KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Suzanne Malec-McKenna, Commissioner of the Department of Environment, City of Chicago
Suzanne Malec-McKenna was named Commissioner of the Department of Environment in August 2007. She has more than 17 years of experience in the environmental field, including sustainable development and ecological preservation and restoration.
Most recently, Commissioner Malec-McKenna served in the Department of Environment for 15 years as Deputy Commissioner of Natural Resources and Water Quality. Prior to joining City government, she worked as an Urban Forestry Manager for the Openlands Project.
She has led key initiatives at the department, including Greencorps Chicago, the Chicago Center for Green Technology, the Calumet Initiative, the Chicago Conservation Corps and various water conservation and protection efforts. She is a founding steering committee member of the Chicago Wilderness Coalition and serves of the boards of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute of Environmental Science and Policy and the Illinois Natural History Survey.
Commissioner Malec-McKenna earned her bachelor’s degree in Ornamental Horticulture from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a master’s degree in Managerial Communication from Northwestern University. She is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Communication Studies at Northwestern University.
SPEAKERS
Bill Abolt, Office Director, Shaw Environmental, Inc.
Bill Abolt leads Shaw’s Sustainability, Energy & Carbon Management National Practice. His is also responsible for the management of the Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure (E&I) Illinois and Wisconsin Offices. Prior to joining Shaw, he served as Environment Commissioner, Director of the Office of Budget and Management and Chief of Management, Office of the Mayor, for the City of Chicago, where he was responsible for developing Chicago's strategy to become one of the greenest cities in the United States. Shaw E&I is a part of the Shaw Group, a Fortune 500 company.Mr. Abolt has 25 years of experience managing complex environmental, energy and public issues including energy planning and sustainability program design, multi-stakeholder budget processes; sustainable Brownfield redevelopment; green infrastructure planning and analysis and multi-disciplinary investigations of environmental impacts.
As a part of his responsibilities at Shaw, he manages and directs specific consulting projects for corporate and public clients including but not limited to assignments involving renewable energy and energy efficiency and sustainable design. Currently, Mr. Abolt serves as the project director and senior technical expert for multiple city and state energy programs funded under ARRA, the federal economic stimulus program. All programs require the rapid development and deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies.
Nicholas W. van Aelstyn, Principal, Beveridge & Diamond, PC
Nicholas W. (“Nico”) van Aelstyn is a Principal in the San Francisco office of Beveridge and Diamond, P.C. (“B&D”), and has more than 19 years of environmental counseling and litigation experience. Nico co-chairs B&D’s Climate Change practice, and has been actively engaged on behalf of stakeholders in California’s AB 32 implementation process and the Western Climate Initiative’s development of a regional cap-and-trade program. He also helped to form and serves as counsel to the Carbon Offset Providers Coalition. His environmental counseling and transactional practice includes climate change, alternative energy, sustainability, international obligations, Brownfields redevelopment, and other regulatory matters. His active litigation practice concentrates primarily on subsurface and sediment contamination issues with cost recovery actions, regulatory enforcement actions, and representation of PRPs and PRP groups (as common counsel) at Superfund sites. His litigation experience also includes intellectual property, commercial, real estate, and appellate litigation matters. He has handled matters in state and federal courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as various administrative fora. He has published articles concerning climate change and other environmental issues, and is a regular speaker on these issues
Katherine Blue, Principal, Climate Change Services, Trinity Consultants
Kathy Blue is a Principal Consultant and leads Trinity’s national Climate Change practice. In this role, Kathy provides consulting services to industrial clients developing carbon management strategies, creating greenhouse gas inventories, identifying emission reduction projects, and conducting carbon life cycle analyses for products. She has sixteen years of air quality consulting expertise and has been practicing in the climate change arena since 2001. Kathy has worked with industrial clients across numerous sectors including power/utility, upstream and downstream oil and gas, consumer products, agricultural products, telecommunications and glass manufacturing, and landfill gas to energy companies. She graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of South Carolina.
Pierre Boileau, Senior Advisor, Climate Change & Sustainability, CSA Standards
Pierre Boileau is responsible for capacity building for all aspects of GHG accounting, reporting and verification. He has helped develop CSA’s training courses covering GHG inventories, GHG emission reduction projects (intermediate and expert) as well as GHG validation and verification. As a trainer, he has educated over 500 professionals in GHG accounting in both English and French.
Prior to working with CSA, Pierre worked for 10 years with the Government of Canada on policy development and program implementation for climate change and other air quality related issues. During this time, he helped compile and publish Canada’s 1995, 2000 and 2001 national greenhouse gas inventories that were submitted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and most recently developed the greenhouse gas quantification guidance for Canada’s proposed Offset System. Pierre holds a Bachelors degree in chemistry from the University of Ottawa and a Masters degree in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University.
