About Our Founders

About Our Founders

Biographies

Biographies

About Heather Burch



One of Heather's first memories is how her mother cured herself—strictly by change of diet—of an illness which had been diagnosed as fatal. This profound experience led the young Heather to study Nutrition at the University Of Toronto where she enrolled at the age of 16 after graduating High School 3 years ahead of schedule.

Although her studies focused on nutrition and health, by the time she was 20, she had her licenses as Real Estate Broker and Mortgage Banker. By her mid-20s she had co-founded a company specializing in development, financing and acquisition of health care facilities throughout North America. A few years later she realized her dream of becoming a resident of the Naples/Bonita Springs area.

This experience ultimately led her to leave her successful mortgage banking career in real estate and finance to pursue a life-long interest in world culture, religions, health and wellness—ultimately becoming a well-respected teacher in this field. She established an institute to train psychologists, psychiatrists and health care professionals in the techniques she had integrated during her studies and travels.

A great lover of nature, animals and humanity, she is profoundly committed to alleviating suffering, and is an active participant and supporter of a number of organizations involved in healthy living, world peace, environmental issues, and sustainable agriculture and development—including, for example, the Amazon Conservation Team, the Jane Goodall Institute, and the Dalai Lama Foundation.

She is presently compiling a book of healing techniques and strategies she has perfected during a lifetime of research.

About Addison Fischer



Addison M. Fischer has been a computer entrepreneur since creating his first high-tech startup company in 1973, and has been involved in seed venture capital investing since the early 1980s.

Mr. Fischer founded Fischer International Systems, a communications software provider to the Global 2000 and presently serves as its Chairman. As a major owner of RSA Data Security, he founded VeriSign, the internationally-recognized standard of Internet commerce integrity.

In addition to his business interests, Mr. Fischer is actively involved in preserving, for future generations the planet and its dwindling resources.

In 1980, he was a principal founder of the Community School of Naples (Florida, USA), an independent K-12 school.

In 2000, working together with the Zenerji Fund, he acquired a substantial region of sensitive primeval Costa Rican rainforest to prevent its destruction by timber and farming interests. In an effort to enhance the opportunities available to the local community of Las Alturas while preserving their heritage, he has been bringing together experts, researchers and innovators from various scientific, social and engineering disciplines with the goal of building a community capable of operating perpetually in harmony with the surrounding virgin rainforest.

In 2008, Mr. Fischer co-founded the Planet Heritage Foundation (PHF) with Cindy Mercer. PHF works to preserve the ecological and social heritage of our planet, in part, through building and supporting strategic collaborations.

In addition to serving as a Director of the Jane Goodall Institute (US), Addison Fischer, together with PHF, have provided key support for several of Dr. Goodall's Africa projects, including the Tendaguru Trust in Tanzania and the Chimpunga Island Reserve project in the Republic of the Congo. Also in the Congo, PHF has worked with Cambridge University to support Dr. Isabel Behncke's Bonobo research.

PHF provided essential support to Dr. Earle and the TED Conference’s April 2010 Mission Blue voyage of 100 influential leaders that convened in the Galapagos Islands. This has already led to several strategic collaborations for restoring and protecting the Ocean. Mr. Fischer is a director of the East West Institute which conducts high level diplomacy addressing critical issues of global stability with the intention of preventing armed conflict. Mr Fischer, involved with the Amazon Conservation Team for nearly a decade, now serves on their Advisory Board.

In June 2009 Mr. Fischer was awarded the Hero of Privacy Award by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.