Energy and Climate Change Summit
Participant Biographies
June 5-7, 2006
| Ray Anderson Chairman of the Board; Interface Inc. |
Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Susan Anderson Director of Office of Sustainable Development City of Portland |
William Becker Senior Advisor Global Energy Center for Community Sustainability |
| Bob Berkebile, FAIA Principal BNIM Architects |
Scott Bernstein President Center for Neighborhood Technology |
| Dr. Michael D. Bertolucci President Interface Research Corp. |
Dr. Rosina M. Bierbaum Dean School of Natural Resources and Environment University of Michigan |
| Michael Bowman Board Member 25x25 |
Brian Castelli Executive Vice President Alliance to Save Energy |
| Eileen Claussen President Pew Center on Global Climate Change |
Tabitha Crawford Sustainability & Innovation Manager Actus Lend Lease |
| Larisa Dobriansky Deputy Assistant Secretary National Office of Energy Policy U.S. Department of Energy |
John R. Ehrmann Senior Partner Meridian Institute |
| S. Richard Fedrizzi (Rick) President and CEO U.S. Green Building Council |
Professor Jon Foley Director Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| Kathy Hadley Executive Director National Center for Appropriate Technology |
Maureen Hart Sustainable Measures |
| Wes Jackson President The Land Institute |
Jonathan Lash World Resources Institute |
| Chris Laszlo Partner and co-founder, Sustainable Value Partners, Inc. |
Keith Laughlin President Rails to Trails Conservancy |
| L. Hunter Lovins, Esq President Natural Capitalism Inc. |
Mindy S. Lubber Executive Director Ceres |
| Diana McClure Assistant Vice President for Business Protection Institute for Business and Home Safety |
Doug Newman Executive Director Global Energy Center for Community Sustainability |
| David Orr Director Environmental Studies Program AJ Lewis Center |
Jonathan Patz, MD Associate Professor and Director, Global Environmental Health Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies & Dept. Population Health Sciences University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| Matt Petersen President Global Green |
Terry Richard Summit Videographer Good Impressions, Inc. |
| Jeff Rickert Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff The Apollo Alliance |
Larry J. Schweiger President & CEO National Wildlife Federation |
| Thomas R. Scott Vice-President for Research San Diego State University |
Patricia Sinicropi Legislative Director Water Environment Federation |
| Alan Sweedler, Ph.D. Director, Center for Energy Studies and Environmental Sciences Office of International Programs San Diego State University |
Woody Tasch Chairman Investors Circle |
| Heidi VanGenderen Senior Associate Wirth Chair for Environmental and Community Development Policy |
Michael J. Walsh, Ph.D. Senior Vice President of Chicago Climate Exchange, Inc. |
| Carol Werner Executive Director Environmental and Energy Study Institute |
Roger Williams Program Manager ICLEI - USA, Inc. |
Ray C. Anderson is the Chairman of Interface, Inc.
In 1997, Ray described his vision for his company - then nearly a quarter-century old - this way:
"If we're successful, we'll spend the rest of our days harvesting yester year's carpets and other petrochemically derived products, and recycling them into new materials; and converting sunlight into energy; with zero scrap going to the landfill and zero emissions into the ecosystem. And we'll be doing well ... very well ... by doing good. That's the vision."
The entrepreneurial drive and competitive spirit that in 1973 drove Ray to found Interface - a company that would revolutionize the modern office environment with its modular carpet tile products - was the same catalyst for an environmental awakening that has once again transformed an industry. Today, Interface stands at the forefront of a new industrial revolution. The company has reduced its environmental footprint by one third, redesigning processes and products, pioneering new technologies and reducing or eliminating waste and harmful emissions while increasing the use of renewable materials and sources of energy.
Because the commitment Interface has made is so unique, the community has embraced the company and lauded its efforts. Today, Ray is recognized as one of the world's most environmentally progressive chief executives, having served as co-chairman of the President's Council on Sustainable Development during the Clinton administration; being recognized by Mikhail Gorbechev with a Millennium Award from Global Green in September 1996; receiving in 1996 the Ernest & Young Entrepreneur of Year for the Southeast Region and in 1997 as the Georgia Conservancy's Conservationist of the Year, and being honored by Southface Energy Institute with its Argon Award in 2000.
Ray's honors also include the prestigious George and Cynthia Mitchell International Prize for Sustainable Development, presented in 2001; the SAM-SPG Sustainability Leadership Award of 2001; the U.S. Green Building Council's Inaugural Leadership Award, 2002; and the National Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Award for Corporate Leadership, 2002. Ray was in 2003 named a Senior Fellow and Leading Voice for Green and Sustainable Design by the Design Futures Council. The International Interior Design Association presented Ray with its Star Award in 2004, and the Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics presented him with its National Ethics Advocate Award that year. In 2005, he received the Ally Award at the Possible Woman conference, as well as the Harvard Business School Atlanta Alumni's 2005 Community Leadership Award.
The World Business Academy honored Ray with its Global MindChange Business Responsibility Award in 2005, and the International Furnishings & Design Association's New York Chapter presented him with the Enlightened Manufacturer Award. The Children's Health and Environmental Coalition honored Ray with a Corporate Stewardship Award at its "One World, One Child" event in 2005.
An honors graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology, Ray learned the carpet trade through 14-plus years at various positions at Deering-Milliken and Callaway Mills, and in 1973, set about founding a company to produce the first free-lay carpet tiles in America. He developed a partnership with Britain's Carpets International Plc. that year, set up operations in LaGrange, Georgia, took over Carpets International 10 years later, and today commands the world's largest producer of commercial floorcoverings and one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in America, according to FORTUNE magazine, December 1997.
From corporate offices in Atlanta, Ray oversees a globally positioned company whose core business is still modular soft-surfaced floorcoverings. Interface has diversified and globalized its businesses, with sales in 110 countries and manufacturing facilities on four continents. In addition to carpet tiles and broadloom carpet marketed under several brands, Interface also manufactures and markets specialty fabrics, architectural products such as raised access flooring, and a variety of chemicals used in commercial office installations.
Ray serves on the boards of The Georgia Conservancy; Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper; Ida Cason Callaway Foundation; Rocky Mountain Institute; the University of Texas Center for Sustainable Development, Melaver, Inc. and is an honorary advisor to the President of Peking University. He holds honorary doctorates from Northland College (public service), LaGrange College (business), N.C. State University (humane letters), University of Southern Maine (humane letters), and The University of the South (doctor of civil law).
Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson was born in Logan, Utah and has lived in Salt Lake City for most of his life. He received a B.S. degree from the University of Utah and obtained his law degree from George Washington University. For twenty-one years, Anderson worked as an attorney specializing in civil litigation. During that time, he also worked as a community volunteer, serving on the boards of several community-based, non-profit organizations. As a volunteer, Anderson lobbied for stronger legislation pertaining to ethics and campaign finance reform. He also successfully lobbied for reform of Utah's child custody laws and criminal justice system.
Anderson took office as Salt Lake City's mayor on January 3, 2000. Anderson and his staff have established policies and initiatives to improve the quality of life for all Salt Lake City residents. Many of the Mayor's actions are guided by three important principles. First, Anderson is committed to open, honest, accountable government, guided by uncompromising ethical standards. Second, Anderson believes strongly in the value of diversity, promoting greater dialogue, understanding, and inclusiveness among people of different faiths, ages, genders, sexual orientations, races, economic circumstances and ethnic origins. Third, Anderson constantly looks to the future, making decisions that will make the city a better place in the long run.
While overseeing the daily workings of government—making sure the streets get cleaned, the garbage collected, and the parks maintained—and managing the city in a fiscally responsible manner, Anderson has advanced new initiatives and innovative programs. One of his first initiatives was motivated by his experience as a single parent. Struggling to find quality after-school programs for his son, he recognized the need for high-quality, affordable, flexible youth programs. As Mayor, he has created YouthCity, an initiative to create city-wide after-school, summer, employment, mentoring, and arts-education programs.
Anderson signed executive orders requiring a full-fledged affirmative action program in city hiring and another banning discrimination against city employees on the basis of race, creed, or sexual orientation. Anderson has worked tirelessly to encourage participation from the minority community in government. More than one-third of his staff and his nominations to boards and commissions are people from the minority community. Anderson also co-convened the Alliance for Unity, a non-partisan group of religious and community leaders working to build bridges between people throughout Utah.
Anderson prioritizes strengthening vulnerable neighborhoods and bringing economic development opportunities to all parts of Salt Lake City. Anderson is a strong supporter of small businesses and is actively engaged in an intense effort to revitalize Salt Lake City's historic Main Street area. These economic initiatives are guided by smart-growth principles. Anderson is a proponent of urban housing projects and mixed-use developments that encourage healthy, walkable communities and which do not perpetuate dependence on the automobile or promote sprawl development.
Anderson adheres to a philosophy of "practical environmentalism," taking steps that preserve our environment for the future, while enhancing our economy and quality of life now. His Salt Lake City Green program is perhaps the most comprehensive environmental program in the nation. A strong supporter of mass transit, Anderson continues to lobby for greater federal and state support for mass transit projects in order to build on the successes of existing light-rail projects he helped to complete.
Anderson has received national recognition for several initiatives, including an award from the US Conference of Mayors for his pedestrian safety initiative, Reclaiming the Streets. Anderson has also received recognition for Salt Lake City's part in the success of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Sports Illustrated called Anderson "the quick-witted mayor who has been a gracious and disarming host." Anderson has been invited to share lessons from the Games with several national groups, including the International Mayors Summit on Terrorism and Travel and the Homeland Security Task Force of the National League of Cities, on which Anderson serves. Anderson has also received recognition from the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives for his leadership on global warming issues.
Locally, the Salt Lake Tribune named Anderson "Utahn of the Year" for 2000. In 2001, the Downtown Merchants Association presented the Mayor their "Friend of the Merchant Award." For his environmental initiatives, the Sierra Club named Anderson "2002 Utah Political Leader of the Year." Issues 2002, a non-profit advocacy group that speaks on behalf of the homeless and the economically disadvantaged, also named Anderson "Elected Official of the Year" for 2002. Based on a survey of readers, Salt Lake City Weekly has named Mayor Anderson "Best Elected Official" each of his three years in office.
Nationally, Anderson has been an outspoken advocate for drug policy reform, speaking at several national conferences. Anderson has also pushed for better security at the nation's airports, overseeing Salt Lake City International Airport's effort to become the first in the nation to screen all checked baggage for explosives.
Susan Anderson is the Director of the City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development (OSD) -- a municipal agency working to ensure the environmental and economic health of Portland's businesses and neighborhoods. OSD brings government and business together in creative ways to solve community problems and create a vision for change.
Since 2000, Susan has led a movement toward sustainable practices in a city that has become recognized world-wide for its ability to envision policies, programs and educational outreach that turn concepts into practical solutions with measurable results.
OSD is responsible for city wide solid waste collection and recycling, energy conservation, renewable energy resources, sustainable construction practices, utility regulatory issues and a variety of environmental programs. OSD is the lead agency for implementing Portland's Local Action Plan on Global Warming -- A local plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 10 percent by 2010.
In 1993, under Susan's leadership at the Portland's Energy Office, the city became the first in the U.S. to adopt a global warming policy. To implement that policy, Susan promotes a consumer-oriented approach. "For example, that's what the whole green building program is about - energy efficiency integrated with creating a wonderful space where people want to live and work. We've seen the market take off when we've listened to the consumer, and given them what they want."
Over the years, Susan has worked with more than 30 communities to promote resource efficiency, the use of renewable resources and sustainable practices in commercial facilities, housing, transportation, land use planning and economic development. She is a frequent speaker at national and international symposiums on sustainable development and business/government partnerships.
Prior to her work with the City of Portland, Susan was director of an environmental consulting firm. She also held positions with the Oregon Department of Energy, was an environmental land use planner and a public relations professional.
She holds undergraduate and advanced degrees in Economics, Environmental Science and Urban and Regional Planning.
William Becker, 59, is senior advisor to the Global Energy Center for Community Sustainability and an adjunct faculty member in the Colorado Energy Research Institute at the Colorado School of Mines. He is on loan to both organizations from the U.S. Department of Energy, where he specialized in energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies and sustainable community development for 15 years.
Becker is regarded as one of DOE's principal experts on sustainable communities. After the Great Flood along the Mississippi River in 1993, he led a team of sustainable development experts that assisted two communities in relocating from the floodplain and rebuilding on higher ground with sustainable designs and technologies. In 1996, he founded and directed DOE's Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development and its Smart Communities Network web site, the "granddaddy" of sustainable community resources on the internet.