Sacha Boon, Principal Environmental Specialist, Abbott Laboratories
Sacha Boon is a Principal Environmental Specialist at Abbott. She holds a B.S. from Illinois Wesleyan University and an M.S. from Illinois State University. She has worked at Abbott Laboratories for eight years and has held various environmental positions at the company, including stints in research & development, manufacturing operations, division, and corporate functions.
Sacha is responsible for Abbott’s environmental performance improvement programs, global metrics management, environmental management standards, preparation of environmental public reporting documents and surveys, and management of Abbott’s greenhouse gas inventory program.
Christina Bosch, Supply Chain Sustainability, Ford Motor Company
Christina Bosch has been working with Ford Motor Company for over a year on supply chain GHG emissions initiatives. Her background includes a variety of environmental footprint analysis from life cycle assessments at Nestle Waters bottling plants to an apparel supply chain study with Business for Social Responsibility for H&M. She is currently a dual masters degree candidate with the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan, pursuing an MBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and an MS from the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and a full-time summer associate in Ford's Supply Chain Sustainability Strategies department within its global purchasing organization. Prior to her graduate studies, Tina advised Federal agencies on environmental projects for three years as a consultant at Industrial Economics Inc. in Cambridge, MA. There she developed economic analyses of Endangered Species Act proposed rulemakings, and contributed to the EPA's Climate Change Science Program report on potential ecological impacts of sea-level rise on mid-Atlantic coastlines. Tina worked for a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with the Urban Ecology Institute, implementing ecological field studies as a component of the science curriculum in Boston high school classes. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental studies from Oberlin College.
Gary Conner, Manager, Environmental Affairs, Caterpillar Inc.
Barry Dambach, Senior Director EHS, Alcatel-Lucent
Barry Dambach is the Senior Director of Alcatel-Lucent’s Global EHS organization, leading the function for the company. Barry has been with the company over 22 years, all within the EHS organization, and has focused on leading edge EHS programs. He has developed and implemented Corporate Goals to Eliminate CFC’s, reduce toxic air emissions, minimize waste and was a key driver in establishing the first ISO 14001 Certification with Design for Environment specifically included in the Scope. He has worked on developing practical Life Cycle Assessment tools and in implementing 3rd party certified Global Multi-site EHS Management Systems that are fully integrated with Alcatel-Lucent’s Quality Management Systems. He was key in establishing Alcatel-Lucent’s Sustainability program and in publishing their first Carbon Footprint in line with international Standards. Barry has a BS in Chemical Engineering and a MS in Environmental Science from Rutgers University.
Franklyn A. Ericson, Director Worldwide S/H/E/Q Operations, SC Johnson
Franklyn Ericson is SC Johnson’s Director of Worldwide S/H/E/Q Operations. He is responsible for planning, directing and monitoring the development, administration and implementation of safety, industrial hygiene, quality and environmental affairs policies, procedures and programs for all worldwide operations. He was the Project Manager for the Landfill Gas/Turbine green energy project and he leads SC Johnson’s participation in EPA’s Climate Leaders Program. Frank leads SC Johnson’s work on GHG and Energy reduction and Corporate Sustainability. He has a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. He has worked as a Chemical Engineer in the environmental field for 38 years. Frank is a licensed PE in the state of Wisconsin and is also a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager.
Sarah Gibson, Global Environmental Programs Manager, Dell
Sarah Gibson is the global environmental programs manager at Dell Inc., based in Round Rock, TX, supporting Dell’s facilities and manufacturing operations. She manages the global ISO 14001 programs, environmental, health and safety (EHS) procedure and policy development, and environmental reporting for operations, and provides internal technical expertise and consulting company-wide for environmental programs such as climate change/emissions reporting, energy management and green building design.
Prior to joining Dell in 2002, Sarah spent many years with Motorola’s semiconductor operations in Phoenix, AZ and Austin, TX in various process engineering and EHS managerial and technical ladder roles.
Sarah holds BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering. She and her family have lived in Texas since 1995.
Ari Kobb, Sustainability Director, Siemens Building Technologies
Ari Kobb heads a range of sustainability, energy and green building initiatives at Siemens Building Technologies. As founder and co-chair of the Siemens Internal Sustainability Committee, he has led the division’s own transition toward sustainability both corporately and throughout our field organization. This includes the development of the first comprehensive organizational CO2 inventory and the publication of the company’s first-ever sustainability report. Ari is a LEED® Accredited Professional, and is a frequent speaker on green building and sustainability issues. He has also lead a company-wide initiative to align Siemens products, services and solutions to the LEED® rating system, and provide comprehensive green building and LEED® training throughout the organization.
