|
 |
|
SPEAKERS: HELPING OTHERS TO EMBRACE CLIMATE
ACTION
Adele Ashkar
Adele
Ashkar, ASLA is currently Associate Professor and Director of the
Landscape Design Program at the George Washington University. Adele earned
a BFA in Landscape Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design and
an MLA at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Adele practiced landscape
architecture with Dan Kiley's office in Charlotte, VT, followed by stints
at HOK in New York and Washington, DC. She joined GW as instructor of Site
Design classes in 1987, and became Director of the program in 1997. In
2003, Adele guided the transition of the Landscape Design program from
non-credit career education program to a Graduate Certificate in Landscape
Design housed in GW's new College of Professional Studies. In 2007, she
launched a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Landscapes which provides
cutting-edge course work in conservation landscape methods and completes a
Master of Professional Studies in Landscape
Design. Franziska Borer
Blindenbacher
Franziska
Borer Blindenbacher is currently a visiting scholar and a part-time
faculty member at the George Washington University in Washington, DC.
She has extensive experience in crafting and implementing
sustainable transportation policies on the federal and local level having
worked for more than a decade for the Federal Governments in Switzerland
and Canada. Ms Borer Blindenbacher earned a Master’s degree in
political economy, political science, and international law from the
University of Berne, Switzerland. Lester Brown
The
Washington Post calls Lester Brown "one of the world's most influential
thinkers."
The Telegraph of Calcutta refers to him as “the guru of the
environmental movement.” In 1986, the Library of Congress requested his
personal papers noting that his writings “have already strongly affected
thinking about problems of world population and resources.” Brown started
his career as a farmer, growing tomatoes in southern New Jersey with his
younger brother during high school and college. Shortly after
earning a degree in agricultural science from Rutgers University in 1955,
he spent six months living in rural India where he became intimately
familiar with the food/population issue. In 1959 Brown joined the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service as an
international agricultural analyst. Brown earned
masters degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Maryland
and in public administration from Harvard. In 1964, he became an adviser
to Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman on foreign agricultural
policy.
In 1966, the Secretary appointed him Administrator of the
department's International Agricultural Development Service. In early
1969, he left government to help establish the Overseas Development
Council. In 1974, with
support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Lester Brown founded the
Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis
of global environmental issues. While there he launched the Worldwatch
Papers, the annual State of the World reports, World Watch magazine, a
second annual entitled Vital Signs: The Trends That are Shaping Our
Future, and the Environmental Alert book series. Brown has
authored or coauthored over 50 books. One of the world's most widely
published authors, his books have appeared in some 40 languages. Among his
earlier books are Man, Land and Food, World Without Borders, and Building
a Sustainable Society. His 1995 book Who Will Feed China? challenged the
official view of China’s food prospect, spawning hundreds of conferences
and seminars. In May 2001,
he founded the Earth Policy Institute to provide a vision and a road map
for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy. In November 2001, he
published Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth, which was hailed
by E.O. Wilson as “an instant classic.” His most recent book is Plan B
3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. Klaus Schwab of the World Economic
Forum called it, “A great book which should wake up humankind!” He is the
recipient of many prizes and awards, including 23 honorary degrees, a
MacArthur Fellowship, the 1987 United Nations' Environment Prize, the 1989
World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize for
his "exceptional contributions to solving global environmental problems."
More recently, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Italy, the
Borgström Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry,
and appointed an honorary professor of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences. Meghan Chapple-Brown
Meghan Chapple-Brown is the University's first
director of the recently established Office of Sustainability . She draws upon nearly 15 years of
experience in sustainable development in corporate and nonprofit
organizations to lead the University's efforts. The Office of Sustainability was launched in the fall at the recommendation of a yearlong Presidential Task Force on Sustainability . Chapple-Brown coordinates operational activities University-wide under a collaborative plan that aims to maximize GW's environmental efficiency at its two campuses in Washington, D.C., and its campus in Ashburn, Va. As part of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment signed by Dr. Knapp in April, she also works with the GW Office of Planning and Environmental Management to help create a comprehensive climate neutrality plan, which will target the reduction of greenhouse gases, and work with an academic task force looking at innovative curriculum in the vast field of sustainability.
Previously, Chapple-Brown served as the director of client services at SustainAbility, advising companies such as Ford Motor Company, Nike, Wal-Mart, and Eli Lilly. She specializes in the relationship among sustainable futures, organizational strategy, and market innovation. Chapple-Brown has worked around the world. She also has expertise in emerging economies, which is founded on her previous projects in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina with organizations including the Dow Growth Center, World Resources Institute, and Public Allies.
Chapple-Brown currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Erb Institute at the University of Michigan. She has traveled around the world working with businesses, nonprofits, and academic institutions to develop sustainability plans. She graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in environmental sciences and pre-medicine, and earned two master's degrees in corporate strategy and environmental policy from the University of Michigan. Steven Cook
Steven Cook is a
Senior Editor for the Bureau of National Affairs. Steven
Cook covers the Clean Air Act and all legislation that addresses air
quality at the federal and state levels. His topics include, among others,
climate change, emissions trading and regulation, and the massive amounts
of particulate matter sent into the atmosphere by older oceangoing ships,
trucks, trains, and automobiles.