More recently, he co-led a team of US experts to Beijing to consult with Chinese officials on the "greening" of the Olympic Village for the 2008 Games; participated on an expert team that traveled to Thailand to provide advice on tsunami reconstruction; and served as an advisor for the "sustainable reconstruction" of a neighborhood in New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Becker is the former director of DOE's Central Regional Office, where he and his staff of 30 promoted the use of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in a 12-state area. In his diverse career, he has served as a war correspondent in South Vietnam, where he won a Bronze Star medal; writer/photographer for the Associated Press; publisher of his own weekly newspaper in rural Wisconsin; editorial writer and columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, WI.; associate director of the Wisconsin Energy Extension Service; research director for the Wisconsin State Senate; executive assistant to the Wisconsin Attorney General; Counselor to the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington, DC; and communications director for the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Becker's specialization in sustainable development began in the 1970s when he proposed and helped implement a pioneering project in which a Wisconsin community relocated from a floodplain and built the nation's first "solar village". The project has been featured in the television documentary "River Town", as well as in several books, including two authored by Becker: Come Rain, Come Shine, and The Making of a Solar Village.
Bob Berkebile, FAIA - Principal, BNIM Architects, Inc.
Bob Berkebile has extensive experience in historic preservation, including The Folly Theater, the Federal Reserve Bank, The Jackson County Courthouse, The White House and Old Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C. He has served as an advisor on historic preservation to two governors, two presidents, the Rockefeller Brothers' Fund and The National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Bob is also a leading authority in the field of sustainable design and is the founding chairman of the American Institute of Architects' National Committee on the Environment. He is a Principal of BNIM Architects, and Elements Consulting, and brings 40 years of diverse experience to the profession. Bob currently serves on the boards of The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Building News, The Center for Global Community, Athena and New Earth Organization; he was a member of the US Green Building Council board and currently serves on USGBC's Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee. He has conducted numerous sustainable design charrettes and workshops for the White House, DOD, DOE, NPS, FEMA and the Canadian Provincial Architects. He has lectured extensively at universities including Harvard, Cambridge, Stanford and Rice and at international conferences including The Earth Summit in Rio and UN or NSF conferences in Scotland, Sweden and Antarctica. Bob utilizes diverse collaborative teams, integrated design and creates new approaches and tools to restore social, economic and environmental vitality.
Some of his representative projects include the Noisette Development (a 3,000 acre redevelopment) in North Charleston, several benchmark projects for healthy, efficient facilities at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston (including an A.I.A. national Top Ten Green building), the Missouri Department of Natural Resources headquarters in Jefferson City LEED Platinum), and the Missouri Department of Conservation's Urban Conservation Campus in Kansas City.
Dr. Michael D. Bertolucci is the president of Interface Research Corporation (IRC), chairman of the Envirosense® Consortium, Inc. (a not-for-profit organization concerned with Indoor Air Quality) and senior vice president of Interface, Inc., a one billion dollar enterprise with over 5000 employees. With manufacturing sites in 7 countries around the world, Interface is the market leader in the sale of modular carpet tiles and commercial interior fabrics. As president, Dr. Bertolucci leads the parent company's mission to become the first name in industrial ecology and to provide new innovative solutions for Interface as it strives to eliminate its footprint on the environment and to become sustainable. He has served on the board of the not-for-profit CEO Coalition to Advance Sustainable Technology (CAST), the oversight committee of the National Research Council's Division on Earth and Life Studies and currently is a member of the National Academie of Science's Round Table on Science and Technology for Sustainability.
Prior to coming to IRC, Mike spent six years as Vice President of Technology for Highland Industries, an industrial fabrics company, fifteen years in numerous research and development management posts with the General Electric Plastics Business Group, and four years in chemical research at Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics.
Dr. Bertolucci received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and his BS degree in Chemistry from San Jose State. He holds numerous patents and publications in material science, and is a co-author of "Symmetry and Spectroscopy", a graduate level text book in Chemical Physics.
Rosina Bierbaum is The Dean and Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy at the School of Natural Resources and Environment, The University of Michigan.
Her scholarship and professional activities focus on bridging the gap between policy and science, and on translating science into usable information for society's decision makers.
Before coming to the University of Michigan in 2001, Dr. Bierbaum served both the U.S. Congress and the U.S. President through twenty years of science policy leadership in Washington, D.C. As Acting Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), she was the Administration's senior scientific advisor on environmental research and development, with responsibilities for scientific input and guidance on a wide range of national and international environmental issues. She currently serves on the boards of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR); the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); the National Research Council's Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate; the Federation of American Scientists; the Environmental and Energy Study Institute; the Energy Foundation; the Design Committee for The Heinz Center's The State of the Nation's Ecosystems project; and the Executive Committee for the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.
Dr. Bierbaum received her B.S. in Biology and B.A. in English from Boston College, and earned her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.
Mike Bowman is a fifth-generation native of Colorado born and raised on the family's Yuma County farm. Throughout his adult life he has been active in the development of his home community, Wray, CO. Wray (pop. 2000) was named an All-America City in 1993, the smallest town at that time to have that distinction. One of the catalysts for the AMC award was the construction of the Wray Rehabilitation and Activities Center, a community centerpiece of which Mike was a founding director. Mike serves on the National Advisory Council for both the Heartland Center for Leadership Development (Lincoln, NE) and Holistic Management International (Albuquerque). He has spent significant time in Zimbabwe through HMI, serving the community needs of the Hwange Communal lands in northwestern Zimbabwe and co-chairs a school food program for children of that community. He serves as a national steering committee member for the Ag Energy Working Group "25x'25" (www.25x25.org), and leads the 25x'25 state alliance formation. Mike is a member of the Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on Climate Change and Agriculture, recently presenting on American agriculture in Brussels; a steering committee member for the Colorado Apollo Alliance, representing the interests of Colorado agriculture and rural communities, and was Summit Chair for the recent Intermountain Harvesting Energy Network Conference , a regional effort to promote energy from agriculture in the Intermountain West (www.harvestenergy.org). He is a member of the Colorado Agriculture and Rural Leadership program and is a Bighorn Fellow.
Brian T. Castelli brings nearly 30 years of national and international experience in the energy field, including expertise in energy efficiency, renewables, emission reductions, and electricity demand reduction, to the Alliance to Save Energy as executive vice president and chief operating officer. Prior to joining the Alliance's senior management team in July 2005, Castelli ran his own energy consulting firm.
Among his varied endeavors, he was the federal energy liaison for the California Energy Commission, one of the nation's premier state energy offices; a principal with the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions, a one stop shop helping businesses and states adopt high-level strategies for saving energy and cutting pollution; and a consultant to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) where he organized a High Technology Council (comprised of communications and information technology leaders) to advise EPRI's Intelligent Grid program.
Castelli also consulted with the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) where, on behalf of the National Energy Technology Laboratory, he conducted a series of public workshops in 14 western states on advanced, highly-efficient turbines and fuel cells that involved manufacturers, developers, utilities, and state and federal energy and environmental officials.
