William R. Blackburn is a senior research fellow at The Conference Board’s Center for Corporate Citizenship & Sustainability and formerly chair of TCB’s Chief EHS Officers Council I. Bill is also president of William Blackburn Consulting, Ltd., a global consulting firm focusing on sustainable development; environment, health and safety management; and emergency and crisis response. Bill has thirty-five years experience in these fields. Until 2003 he was vice president and chief counsel, Corporate Environment, Health and Safety and a sustainability leader at Baxter International Inc., a global manufacturer of health-care products based in Deerfield, Illinois. His book, The Sustainability Handbook—The Complete Management Guide to Achieving Social, Economic, and Environmental Responsibility, was published by the Environmental Law Institute and Earthscan in 2007 and is being used by numerous business schools. Bill has a JD in law from the University of Iowa and BS in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University. He holds leadership positions in a number of environmental and sustainability groups.
Tom has worked in the industrial sector of Seattle for the last thirty plus years. Starting his career at Todd Ship Yards shortly after being discharged from the U. S. Navy in the early 70’s. Tom also worked for many years with Bethlehem steel and is currently the plant manager at the Lafarge North America Seattle cement plant. During his tenure with the cement plant Tom and his team have received several prestigious environmental awards. They have included the Northwest Power Planning Council- Energy Efficiency award, the Seattle City Light- Power Player award, the Portland Cement Associations- Cement Industry Environmental and Energy award, as well as the Lafarge Environmental Excellence award. Tom has also belonged to such organizations as the Association of Iron and Steel Engineers, the Northwest Natural Gas Users Group, the Air and Waste Management Association, the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle, and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
Tom lives with his wife Cathie in Mill Creek and has three grown children Linsey, Breeana, and Brice.
Laurie Demeritt is President and COO of The Hartman Group, a leading consulting and market research firm. The Hartman Group specializes in the analysis and interpretation of consumer lifestyles and how these lifestyles affect the purchase and use of health and wellness products and services. As President, Laurie is responsible for the quantitative and qualitative market research and client services departments, and is the team lead on all consulting projects, including brand development strategies, retail services, and new product market analysis. Her background includes a B.A. from Cornell University and MBA from University of Washington.
Tim Fallon, a veteran in the food and beverage industry, joined Kettle Foods as president North America in November 2005. Fallon now leads the company’s marketing efforts, distribution and development of new product lines in the U.S.
With an extensive background in manufacturing, distribution and finance, as well as experience in sales and marketing, Fallon helps fuel Kettle Foods’ expansion efforts and deepen distribution of Kettle™ brand potato chips. Under his leadership Kettle Foods opened the first Gold Level LEED Food manufacturing facility in the United States located in Beloit, Wisconsin. This facility opened in May 2007 and will produce and distribute Kettle™ brand potato chips to meet growing East Coast demand.
Before joining Kettle, Fallon was CEO of Vermont Pure Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded natural spring water company. Previously, Fallon led management teams at companies including Procter & Gamble, Pepsi-Cola Bottling and Cadbury Beverages. He also served on the board of Homegrown Natural Foods, Inc., a company with retail roots in the natural and organic food channel marketing products under the Annie’s trademark.
Mr. Fallon is a graduate of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia with a BS in Food Marketing. He also has an MBA from Temple University in Philadelphia.
K.C. Golden is Policy Director for Climate Solutions, a research and advocacy organization pioneering practical and profitable solutions to global warming. He has served as Washington State Energy Policy
Director and as a special assistant to the Mayor of Seattle for climate and energy initiatives. K.C. is a member of the Governor's Climate Action Team.