Current
topics include Clean Air Act policy and regulation, greenhouse gas
controls, cap-and-trade emissions trading rules, auto industry and the
race toward fuel efficiency, and Environmental Protection Agency. Publications include the Daily
Environment Report, Daily Report for Executives, and Environment
Reporter. Steven received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and his M.S. in Journalism from Northwestern Medill School. Jonathan Deason
Jonathan Deason
is a Professor and Director of the Environmental and Energy Management
program in theSchool of Engineering and Applied Science at the George
Washington University, where he has been since 1996. Prior to
joining GW, Deason was Director, Office of Environmental Policy and
Compliance at the U.S. Department of the Interior, where he managed nine
regional offices across the nation and seven staff divisions in
Washington, D.C.
He was responsible for ensuring that Interior's 81,000 employees
complied with environmental laws and regulations in managing 20 percent of
the surface area of the United States. From 1986 to
1989, Deason was Manager of the National Irrigation Water Quality Program
in the Interior Department, where he directed a team of about 200
multi-disciplinary specialists engaged in responding to irrigation-induced
contamination problems across the western states. From 1984 to
1986, he was the Special Assistant for Water Resources to the Assistant
Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) where he helped manage the Army Corps
of Engineers.
Before that, he served in the Interior Department as a Senior
Policy Analyst in the Office of the Secretary (1982-1984), and as Chief of
the Water Resources Program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(1978-1982).
Prior to that, he served with the Army Corps of Engineers as both a
civilian and a military officer for eight years. Deason holds a
Ph.D. degree in environmental systems engineering from the University of
Virginia, an M.S. degree in environmental engineering from the Johns
Hopkins University, an M.B.A. degree in management from Golden Gate
University, and a B.S. degree in engineering from the U.S. Military
Academy.
He has served as President of the National Capital Section,
American Society of Civil Engineers, and a member of the national Board of
Directors of the American Water Resources Association and the Renewable
Natural Resources Foundation. Deason also served a 30-year Reserve career in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, holding the position of Chief of Staff (Reserve) of the Corps during the last six years of his career. He has received a number of awards including the 1984 Arthur S. Flemming Award for work related to improving the nation's water resources, the 1992 Founder's Medal of the National Society of Professional Engineers as the Federal Engineer of the Year, the 1993 Engineering Achievement Award of the Virginia Engineering Foundation, a 1993 Executive Rank Award from the President of the United States, and designation in 2003 as a Research Policy Scholar by the George Washington Institute for Public Policy. Josefina Doumbia
Josefina Doumbia, GWU
alumni, has over 25 yr of combined experience in environmental and
sustainability aspects. She
has worked for the International Finance Corporation, the private arm of
the World Bank, for the last twelve years. Currently, she manages the
sustainability programs for the IFC Chemical and Petrochemical Unit. Ms Doumbia has conducted
environmental and sustainability assessments and due diligences for
numerous industrial sectors (i.e., chemical, mining, oil and gas,
infrastructure, general manufacturing, agribusiness, etc.) in emergent
economies. She has a good
understanding of the current sustainability challenges and possibilities
of the in-development economies resulting from her working experience over
70 countries.
She has also been very
active in the institutional decision making of the IFC’s Environmental and
Social approach to sustainable business. She was a key contributor to
the IFC Policy and Performance Standards on Social and Environmental
Sustainability and the IFC Environmental Health and Safety Guidelines and
in particular, responsible for the IFC Environmental Health and Safety
Guidelines for the chemical sector. Ms. Doumbia has also
conducted numerous workshops and trainings on sustainability and
environmental management systems for chemical, general manufacturing, and
extractive companies around the world and for trade associations in China,
Colombia, Brazil, and Latin America.
She has also worked with the financial sector to combine micro
financing with sustainable management practices and with Latin American
banks helping them to establish environmental and social management
systems, many of them have adopted the Equator Principles. Prior to IFC, Ms Doumbia worked for two of the largest environmental firms in the US, mainly, managing environmental impact assessments, air dispersion modeling, hazardous wastes disposal assessments and technologies, and also at the Pan-American Health Organization. She is a Chemical Engineer with post-graduate studies on Air pollution, Wastewater treatment and Hazardous Materials Handling . Jeff Erikson
Jeff Erikson is a Vice President Client Services for
SustainAbility.
He has overall responsibility for SustainAbility’s US-based
business, including business development, client management, project
delivery, strategic planning and organizational management. Jeff has expertise and experience working with
numerous industries, including oil & gas, automotive, chemicals, ICT,
finance, and health care. He provides senior-level counsel on
sustainability strategy development and implementation; environmental
management; stakeholder engagement; and sustainability reporting. Jeff is also a
frequently-requested speaker for academic and corporate audiences.