As a presidential appointee, Castelli served as chief of staff to the U.S. Department of Energy's assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy from 1994 to 2001. He managed 550 staff and more than $1 billion in programs and research, development, and deployment initiatives and directed the development and implementation of clean energy policies and programs.
Castelli also led and participated in missions to Western Hemisphere, European, and former Soviet Union countries and was also deeply involved in developing energy-efficiency measures for the eventual closure of the nuclear reactors in Chornobyl, Ukraine.
Prior to DOE, Castelli was appointed in 1988 by Gov. Bob Casey to the Pennsylvania Energy Office (PEO), for three years as deputy director for administration and public affairs and then as executive director, through 1994. As executive director he ran the commonwealth's energy policies and programs, managed the state energy office and the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, and took the lead on responding to energy emergencies.
Notably, he developed a revolving loan fund for energy-efficiency measures and a "Green Buildings" program for cutting energy use and costs in all commonwealth-owned or operated buildings, and he drafted legislation for and implemented an alternative fuel program. As the PEO's deputy director, Castelli's responsibilities included administration, budgeting, public information, and energy program policies. He also created more effective financial assistance and energy outreach programs and served as the PEO's liaison to delegations of state and federal legislators.
Earlier in his career, Castelli was vice president of finance for The National Center for Appropriate Technology; senior vice president and cofounder of CEXEC; and financial analyst with the Federal Energy Administration. He has authored many articles, studies, and reports on energy-related issues, served on various boards of directors, and made presentations in many state, national, and international forums and conferences.
Castelli holds two degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, a bachelor of science in chemical engineering and an MBA in industrial/environmental management from the university's Wharton School.
Larisa Dobriansky is Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Energy Policy at the U.S. Department of Energy. She coordinates and provides strategic policy direction for Departmental activities to implement national energy policy objectives. As manager of such programs as the U.S. Clean Energy Initiative's Efficient Energy for Sustainable Development Partnership and the lead for the new APEC Energy Working Group's Task Force on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Financing, she has focused on the technology innovation process and the development of risk-based policy tools and financial products to accelerate clean energy technologies into the marketplace. In representing DOE in bilateral and multilateral forums such as, the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) and the U.S.-China Joint Working Group on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she has strived to foster effective public-private partnerships, the transfer of clean energy technologies to developing countries, and market development through the building of local commercial infrastructure and enterprises.
Her special areas of expertise are designing market development strategies for commercializing clean energy technologies, facilitating locally-managed financing programs in developing countries for energy efficiency and renewable energy, and structuring risk-sharing public-private partnerships to accelerate market transformation to best practices and cleaner technologies.
Formerly, Ms. Dobriansky was senior counsel in the Washington office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P., focusing on environmental and energy policy issues. Ms. Dobriansky joined the firm after serving in senior legal and public policy positions in the executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government.
Prior to joining the firm of Akin Gump, Ms. Dobriansky served as senior counsel to the Subcommittee on National Economic Growth, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives. In that capacity, she was responsible for the oversight and investigation of all federal environmental and energy agencies and for legislative actions to reform environmental management.
From 1992 until 1995, Ms. Dobriansky was a deputy assistant general counsel in the Office of General Counsel, U.S. Department of Energy, where she served as a leading advocate of DOE legal and policy positions on regulating the environmental impacts of energy systems; balancing energy, environmental and trade interests; and promoting the transfer of clean energy technologies.
Ms. Dobriansky received her B.S.F.S. cum laude in international relations in 1973, J.D. in 1977 and L.L.M. in securities regulation and taxation in 1990 from Georgetown University. She is a member of the District of Columbia and Virginia Bars.
Eileen Claussen is the President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and Strategies for the Global Environment. Ms. Claussen is the former Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Prior to joining the Department of State, Ms. Claussen served for three years as a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Global Environmental Affairs at the National Security Council. She has also served as Chairman of the United Nations Multilateral Montreal Protocol Fund. Ms. Claussen was Director of Atmospheric Programs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she was responsible for activities related to the depletion of the ozone layer; Title IV of the Clean Air Act; the Clean Air Accord with Canada; and the EPA's energy efficiency programs, including the Green Lights program and the Energy Star program.
Currently, Ms. Claussen is a member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Law Institute; Council on Foreign Relations; China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development; the Board of Visitors of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and the UK's Sustainable Energy Policy Advisory Board. She also served as a Commissioner on the Pew Oceans Commission.
Ms. Claussen is the recipient of the Department of State's Career Achievement Award, and the Distinguished Executive Award for Sustained Extraordinary Accomplishment. She also served as the Timothy Atkeson Scholar in Residence at Yale University.
Tabitha Crawford is currently employed by Actus Lend Lease where she has led the Innovation Team the last two years. In this position she reshaped residential utilities billing policies and defined energy modeling methods, through collaboration with the Department of Energy, for the U.S. Army's Residential Communities Initiative. Tabitha created "SYNERGY" (Saving Your Nation's Energy)—a program focused on grassroots education and energy conservation for military communities, and has championed the Connected Homes program which partners with the Army and Boston University to provide socially sustainable programs not yet available to the public in: telemedicine, learning development, home energy and money management.
Ms. Crawford has also developed an active alliance with the Partnership for Advancement of Technology in Housing that includes: integrating sustainable design techniques, obtaining funding from Housing and Urban Development for environmental innovation, and bringing best practice construction techniques to suit the varying climates around the 34,000 homes being built and managed by Actus Lend Lease. Tabitha recently accepted the role of SVP Sustainability & Innovation for Actus Lend Lease upon her completion of the Community Development & Management Plan at Fort Knox—a $220 Million residential development.
Born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Tabitha has a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from the University of Louisville (Louisville, KY), a Masters in Business Administration from the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University (Fairfield, CT), and a Masters in Bank Management from the Graduate School of Retail Bank Management held at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA). In recent years, Ms. Crawford has served on the Board of Directors for the Government Electronics Industry Association as well as the Government Advisory Board for the National Automated Clearing House Association.
Tabitha began her career in information technology at Capital Holding Corporation in Louisville, KY. Later, she served as Vice President of Government Services for Fort Knox National Company where was nominated for a Naval Design Award for her contribution to the Public Private Partnership Program for off-base housing referrals. Tabitha became a member and trainer for the Professional Housing Management Association—serving as a catalyst for developing effective military housing alternatives. She served as an advisor to the Navy Housing Policy Committee in 1999.
Ms. Crawford was named CEO of Military Assistance Company (MAC) in August 2000 where she developed the only direct link to the Department of Defense's payroll systems. This historical first created the mechanism to secure cash flow to Army, Air Force and Navy Privatized Housing Partnerships. While involved in the American Society of Military Comptrollers, Tabitha was additionally responsible for strategic relationships with clients including: AAFES, NEXCOM, Household International, General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, and GE Capital.
