About Us | Applied Hope

OUR TEAM

Eric Rasmussen

Managing Director and Principal Scientist

Eric Rasmussen, MD, MDM, FACP is a medical doctor, trained at Stanford and the University of Texas, with an additional Master's in Disaster Medicine from the UN's World Health Organization affiliates in Geneva and Milan. He spent 25 years in uniform as a US Navy officer, with service in nuclear submarines, on aircraft carriers, on smaller warships, in Stateside hospitals, and with multiple tours in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He retired from the Navy while Director of an Intensive Care Unit and Chairman of an academic Department of Medicine in Seattle.

After his Navy retirement, he accepted leadership of a TED Prize awarded to Dr. Larry Brilliant of Google.org. After three years leading that NGO, he shifted to Chair of their Board of Directors and co-founded Infinitum Humanitarian Systems (IHS). Eric remains the Chair of the Board for that TED Prize.

Eric later co-founded the Applied Hope Foundation (AHF) with his business partner to provide a channel for the work they each consider of long-term importance.

Eric has a focus in adaptation system science for very low-resource populations. Power and clean drinking water are of primary importance, but Applied Hope also works in shelter, food security (particularly restorative agriculture), healthcare, communications, education, transportation, and job generation.

The destruction of USAID in early 2025 led to an abrupt shift in priorities, and there is now an exceptional effort underway at AHF to provide food, clean water, and healthcare to populations abandoned through the loss of that agency.

Eric's current work in central Africa (DRC, Uganda, and Zimbabwe), and his deep interest in the Small Island Developing States of the Pacific (particularly Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands) each drive the Foundation's search for ideas that can become responsible industries improving the quality of life in difficult places.

For a more complete CV please send a note to: RasmussenE@AHF.earth

Gay Mathews

Chief Financial Officer and

Director of Philanthropy

Gay Mathews brings more than four decades of leadership in finance and community development to Applied Hope Foundation. She recently retired after 43 years in the consumer finance industry, including 28 years as President and CEO of a low-income, CDFI-certified credit union. She also served as a forensic accountant for the Judiciary of the County of Hawaiʻi and holds dual BS/BA degrees along with a Master’s in Organizational Change and Community Development.

Gay has held leadership roles across numerous boards at the county and state levels, including Vice Chair of the Merit Appeals Board (County of Hawaiʻi), Co-Chair of the Citizen Corps Board, member of the Hawaiʻi Island Workforce Investment Board, and Chair of the Hawaiʻi Community Loan Fund—the first statewide initiative to provide financing for small businesses and nonprofits. She also served two terms on the Governor’s Credit Union Advisory Board.

In addition to her professional work, Gay has volunteered for more than 40 years with the Red Cross and other disaster-response and resiliency programs in Hawaiʻi and Oregon. She held a variety of positions with iRespond Global, a 501c3 focusing on digital identity for the invisibles.. She has collaborated with Dr. Eric Rasmussen for over 25 years on global humanitarian initiatives, serving as Executive Assistant, Logistics Coordinator for the Strong Angel series, and most recently, for the Pacific Island Climate Adaptation Research & Development (PICARD) Symposium.

Today, Gay’s personal focus is on education and cultural preservation within the Marshallese community, both in Hawaiʻi and the Marshall Islands.

MathewsG@AHF.earth

Dan Kenney

Technical Projects Lead

Dan, a volunteer at Applied Hope, has a degree in mechanical engineering and has been issued 27 US patents over a 23-year career in product development. He's currently the Senior Director of Engineering for Briotech, Inc, a biotech startup in Seattle, where he is building a team of innovative engineers and technicians passionate about helping the world.

In 2003, Dan founded a product development company in Seattle dedicated to developing rugged, field-sustainable solutions for a wide range of markets including industrial automation, field robotics, military and law enforcement hardware, and global supply chain tracking.

A few years later in 2006, Dan co-founded Intelli-Que to develop and market the first wireless, automatically registered cargo container security seal and tracking system that could pierce the “iron mountain” of a stack of shipping containers. Intelli-que’s intellectual property was sold to Google in 2011.

Dan subsequently worked in defense research and development, then spent several years guiding a team of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers creating new applications for ultra-wideband guided-wave radar. Such radars are now used in impact monitoring systems after disasters like the Fukushima Daichi nuclear accident. The nuclear spent fuel monitoring systems developed by Dan's team are now installed in roughly 1/3 of the world’s nuclear power plants to help prevent future ecological disasters.

Dan’s creativity, deep knowledge, and unusual breadth of experience have proven invaluable at Applied Hope. His ability to design and implement innovative, effective, reliable, and affordable solutions in virtually any environment, from a frozen Ukrainian village to an ultra-remote tropical island, has been a large part of Applied Hope's global success.

Lorenzo Moscia

Documentarian

Lorenzo is an award-winning photojournalist with two decades of international experience. His past efforts have included working for World University Service of Canada, Infinitum Humanitarian Systems in California, the Roddenberry Foundation (supported by the Star Trek franchise), and Greenpeace. He has worked in the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Libya, Tanzania, Kenya, the Vatican, Argentina, Mexico, the Marshall Islands, Haiti, Italy, Cuba, and Chile. His images and videos have been widely published in global venues that include Bloomberg, the Chicago Tribune, and the British Journal of Photography.