In 2004, Jason Graham-Nye and his wife Kimberley had a grand plan...move to America from Australia and launch a new and very unique kind of baby diaper - gDiapers. gDiapers are flushable and compostable and have been in Australia since 1991. Kim and Jason were just happy customers who loved it so much, they bought the rights to the rest of the world and headed to Portland, Oregon with child and dog in tow.They now have two children, have been on the shelves in the U.S. and Canada for three years and have Julia Roberts as a customer. Along with being a new kind of diaper, gDiapers is a new kind of business. We take the "Fair Dinkum" approach to everything we do. And what is "Fair Dinkum"? It's Australian for genuine, real, honest. ("Fair Dinkum" is an Australian expression which means being genuine and real with everyone you meet.)
Jean-Jerome Baudry, the CEO of Baudry Cybernomics Corporation and founder of the Think Green Alliance, holds an Honours BA (Economics, Computer Science) from the University of Toronto’s Trinity College. He has received extensive Systems Engineering training on Microsoft, Novell and HP technologies and is a patent-holder for a system monitoring the temperature and pressure of microprocessor fan-heat sink assemblies.
In June 2008, Mr. Baudry founded the Think Green Alliance, a multi-disciplinary international community of organizations that are committed to both economic and environmental sustainability. He is currently the Think Green Alliance’s Secretary General.
Jean-Jerome is recognized as a forerunner in the green IT industry. Mr. Baudry was invited to join the Steering Committee and serve on the Jury for the Canadian Investment Awards’ Green Award, which was presented for the first time in December 2008. He also serves on the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Environmental Committee as well as their recently created Economic Task Force.
In December 2008, Mr. Baudry was asked to be a contributor to the well-known Huffington Post on the topics of Green Business and Green Technology. In April, of 2009 he was sought out to be the first environmental sustainability columnist for EMQ Weekly noted for his unique perspective in the green industry.
In April 2009 Mr. Baudry was elected to be the Chair of the Private-Public Partnership project CoolGro looking to build low to zero- Carbon datacentres across Ontario.
Mr. Baudry is fluent in English, French, Spanish and German.
Terry Mutter serves as the Director of Strategic Management for the Boeing Environment, Health and Safety Group. In this role Mutter is responsible for regulatory and legislative analysis and strategy development that integrates enterprise efforts targeted at reducing the environmental foot print of the Boeing Company and improving the health and safety of its employees.
Mutter has more than 24 years of experience and has served in a variety of positions within Boeing including Engineering Operations and Technology, Shared Services, Corporate, and Integrated Defense Systems. He has broad functional experience with leadership roles in Environment, Finance, e-Business, Supplier Management, Logistics, Facilities, Program Management and Strategy.
A graduate of Washington State University with a bachelor's degree in business administration, Mutter also earned a master's in business administration from Pacific Lutheran University. He has attended executive programs at Wharton and Kellogg Schools of Business, is a graduate of the Columbia University graduate school of business Senior Executive program and attended the Climate Leaders Program at the University of Cambridge.
David Van Seters is President and CEO of Small Potatoes Urban Delivery (SPUD) Inc., an organic food delivery company that he founded in 1998. His education includes a B.Sc. degree in Environmental Biology from McGill University in Montreal and an MBA degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. In the decade prior to launching SPUD, David spent 4 years running a business management consulting firm and 5 years as the National Environmental Practice Leader for KPMG consultants.
SPUD has grown rapidly in the last ten years and is now the largest organic food delivery service in North America. The company has 16,000 customers, over 200 staff, and operates from seven warehouse locations (Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles). The company has strong social mission and is a member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and the Better Business Bureau. Last year the company contributed over ,000 to local community groups.
David sits on the Board of the Fraser Basin Council, a non-profit group working to foster sustainability in the Fraser River Basin in British Columbia. He lives in West Vancouver with his wife, Adine and their three children, Philip, Juliette and Sarah.
Marc Daudon, Principal and co-founder of Cascadia Consulting Group, has over 25 years of international environmental consulting experience, with expertise in the fields of sustainability, resource conservation, waste management, climate change and strategic planning. Marc focuses his work on both designing and implementing strategies to achieve sustainability outcomes, including projects and programs to change behavior. Marc is currently the Principal-in-charge of the City of Seattle’s Resource Venture program, a 17 year initiative to help Seattle businesses save money and conserve resources by adopting sustainability practices.