Active in her local community, Tabitha is a member of the Association of the United States Army and the CORE Committee at Fort Knox. Ms. Crawford was made an Honorary Kentucky Colonel by Governor Ernie Fletcher in 2004 for her community and state involvement.
Ms. Crawford is a new resident in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, Mason, and two sons. Mason is an Agricultural Science Teacher who is actively involved in numerous community and state events through the National FFA Organization.
John R. Ehrmann is a founder and Senior Partner of the Meridian Institute. He has pioneered the use of collaborative processes for over two decades at the local, national and international level. He has led projects in national and international forums; in public policy arenas involving legislation, negotiated regulations and Federal Advisory Committees; in organizational management settings; in communities and site-specific disputes; and with stakeholder groups advising individual companies. For the most part, his work has focused on the environment, natural resources issues, health and the economic and social challenges associated with developing sustainable practices for communities and industries.
In addition to his extensive involvement in facilitating collaborative processes, Dr. Ehrmann also works to promote the use of collaborative decision-making. He lectures and has published numerous articles on collaborative decisions in public policy issues. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member for the University of Wyoming and provides advice to the Ruckelshaus Institute and School of Environment and Natural Resources on the use of collaborative problem solving in natural resource decision-making.
Dr. Ehrmann received his undergraduate degree from Macalester College and his Ph.D. in Natural Resource Policy and Environmental Dispute Resolution from the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources. His doctoral dissertation involved developing a practice-based model of the policy dialogue, which can be applied to both practice and research. Between 1983 and 1997, Dr. Ehrmann was executive vice president at the Keystone Center, Keystone, Colorado. In September 1997, he became one of the founders of the Meridian Institute.
Rick Fedrizzi, founding chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), was appointed President & CEO of USGBC in April 2004. Under his leadership, the Council has embarked on a new era of growth, openness, and transparency. Rick has spearheaded a number of critical initiatives, including a major refinement of the LEED Rating System, integration and capacity building for the Council's 60+ local Chapters, and an internal reorganization to align the Council's resources with its strategic goals. Since Rick joined the Council, USGBC has launched two new rating systems, LEED for Existing Buildings and LEED for Commercial Interiors; commenced work on LEED Version 3; upgraded and increased its educational offerings; doubled in staff size; and welcomed nearly 3,000 new members, including a new category for professional and trade associations, to the USGBC community.
Prior to his appointment, Rick was the founder and president of Green-Think, an environmentally focused marketing and communications consulting firm. Rick founded Green-Think after a distinguished 25-year career at United Technologies Corporation (UTC), where he served as an in-house environmental marketing consultant. Rick is the Past President of the World Green Building Council (1999-2004) and has worked closely with the Chinese government to develop a framework for the creation of a Chinese Green Building Council. He serves on the Board of Directors of the New York Indoor Environmental Quality (NYIEQ) Center and The Environmental Project™.
Professor Jon Foley is the Director of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) at the University of Wisconsin, where he is also the Gaylord Nelson Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences.
Foley's work focuses on the behavior of complex global environmental systems and their interactions with human societies. In particular, Foley's research group uses state-of-the-art computer models and satellite measurements to analyze changes in land use, ecosystems, climate and freshwater resources across local, regional and global scales. He and his students and colleagues have contributed to our understanding of large-scale ecosystem processes, global patterns of land use, the behavior of the planet's water and carbon cycles, and the interactions between ecosystems and the atmosphere.
Foley joined the University of Wisconsin faculty in 1993 as the first Bryson Distinguished Professor of Climate, People and Environment. He has won numerous awards and honors, including the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Award, the Samuel C. Johnson Distinguished Faculty Fellowship, the J.S. McDonnell Foundation's 21st Century Science Award, and the Sustainability Science Award from the Ecological Society of America. In 1997, President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He has also been named a Vilas Associate and Romnes Fellow of the University of Wisconsin, and an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow of the Ecological Society of America. He is currently the Chief Editor of the interdisciplinary scientific journal, Earth Interactions.
Kathy Hadley is the Executive Director for the National Center for Appropriate Technology, a national non-profit organization, founded in 1976 whose mission is to help people by championing small-scale, local, and sustainable solutions to reduce poverty, promote healthy communities, and protect natural resources. She has more than 20 years of nonprofit management experience focused primarily on sustainable energy, communities and agriculture. Prior to joining NCAT, she worked for the State of Montana, Energy Division as a Bureau Chief managing the Major Facility Siting Act and Montana Environmental Policy Act permit applications for new energy facilities and developing environmental impact statements on proposed dams, high voltage transmission lines and pipelines. Hadley has served on numerous natural resource, conservation, and energy boards, commissions and state advisory committees including the Electric Utility Industry Restructuring Legislative Advisory Committee, and Montana Power's Universal System Benefit Programs Advisory Committee. Currently, she is currently a board member of the National Wildlife Federation, the Montana Policy Institute and the Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund. She has a B.S. and a M.S. in Biology from the State University College at Buffalo.
Wes Jackson, President of The Land Institute (founded in 1976), was born in 1936 on a farm near Topeka , Kansas . After attending Kansas Wesleyan (B.A Biology, 1958), he studied botany (M.A. University of Kansas, 1960) and genetics (Ph.D. North Carolina State University, 1967). He was a professor of biology at Kansas Wesleyan and later established the Environmental Studies program at California State University, Sacramento, where he became a tenured full professor. He resigned that position in 1976.
Dr. Jackson's writings include both papers and books. His most recent work, Rooted in the Land: Essays on Community and Place, co-edited with William Vitek, was released by Yale University Press in 1996. Becoming Native to This Place was published in 1994 and sketches his vision for the resettlement of America's rural communities. Altars of Unhewn Stone appeared in 1987 and Meeting the Expectations of the Land, edited with Wendell Berry and Bruce Colman, was published in 1984. New Roots for Agriculture, 1980, outlines the basis for the agricultural research at The Land Institute.
The work of The Land Institute has been featured extensively in the popular media including The Atlantic Monthly, Audubon, The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, and National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." Life magazine named Wes Jackson as one of 18 individuals they predict will be among the 100 "important Americans of the 20th century." In the November 2005 issue, Smithsonian named him one of "35 Who Made a Difference." He is a recipient of the Pew Conservation Scholars award (1990), a MacArthur Fellowship (1992), and Right Livelihood Award, known as "Alternative Nobel Prize" (2000).
Jonathan Lash is president of the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global environmental think tank that goes beyond research to provide practical solutions to problems of environment and development. During the past ten years under his leadership, WRI has pioneered the use of digital technologies to solve environmental problems, engaged the business community in helping to foster development that is sustainable, and created new mechanisms to empower civil society groups.
