Developing WILD Intelligence for an uncharted age.
We develop WILD Intelligence™ - the capacity to find a way through uncertainty - in young people, families, and the educators shaping them. In an era where AI accelerates everything, we develop the human capacities that make AI safer and more powerful - and that AI can help build.
The world your children are inheriting has no playbook.
The certainties that guided previous generations are dissolving - not just career paths, but life scripts, epistemic ground, and the promises about what hard work would earn. AI is among the most significant changes humanity has faced, and what distinguishes it from earlier disruptions is that it doesn't just displace: it accelerates and amplifies every other change already in motion. The institutions that were supposed to prepare the next generation are still teaching from yesterday's map.
The conventional response is to retool - teach coding, teach AI literacy, teach the skills of the moment. But the moment keeps changing. By the time the curriculum is written, the terrain has shifted again.
It's the capacity to navigate without them.
WILD Intelligence - Wisdom, Intention, Leadership, Discovery - is the set of human capacities that makes every other skill useful. It's what enables a young person to think clearly in confusion, hold direction when options are infinite, lead without a script, and learn faster than the ground shifts beneath them.
These capacities have always mattered. AI just made them essential.
developing Wild Intelligence in students, founders, educators, and leaders navigating real change - a 501(c)(3) since 2018
human-centered AI development programs for tomorrow's leaders and the organizations that serve them
in self-determination theory, adaptive leadership, and creativity science
framework created by a tenured professor of innovation and entrepreneurship
Four audiences. One shared intelligence.
Families
Parents and teenagers navigating the high-school-to-college transition, and younger families building these capacities across generations.
Educators
K–12 teachers, higher-ed faculty, and curriculum designers integrating uncertainty navigation into how they already teach.
School Communities
Independent schools, public districts, and university partners bringing WILD Intelligence into their communities at scale.
Foundation Partners
Program officers and funders investing in education innovation, AI literacy, and youth development during a transformational decade.
Four areas of focus.
We build programs that develop Wild Intelligence at the age and stage where it matters most. AI practice is integrated throughout - not as a separate subject but as part of the same work: using Wild Intelligence to work with AI well, and using AI to develop Wild Intelligence further.
Youth Programs
Ages 13–18. Building the four core capacities through experiential learning. A four-level developmental progression from Encounter through Guide, designed around how navigation capacity actually develops in young people. AI practice is woven in from the start - young people learn to use Wild Intelligence to work with AI well, and use AI to develop their Wild capacities further.
Interest list open · Fall 2026Educator Development
Workshops and training for K–12 and higher-ed faculty. Integrating uncertainty navigation into existing curricula - half-day workshops, semester PD series, and school-wide implementation partnerships. Includes direct AI practice: developing the Wild Intelligence that lets educators use AI with discernment, and teaching their students to do the same.
Partner schools · 2026–2027Teen + Parent Navigator
For families navigating the high-school-to-college transition. Develops WILD capabilities in both teens (15–18) and their parents simultaneously - because successful navigation requires the whole system to evolve. AI literacy is built in throughout - the tools shaping this transition are already in use, and Wild Intelligence is what makes them safe and generative.
Virtual cohorts · Fall 2026Family Navigation
All ages welcome. Workshop series, family navigation days, and intergenerational cohorts developing WILD Intelligence across generations - with younger children, multiple siblings, or through major family transitions. AI practice is woven throughout - developing these capacities together as a family, with real tools that are already part of daily life.
Workshops launching 2026Four capacities. One intelligence.
Wisdom
See what's true. Cut through noise and complexity to discern what actually matters.
Intention
Hold your direction. Maintain clarity when the options are infinite and the pressure is real.
Leadership
Create movement. Build the conditions where people can navigate what's never been mapped.
Discovery
Evolve in real time. Learn from every experiment. Adapt faster than the terrain shifts.
sparkWILD has been developing these capacities since 2016.
