Neil Takemoto (Hawaii Kamaʻāina, Japanese) has worked in regenerative community development for 30 years, supporting thriving places, communities and systems change. He is co-founder of the Indigenous Regeneration Center Project, a collective impact initiative to develop ecosystems and places that support sovereignty, regeneration and caring-based economies based on indigenous values. He is an advisor to Advocates of Sacred, an indigenous organization whose mission is to champion, cultivate and integrate indigenous healing modalities.

He is a steward of international regenerative communities, including the Regen Living network Regen Civics Alliance and SEEDS regenerative economy, supporting regenerative economies manifested through place-based pilot projects around the world.

As co-founder of CSPM Group, he developed the practice of crowdsourced placemaking (CSPM) that integrates community organizing with urban revitalization. This included empowering 10,000 residents in the revitalization of several downtowns with developers, investors and municipalities. He founded a national trade association for regenerative development and placemaking, and published 1700 posts on regenerative development and systems. He is a member of the Burning Man Diversity Forum, catalyzing a global multicultural neighborhood for persons of color at Burning Man.

Neil’s heritage is Japanese, born and raised in Hawaii in an indigenous-centric culture that honors Native Hawaiian heritage.