Prior to founding Cascadia in 1992, Marc’s diverse work experience includes creating a Seattle-based mail order business, serving as a consultant in Africa and Asia on energy issues, and working in refugee camps. Marc has a Masters in Public and Private Management from Yale University. He is Chair Emeritus of the Board of Washington Conservation Voters.
Kevin Wilhelm is an expert and thought leader in the field of business sustainability and clean technology. He is the CEO of Sustainable Business Consulting, a Seattle based consulting firm focused on practical solutions that deliver profit improvement through the use of sustainable business and climate reduction practices.
Kevin brings a breadth of business knowledge and experience to the field of profitable sustainability with over thirteen years of experience working with client businesses ranging from Fortune 500 multinationals to renewable energy start-ups. He brings a strong background in financial analysis, climate issues, clean technology, & sustainability implementation, and has spent the last four years demonstrating the business & bottom line benefits of sustainability locally, nationally, and internationally.
Mr. Wilhelm is a monthly columnist and contributing writer to both Sustainable Industries Journal and The Environmental Leader. He is an adjunct faculty at Antioch University-Seattle where he is one of the pioneering faculty in the country teaching Sustainable Business Finance, and is a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Washington and the Bainbridge Graduate Institute on topics related to business, sustainability, and climate change.
He authored Return on Sustainability: How Business Can Increase Profitability & Address Climate Change in an Uncertain Economy. He was also a contributing writer to Green Jobs: a Guide to Eco-Friendly Employment as well as Advancing Sustainability in Higher Education.
Mr. Wilhelm holds an MBA from the University of Denver, two Graduate Certificates from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Sustainable Business and Entrepreneurship, and a BA from Macalester College.
In his role as Future 500’s VP of Strategic Operations, Erik manages Future 500’s North American operations and important external partnerships.
Erik oversees the organization’s stakeholder engagement program, developing and refining stakeholder dialogues, tools and processes that progress engagement between companies and Civil Society. His responsibilities include management of the organization’s stakeholder mapping & planning (sMAP) process and software tool, stakeholder meeting facilitation, and SEED (Sustainable Energy & Environmental Demand) initiative, a multi-stakeholder process leveraging corporate procurement to develop markets for best available sustainable technologies.
Erik’s professional career and academic studies have focused on bridging the green wall; the disconnection in common language and objectives between corporations and civil society that hinders the advancement of solutions to sustainability – economic, social, and environmental. He has worked as an environmental activist and lobbyist for non-profits, with corporations on environmental business practices, and even as a whitewater river guide and snowmaker.
He has a MBA from Yale School of Management with a concentration in Competitive Strategies and Master's degree in Environmental Management from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a concentration in Industrial Environmental Management. He also received a B.A. in history from Yale College, focusing on development of the American West.
During his free moments, Erik spends time with his wife and two young daughters, travels, plays squash, cooks, and recreates outside as much as possible.
Justin is President of FMYI [for my innovation]. He founded fmyi in 2004 after a successful career at Nike where most recently he oversaw sustainability business integration throughout the entire company as a senior manager in corporate sustainable development. Prior to that role, Justin was the company’s head of footwear quality for the Europe/ Middle East/Africa region based in the Netherlands.
Accomplishments while at Nike included creating innovative organizational change programs, designing collaboration tools, building the business case for sustainability, and managing global employee training. Justin conceived fmyi due to his passion for sustainability and an interest in how advances in technology can help lessen our impact on the planet while positively affecting society.