From 1993 until 1999, Mr. Lash served as co chair of the President's Council on Sustainable Development, a group of U.S. government, business, labor, civil rights, and environmental leaders that developed visionary recommendations for strategies to promote sustainable development.
Mr. Lash is a member of the board of the Institute for Sustainable Communities, the Wallace Global Fund, the Avina Foundation, and the Heinz Center, and of the advisory board of Generation Investment Management.
He has served on a broad range of national and international groups, including: the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's Round Table on Sustainable Development; the Tata Energy and Resources Institute (India); the Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation (Japan); the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development; and the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (Japan).
Before joining WRI, Mr. Lash directed the environmental law and policy program of the Vermont Law School. From 1987 to 1990, he headed the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, having served the previous two years as Vermont's Commissioner of Environmental Conservation. During his tenure in Vermont government, Mr. Lash helped write a score of innovative statutes on issues ranging from pollution prevention and solid waste management to protection of pristine streams. In 1990 he became director of the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School.
A former Peace Corps volunteer and a former federal prosecutor, Mr. Lash also worked as a senior staff attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) from 1978 to 1985, litigating on issues related to public lands, federal coal leasing, strip mining, and energy conservation, and authoring two books.
Mr. Lash earned his baccalaureate degree from Harvard University and his masters and law degrees from the Catholic University of America.
The World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org) is an international environmental research and policy organization that creates solutions to protect the Earth and improve people's lives.
Chris Laszlo is a partner and co-founder of Sustainable Value Partners, Inc., a strategy consulting firm working with senior leaders in some of the world's largest companies to transform societal opportunities and risks into sources of competitive advantage. He has led over 50 executive seminars and spoken widely on "Sustainability for business advantage" inside companies and at leading business schools including Case Weatherhead, Darden, Kenan-Flagler, and the European business school INSEAD in the Advanced Management Seminar and CEDEP Executive Education program.
For nearly ten years, he was an executive at Lafarge S.A., a world leader in building materials, holding positions as head of strategy, general manager of a manufacturing subsidiary, and vice president of business development.
Prior to that he spent five years with Deloitte & Touche, where he consulted on strategy to global industry leaders.
Educated at Swarthmore College, Columbia University, and the University of Paris, Chris earned a Ph.D. in Economics and Management Science. His latest book is The Sustainable Company: How to Create Lasting Value through Social and Environmental Performance, Island Press, October 2003. (Paperback July 2005)
Keith Laughlin has been president of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) since February 2001. RTC is a national organization with more than 100,000 members dedicated to transforming unused rail lines into multipurpose trails. Since its founding in 1986, RTC has worked with communities to create almost 14,000 miles of rail-trail. Keith is responsible for overseeing all aspects of RTC's trail building, policy advocacy and public education work.
Before joining RTC, Keith had more than 20 years of governmental experience in Washington, D.C. He served for eight years in the White House Council on Environmental Quality as Associate Director for Sustainable Development. Before joining the executive branch, Keith was a senior staff person in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years.
L. Hunter Lovins, Esq., is the president and
founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions and
co-creator of the Natural Capitalism concept.
In 1982 she co-founded Rocky Mountain
Institute and led that organization as its CEO
for Strategy until 2002. Under her leadership,
RMI grew into an internationally recognized
research center, widely celebrated for its
innovative thinking in
energy and resource
issues. By the time
Hunter left, the
institute had grown to
a staff of 50 people
and a $7 million
annual budget, half of
it earned through
programmatic
enterprise.
In 2001, Hunter was
named one of four
people from North
America to serve as a
delegate to the United
Nations Prep
Conference for Europe
and North America for
the World Summit on
Sustainable
Development. She
served as a
Commissioner in the
State of the World
Forum's Commission on Globalization, cochaired
by Mikhail Gorbachev, and Jane
Goodall.
Lovins has co-authored nine books and dozens
of papers, and was featured in the awardwinning
film, Lovins On the Soft Path. Her latest book, Natural Capitalism, co-authored
with Amory Lovins and business author Paul
Hawken, was released in September 1999. It
has been translated into a dozen languages and
was the subject of a Harvard Business Review
summary. Recent articles by Hunter have
appeared in World Link, World Business
Academy Review, American Prospect and Los
Angeles Times.
Trained as a lawyer
(JD, Loyola
University School of
Law, Los Angeles),
Lovins has managed
international nonprofits,
created
several corporations,
and is in great
demand as a speaker
and consultant. Her
areas of interest and
expertise include
Natural Capitalism,
globalization,
economic
development,
governance, land
management, energy,
water, green realestate
development
and community
economic
development. She
has taught at dozens of universities, including
an engagement as the Henry R. Luce Visiting
Professor at Dartmouth College. She is
currently Professor of Business at Presidio
School of Management in the first accredited
MBA program in Sustainable Management.
Sustainibility in Action
Lovins has consulted for governments and
the private sector, briefing senior
management at such organizations as the
international finance corporation, Interface,
Inc., Bank of America, Allstate, Calvert
Social Investment Fund, Royal Dutch/Shell
Group, and numerous utility companies.
Lovins' public-sector clients have included
the U.S. Defense Civil Preparedness Agency
of the pentagon, Environmental Protection
Agency, the Bonneville Power
Administration, the Solar Energy Research
Institute, and the German Federal Environment Agency. She has addressed such audiences as
the U.S. Congress, The World Economic Forum at Davos, the World's Fair Energy Symposia,
the Industrial Designers Society's WorlDesign, the Epiphany service at the Cathedral of St. John
the Divine, the State of the World Forum, Bioneers, the Global Economic Forum, the World
Watch State of the World Conference and hundreds of conferences and college symposia. She
has appeared on numerous television shows including "60 Minutes," "Good Morning America,"
Pat Robertson's "700 Club," Today, Bill Moyers' "NOW," and hundreds of news programs.
Awards
Lovins shared a 1982 Mitchell Prize for an essay on reallocating utility capital, a 1983 Right
Livelihood Award (often called the "alternative Nobel Prize"), a 1993 Nissan Award for an
article on Hypercars, and the 1999 Lindbergh Award for Environment and Technology. She has
received several honorary doctorates. In 2000 she was named a "Hero for the Planet" by Time
Magazine, and received the Loyola University award for Outstanding Community Service. In
2001 she received the Leadership in Business Award and shared the Shingo Prize for
Manufacturing Research.
Corporate Service
Lovins has served on the Boards of one government, three private corporations and many public
interest groups. She advises numerous companies and nonprofits, including
GreenMountain.com. She was a founding director of RMI's second for-profit spin-off, E source,
until its 1999 sale for $18 million to the Financial Times group.