Prior to joining SustainAbility, Jeff spent 14 years
at Mobil Oil and ExxonMobil Corporation, where he was responsible for a
broad range of engineering and environmental, health & safety issues,
projects and programs. He also spent five years in commercial
real estate development. Jeff has a BS in Civil Engineering from
Bucknell University, and is a licensed professional engineer. William Ferretti
William
Ferretti is a Vice President with Chicago Climate Exchange, the world's
first and North America's only active, voluntary, legally binding
integrated trading system to reduce emissions of all six greenhouse gases,
with offset projects in North America and worldwide. His portfolio of
responsibilities for CCX includes recruitment, special projects and
serving as liaison to governmental and public policy entities. Before
joining CCX, Dr. Ferretti was the Executive Director of GLOBE USA, a
nonpartisan membership organization comprised of environmentally minded
senators and representatives from the U.S. Congress. During his tenure at
GLOBE, he led a series of U.S. and international initiatives aimed at
advancing the Congressional debate over climate change policy and engaging
members of Congress with their peers from parliaments around the globe in
dialogue about this critical issue. Prior to
joining GLOBE USA, Dr. Ferretti was Executive Director of the National
Recycling Coalition, the nation’s largest non-profit organization
dedicated to the advancement of recycling. From 1988 to 1996 he served
with the New York State Department of Economic Development, where he was
founding director of the nation’s first market development program for
recycling. For their groundbreaking work, Dr. Ferretti and the Department
received one of the first Presidential Awards for Sustainable
Development. Dr. Ferretti
received his doctorate in resource economics from the State University of
New York and Syracuse University, and a bachelor’s degree from the
Pennsylvania State University. Doug Gatlin
As the Vice
President for Market Development at the U.S. Green Building Council, Doug
Gatlin has oversight for deploying the family of LEED rating systems in
all the major commercial market segments and for managing overall customer
relations for LEED and the Council’s new pilot initiative, the Portfolio
Program.
Doug has 15
years experience in energy and environmental policy and has worked on
climate change response strategies and voluntary pollution prevention
programs for most of his career. He has authored publications on climate
change mitigation strategies, energy efficiency program design, and energy
efficiency project financing. Prior to
joining USGBC, Doug served as a Senior Advisor to the Deputy Associate
Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he worked
for nearly 10 years. From 1997-2004, he served as Team
Leader for the EPA’s ENERGY STAR Commercial Buildings program,
spearheading numerous activities including the launch of the first
vertical sector marketing strategy, a new public sector program for
governments, K-12 schools and universities, an energy efficiency financing
initiative, and later the launch of new partnership program with service
providers, utilities and regional energy efficiency programs. From
1992-1996, Doug served as a project manager at the Washington, DC based
Climate Institute, where he managed the Energy Smart Cities campaign, an
effort to promote energy efficiency as way to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
During this time he also helped the U.S. Department of Energy
launch the Rebuild America program and was hired to manage the first round
of Rebuild America Partnership Workshops. Doug holds a
bachelors in political science from Duke University and a masters in
public policy from Georgetown University. He lives with his wife and two children
in Silver Spring, MD. Michael Gillenwater
Michael Gillenwater has spent much of his career
focusing on the development of the policies and infrastructure needed to
produce highly credible environmental information that can serve as the
basis of market and other compliance mechanisms, especially measurement
and verification policies and management and reporting systems for
greenhouse gases and other ecosystem services.
Michael has worked on greenhouse gas emissions and climate
change policy since 1995. He co-developed the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Program within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Michael’s work at EPA concentrated on development of a
national system for producing high quality greenhouse gas emission
inventories and on designing the international compliance process under
the United
National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol. He was lead author of the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and
Sinks reports published from 1997
through 2003.
Michael is on the rosters of technical experts and is
actively engaged in the work of the UNFCCC and as a lead author of several
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) reports. He
developed and teaches the courses that certify experts to serve on compliance review
teams under the Kyoto Protocol and supports both the Clean Development
Mechanism Executive
Board and the Joint
Implementation
Steering Committee as a methodology expert. He was also a core advisor to
World Resources
Institute and the
World Business Council on Sustainable
Development on the
revised edition of the Greenhouse Gas
Protocol.
Most recently, Michael founded the Greenhouse Gas Management
Institute, and serves
as its Dean and Executive Director. He also co-founded the Greenhouse Gas Experts Network. Both organizations are non-profits
with missions focused on developing, training, and professionalizing the
community of experts on measuring, accounting, and managing greenhouse gas
emissions. The GHG Management Institute is a founding member of the
Offset
Quality Initiative.
Michael is also at Princeton
University’s Science, Technology, and Environmental
Policy Program (STEP)
where he is working on a doctorate in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs.
His research is focused on renewable energy and emission markets, as well
as monitoring and verification issues with climate change policies.
Previously, Michael was Director of the EcoRegistry® Program at Environmental Resources Trust (ERT) and now serves as ERT’s Director of
Verification Policy (a senior advisory role). Prior to joining ERT,
Michael was first with the U.S.
EPA’s Office of
Policy, Planning and Evaluation and then EPA’s Clean Air Markets Division.
He has also worked for Sandia
National Laboratories
and ICF Consulting’s Global Environmental
Issues Group.
He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from
Texas A&M University and masters degrees in environmental
engineering and “Technology and
Policy” from MIT. He also has a masters from the University of Sussex in Evolutionary
Adaptive Systems, where
he was a Fulbright
Scholar.
Michael is married to Bindiya
Patel, who is the
Operations and Special Projects Manager at the Global Campaign for
Microbicides. They
have two daughters, Keya Patel Gillenwater and Cimeren Patel
Gillenwater.
Jay Gulledge
Jay Gulledge is the Senior Scientist and
Program Manager for Science and Impacts at the Pew Center on Global
Climate Change, where he communicates current scholarly understanding of
climate change science to policymakers, business leaders, and the public.