He is currently Co-Chair of the City ofPortland/Multnomah County Sustainable Development Commission as well as Chair of the Board of Directors forThe Natural Step Network. Justin serves on the Board of Directors of the Portland Parks Foundation, the Northwest Earth Institute and The National Crittenton Foundation. He is also a member of the Clean Technology Alliance’s Steering Committee and the Advisory Board for Portland State University’s Center for Global Leadership in Sustainability. Formerly, he served on the Advisory Board of the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute For Global Sustainable Business, Portland State University’s Implementing Sustainability Program, and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Justin has completed courses in the Executive Education Program at the Columbia University School of Business and holds a degree in International Studies from The Johns Hopkins University.
Founder Jim Bernau is intense. He admits he drove his friends to distraction years ago, talking about the potential for Pinot noir in Oregon. As a small business lobbyist at the State Capitol, he helped the emigrating California winemakers pass legislation to develop an Oregon wine industry. This lit a path for Jim resulting in his planting in the South Salem Hills.
Using a small tractor, he cleared away the blackberry vines and remnants of a pioneer plum orchard in 1983 and began planting Pinot noir watering the over 1,000 Biographies feet of vine rows with a garden hose by hand. He speaks passionately about the soil and the steps taken to protect it and the ground water underneath. Trips to Burgundy and UC Davis and time with Oregon winemakers helped define his strategy. The cool climate of the Willamette Valley could deliver the expression of pure varietal fruit character, subtle layers of flavor and fine tannins with the balanced acidity he wanted. When the winery began its first crush, Jim served as its first employee and cellar rat guided by a consulting winemaker. The winery quickly grew into Oregon’s leading producer of wines selling at and above only three years after its first release of Pinot noir. He has contributed his expertise in governmental affairs over the years serving as the industry’s first Political Action Committee Chair, Legislative Committee Chair and as President of the Oregon Winegrowers Association. In addition to lobbying for passage of the original Oregon Wine Advisory Board and its financing provisions, he drafted and advocated passage of laws permitting wineries in exclusive farm use zones, direct shipment of wine to consumers, in-store wine tastings and a winery marketing tax credit. His contributions have earned him the industry’s Outstanding Service Award and most recently the Founder’s Award for his work on establishing the new Oregon Wine Board. His financial gift to Oregon State University established the first professorship in Fermentation Science.
Jim loves this land and has now lived at the vineyard for 23 years. When asked where he would most like to be, it is in the vineyard. He takes pride as a native Oregonian following the lead of the emigrating winemakers to build a world class Oregon winery by organizing the energy and resources of thousands of wine enthusiasts.What began as a small group of understanding fellow Pinot noir enthusiasts, the winery has grown to over 4,500 owners. Jim explains a consumer-owned winery is naturally oriented to the long term, sustainableinterests of the community. His ground breaking work onconducting the nation’s first successful self underwritten public offering has led to a new fabric of federal and state laws facilitating small business capitalization.
Brian J. Flaherty is the Director of Public Affairs at Nestlé Waters North America, the nation’s leading bottled water company. He directs the company’s federal/state/local government and legislative affairs programs nationwide. This includes integrating the company’s government relations activities with company operations, major industry associations, and within the NWNA Corporate Affairs Department’s public and community relations and corporate citizenship efforts.
Before joining Nestlé Waters April 2003, Flaherty was an eight-term member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, serving five of those terms as Deputy House Minority Leader. Upon his departure from the General Assembly, the Hartford Courant called Flaherty “one of the most influential and respected Republicans in the House of Representatives.” In a Connecticut Magazine poll, Brian was ranked by his colleagues as one of the top 10 most effective House members. Among his awards, he was honored as “Legislator of the Year” by the Connecticut Library Association, the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce, the Connecticut Council of Small Towns, and the Conference of Independent Colleges.
Brian currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Conn. He is Vice Chair of the Board of Governors for Higher Education, the state’s higher education coordinating and accrediting body. In 2008, he began a two-year term as Chair of the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s State Affairs Committee. He also appears periodically as a political analyst for WFSB, Connecticut’s CBS network affiliate.