Nine years of developing these capacities in ourselves, in students, in founders, and in the leaders of organizations navigating real change - and operating as a 501(c)(3) since 2018. The structured programs launching in 2026 bring scale to work that has been underway since the beginning.
Design Days
Chris developed and ran a program where college students volunteered to teach design thinking, problem-solving, and the elements of WILD Intelligence to middle schoolers. The program wove into students' existing community projects - not replacing anything, just giving them a framework for identifying and solving real challenges in their own community.
Young people learning to see problems differently. Older students learning to teach. A community-anchored proof of how WILD Intelligence translates down to thirteen-year-olds.
Leading Into Uncharted Territory
Andrea has spent years working with nonprofit leaders and community organizations, helping leadership develop the capacity to wander into the wild - to make decisions when the map doesn't exist, build trust when every variable is in motion, and navigate uncharted solutions to problems that don't fit conventional frameworks.
The same practice now informs how the Institute develops capacity in teachers, parents, and young people. The method didn't begin with youth - it began with the adults who needed it most, and proved itself across sectors before it came home.
Who we are.
Andrea Greene
Executive Director · Co-founderAndrea leads the sparkWILD Institute. She evaluates, repairs, designs, and builds the human architecture underneath every system that actually works - the connection, trust, and motivation that become more important, not less, as AI handles more of the work.
Two decades of organizational leadership, including Fortune 50 HR experience at The Home Depot leading cultural integration through acquisitions across multiple states. President of Ruby Resorts and co-founder of The Ruby of Crested Butte, Colorado's highest-rated boutique inn across fifteen years of operation.
Andrea does not coach from a distance. She immerses - reading who is actually aligned, where the resistance lives, and which relationships are load-bearing - and brings that practice to families, educators, and the young people they shape. Grounded in a simple belief: culture is the real operating system, and you change it by changing relationships, not by announcing policies.
Chris W Greene
Founder · Creator of WILD IntelligenceChris created the WILD Intelligence framework the Institute teaches. Tenured professor of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship with fifteen years of university curriculum design, still active in higher education today. JD, University of Colorado. Certified Financial Manager. Stanford Innovation Certificate. IBM Enterprise Design Thinking and AI Practitioner certifications. Author of Wild Intelligence.
He contributes framework evolution, pedagogy consultation, and research direction to the Institute. His primary operational role is at The WILD Navigation Company, where he leads individual and organizational advisory work - including WILD×AI, his approach to the AI era grounded not in tool mastery but in sovereignty: developing the Wild Intelligence that makes AI work for people, and using AI to develop Wild Intelligence further.
Board of Directors
Governance & OversightThe sparkWILD Institute is establishing its founding board of directors, with planned expertise in nonprofit governance, education, and youth development. Board composition and governance documents are available to partners and funders upon request.
Shared Roots
The sparkWILD Institute and The WILD Navigation Company share founders and framework. The Institute serves young people, families, and educators. The Company serves individual and organizational advisory clients. Two organizations, two missions, one intellectual lineage.
Partner with us.
Donate
sparkWILD Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 82-4465246). Your contribution supports youth programs, educator training, and research into how WILD Intelligence develops.
sparkWILD Institute · 125 W Virginia Ave PMB 173, Gunnison CO 81230 · Charitable solicitation registration with the Colorado Secretary of State is in process. Colorado residents may obtain documents from the Office of the Secretary of State, Charities Program, 1700 Broadway Suite 550, Denver CO 80290, or at sos.state.co.us.
Partner
Schools, youth organizations, and foundations interested in integrating WILD Intelligence into their programs. We're actively seeking institutional partners for curriculum development and pilot programs.
Grant Inquiries
For foundation program officers exploring funding opportunities in human development, AI literacy, and educational innovation. Contact us to discuss alignment with your giving priorities.
Let's talk about what's possible.
Whether you're an educator, a parent, a funder, or someone who sees what's needed - we'd like to hear from you.
Get in Touch