In this capacity he has testified before Congress, speaks frequently with
major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Financial Times, and
ABC’s Good Morning America, and presents regularly to influential
audiences in government, business, law, health, environmental management,
and academe. His current focus at the Pew Center lies at the interface
between climate change impacts and economics, with the goal of improving
government estimates of the economic damages of climate change. He is also
a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security
where he conducts research and informs policymakers on the implications of
global environmental change for national security and foreign policy. Dr. Gulledge is a Certified Senior
Ecologist with two decades of experience in environmental and Earth system
science. He serves on the editorial board of Ecological Applications, a peer-reviewed journal
published by the Ecological Society of America. He holds an adjunct
faculty appointment at the University of Wyoming, which houses his
research on global environmental change. Prior to joining the Pew Center
and CNAS, Dr. Gulledge held faculty positions at Tulane University and the
University of Louisville where he taught and established an
internationally recognized research program on the exchange of greenhouse
gases between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. Dr. Gulledge
earned his Ph.D. at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and was a Life
Sciences Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard
University.
George S. Hawkins is the director of the District
Department of the Environment, an $80 million dollar agency with 300
employees. DDOE performs city, county and state environmental functions
for the nation's capital. DDOE is responsible for providing energy assistance to
District residents; reviewing development applications for compliance with
environmental requirements; monitoring and enforcing air and water quality
standards; regulating the use and disposal of toxic substances; preserving
the District's natural habitat for fish and wildlife; and developing and
implementing stormwater management regulations to minimize runoff
pollution into District waterways.
One of the Fenty Administration’s top priorities is
the restoration of the Anacostia River. In keeping with this goal, Hawkins
is implementing plans to transform one of the most polluted rivers in the
country into an environmental gem that will drive economic revitalization
in the communities surrounding it.
As director of DDOE, Hawkins has led the District's
efforts in reducing childhood exposure to lead hazards. He negotiated, and
now oversees, the implementation of, the nation's most stringent federal
permit to reduce pollutants from stormwater runoff. He manages the
nation's most successful low-income energy assistance program, including
energy conservation and home weatherization. He launched and chairs the
Mayor's Green Team, which coordinates the District Government’s internal
sustainability program across more than 40 agencies. Most recently,
Hawkins launched the Mayor’s Green Summer Job Corps, a group of several
hundred District youth who spent the summer of 2008 engaged in
environmental cleanups and public education. George serves as the Chair of the Green Building
Advisory Council, which oversees the implementation of the nation's most
progressive green building law. He is a member of the Mayor's Green Collar
Jobs Advisory Committee, and a board member of the DC Water and Sewer
Authority (WASA).
Prior to coming to the District, Hawkins was executive
director of New Jersey Future, a non-profit organization which, under his
leadership, came to be recognized as the state's foremost advocacy group
promoting smart growth While there, George worked with Governor Jon
Corzine's office to focus development on transit stations and urban areas.
Hawkins also previously served as Executive Director of the Stony
Brook-Millstone Watershed Association and held senior positions with the
US Environmental Protection Agency, including Senior Assistant Regional
Counsel and Special Assistant to the Regional Administrator. He served
Vice President Gore on the National Performance Review, playing an
integral role in streamlining and strengthening environmental protection
programs at USEPA and OSHA.
George began
his career practicing law for the Boston firm Ropes & Gray, and is a
member of the Bar in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. George
graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1983 and cum laude
from Harvard Law School in 1987. Since 1999, George has taught
Environmental Law and Policy for the Princeton Environment Institute at
Princeton University. George and his wife Tamara have two
children. Paul Hughes
Mr. Hughes is
founder and president of DeConstruction Services, LLC, a 5-year old
Northern Virginia-based company that specializes in
environmentally-friendly disassembly of residential buildings, working
closely with green architects, builders, government agencies, and
homeowners to reclaim for re-use or recycling as much as 80% of the
building materials in a disassembled structure. With a
corporate mission of minimizing the quantity of used building material
going into commercial landfills, his firm seeks to (1) save embodied
energy in this material by reducing the need for its re-manufacture; and
(2) further locally-based environmentally sustainable development by
demonstrating the financial viability of an environmentally-oriented,
community-based business employing hard-to-place workers. He also is a
co-founder of ReBuild a nonprofit warehouse that receives donated building
material for resale at greatly discounted prices for “green” building
use.