Brian graduated from Holy Cross High School in Waterbury, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Fairfield University. He and his wife Melanie live in Watertown with their three children.
Prior to joining ShoreBank, David was at the Bank of the Northwest in Portland, established by local businesspeople. His banking career also included working as a commercial lender at another Portland bank. Before becoming a banker, David served as CEO of companies in the oil and gas, robotics, boat building and steel fabrication industries. David started out in academia, teaching physics at Seattle University.
Tony worked out of Dow’s headquarters in Midland, Michigan where he lead a group responsible for plastics sustainability activities and industry affairs globally. He served as the key link between the + billion plastics half of Dow (Dow is the largest plastics producer in the world.) and the corporate reputation and sustainability efforts. He has worked with value chains in markets ranging from packaging to toys, building products to footwear and consumer electronics to medical devices.
He represented Dow and held leadership positions on numerous organizations such as:
American Chemistry Council’s Plastics Division,
Ocean Futures Society & The Ocean Conservancy,
Wal-Mart’s Packaging Sustainable Value Network,
Sustainable Packaging Council
Tony is a recognized expert in global sustainability (with an emphasis on sustainability metrics), environmentally preferred purchasing, life cycle thinking, plastics and chemical environmental issues and public policy. He was the co-developer of Dow’s Lifecycle Sustainability Index, a financial and life cycle metric of all Dow’s products. He is a sought after international speaker and consultant. He is known for using his wide ranging knowledge of the whole supply chain from raw material extraction, to manufacturing, to final use, recycling and disposal, to distill complex messages into understandable language.
Tony is now in the process of starting up the new Sustainable Products & Solution Program at UC Berkeley. This multidisciplinary program seeks to enhance sustainability related education and research on campus and to develop the next generation of leaders with the right skills. Kingsbury also teaches a graduate level course on ‘Metrics of Sustainability.’
Tony received his bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University.
He has a wife and two teenage children
Jack Graves created the role of chief cultural officer for Burgerville in 2004. His responsibilities include serving as a steward of the company's mission and culture, as a liaison between Burgerville's vendor partners and internal teams and ensuring that the company's initiatives such as providing affordable health care and its commitment to sustainability are met. Graves also serves as the historian for The Holland, Burgerville's parent company, and ensures that the company's vision is fully integrated throughout the organization.
Graves joined the company in 1976 as general manager of Burgerville #16 in Centrailia, WA. Before creating the role of chief cultural officer, Graves held the position of director of operations and vice president of Burgerville operations.
Prior to joining Burgerville, Graves spent more than three years with Arby's restaurant where he served as general manager.
A true visionary of the industry, Graves has spent more than 30 years in the QSR industry. He has won several sales awards and is committed to the implementation of sustainable practices and affordable health care for all employees. Throughout his career Graves has spoken on various industry panels on sustainability and has most recently spoken at events such as the Northwest Environmental Conference & Tradeshow, Southwest Washington Sustainability Conference and Tradeshow, The Northwest Innovations Conference and the Sustainable Business Forum.
Sean Clark has been with The Climate Trust since 2003 and has been working in the field of climate and atmosphere policy issues for more than twelve years. While at The Climate Trust, Sean has overseen more than million worth of offset project acquisitions. As the Director of Offset Programs, Sean is responsible for offset project acquisitions and The Climate Trust’s various policy initiatives. In addition, Sean directs the organization’s business development activities.
Prior to joining The Climate Trust, Sean was with Trexler and Associates (TAA), a climate change consulting company with a focus on working with private sector companies to address their risk to the climate change issue. While at TAA, Mr. Clark was involved in a variety of carbon market projects and programs including the launch of a Canadian company’s carbon market business strategy and the development of an Africa-based carbon fund. Mr. Clark also functioned as TAA’s representative to the international climate change negotiations. Other client work included: TransAlta Corporation, PSEG, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Reliant Energy, MidAmerican, and the U.S. EPA.
