“The future of sound, prosocial environmental management depends not on technology alone, but on our ability to implement it with wisdom, intention, and deep respect for both human capability and ecological complexity.”

JR Washebek

My path to founding Interface began in navigating the nexus of federated governance, environmental management, and emerging technologies.

As I built the first AI Program within a federal land management planning agency, I witnessed firsthand both the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, and the significant challenges organizations face when attempting to harness these technologies for environmental and societal good.

My role positioned me at the forefront of a critical transformation period, where traditional approaches to forest management, wildfire response, and conservation were being challenged by rapidly evolving technological capabilities. This unique vantage point revealed not just what technologies could accomplish, but how organizations needed to evolve to realize their potential.

The founding of Interface was catalyzed by my development of comprehensive research on technology forecasting and workforce implications for environmental management. This work, which projected the availability of emerging technologies and their potential impact on land management and environmental stewardship organizations, revealed critical gaps between current organizational capabilities and future requirements.

When this research caught the attention of environmental policy leaders, it became clear that there was significant demand for guidance that could bridge technological understanding, workforce development, and environmental mission alignment.

Interface emerged from this recognition - not as another technology consultancy, but as a specialized practice focused on helping environmental organizations navigate the complex transformation required to effectively integrate AI and emerging technologies into their work.

My approach is grounded in several core beliefs:

Human-Centered Technology

Technology should amplify human capability and wisdom rather than replace it. The most successful implementations are those that honor existing expertise while extending organizational capacity.

Process Before Technology

Many challenges organizations attempt to solve through technology adoption could be addressed through deeper problem understanding and business process reengineering. Technology amplifies effective processes but cannot fix fundamentally broken ones.

Ethical Alignment

As AI systems become more powerful, their alignment with environmental and societal values becomes increasingly critical. Policy frameworks and governance structures are the primary mechanisms through which we can shape this alignment.

Technological Restraint

The most powerful technological interventions are often the most restrained. Finding minimal viable technological solutions that solve core problems while building capacity for evolution.

Current Focus

Through Interface, I work with environmental organizations across sectors - from federal agencies and state departments to NGOs and academic institutions - helping them navigate the critical decisions that will shape how technology serves prosocial environmental management.

My current projects span workforce transformation, AI literacy development, technology assessment, and policy framework creation, all unified by a commitment to ensuring that technological advancement serves positive social and environmental outcomes rather than driving them.

Vision for Impact

I envision Interface evolving beyond traditional consulting to become a catalyst for broader systemic change: expanding nonprofit work to serve under-resourced organizations, developing educational programs that build AI literacy from an early age, convening communities of practice around ethical environmental technology, and creating physical spaces where people can explore the intersection of technology and environmental stewardship in collaborative settings.

"The future of environmental management will be determined not by the technologies we develop, but by the wisdom with which we implement them. Interface exists to help organizations navigate this critical threshold with intention, ethics, and deep respect for both human capability and environmental complexity."

Let’s begin.