Erin Laude, Senior Energy and Carbon Management Consultant, CH2M HILL
Erin Laude is a senior client advisor at CH2M HILL, specializing in Energy and Carbon Management consulting. She has a B.S. and M.S. in Civil/Environmental Engineering from Marquette University and is a registered Professional Engineer. Erin provides advisory support to clients in areas from carbon accounting and energy baselining, to regulatory policy analysis and compliance, to evaluation of mitigation technologies and renewable energy solutions. She has supported clients in the petroleum, chemical, food processing, and wood products industries. She has developed company specific GHG management and information systems for chemical, manufacturing, coal handling, and oil and gas exploration companies operating in fourteen states in the U.S., Manitoba and Alberta, Canada and in Brazil. Erin has supported SC Johnson in estimating and verifying SCJ’s corporate GHG inventory, and developing a verifiable inventory that encompasses all 26 of its global manufacturing facilities in South America, Asia and Europe. She is a key member of CH2M HILL’s team for the USEPA Climate Leaders GHG Management Program and is responsible for guiding several industry partners through the USEPA’s program by providing support on identifying GHG emission sources, calculating GHG emissions, and developing a GHG management systems and on-call support for technical queries.
Steve McDougal, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Business Development, 3Degrees
Based in San Francisco, Steve McDougal leads 3Degrees national direct sales and marketing efforts to large Fortune 500 corporations. Steve was honored at the 10th National Green Power Marketing Conference in 2005, when he accepted the Green Power Beacon Award at the Green Power Leadership Awards Ceremony on behalf of his team’s ground-breaking corporate origination capability in building large-scale demand for green energy.
Steve has sixteen years of experience in sales and sales management from industries including high technology, telecommunications, consumer products, real estate, and utilities. Steve joined the company in 2003 to lead its direct sales efforts, and has been successful in attracting many household name brand companies to become green power customers. Steve has a BA in Political Science and Economics from Colorado College and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Liz McMeekin, Environmental Manager, PPG
Liz McMeekin is Environmental Manager on the Corporate EHS Staff of PPG Industries, Inc. She has over 25 years experience in the environmental field, spanning the areas of air, water, and waste compliance management, with special focus on PPG’s air programs for the last 10 years. Since 2006, Liz has been closely involved in PPG’s on-going energy and GHG emissions data collection, analysis, and reporting program, verifying progress towards achieving PPG’s reduction goals.
David Rich, Associate - GHG Protocol Initiative, World Resources Institute
David Rich is an Associate with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative at the World Resources Institute. He focuses on the development of greenhouse gas accounting and reporting standards and emissions registries. He is currently developing new GHG Protocol standards for product life cycle and supply chain (scope 3) emissions accounting through a global multi-stakeholder process. David holds a Masters degree in Energy and Environmental Analysis from Boston University and a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Tim Shea, Second Vice President of Facilities, Purchasing & Contracting, National Life Group
Tim Shea is the 2nd VP Facilities, Purchasing & Contracting at National Life Group (NLGroup) in Montpelier, Vermont. Tim is responsible for the following areas: HVAC, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, furniture installation, roads and grounds, security, food service, janitorial, tenant relations, purchasing of all goods and services for NLGroup, and contracts negotiation of terms and conditions. He has been with NLGroup for five years and have implemented several environmental initiatives to include LEED-EB silver accreditation, solar photovoltaic system, solar thermal system, currently underway biomass boiler installation, revamped recycling program with over 75% recycling rate, and an alternate transportation program to incentivize NLGroup employees to use an alternate means to commuting. Prior to NLGroup, TimI worked in supply management and purchasing with Northern Power Systems in Vermont, a renewable energy provider that installs wind and solar systems throughout the world.
Brian Stenson, Manager, EHS, FUJIFILM
Brian Stenson is a Corporate Environmental Health and Safety Manager at Fujifilm. He has a BS in Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and has over ten years of experience as an EHS professional. He has been with Fujifilm for almost six years and in that time, has become the go-to person in his department for their sustainability message. Fujifilm has a long history of upholding corporate responsibility, they have taken on environmental projects such as: capping a landfill to replace 40% of its natural gas usage with methane at its plant in Greenwood, SC; achieving over 80% rate of recycling and in some cases sending zero waste to landfill; and most recently, reducing its electrical consumption by up to 20%. Mr. Stenson was responsible for the design and initial implementation of Fujifilm’s environmental ERP system and was recently charged with the design and implementation of their new chemical management and MSDS authoring software.