ReBuild uses its revenue to train workers for new green collar
industries, some of whom it employs in Paul’s other new company,
Sustainable Occupation Services, LLC. Immediately
prior to forming his company in 2004, Mr. Hughes consulted in the fields
of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and alternative fuel vehicles with
Environmental Services, Inc. a consulting practice he formed in 1990
focused on environmentally sustainable development as a means of slowing
global climate change. His community activities have included
presidencies of the 5,000-member Fairfax Audubon Society, Virginians for
Recycling, Inc., and the Fairfax Coalition for Smarter Growth, Inc. Mr. Hughes has
40 years’ experience in local, state, and federal environmental, economic
development, and health care programs. He holds a B.A. in political science
from the University of Toledo and a Masters in Public Administration from
the University of Michigan. Emerson Kloss
Emerson Kloss
is a Brazilian diplomat who is currently serving as First Secretary for
Agriculture and Energy at the Embassy of Brazil in Washington. From 2001 to
2006, he worked at the Agriculture and Commodities Division of the Foreign
Affairs Ministry, in Brasilia, as desk for sanitary and phytosanitary
measures and trade and environment. Emerson is Vice-Chair of the FAO
Commodity Subcommittee on Surplus Disposal – CSSD, based in
Washington. He has participated in the World Trade Organization, Free Trade Area of the Americas and MERCOSUR-EU trade negotiations and acted as National Coordinator for the MERCOSUR Ad Hoc Group for Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. Emerson received his master degree in International Relations in 2000 from the University of Brasilia and is a graduate of the Rio Branco Institute, the Brazilian diplomatic academy. Steven Knapp
Steven Knapp
became the 16th president of The George Washington University on Aug. 1,
2007. A distinguished scholar with nearly 30 years of experience in higher
education administration, Dr. Knapp previously served as provost and
senior vice president for academic affairs at The Johns Hopkins
University. As president,
Dr. Knapp’s priorities include enhancing GW’s partnerships with
organizations and agencies throughout the nation’s capital, increasing the
institution’s preeminence in research, addressing the affordability of
higher education, and strengthening connections with its lifelong and
worldwide community of alumni. He also has convened task forces on
sustainability and campus safety and security. A proponent of
fostering close community ties, Dr. Knapp serves on the board of directors
of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Greater Washington Urban
League. He is a member of the executive committees of the Council on
Competitiveness, Atlantic-10, and the Federal City Council. He also serves
on the cabinet of the Chronicle for Higher Education and is a member of
the Economic Club of Washington and the Committee for Economic
Development. A specialist in
18th- and 19th-century English literature and literary theory, Dr. Knapp
served for 16 years on the faculty at the University of California,
Berkeley, where he held leadership positions in the Department of English
and on university committees. Dr. Knapp earned a master’s degree and
doctorate from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale
University. He and his wife, Diane, have two adult children, Jesse and
Sarah. David Michaels
David Michaels,
PhD, MPH, is Research Professor and Interim Chairman of the Department of
Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University
School of Public Health and Health Services, where he directs the Project
on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy www.DefendingScience.org. In addition, he directs the
Environmental and Occupational Health track of the DrPH program, and
teaches Environmental Health Policy. Dr. Michaels is
the author of Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science
Threatens Your Health (Oxford University Press, 2008), which examines the
product defense industry: scientists who manufacture scientific
uncertainty in order to delay public health regulation. An
epidemiologist and former government regulator, during the Clinton
Administration, Dr. Michaels served as Assistant Secretary of Energy for
Environment, Safety and Health, responsible for protecting the health and
safety of workers, neighboring communities and the environment surrounding
the nation’s nuclear weapons facilities. In that position, he was the chief
architect of the historic initiative to compensate nuclear weapons workers
who developed cancer or lung disease as a result of exposure to radiation,
beryllium and other hazards. He also oversaw promulgation of
DOE’s Chronic Beryllium Disease Prevention Rule. In 2006, Dr.
Michaels received the American Association for the Advancement of
Science’s Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award for his work on
behalf of nuclear weapons workers and for his advocacy for scientific
integrity. He is also the recipient of the 2009 John P. McGovern Science
and Society Award given the Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. Dr. Michaels’
writings on science and policy are available at: http://www.defendingscience.org/David-Michaels-Scholarship.cfm. Jonathan Miles
Jonathan Miles
is a professor at James Madison University’s Department of Integrated
Science and Technology (ISAT). He teaches in the Energy Sector, advises
the JMU Student Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE),
serves as Professor-in-Residence at Washington-Lee High School, and leads
the ISAT/Geography Study Abroad In Malta Program. He specializes
in Heat Transfer, Thermodynamics, Fluid Dynamics, Applications of Infrared
Thermography, and Fossil and Renewable Energy Design and Analysis. At JMU, he is
Founder and Co- Director of the Infrared Development and Thermal
Structures Laboratory (IDTSL), which supports undergraduate and faculty
research and development efforts that involve non-contact thermal and
mechanical measurement techniques and provides expert services to
government and industry and professional experiences to students. The
IDTSL is supported by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and industry
affiliates. Dr. Miles is
Director of the JMU Office of the Virginia Wind Energy Collaborative
(VWEC), which was established in 2002 in partnership with Environmental
Resources Trust, Inc., George Washington University Law School, Old Mill
Power Company, Virginia Tech’s Alexandria Research Institute, the Virginia
Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy, and the U.S. Department of
Energy to promote the balanced development of wind energy across
Virginia. Dr. Miles is a
founding member of the new Center for Energy and Environmental
Sustainability. Mark Nechodom Mark Nechodom is the Deputy Director of the Office of Ecosystem Services and Markets at USDA. He also is the Climate Science Policy Coordinator for the Pacific Southwest Region of the USDA Forest Service and a research scientist at the Pacific Southwest Research Station. Mark Nechodom is actively involved in the development of policy and research in support of California's Global Warming Solutions Act, or AB 32, and serves as a federal liaison to state agencies and Non Government Organizations (NGO). He also serves on several national-level climate policy efforts, and represents the Washington Office in a number of state and regional climate initiatives. His current research uses life cycle assessment modeling (LCA) to identify the economic and environmental impacts of biomass-to-energy production. He also leads teams of researchers focused on carbon cycling in forest ecosystems, including wildfire effects and greenhouse gas emissions. Over the last decade, he served as lead Social Scientist for the Sierra Nevada Framework, which directs management of 11 million acres of national forest land in California. Dr. Nechodom also led the social science team involved in the Lake Tahoe Basin Science Assessment, a major synthesis of scientific information related to the environmental conditions of the basin, as well as the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's 20-year regional plan revision for 2007. Anca Novacovici
Anca Novacovici is the founder and president of Eco-Coach, Inc., a consulting company that provides services for businesses and individuals to become more environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, and healthy. Clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller businesses and individuals. Anca is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accredited professional and is on the Board of the Green Building Institute. She recently co-authored a book to help businesses get started on the path to sustainability, entitled ‘Sustainability 101: A Toolkit for your Business’ and is in the process of co-authoring another on Green Jobs and Green Careers in the Washington DC metro area. Prior to Eco-Coach, Inc, Anca was a management consultant, first with Davies Consulting Inc., and then with her own company, Axis Business Consulting Inc. She has over ten years’ experience with strategic planning, change management, business process redesign, benchmarking, training and communications. She has worked with companies in the energy, health care, utility, and telecommunications sectors, and with international lending institutions. Her passion for, and involvement with, environmental issues outside of work led her to start Eco-Coach, which combines her management consulting expertise with her interest in green, healthy businesses and buildings. Anca obtained her Masters of Business Administration in International Management from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management, and her Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Grady O'Rear
Grady O'Rear is the developer of EcoVillage of Loudoun County, Virginia, an environmentally friendly, socially responsive community 40 miles northwest of Washington , D.C. More information about the community can be found at www.ecovillages.com. He is also President of Green Advantage, Inc., a non-profit organization that, through education and research, advances sustainable development practices www.greenadvantage.org.
