Prior to her involvement with The Biomimicry Institute, Bryony Schwan was Executive Director and National Campaigns Director for Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE) – a non-profit environmental justice Organization that she founded in 1995. From 2001 to 2004, Bryony Schwan co-founded and coordinated Coming Clean, a national alliance of health and environmental groups.

Bryony Schwan was born in Zimbabwe and moved to the USA in 1981. She has a BA in Art from the University of Natal in South Africa and an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana.

Her work has taken her around the world from speaking on chemical policy in Europe to lobbying at the United Nations Treaty Negotiations on Eliminating Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in South Africa. She has received several awards for her work including an AWR Conservation Award, the Len and Sandy Sargent Award for Environmental Activism and Montana’s Jeannette Rankin Peacemaker of the Year Award (2002).

Bryony Schwan is also the founder of the Women’s Institute for Leadership Development in Women (WILD Women) and the Young Women’s Outdoor Leadership Project (now called GUTS! Girls Using Their Strengths).

She co-produces In Other Words, a weekly feminist radio show on Montana Public Radio. She has served on the board of many organizations including the Social Justice Fund Northwest, and the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment. She serves on the board of Greenpeace USA and Montana’s St. Patrick Hospital Women’s Health Advisory Board.