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James Workman
Pioneering writer, speaker, teacher & creator of natural resource conservation markets
Professional Background
James Workman boasts an impressive career that spans over two decades in investigative journalism, environmental advocacy, and education. After graduating cum laude with a B.A. in History from Yale University in 1990, he furthered his education by studying Classical Civilization at the prestigious University of Oxford. His academic journey laid the groundwork for a successful career as a prize-winning investigative reporter in Washington, D.C., where he honed his skills in uncovering and addressing critical environmental issues.
A significant milestone in Workman's career was his appointment as a special assistant and speechwriter in the U.S. Department of the Interior under Secretary Bruce Babbitt. In this capacity, he focused on essential topics such as water management, dam operations, climate change, and wildfires, contributing to the development of policies that have had a lasting impact on the nation's natural resource management.
Following his tenure at the Department of the Interior, James served as a senior advisor in communications for the World Commission on Dams, an initiative championed by Nelson Mandela. His role involved guiding effective communication strategies while addressing some of the most pressing issues surrounding water resources and dam projects worldwide. This experience solidified his reputation as a strategic communications consultant, working with global corporations, agencies, and NGOs dedicated to sustainable natural resource management.
As a thought leader in the field of environmental conservation, Workman has authored several award-winning books and articles that delve into successful strategies for water, fisheries, and energy conservation. His notable works include 'Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought,' which received critical acclaim and was honored as the best book of the year by the Society of Environmental Journalists. Workman is currently co-authoring 'Sea Change: The Quiet Fishing Revolution that is Replenishing Life Offshore -- and On,' which further illustrates his dedication to marine conservation.
In addition to his writing, Workman has made significant contributions to academia by establishing new interdisciplinary courses during his time as a visiting professor at Whitman College and Wesleyan University. He is known for framing impactful marine conservation projects at the Environmental Defense Fund and has played a pivotal role as the founding editor of 'The Source,' a print and online magazine that serves over 50,000 water professionals with pragmatic news and insights.
Education and Achievements
James Workman's commitment to lifelong learning is evident in his educational background. He graduated from Yale University, earning his B.A. in History cum laude, which set a solid foundation for his career. His studies at the University of Oxford further enriched his knowledge of classical civilization and history, providing him with a broad perspective on the world's interconnected environmental challenges. Furthermore, he pursued specialized training in Conservation Markets at the Property and Environment Research Center, equipping himself with innovative solutions to contemporary conservation issues.
His professional achievements are both diverse and substantial. As the founder of AquaShares Inc., he pioneered the first rights-based online conservation market for trading water-saving credits. This innovative approach to resource management showcases his belief in market-based solutions for environmental conservation, setting a new standard for sustainable practices in the water sector.
Workman's work has not gone unnoticed; he has received multiple awards throughout his career, highlighting his contributions to environmental journalism and conservation. His dedication to fostering communication between various stakeholders in the field of natural resource management has made a significant difference in how we view and interact with our environment.
Personal Life and Passion Projects
Beyond his professional endeavors, James Workman has also embraced a rich personal life. He resides in Mill Valley with his wife, documentary filmmaker Vanessa Lemaire, and their two daughters. His family life complements his passion for exploring and understanding the world around him.
James's adventurous spirit is reflected in his remarkable life experiences, including blowing up dams, releasing wolves, igniting wildland fires, guiding safaris, and even smuggling water to besieged indigenous dissidents in Africa's Kalahari Desert. These excursions have not only contributed to his rich narrative as a journalist and environmental advocate but have also played a pivotal role in shaping his perspectives on conservation and natural resource management.
As he continues to share his insights and expertise, James Workman remains dedicated to tackling environmental challenges head-on and inspiring future generations to appreciate and care for our planet. His blend of investigative journalism, strategic communication, and academic teaching embodies a holistic approach to understanding and preserving the Earth's vital resources. Through his work, James consistently encourages others to participate in the ongoing dialogue surrounding sustainable practices and the importance of effective water and resource management.
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.