Prior to TAA, Mr. Clark was a program consultant with UNDP’s Energy and Atmosphere Program based at their headquarters in New York.
Sean earned a M.A. in International Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He received his B.A. at Claremont McKenna College.
Holly is a business strategy consultant with focus in strategic vision development and organizational alignment. Her experience is in developing growth and innovation strategies as well as holistic brand experiences in the consumer products space. Her past clients include Procter and Gamble, Johnson and Johnson, Wrigley and FAO Schwarz. Her recent projects include the development of sustainable product design for Procter and Gamble and a global community investment strategy for Nike, Inc.
Holly cultivated her understanding of consumer products working in the Consumer Marketing at Subaru of America and Corporate Strategic Planning at Nike, Inc. She also lead strategic product design efforts as a footwear product line manager at Nike and group account director at Ziba Design.
Holly has a BA in Architecture from Yale University and an MBA in Strategic Management and Finance from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. In her free time she enjoys lacrosse, surfing, snowboarding and triathlons.
Susan Long joined Starbucks Coffee Company in 1996, in the manufacturing engineering group, working on roasting process development and overseeing roasting plant environmental compliance. In 2008, she joined the Global Responsibility department, focusing on environmental issues. She works with the business units to incorporate sustainability into all aspects of operations, from waste reduction to energy and water efficiency and green building design, as well as external stakeholders in NGOs, government, and partner companies. . Prior to Starbucks, she worked in the research and development food processing group at Kraft Foods.
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting the highest quality arabica coffee in the world. Today, with stores around the globe, the company is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer through every cup. To share in the experience, please visit us in our stores or online at www.starbucks.com.
Karl's background includes organization development and consultation with businesses, municipalities, universities, and non-profit organizations. As founding director of NBIS, he has played an instrumental role in conceptualizing and communicating the opportunities for sustainable business on the global and local scale.
Karl's background in urban planning and development contributes to the depth of leadership he brings when assisting businesses with finding profitable ways to contribute to the urgent needs of our time through realigning their operations for sustainability and prosperity.
He has served as an adjunct professor in sustainable business at Seattle University and the Leadership Institute of Seattle and as a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Creative Change at Antioch University Seattle.
Karl's PhD in Clinical Psychology, completed at the University of North Carolina, has contributed to his understanding of systemic approaches to organizational change and leadership development. His publications include "Is there Hope for the City."
Michael Contardi, is Business Development Manager, Salt Spring Coffee Co. one of Canada’s most respected organic and fair trade coffee roasters. He’s been involved in sustainability and activism for over a decade, previously working for a number of renewable energy start ups in various executive capacities, including co-founder of a tidal current technology company. He was responsible for creative development of the Company’s Carbon Cool initiative in 2007, which positioned the Company as one of the world’s first carbon neutral coffee companies. He lives and works on Salt Spring Island with his wife and three children.
Kim Jordan is CEO and President of New Belgium Brewing Company of Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. New Belgium has grown to over 300 people in eighteen years and is the third largest craft brewery in the United States. Kim and her husband, Jeff Lebesch, started the company in the basement of their home in 1991. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Kim was a social worker. The combination of those skill sets has been invaluable in their adventure of growing a business.
Kim has done everything from bottling and delivering beer to the designing of marketing materials to design input on the brewery. Under Kim’s leadership, New Belgium has developed a set of interwoven practices that include employee ownership, open book management, high involvement culture, and of course drinking beer together. Ms. Jordan and New Belgium have been widely recognized as business role models; she received the EPA’s highest regional award for Environmental Excellence and New Belgium was voted in the top ten best places to work by Outside Magazine and Men’s Journal and in the top 5 places to work in Colorado by Denver’s 5280 Magazine.
Today Kim’s time is spent on the bigger picture role of steering the company toward its long-term mission. She is currently a Member of Colorado Governor Bill Ritter’s Business Advisory Group, a Director for the Brewers Association and Ex Officio Board Member of the Beer Institute. She is a member of a few Fort Collins community Boards as well.