He was formerly the founding President and CEO of a comprehensive, non-profit, mental health organization. Named as a "Point of Light" by the White House, the agency offers treatment, rehabilitation, transportation and housing services and has developed over 50 homes and two commercial facilities. The 30,000 square foot rehabilitation and national training and education center, built in 1991, is considered one of the country's most energy efficient office buildings. His education includes a B.A. in Education and an M.A. in Clinical Psychology.
Susan Phillips
Susan M.
Phillips joined The George Washington University School of Business as
Dean and Professor of Finance in July 1998. Previously, she was a member
of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from December 1991
through June 1998. Before her Federal Reserve appointment, Dr. Phillips
served at the University of Iowa as Vice President for Finance and
University Services and Professor of Finance in The College of Business
Administration (1987 to 1991). Dr. Phillips’
areas of specialization include monetary policy, regulation and
supervision of financial institutions, derivatives, financial management
and economic theory of regulation. She is a member of the State Farm
Mutual Automobile Insurance Company’s Board of Directors and of the
Editorial Integrity Committee for the Wall Street Journal. She also serves
on the boards of directors of AACSB International, the Kroger Company, the
Chicago Board Options Exchange, and the National Futures Association as
well as the Financial Accounting Foundation’s board of trustees. As a
member of AACSB International’s Board of Directors, she chaired the AACSB
Ethics Education Task Force from 2003 to 2004. Dr. Phillips
earned a B.A. in mathematics from Agnes Scott College in 1967, a M.S. in
finance and insurance from Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1971, and a
Ph.D. in finance and economics from LSU in 1973. Dr. Phillips
was an Assistant Professor at LSU from 1973 to 1974. She joined the
University of Iowa in 1974 as an Assistant Professor of Business
Administration. From 1976 to 1977, she was a Brookings Economic Policy
Fellow, and spent the following year as a SEC Economic Fellow with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Dr. Phillips returned to the
University of Iowa in 1978 as an Associate Professor. She was appointed
Acting Assistant Vice President for Finance and University Services in
1979, and served in that post until her selection as Associate Vice
President for Finance and University Services in 1980. In 1981, Dr.
Phillips was appointed to membership on the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission, and became its Chairman in 1983. She was reappointed as
Commissioner and Chairman of the CFTC in 1985 and served until her
resignation in 1987 when she returned to the University of Iowa as Vice
President of Finance and University Services and Professor of Finance. She has won
several awards for her research, including the Chicago Board Options
Exchange Pomerance Prize for outstanding research in options in 1980, and
has authored dozens of scholarly publications, including The SEC and the
Public Interest, a book co-written with J. Richard Zecher. She contributes
regularly to The International Economy. Other honors and awards include
Phi Beta Kappa, Agnes Scott College; Beta Gamma Sigma, Louisiana State
University; Outstanding Alumna Award, Agnes Scott College; Hall of
Distinction, LSU Alumni Association and separately LSU College of Business
Administration. Mark Rentschler
Dr. Mark Rentschler, Green Seal’s Vice President of Institutional
Greening Programs, works with institutions to Mark also manages Green Seal’s program to
Dr. Rumana
Riffat is Associate Professor of the Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department at George Washington University. She obtained her graduate
degrees from Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa. She has been involved
in teaching and research for the last fourteen years. Her research
interests are in wastewater treatment, specifically nutrient removal,
clarification and anaerobic treatment of wastewater and biosolids. She and
her research group have conducted extensive research on kinetics of
denitrification, and have looked at various external carbon sources,
including certain waste products for denitrification.
Dr. Riffat is
currently involved in a number of research projects with DC Water and
Sewer Authority at Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. The
results of her research have shed new light on the reason for decreased
nutrient removal efficiencies observed at a number of wastewater treatment
plants in winter. The results will provide guidance on alternative
strategies that can be used by the Utilities across the nation. The
kinetic coefficients determined from the results of her experimental
research is now used as default parameters in BIOWIN, which is the most
widely used computer model in the wastewater industry for design of
treatment processes.
