janne Kukka is a product and design leader with more than 18 years shaping consumer technology across health, wellbeing, and audio. He has held senior design roles at ÅŒura, the smart-ring pioneer redefining health wearables, and at Sonos, the global leader in connected audio, as well as Hinge Health and Bowers & Wilkins. His work spans product strategy, user experience, and design-led innovation, with recognition from TIME and Fast Company's Innovation by Design. A Finnish designer rooted in the Nordic tradition of purposeful simplicity, he translates complex sensor data and AI into intuitive, human-centered products - the design sensibility ÆRTH needs to make planetary intelligence accessible.
ÆRTH Advisory Board
Michael Sutton
Executive Director, Goldman Environmental Foundation · Founder, Marine Stewardship Council · Senior conservation leadership at Monterey Bay Aquarium, WWF, and the Packard Foundation
Michael Sutton is an internationally recognized environmental leader with more than three decades at the highest levels of conservation, philanthropy, and policy. He leads the Goldman Environmental Foundation, which awards the Goldman Prize - widely known as the "Nobel Prize for the Environment." He founded the Marine Stewardship Council, the world's first ecolabel for sustainable seafood, and launched WWF's Endangered Seas Campaign. He has held senior roles at the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the National Audubon Society, and twice served as President of the California Fish & Game Commission, where he was instrumental in creating the largest network of marine protected areas in the United States.
Richard Cudney-Bueno
Marine biologist · Former Latin America Marine Lead, David & Lucile Packard Foundation · Co-founder, PANGAS Project · Advisor to the Government of Mexico
Richard Cudney-Bueno is a marine biologist with three decades of work across ten Latin American countries, at the intersection of science, fisheries policy, and coastal community livelihoods. He directed Latin America marine strategy at the David & Lucile Packard Foundation for twelve years, managing a portfolio of more than $60M in grants, and co-founded the PANGAS Project, a six-institution research consortium whose science reshaped Mexican fisheries policy. He is a Research Associate at the Institute of Marine Sciences, UC Santa Cruz, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Arizona. He advises the Government of Mexico on ocean and fisheries policy and serves on Mexico's Presidential Advisory Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita.
Martin Goebel
Founder of Sustainable Northwest and Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza · Trustee, Global Conservation and Mesoamerican Reef Fund
Martin Goebel is a conservation leader with five decades of work building institutions across the United States and Latin America. He founded Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza, Mexico's national conservation trust, and served as founding president of Sustainable Northwest, where his stakeholder negotiations helped enable the removal of four dams on the Klamath River - the largest dam removal in US history. He established and led the Mexico programs of The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and World Wildlife Fund, and currently serves as trustee of Global Conservation, the Mesoamerican Reef Fund, and several conservation institutions across the Americas.
Dr. Newton H. Campbell Jr.
Board Member of The Planetary Society · Non-Resident Fellow, Atlantic Council · Former Director of Space Programs, AROSE · Former AI Subject Matter Expert, NASA
Dr. Newton Campbell is an internationally recognized leader in artificial intelligence, space technology, and remote operations, with more than two decades across NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, and international space institutions. He serves on the Board of The Planetary Society, the world's largest independent space advocacy organization, and previously led the space technology portfolio at AROSE (Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth) as Director of Space Programs. Before AROSE, he was the AI subject matter expert across NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Langley Research Center, after a decade as principal investigator on cybersecurity and AI programs for DARPA and the U.S. Intelligence Community. He holds a PhD in Computer Science and is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council, specializing in space, climate change, and ethical AI.
Alan Jamieson
Founding Director, Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre · Professor, UWA Oceans Institute · Chief Scientist, DSSV Pressure Drop
Alan Jamieson is an internationally recognized authority on the deepest places in the ocean - the hadal zone, spanning depths between 6,000 and 11,000 metres - with more than two decades at the frontier of deep-sea science, technology, and exploration. He is Professor at the UWA Oceans Institute and founding Director of the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers, participated in nearly 70 deep-sea expeditions across every ocean, and pioneered the Hadal-Landers - baited camera systems he has deployed more than 500 times in the world's deepest trenches. Since 2018, he has served as Chief Scientist of the DSSV Pressure Drop, notably during the Five Deeps Expedition and the ongoing Ring of Fire expeditions.
Jurgen Valckenaere
Reef Systems & Coastal Environment Specialist · PhD Candidate, Wernberg Lab and UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia
Jurgen Valckenaere is a Reef Systems & Coastal Environment Specialist with more than a decade of international experience across marine science, coastal management, and ecosystem restoration. He is a PhD Candidate at the University of Western Australia, working within the Wernberg Lab and the UWA Oceans Institute, where his research focuses on future-proofing temperate reef systems and coastal environments against climate stress. His work integrates regenerative strategies, cross-sector collaboration, and innovative technologies to support the long-term health of marine ecosystems while advancing the communities that depend on them. He advocates for science-driven approaches that connect ecological resilience with societal wellbeing.
ÆRTH Partners
