Our Team

Deborah has published over 40 books through her publishing house Synergetic Press, Ltd. in global ecology, regenerative agriculture, ethnobotany, psychedelics, and social justice, since establishing it in 1984. In 1986, she was on the team that designed and built a large-scale closed ecological system, Biosphere 2, developing the publications and educational programs for the complex. In 1990, she started The Biosphere Press, an imprint of the Biosphere 2 project, producing a dozen books and a classroom curriculum for children on biospheres and biomes. While at Biosphere 2, Deborah met Richard Evans Schultes, the grandfather of contemporary ethnobotany. She went on to publish his two books of photographs he made documenting people’s use of plant medicine in the NW Colombian Amazonia. Deborah is a director and VP of the U.S. non-profit, the Institute of Ecotechnics, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico at Synergia Ranch. The Institute owns the RV Heraclitus, an 84-foot ferrocement Chinese Junk design that sailed 270,000 miles around Planet Ocean, with two years up the Amazon on an ethnobotanical expedition inspired by Schultes (1980-1982). Deborah currently lives at Synergia Ranch organic farm and retreat center where she lives, contributes to the farm operations when she can, and continues publishing books.

Doug Reil is an organizational development and nonprofit consultant specializing in emerging healthcare, regenerative culture, and social justice. With 35 years’ experience in management roles at for-profit, non-profit, and start-up companies, he brings a whole-systems approach to supporting mission-oriented organizations. He is the former Publisher and Executive Director at the 501c3 North Atlantic Books and former CEO/Associate Publisher at Synergetic Press. In the cannabis space, he co-founded and as CEO, guided a successful launch at CannaKeys, which aggregates the science of cannabis and the endocannabinoid system for healthcare and led the cannabis compassion program, Mission-Compassion, which served low-income patients in the East Bay. He’s honored to support the Shulgin legacy as Director of Finance and Operations at the Shulgin Foundation.

Omar Fayed is an entrepreneur, environmentalist, and businessman. He is CEO of ESTEE (Earth Space Technical Ecosystem Enterprises), based in Switzerland and Britain, that advocates human space exploration, space colonization, and sustainable human development within the biosphere. He is co-founder and CEO of EarthX, a data visualization and mapping company based on NASA’s World Wind Project. He is chairman of Synergetic Press and a fellow of the Institute of Ecotechnics.

Guy Gaffney is a recovering banker who realized he would rather leverage his commercial lending experience by helping small businesses with all aspects of their day-to-day bookkeeping, as well as interpret financial information in a meaningful way.  So he established his bookkeeping & tax practice, FiscalGrit, to do just that.  He received his MBA from UMass and is new to the world of publishing but thoroughly enjoying it.

Fernanda is a transpersonal psychologist, writer, marketing specialist, and training Shaman dedicated to the expansion of consciousness. As a Marketing Consultant for Synergetic Press, she supports organizations that inspire transformation. Pursuing an MSc in Spirituality, Consciousness, and Transpersonal Psychology at the Alef Trust, she explores parapsychological phenomena through research. Deepening her spiritual path, she learns from the Qero communities of Peru and the Incan Medicine School, honoring the wisdom of her ancestors.