Many Blue Dots started as an aha moment for Kate during a rage hike on Nov. 6, 2024. She wanted to turn those feelings of rage, helplessness. isolation, and sadness that so many across the U.S. were feeling into positive action. She believes that if we humanize the social and environmental issues that have become so partisan by bringing the conversation to our real neighbors, face-to-face, we can heal the divide that the powerful elite have cultivated.

Dr. Van Waes has advised cabinet-level officials, ambassadors, and rock stars.

She’s led international research teams, and co-led NASA Mars mission coordination.

She’s sat in the White House situation room making tough decisions, co-written speeches for POTUS, led events for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and been the lead negotiator for the U.S. at United Nations meetings.

She’s co-led international advocacy campaigns to raise billions of dollars to end global hunger and malnutrition.

She’s helmed a national nonprofit at a time of tremendous transformation, evolution, and growth.

She’s been a senior adviser on G8 negotiations and written reports that were hailed by the likes of Christine Legarde, Cheryl Sandberg, and the Clinton Global Initiative.

Currently, Kate is also the Founder and CEO of Van Waes Consulting, which provides consulting, coaching, and training in nonprofit leadership and management.

Mark has spent his career developing and leading people, breaking down barriers to success, and empowering people to become leaders at all levels of their organizations. During his multiple decades as an officer with the Navy and NOAA, he has captained research ships in arctic waters, supported global environmental research operations, and advised senior government executives on strategic operations. Throughout his career he has championed diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and developed organizational cultures of mutual respect and trust. 

Anne has led a wide range of community organizations, managing diverse teams and providing administrative and customer support. Her previous roles have involved project and program coordination, event planning, and social media content creation. In addition to co-founding Many Blue Dots, Anne currently uses her collaborative and creative skills to partner with clients in designing and building their dream homes.

Mark A. Nitz is a principal strategist and transformational leadership expert with more than 25 years of corporate and military leadership experience, including senior roles in Fortune 100 information management and service as a decorated U.S. Army officer awarded the Bronze Star for combat leadership. As the founder of ClearSight Leadership & Strategy, he works with organizations to re-architect their strategy, creating a strategic profession within the clients’ organizations and business practices; focusing on practical, forward-looking frameworks. With the rise of democratized Artificial Intelligence, Mark puts particular emphasis on ethical and adaptive applications of AI and guiding clients through workforce multiplication using AI. Mark is an adjunct faculty member at Rocky Mountain College, a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, and has served on multiple high-tech industry advisory boards. As an author, Mark published books on strategy, geospatial architecture and application, and leadership development. His work is grounded in deep expertise in strategy as success-by-design, risk-based decision-making, and analytical problem solving, supported by deep formal education in geology and philosophy.