Member of Colorado Governor Bill Ritter’s Business Advisory Group
Director of Brewers Association, Trade Association for America’s Small Brewers
Ex Officio Board Member of the Beer Institute
Director of 1% for the Planet
Director of Fort Collins Beet Street
His work has been instrumental in several key social and environmental policy changes at major U.S. companies. He leads the group’s sustainability engagement. His efforts have led to commitments by Dell, Apple and Best Buy on take back and recycling of electronics; and Coke, Nestle Waster NA, and PespiCo on beverage container recycled content and recovery.
He led a dialogue with Gap Inc. that resulted in the 2004 release of a ground-breaking public report ranking the performance of supply chain facilities and frankly discussing problems with global factory monitoring. He was also part of the core group that developed Project Kaleidoscope, a multi-year project to improve working conditions at 10 Walt Disney and McDonald’s Corp. supplier factories in China’s Pearl River Delta. He has also engaged with Nordstrom on supply chain social compliance.
Conrad is a former Social Investment Analyst at Piper Jaffray and Progressive Asset Management, and Analyst for Energy and Environment at the Investor Responsibility Research Center (now Risk Metrics). He is a former board member of the Social Investment Forum, and former chair of its Advocacy and Public Policy Program.
He is vice-chair of the City of San Francisco’s Sweat Free Procurement Advisory Group, which assists Mayor Gavin Newsom in implementing a city law requiring that apparel purchased by the city be produced under fair labor standards.
Rob Bernard is the Chief Environmental Strategist for Microsoft and is responsible for defining and implementing the global strategy for the company’s environmental efforts. In this role he will assess the company’s environmental impact at all levels including: working with product groups to create technology innovations in software and hardware that can help enable customers to minimize their impact on the environment, assuring responsible business practices that work to reduce the company’s direct and indirect environmental impact, and working with partners in industry, government and non-government to engage on global environmental issues.
Bernard has held various positions during his 10 year career at Microsoft. He’s served in roles ranging from marketing to business and technical management. In these positions, he has worked with a variety of teams including the Windows group, MSN, and the Information Worker/Office division. As a Senior Director of Program Management in Office producing software solutions for the Office platform, Rob’s group worked on the project which became the foundation for Microsoft’s joint venture with SAP called “Duet.” As a Product Unit Manager in MSN he was responsible for growing the online shopping platform to handle millions of offers from hundreds of retail partners, and as Product Planner for Windows Update, he was responsible for designing many of the features and user experience which were the foundation of the updating technologies in Windows.
Most recently, Bernard was General Manager for Microsoft’s Developer and Platform Evangelism team where he was responsible for Microsoft’s relationship with over 100 of the world’s largest Independent Software Vendors. In this role, Bernard also created programs to help the company manage its relationships and approach to working with over 70,000 ISVs around the globe. In addition, Bernard also worked on Microsoft’s project with the Clinton Foundation focused on measuring and tracking greenhouse gas emissions for the C40 cities, a tool that will be used by cities around the globe to measure and track their greenhouse gas emissions.
Bernard has a deep personal passion around the subject of Environmental Sustainability (ES) and proven leadership skills. Prior to his career at Microsoft, he spent nearly 10 years in the construction and building management industry where he built and managed industrial and office properties. He attended the Wharton School of Business where he earned his MBA. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Columbia University. Bernard lives with his family in Seattle.
Gabriel Scheer is foremost, a connector. With broad experience in the private, public and non-profit sectors, Gabriel loves to think strategically about how to create the spaces where communities grow and thrive. Gabriel excels at building, extending and utilizing networks to identify and build upon areas of shared interest across diverse groups of people.
