Our Mission & Vision
Leah V. Gibbons, PhD, CHHC
Director and Founder of Koru Collaborative
Dr. Leah is an expert in sustainable and regenerative living, design, development, leadership, and business; holistic wellness and thrivability; and living systems, including coupled social-ecological systems, ecosystems, and social systems. She is a cultural creative and regenerative catalyst supporting shifts to thrivability in individuals, communities, regions, and beyond.
Leah contributes to Koru expertise in regenerative development and design, community development, ecovillage design and development, ecological and environmental design and planning, sustainability, integrated design, holistic wellness, coaching, consulting, education, spiritual practices, research, and science-practice-spirituality integration.
Leah holds a PhD in Sustainability from Arizona State University; MS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee; BS in Biology and Anthropology from Vanderbilt University; and Certifications in Regenerative Development and Design, Ecological Design, Sustainable Community Design, Ecovillage Design, Permaculture Design, Holistic Wellness, Integrative Nutrition, Coaching, Wetland Delineation, and Prescribed Burn. She is also trained in energy medicine, functional medicine, herbology, consciousness medicine, and shamanism.
In addition to her role of Director and Founder at Koru, Leah is the Director and Founder of Regenerative Living Institute (ReLI), a 501(c)3 working to create regenerative individuals, communities, cities, and regions through living-learning laboratories.
Learn more about Leah's work.
Brandon Yarborough, CGC
Chief Operations Officer
Brandon is committed to helping the fullest potential of any person or project emerge with his unique skills, abilities, and love for life.
Brandon brings to Koru expertise in natural building, general contracting, design-build, integrated design, planning, coaching, consulting, business development, agriculture, teaching, mentoring, and creative out-of-the-box thinking. He holds a State Certified General Contractor license form the most rigorous licensing body in the nation. Brandon has over 30 years of experience in all phases of construction and development.
In addition to his role of Chief Operations Officer at Koru, Brandon is co-director of Regenerative Living Institute (ReLI), a 501(c)3 working to create regenerative individuals, communities, cities, and regions through living-learning laboratories.
Koru (core·roo) is a Māori word communicating concepts of new life, growth, strength, peace, and the perpetuation of well-being—in essence, regeneration. At Koru Collaborative, these concepts form the core of who we are and what we do.
We believe our inherent condition is to be optimally healthy and well, to experience vitality, abundance, prosperity, not just efficiency and sustainability, not just meeting needs within limits.
We envision a world in which all life thrives, expressing optimal health and well-being.
Our mission is to empower and catalyze shifts toward thrivability by transforming relationships with ourselves, each other, and Earth.
We do this by offering services in and fulfilling the roles of developer, designer, consultant, coach, and educator. We also collaborate with developers, designers, municipalities, communities, organizations, and individuals in both urban and rural environments at all scales—individual, site, neighborhood, city, region, and beyond. We work and collaborate in the areas of land use, community development, the built environment, holistic health and wellness, leadership development, and spirituality. We nurture and integrate both the inner and the outer dimensions necessary for co-creating thriving living systems.