Personal
In her spare time, Hunter is a volunteer firefighter and an EMT. She is also President of
Nighthawk Horse Company and is active in training polocrosse horses and competing at
polocrosse and rodeo.
Mindy S. Lubber is the President of Ceres, the leading U.S. coalition of investors and environmental leaders working to improve corporate environmental, social and governance practices. She is also the Director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), an alliance of institutional investors that coordinates U.S. investor responses to the financial risks and opportunities posed by climate change.Ms. Lubber has held leadership positions in government as Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; in the financial services sector as Founder, President and CEO of Green Century Capital Management, an investment firm managing environmentally screened mutual funds; in the private sector as the President of an environmental law and policy consulting group; and in the not-for-profit sector for more than a decade leading environmental and public interest law organizations, including the National Environmental Law Center, which she founded. She received her JD from Suffolk University, and her MBA from State University of New York, Buffalo.
Doug Newman is Executive Director of the Global Energy Center for Community Sustainability at the Gas Technology Institute. Mr. Newman has 21 years of experience in national environmental policy analysis and program development. Prior to joining GTI, he served in a number of senior career posts in the U.S. government, and as a private-sector business consultant and entrepreneur.
His government posts included: Special Programs Manager for three Administrators of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, responsible for the development of environmental technology transfer initiatives and leveraged fundraising through public-private partnerships; Member of the President's National Council on Public Works Improvement, providing expertise on innovative financing for construction of municipal wastewater treatment plants; Founder and Staff Director of the Administrator's national external advisory committee on environmental technology, education and training; Co-Creator and first Programs Director of the Congressionally-chartered National Environmental Education and Training Foundation; and Director of External Affairs for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), managing business, industry, legislative and intergovernmental affairs for the nation's principal Earth sciences agency.
In addition to his public service, Mr. Newman founded and operated two consulting businesses specializing in community-based environmental management, organizational development and marketing and Earth sciences education. His commercial clients included Discovery Communications (the Discovery Channel Network), General Electric, GeoSpehere, Pratt & Whitney-Canada, Samsonite-American Tourister, SES-ASTRA and the U.S. Department of Commerce - National Ocean Service. Mr. Newman holds Masters Degrees in Urban and Regional Planning and in Public Policy and Administration from the University Wisconsin at Madison, and a BS in Urban Studies/Planning from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis.
Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH, is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and also an Affiliate Scientist of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
He has served as Co-chair for the health sector expert panel of the US National Assessment on Climate Variability and Change, Convening Lead Author for the United Nations/World Bank Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and lead author on several United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and WHO monographs on climate change. He is Co-Editor for the journal, Ecohealth: Conservation Medicine and Ecosystem Sustainability, and Co-editor of the textbook, Ecosystem Change and Public Health: A Global Perspective (2001), and has written over 60 peer-reviewed papers addressing the health effects of global environmental change.
From 1996-2000, he was principal investigator for the largest US multi-institutional study on climate change health risks and has briefed the US Congress, Administration, and federal agency leaders. His areas of research investigation include effects of climate change on heat waves, air pollution and water- and vector-borne diseases, as well as links between deforestation and malaria in the Amazon.
He has earned medical board certification in both Occupational/Environmental Medicine and Family Medicine and received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and his Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Johns Hopkins University. In 2005, he received an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows Award.
Matt Petersen, Global Green USA President, CEO and board member, joined Global Green USA in 1994. He serves on the Council of Green Cross International, and is Chair of the GCI Energy and Resource Efficiency program. Petersen drives and guides Global Green USA's new programs, including work on water and energy, green power, climate change, and nuclear weapons.
Previously, Petersen served as Executive Director of Americans for a Safe Future and was a political campaign manager for candidates at the local, state, and federal level. Petersen as an advisor to the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and serves on the Environmental Media Association (EMA) Advisory Board. Petersen is also active in his community as a member of the Santa Monica Task Force on the Environment. He and his wife Leila Conners Petersen live with their son Aidan in Santa Monica, California.
Terry Richard was a television reporter for almost twenty years and now produces a broad spectrum of videos. He uses his story telling talents from the broadcast world to creating safety, marketing and training
videos; half hour television programs and commercials; educational and instructional videos; and documenting events. Projects include producing videos for a nationally known bronze artist, marketing
emerging businesses, documenting historical re-enactments, creating
tourism videos for Chambers of Commerce, and developing fund raising
videos. Living in Woodland, WA, this Vietnam Veteran donates his
creative talents to a variety of causes and charities each year.
Larry J. Schweiger became President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in March 2004. Previously, he served for eight years as President and CEO of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), where he pioneered and promoted a number of programs including expanded ecological research. He increased visibility for WPC through public advocacy and community garden and greening projects.
Prior to joining WPC, Mr. Schweiger was first vice president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation where he was responsible for the Foundation's resource protection, land trust activities and advocacy programs.
In an earlier tour at NWF from 1981 to 1995, he served in several positions, including publisher of the magazines, senior vice president for constituent development and conservation action, and vice president of NWF's affiliate and regional programs department.
Mr. Schweiger is an active community leader, having served on more than 40 governing boards, commissions and committees. He has received many awards for his efforts in conservation including the Distinguished Service Award for Special Conservation Achievement from NWF in June 1995, and the Conservation Service Award from the Christian Environmental Association in September 1995. He was selected as Pennsylvania's Environmental Professional of the Year in 2002.
Thomas R. Scott
Education -- A.B., Princeton, 1966
Ph.D., Duke, 1970 (Biological Psychology)
Further Collaborations -- Rockefeller U., 1980-82
Oxford U., 1984
Japanese Institute of Physiology, 1987-88
Osaka U., 1998
Professional Positions -- Professor of Psychology and Biology, U. Delaware, 1970-2000
Chair of Psychology, U. Delaware, 1983-92
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Study, U. D., 1992-97
Dean of Sciences, San Diego State U., 2000-05
Vice-President for Research, S.D.S.U., 2005-present
C.E.O. of S.D.S.U. Research Foundation, 2006-present
Areas of Research -- neural coding of gustatory information in the CNS neural correlates of food selection and hedonics.