Claudia Ringler is a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute where she co-leads the water research program of the Environment and Production Technology Division. Her research interests are water resources management--in particular, river basin management--and agricultural and natural resource policies for developing countries. Over the last five years she has undertaken research on the impacts of global warming for developing countries and on appropriate adaptation options at the local and national levels. She has published widely in the areas water management, global food and water security, natural resource constraints to global food production, and adaptation to climate change.Claudine Schneider
Claudine
Schneider is a progressive leader in policies related to climate, energy,
environment, and ecological economics. Perhaps best known as the first female
Congresswoman to the state of Rhode Island from 1980-1990, Claudine has
had a long and distinguished career. In 1975, she
co-founded and served as first executive director for the Conservation Law
Foundation of Rhode Island. She co-founded the Rhode Island
Committee on Energy. Later, she produced and hosted a weekly
TV show, was a distinguished fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard University, co-founded and served as senior vice
president of an energy efficiency and renewable energy development
company, was a Presidential Appointee on the Competitiveness Policy
Council under Bill Clinton, served as an export-import bank advisor on
renewable energy policy, and is on the Board of Trustees of the American
Solar Energy Society, the Climate Institute, TERI, and the Center for
Resource Solutions. Claudine also sits on the Board of
Mohawk Paper and Wilder Hill New Energy Global Innovation Index Fund. As
Congresswoman, she authored the first and only revenue-neutral Global
Warming Prevention Act, authored and passed into law many energy,
environmental, international, health, and gender-equity pieces of
legislation.
She was helped develop the first Appliance Efficiency Standards Act
that led to the Energy Star rating system, the Least Cost Utility Planning
Act, the Demand-Side Management Act, the International Treaty on
Biodiversity, and the Indoor Air Pollution Ban Act, which resulted in the
EPA office of Indoor Air. She even won an
Emmy for organizing a five-part series on ABC’s Nightline – “Capitol to
Capitol.”
This was the first live and unedited satellite television
transmission between Members of Congress and Members of the Supreme Soviet
to show the commonalities between the people at the height of the Cold
War. Claudine has
interacted with Heads of State both as a member of Congress and afterward.
Topics focused on climate change, energy and the environment, ecological
economics, and women. She briefed Margaret Thatcher on Climate
Change in 1989, was part of a BBC special with Prince Charles and Al Gore
on Climate Change, and contributed to a book about our global challenges
with foreign ministers or parliamentarians from 15 other nations. She has
represented the U.S. unofficially in many high-level forums, giving
keynote addresses at the 1995 Pan Asian Conference in the Philippines on
Climate Change, the Agence Francaise pour la Matrise de l'Energie, the
International Workshop on Comparative Analysis Methodologies for New
Energy Technologies in Toronto, Canada, and the IEA/OECD Conference on
Technology Policy for Sustainable Development, Netherlands. She
singlehandedly recruited more than 50 Fortune 500/100 corporations to
reduce their green house gases and commit to contractual targets. She organized
30 of the world's leading solar manufacturers, installers, and integrators
into the Solar Alliance. Additionally, she has been heavily involved in
growing Green Advantage, the country's oldest and most respected
certification programs for green builders. Claudine was
nominated by the US EPA for their Global Climate Protection Award for
2007.
Scott Sklar
Scott Sklar is
Founder and President Of The Stella Group, Ltd. The Stella Group,
Ltd., is a strategic marketing and policy firm for clean distributed
energy companies. For 15 years,
he was simultaneously the Executive Director of the Solar Energy
Industries Association and the National BioEnergy Industries
Association. For two years prior to that, he was Political Director
of the Solar Lobby formed by national environmental groups. Before
that, he spent three years at the National Center for Appropriate
Technology as RD&D and Washington Directors. Scott served for nine
years as an energy and military aide to Senator Jacob K Javits (NY). He has two
coauthored books, A Consumer Guide to Solar Energy, re-released for its
third printing, and The Forbidden Fuel: Power Alcohol in the Twentienth
Century. He has a Q&A column on the largest clean energy web
portal: www.RenewableEnergyWorld.com. Scott Sklar was
selected as the Renewable Energy Industry Representative onto REEEP North
American Advisory Committee of UN International Renewable Energy
Activity in August 2006. REEEP is a Public-Private partnership that was
launched by the United Kingdom, the UN agencies UNIDO and UNDP,
and 30 other governments. Sklar was also appointed in April
2007 onto the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy &
Technology (NACEPT) of USEPA. Scott Sklar is Chair of the Steering
Committee of the Sustainable Energy Coalition and serves on the
(non-profit) Boards of Directors of the Business Council for Sustainable
Energy and the Renewable Energy Policy Project. He co-chairs the
Policy Committee of the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council. The Virginia
office building of The Stella Group, Ltd., has 1 kW of solar photovoltaic
roofing shingles, advanced battery bank, high-efficiency heat pump, double
pane windows, R38 insulation, a 0.5 kW wind turbine, and a 5 kW PEM fuel
cell for backup and peak power augmentation (the first commercial leased
fuel cell in the United States). The Washington, DC, office building
has a 1.5 kW photovoltaics system. Located one block from The White
House, it has photovoltaics from 10 PV companies. Scott Sklar
also lives in a solar home (solar water heating system and 1.5 kW of
polycrystalline photovoltaics and 0.5 kW of "peal and stick" photovoltaics
for metal seamed roofs.) The house has double-paned windows and a
thermal paint barrier under the attic roof (LO/MIT) as well as compact
flourescent bulbs and the most energy efficient washer and dryer (Neptune
series). He drives a
Toyota hybrid, Prius, which regularly meets 45 - 52 miles per gallon. Mark Starik
Mark Starik is a Professor and Department Chair of Strategic Management and Public Policy in the George Washington University School of Business. He researches, teaches, and advises organizations in the areas of Strategic Environmental Management, Energy and Climate Policy and Management, and Environmental Entrepreneurship. Mark also directs the GW Institute for Corporate Responsibility Environmental Sustainability Program, which coordinates the research, teaching, and service within GWSB on sustainability topics. He is also interested in the connections among the fields of strategic management, business and public policy (including civil society), and sustainability, both domestically and internationally. His research includes publications in a wide variety of both academic and practitioner outlets, including the Academy of Management Review, the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Business Ethics, and Business Strategy and the Environment and in the proceedings of several international organization conferences. Mark is a co-founder of several organizations, including the Institute for Sustainability Education & Action, and the Academy of Management Organizations & the Natural Environment (ONE) Division, and is a board member of several non-profit organizations, including the Sustainable Business Network of Washington, DC, Solar Household Energy, Inc., and the National Environmental Education Foundation. He has been the faculty advisor for GW Net Impact and its GW campus predecessor since their respective foundings. Mark received his doctorate in Strategic Management in 1991 from the University of Georgia (USA), his masters in Natural Resources Policy & Administration in 1978 and his undergraduate degree in Economics in 1976, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA). He has held a number of managerial positions in several business industries, as well as in multiple governmental and nonprofit organizations. Amy Townsend
Amy Townsend
has worked in the areas of green building and green business for 16
years. In
1997, she published the first book on greening the workplace (The Smart
Office).
