The Commons Strategy Group consists of four Principals:

Michel Bauwens (Asia), based in Bangkok, Thailand, is the Founder of the Foundation for Peer-to-Peer Alternatives. The Foundation is a knowledge commons devoted to understanding the emerging of peer to peer and commons dynamics of a wide variety of social fields, consisting of a significant global network of researchers interested in peer production, peer governance and peer property in the Internet age. A former entrepreneur and professor, Bauwens is an astute and influential theoretician of the political economy and digital culture. Amongst the associate scholars with whom he collaborates are Adam Arvidsson (University of Milan), Dr. Athina Karatzgionnanni (University of Hull), Phoebe Moore (Salford University), Tere Vaden (Finland), and many more. Michel Bauwens gives as many as sixty lectures per year to diverse international gatherings. (See http://del.icio.us/mbauwens/Bauwens-Lectures for a full list of his lectures).

David Bollier (North America), based in Amherst, Massachusetts, is Editor of Bollier.org, the Founding Editor of Onthecommons.org, 2004-2010, and a commons activist and scholar for over a decade. He spent years working in the Ralph Nader/consumer activist network and with civil libertarians fighting the religious right. Since 2000 he has written extensively about the commons in three books -- Silent Theft, Brand Name Bullies, and Viral Spiral -- which have attracted a wide international readership, especially in tech and free culture circles. However, he is also active in studying and writing about natural resource and local commons, and takes a broad, long-term perspective on commons issues. After seven years editing Onthecommons.org, Bollier has launched his own blog, Bollier.org, in late 2010. He is a frequent speaker at international commons conferences and academic gatherings.

Beatriz Busaniche (Latin America), based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a Board Member of Ví;a Libre Foundation, founding member of Wikimedia Argentina (the local chapter of Wikimedia International) and Free Software Foundation Latin America. As a well-respected free software and free culture activist in Latin America, Busaniche has been promoting access to knowledge for about a decade. Busaniche is also a professor at the Social Sciences Department at the University of Buenos Aires. Beatriz Busaniche has written many articles and publications about copyrights and patents, and about the so-called “convergence of movements” that seeks to foster new dialogues among free software developers, Wikipedians, peasants, indigenous peoples, artists, academics and other social movements. Busaniche has actively participated in the World Summit on the Information Society and the World Intellectual Property Organization debates, as well as in national and regional legislation processes to promote free software, privacy and access to knowledge in Argentina and other Latin American countries.

Silke Helfrich (Europe), based in Jena, Germany headed the Regional office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean from 1999 to 2007, focusing on globalization, gender and human rights. Helfrich has developed an international reputation for her commons advocacy through her German-speaking Commonsblog (http://www.commonsblog.de); her recent book anthology of essays on the commons, Who Owns the World? The Rediscovery of the Commons, published in German, Spanish and partly English; and her articles, reports (especially “Commons: Prosperity by Sharing,” written with Rainer Kuhlen, Christian Siefkes and Wolfgang Sachs in 2010); and her consulting on the commons with civil society and academic organizations. Helfrich works with several scholars and bloggers on the commons, especially in Germany and Latin America. Helfrich speaks regularly about the commons in academic settings, political and ecumenical institutions and NGO/grassroots movement events mostly in Europe and Latin America.