Refered Publications -- ca. 125
Research Support -- NIH, 1971-2004
NSF, 1985-2000
Assorted industry and foundation support
Patricia Sinicropi is Legislative Counsel for the Water Environment Federation in which capacity she is responsible for WEF's legislative program, outreach to Members of Congress and managing policy development. Ms. Sinicropi has extensive experience in the field of sustainable development. She served on staff for the President's Council on Sustainable Development as deputy director for the National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America, held in Detroit in 1999. She also served as special advisor for sustainable development to the Deputy Secretary for U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Clinton Administration, where she coordinated the Agency's efforts on behalf of the White House Livable Communities Initiative. Just prior to joining the Water Environment Federation, Ms. Sinicropi represented various community development organizations, including the Community Development Venture Capital Association, a trade association for venture capital funds dedicated to double and triple bottom line investing. Ms. Sinicropi received her J.D. from the University of Maine Law School, and an undergraduate degree in History from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Alan Sweedler has been a leader in developing energy policy and researching energy issues for over 25 years. Among his major accomplishments are the formation of the San Diego Regional Energy Office where he is currently serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors, and the San Diego Association of Government's (SANDAG) Border Energy Issues Group of which he is a member and one of the founders. He is currently Director of the Center for Energy Studies and Environmental Sciences Program at San Diego State University where he is Professor of Physics and also the University's Assistant Vice President for International Programs.
Just recently selected as Chairman of the San Diego Regional Energy Office, Alan has served on its Board of Directors since it was created in 1996. He is also a member of SANDAG's Energy Working Group and a founding member of the Renewable Energy Working Group, a collaborative effort between SDSU, SDG&E, SANDAG, Qualcomm and the San Diego Regional Energy Office. Additionally he was an active participant on the Regional Energy Advisory Council, which drafted the 2003 San Diego Regional Energy Strategy, the official energy plan for the San Diego Region. Previously he served as Vice-Chair of the SANDAG committee that drafted the 1994 San Diego Regional Energy Plan.
His regional focus has been energy planning and policy and the impact of energy use in San Diego and the California -Mexican Binational Region. Some of his recent publications include Energy Issues in the U.S.-Mexican Border Region, Air Pollution in the California-Baja California Border Region, and Power Plant Development in the California-Baja California Binational Region. He was a Ford Foundation Fellow at the University of Chile from 1970-72 and a research physicist at the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory from 1972 to 1978. Dr. Sweedler was chosen as one of two Congressional Science Fellows in 1985 and served for one year in the U.S. Senate, working in the office of Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) on energy, security and U.S.-Mexico issues. He is a member of the Pacific Council on Foreign Relations, the west coast arm of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Alan is married with three children and four grand children. He has been a resident of San Diego County for 36 years.
CURRENT POSITIONS
- Director, Center for Energy Studies
Professor of Physics
Assistant Vice President, International Programs
San Diego State University (SDSU)
San Diego, California
-
Chair and Founding Board Member
San Diego Regional Energy Office
San Diego, California
Woody Tasch currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Investors' Circle, a national network dedicated to "Patient Capital for a Sustainable Future." Since 1992, Investors' Circle members have invested over $107 million in 171 deals, in such areas as environment, healthcare, education, women-led companies and community development. In 2001, the Circle launched Commons Capital, an affiliated $13.5 million venture fund. In 2002, the Circle established the IC Foundation, dedicated to research, education and advocacy regarding social return on investment, mission-related investing and for-profit social entrepreneurship. Woody is Chairman of Chelsea Green Publishing, a leading publisher of books on sustainable living. In the 1990s, he was Treasurer of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, an environmental grantmaker that has pioneered strategies for integrating philanthropic mission and asset management. He also managed the foundation's venture capital portfolio. Woody has worked as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, Board member and consultant with such organizations as Prince Ventures (a healthcare venture fund), Healthdata International, CERES (the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies), National Mentor, Greenway and the Nantucket Education Trust. He was founding Chair of the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance and the Nantucket Sustainable Development Corporation. He is the author of articles and essays on redefining fiduciary responsibility
Heidi VanGenderen serves as Senior Associate to the Wirth Chair in Environmental and Community Development Policy at the University of Colorado where she organizes, researches and writes about issues relating to sustainable development. The Chair's mission is to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of public policy as it relates to sustainability. The Chair conducts forums, seminars and workshops, as well as collaborative projects with a broad array of community partners.
As primary staff to the Energy Program of the Chair, Heidi has focused on energy and carbon policy and in that capacity has expanded particular knowledge about the policy and politics of energy and greenhouse gas emissions. She has an over twenty year work history on natural resource issues and in politics with work experience ranging from service to the United Nations Environment Programme to serving as Congressional staff. She is a graduate of Carleton College and is a third-generation Colorado native.
See www.cudenver.edu/wirthchair for more information about the Wirth Chair. Heidi can be reached at heidivg@cudenver.edu
Michael J. Walsh is a Senior Vice President of Chicago Climate Exchange, Inc., a selfregulatory exchange that administers a voluntary greenhouse reduction and trading program for North America. Previously Walsh arranged several international carbon credit transactions and served as lead writer for five technical papers on international emissions trading prepared for the Government of Canada. Walsh also was a Senior Economist with the Chicago Board of Trade where he directed annual auctions of sulfur dioxide emission allowances conducted on behalf of the U.S. EPA. Walsh holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Michigan State University.
Carol Werner serves as executive director of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Ms. Werner came to EESI in late 1987 and was the director of EESI's Energy & Climate Change Program through January 1998. Ms. Werner has more than 20 years of public policy experience on energy and environmental issues.
Carol serves on the steering committees of the Sustainable Energy Coalition, the Surface Transportation Policy Project, the U.S. Climate Action Network; and the Environmental Advisory Committee of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. She also currently serves on the Department of Energy's (DOE) State Energy Advisory Board, the board of the New Uses Council, the World Council of Churches Task Force on Climate Change, the National Center for Appropriate Technology, the editorial board of Biocycle, and is one of the stakeholders in the DOE/USDA Bioenergy Initiative. Carol was previously a member of DOE's Federal Advisory Committee on the Commercialization of Renewable Energy Technologies.
Before joining EESI in late 1987, Ms. Werner developed an energy efficiency/oil security project for Environmental Action. From 1985-1987, she served as the legislative director of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.
Roger Williams, currently serves as a Program Manger for ICLEI's Cities for Climate Protection campaign. Roger areas of expertise include renewable energy project development, environmental finance and natural resource management. Prior to joining ICLEI, Roger held management and business development positions at both WorldWater & Power Corporation and Kirell Energy Systems. Roger also worked as a Transaction Specialist on Wall Street for CO2e.com, a subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald, brokering greenhouse gas emission reduction deals. Roger has served as a consultant to the solar electric industry and to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) focusing on public private partnerships in developing countries. Roger has extensive experience in international sustainable development and is fluent in Spanish having served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala . Roger holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Comparative Area Studies from Duke University and a Masters in Industrial Environmental Management from Yale University .