Since then, has authored Green Business, Exploring Sustainable
Biodiesel, and Business Ecology (2009). She has been involved with the
development of three green masters degree programs in the U.S. At the George
Washington University, she is Executive Coordinator and is an organizer of
this year’s Climate Action Conference. Additionally,
Amy is the Director of Certification Services for Green Advantage, a
third-party green builder certification program, and President of
Sustainable Development International Corporation (www.smartoffice.com). She is an adjunct assistant professor at
James Madison University in the Department of Integrated Science and
Technology. Amy lives in North Carolina. She telecommutes part-time and commutes by train to Washington every two weeks. She lives in an energy-efficient house, composts food scraps, is trying her hand at permaculture, collects and uses her rooftop rainwater for landscaping, and recently designed a series of ponds at her home for rainwater catchment. Linda Yarr
Linda
J. Yarr has served as Director of the Program for International Studies in
Asia (PISA) since 1995, and is a senior research scientist at the Elliott
School of International Affairs.
PISA partners with universities, research institutes, government
bodies and NGO’s to promote international affairs education, capacity
building, and research. PISA is currently working to build capacity for
international governance on climate change among researchers and policy
makers in Asia through a series of intensive short courses offered in Asia
and at The George Washington University (July 2009). Ms. Yarr’s expertise in
international affairs education encompasses a wide range of topics and
includes curriculum development, faculty exchange, strategic partnerships,
as well as project development and implementation. Prior
to joining PISA, Ms. Yarr taught conflict resolution at American
University. As assistant professor at Long Island University, she offered
courses in global political economy, experiential education and women’s
studies. She also taught political science at the University of Colorado,
Boulder and the University of Denver. She held visiting scholar
appointments at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, the Institute
of Malaysian and International Studies of the National University of
Malaysia, the School of International Service of American University and
the Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute. Ms.
Yarr earned her B.A. degree in French at D’Youville College in Buffalo,
N.Y., an advanced degree in international relations at the Institut
d’Études Politiques in Paris, and an M.A. in government and Southeast Asia
studies at Cornell University.
Her research focuses on gender and international relations, as well
as regional governance in Southeast Asia. She is a member of the research
team of the George Washington University Women’s Leadership
Institute. Her local and international service was recognized with the D’Youville College Alumni Service Award. She was a member of the Board of Directors of Sciences-Po Alumni, USA and coordinated activities for the Washington, DC chapter; the steering committee of Women Administrators in Higher Education (WAHE); the Executive Council of the Women’s Caucus in International Studies of the International Studies Association; and the Advisory Council of the University of Maryland College Park Scholars Program. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the journal Critical Asian Studies, the Advisory Board of the Woodrow Wilson (H.S.) International Studies Program, and participates in meetings to establish a Partner Collaborative to support global education in the DC Public Schools. Ms. Yarr competes regularly in road races, most recently capturing third place of her age group in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run, Washington, DC. Ken Zweibel
Ken Zweibel has almost 30 years experience in solar
photovoltaics. He was at the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (Golden, CO) much of that time and the program
leader for theThin
Film PV Partnership Program until 2006. The Thin Film Partnership worked
with most US participants in thin film PV (companies, universities,
scientists) and is often credited with being important to the success of
thin film PV in the US. Corporate participants in the Partnership
included First
Solar, UniSolar, Global Solar, Shell
Solar, BP Solar, and numerous others. Zweibel
subsequently cofounded and became President of a thin film CdTe PV
start-up,PrimeStar Solar, a majority share of which was purchased
by General
Electric. Zweibel became the founding Director of the
Institute for Analysis of Solar Energy at the George Washington University
at its formation in 2008. Zweibel is frequently published and known worldwide in solar energy. He has written two books on PV and co-authored a Scientific American article (January 2008) on solar energy as a solution to climate change and energy problems. |
|
© 2009 The George Washington
University
All Rights Reserved |
|