Alumni

April Economides, MBA 2009

April Economides is the founder and principal of Green Octopus Consulting, a sustainability firm that works at the intersection of local economic development and sustainable urban planning. She attended Presidio with the intention of learning how to make a more persuasive business case for sustainability to skeptical audiences. It paid off, and turning naysayers into enthusiasts is consistently the most rewarding aspect of her career.

April created the nation's first Bike Friendly Business District program for the City of Long Beach, California, in partnership with four business districts and speaks to audiences around North America about the business case for bicycling. She also started the nation's largest citywide discount program for bicyclists. She advises business districts on placemaking projects, such as parklets, and is the author of "From Open Spaces to Vital Places," a paper about successful park management, and two traveling green museum exhibits, CSI: Crime Scene Insects and Glow: Living Lights, which have shown at natural history museums throughout North America since 2004.

Happily living car-free in Southern California, she rides around town with her daughter on their “bike limo." She was named one of Long Beach's 2012 '40 Under 40' for her bicycling and sustainability work.

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