Gabriel is founder and Managing Director of Re-Vision Labs, a Seattle-based enterprise that combines hands-on community organizing with new social technologies to empower communities around large enterprises. [A good analogy is the success of the “Obama community” in the 2008 campaign.] Re-Vision Labs is working to help expand the reach and competitiveness of large, mission-driven organizations. Gabriel is also founder and Executive Director of Seattle Greendrinks, a non-profit organization dedicated to convening and growing Seattle’s environmental community.
Previously he worked in operations at Zipcar (formerly Flexcar), where he was particularly proud of his successful work serving low-income populations, and his accomplishments as General Manager for Zipcar in the Southern California market. Gabriel has Masters degrees in International Studies and Public Affairs, both with an Environmental Management focus. He has worked, traveled and studied extensively in New Zealand, Japan, Europe, and Brazil.
Burr is a transportation and environmental planner with 32 years of work experience, mostly in and around the planning and management of Seattle – Tacoma International Airport for the Port of Seattle. He has held several management positions at the airport including aviation planning director, and is currently managing strategic planning at the corporate level of the Port of Seattle, focusing mainly on sustainability and corporate performance metrics and initiatives.
Burr has been active in industry groups at all levels, and is the founding chair of the new subcommittee on aviation sustainability at the Transportation Research Board, as well as holding membership on its strategic management and transportation sustainability committees. He also chairs the Airport Cooperative Research Program Synthesis Program Advisory Panel. He represented airports and seaports on a recent Federal Advisory Committee for a Climate Change Science Program study on the impacts of climate change on the transportation sector.
In his local community, he is active in several sustainability collaboratives, including the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce business sustainability committee and the Seattle Rotary environmental committee. He holds an FAA private pilots license, a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Masters in City & Regional Planning from Harvard University.
Marty McDonald is a thought leader in the field of brand development and sustainability. He is the founder and Creative Director of egg, a 5-year-old Seattle firm specializing in brand development and communications for sustainable brands. Marty has 20 years of national advertising agency experience, having worked with clients ranging from industry leaders like Stonyfield Farm, Coca Cola, and Southwest Airlines, to next generation renewable energy start-ups like Southwest Windpower.
Currently, egg works closely with companies and organizations in many sectors to help them define their brands around sustainability--from Earthbound Farm and Nature’s Path Organic Foods, to Portfolio 21 and Puget Sound Energy. egg also works in the public and non-profit sectors with clients ranging from ICLEI—local governments for sustainability—to the Alliance for Puget Sound Shorelines (The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, and People for Puget Sound).
In 2007, egg became the first ever national marketing firm to go carbon neutral and is also one of the founding B Corporation members who are setting a new corporate standard for social and environmental performance. On the vanguard of business in the “fourth sector”, B Corporation members have created profitable, competitive businesses while taking care of their employees, community, and environment.
Active in the sustainability community, Marty is a member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, sits on the Sustainability Committee for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Alumni Association Board for The Bainbridge Graduate Institute, Net Impact, and the Design Committee at Cornish College for the Arts.
John Robinson is a professor with the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability, and the Department of Geography, at the University of British Columbia. He is currently directing research programs looking at the intersection of climate change mitigation, adaptation and sustainability; the use of visualization, modeling and citizen engagement to explore sustainable futures; sustainable buildings and urban design; creating private/public/NGO and research sector partnerships for sustainability; and generally the intersection of sustainability, social and technological change, behaviour change, and community engagement processes. His major current project is trying to get the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) built and operating. Dr. Robinson is a member of the BC Climate Action Team, the BC Hydro External Advisory Committee on Electricity Conservation and Efficiency, and the Vancouver Climate Leadership Council, on the Board of the Sustainable Cities Foundation and the Pembina Institute, a member of the Steering Group of HELIO International, and on the Editorial Boards of the journals Integrated Assessment, Ecology and Society, Building Research and Information, and the Journal of Industrial Ecology. In 2008 Dr. Robinson was made a Fellow of the Trudeau Foundation. He is a member of the Program Committee for the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, and was a Lead Author in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and the last three reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1995, 2001, 2007), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.