marc thibault

I am a explorer, entrepreneur and mindfulness practitioner with over 30 years experience at the intersection of technology, environmental health, and human and relationships development. I have lived on two continents and worked in 5 different countries. I am an engaged father of three boys.

Idea(l) convergence partners with storytellers, social entrepreneurs, wicked problem solvers, change agents and whole person practitioners. Our work will appear on our blog.

More About Marc:

I started my first business at age 14 collecting horse manure, composting it and selling it to rose enthusiasts. I eventually run into a hurdle : there were not enough horses around. I have always been fascinated by natural ecosystems, in particular their capacity to sustain so many different life forms. At age 20, I discovered meditation and at 47 medicinal plants. The writing was on the wall :)

My first job was highly formative. After three months, they already wanted to get rid of me. Four years later I was named group director. This consulting firm was pioneering model-driven decision support systems in strategic areas such as new concepts and products, brand optimization and positioning, pricing strategy and value creation for Global and European Fortune 500. I extended the firm’s reach by creating a customer satisfaction and loyalty tracking system. I learned how to compose with data by never forgetting the people and companies behind them. I trust this was a major reason my clients enjoyed working with me along with my inventiveness and integrity.

After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, I started my first company Glamma, which specialized in back end development. We grew large enough to become the “in-house” team of communication agencies and dot.coms. One of the latter grew large enough to need a full team and acquired my company. Given up control was not an easy decision. However, experiencing the doc.com boom with a larger team was both fun and rewarding.

Then came a life changing the moment. I joined another startup that was manufacturing and marketing a disinfectant with the lowest EPA Toxicity rating. I credit Dr. Larry Weiss for educating me on the massive issue of invasive and persistent toxic chemicals. We both left the company to start a consulting firm looking for the holy grail of cleaner-disinfectants, a technology that will do no harm. We partnered with an innovative Canadian company that had found a way to harness the anti-microbial properties of plants. This partnership led to the creation of the CleanWell brand, the first kids-safe, non-toxic botanically-derived antimicrobial technology that would later be adopted by Seventh Generation, Method and 3M.

After this successful launch and being in disagreement with the exit strategy the company would pursue, I resumed my consulting activities actively exploring different systems interested to find the ones that could generate the most social and environmental impact. I joined Full Circle Fund adding my talent and expertise to nascent or growing initiatives - Green Cities of California, Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, SIRUM; the American Sustainable Business Council defeating the California Association of Nonprofits’ opposition to Jared Huffman’s Benefit Corporation bill. This foray into the advocacy world allowed me to work with the amazing Arlene Blum and Green Science & Policy in fighting unneeded and toxic flame retardants in TV enclosure and furniture. This period taught me how unlikely allies - businesses, NGOs, scientists, policy makers, activists - can, given the right framework and information put their differences aside and work together for the greater good.

Then came another life changing moment. I had journeyed into the Ecuadorian Amazon with other social entrepreneurs and literally felt in love with the Kichwa and Achuar communities we had visited. Six months later I met Didier Lacaze who has been living in the Amazonian Rainforest for 38 years, 20 in Peru and 18 in Ecuador. He was in the early stage of building a resource center dedicated to Indigenous People of the Ecuadorian Amazon and after a one hour conversation decided to support his project. The center, now a Fundación per Ecuadorian law provides a space for Indigenous people to preserve, revive and/or reclaim their traditional knowledge in a modern context (art, medicinal, food systems/ reforestation, cosmovision). We were creating regenerative systems before realizing it was a movement. Working with Indigenous communities offers a rewarding and yet challenging environment. In these ancestral and yet quickly evolving living systems, best intentions can offend lead to catastrophic situations. Humility, patience, accountability and integrity are values and principles that should guide anyone making that journey.

Whether addressing urgent environmental health problems through innovation and policy making, or supporting communities in co-designing a brighter future for themselves, every situation requires us to think outside our intrinsic worldviews. Expanding our awareness and consciousness is, in itself the greatest outcome of regenerative thinking and systems.