In 1999 he received a law degree from the University La Sapienza, in Rome, Italy, then spent more than a decade working in Chile in both law and photography. His experiences while working in South America led him to his current career - investigative reporting through a camera lens.

Lorenzo has received more than a dozen international awards, including from the United Nations. Among the most recent have been these:

(1) The Audience Award for his 2023 documentary “In the Name of Gerry Conlon,” which was released in theaters globally in 2024.

(2) Three of his images were selected by Greenpeace as Best of Greenpeace Images for 2023. You can see them here.

Images on this website are courtesy of Lorenzo Moscia, and more of his work can be found at LorenzoMoscia.com.

Veronica Kenney

Board Member
Global Education Coordinator

Veronica Kenney brings a strong background in engineering, science education, and nonprofit leadership to the Applied Hope Foundation Board of Directors. Since 2023, she has served as AHF’s Global Education Coordinator, creating cross-cultural learning opportunities that connect climate science with community action.

A mechanical engineer by training, Veronica began her career at Boeing before transitioning into education, where she has spent the past seven years teaching secondary science and leading hands-on projects in climate, paleontology, and international collaboration. She is passionate about project-based and inclusive education, holding credentials in Universal Design for Learning and advanced training with PBLWorks.

Beyond the classroom, Veronica has contributed her leadership skills to boards including the Richland Public Facilities District, the REACH Museum, and the Hills West Recreation Club. She also volunteers at the B5 Learning Center in Washington, teaching English to refugee and immigrant women.

Veronica is committed to fostering global education partnerships and inspiring the next generation to confront the challenges of climate change with creativity, equity, and hope.

Mitch Roth

Board Member

Mitch Roth is the Senior Vice President and Hawaii Island Regional Manager for Central Pacific Bank, where he leads strategic initiatives and community partnerships across the island. Based in Hilo, he brings more than three decades of public service and leadership experience to his role in banking.

Before joining Central Pacific Bank in 2025, Roth served as Mayor of Hawaii County from 2020 to 2025, where he guided the island through complex challenges and championed sustainable development. Prior to his mayoral service, he spent over 22 years in the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s Office, including eight years as Prosecuting Attorney. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy Prosecutor for both Hawaii County and the City and County of Honolulu.

Roth holds a B.A. in Speech from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and earned his J.D. from Whittier Law School. His career reflects a lifelong commitment to building safe, resilient, and thriving communities across Hawaii.

Amory Lovins

Design Advisor

Amory Lovins, a remarkable physicist and environmental scientist - and a genius by any measure - has dedicated his career to the promotion of energy efficiency and the development of sustainable energy solutions. As the co-founder and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, Amory has been at the forefront of innovative energy policy and system integration engineering for more than four decades. His groundbreaking work in integrative design and the efficient use of energy has earned him numerous accolades, including:

Time Magazine's "Hero of the Planet"
A MacArthur Fellowship
The Kyoto Prize
The Heinz Award
The Franklin Medal
The Blue Planet Prize
The Right Livelihood Award
and five Honorary Doctorates

Amory's visionary approach emphasizes the harmonious integration of energy systems to create a more resilient and sustainable future.

A prolific author and influential speaker, Amory has written or co-authored 31 books and hundreds of papers on energy and resource efficiency. His seminal work, "Reinventing Fire," outlines a comprehensive roadmap for transitioning to a sustainable energy future without compromising economic growth or quality of life.

Beyond academia, Amory has advised major corporations and governments worldwide on energy strategy. His relentless advocacy for smart energy use continues to inspire a global movement toward sustainability and environmental stewardship, and, as the Applied Hope Foundation, we're deeply honored at Amory's willingness to join us.

Our name, in fact, came (with his permission) from his Commencement Speech at the Olin College of Engineering in 2019 entitled "Applied Hope". You can read a copy of that address by clicking here.

Cameron Sinclair

Design Advisor

Cameron Sinclair is a distinguished designer and a pioneer in socially responsive architecture. For more than 30 years he has built unique, inclusive, highly functional, and strikingly beautiful structures that address humanitarian and social design challenges. Sinclair co-founded Architecture for Humanity in 1999 with Kate Stohr, a charitable organization that developed architectural solutions to humanitarian crises, providing professional design services to communities in need. His work has spanned more than 60 countries, creating shelter, education, and health facilities for more than 2.6 million people. His commitment to sustainable and purpose-driven projects is evident in his disaster relief efforts following events such as the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the Japanese tsunami in 2011. He has been recognized for his contributions with several awards, including the TED Prize in 2006.

More recently he has served as the director of the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, overseeing humanitarian programs, and worked with Airbnb to develop emergency housing solutions and support for vulnerable communities. Sinclair's dedication to social impact led him to establish the Worldchanging Institute, focusing on solutions to social and humanitarian crises. Cameron works with AHF on our climate-adaptive shelter program and within our broader efforts at human security for highly vulnerable coastal populations.