Centripetus Corporation was founded by Joe Symons in 1991 initially to provide workshops for creative problem-solving. The company has evolved to serve as an umbrella for a number of initiatives consistent with balancing creative activity with the economic opportunities of living on a small island far from an urban center.

Armed with a secondary school education from Phillips Exeter, a B.A. cum laude from Amherst College, a MS and a Phd from the University of Washington, Joe has served as a software engineer for various startups, a professor of Urban and Regional Studies, a 20 year volunteer firefighter, a tenacious advocate for sustainable (and legal) long term land use planning, an author, a crystal-glaze ceramic pioneer, an architect and builder. He has served on the boards of several Orcas Island non-profits,  created the third OLPC XO school program in the nation—serving the Orcas Island Elementary School—where he offers weekly classes in XO programming for 10 year olds, and provides incubation, financial and infrastructure support for several island organic farms.