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Meeting Agenda

Kenneth Armellino
Director, Environmental Science and Community Affairs
Covanta Energy

Kenneth is the Director of Environmental Science and Community Affairs and is responsible for implementing Covanta’s initiatives related to sustainability and community outreach. Areas of responsibility include toxicity reductions in the waste stream and in facility emissions, community outreach, and outreach to regulators and non-government organizations. In this position he is a member of sustainability team to implement the Company’s programs to reduce the impacts of company operations as well as promote Energy from Waste (EfW) as a clean, renewable energy. Kenneth also currently serves as Treasurer and a Board Member of the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling (NYSAR3), as well as a member of the New Jersey Audubon Corporate Stewardship Council, a Corporate Roundtable Partner in Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, and a member of the New Jersey Committee of the Regional Plan Association.

Kenneth is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York, and has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Saint John’s University in Physical Science and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Polytechnic University.

Morton A. Barlaz, Ph.D.
Professor and Head of the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
North Carolina State University

Dr. Morton A. Barlaz is Professor and Head of the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University. He received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. He has been involved in research on many aspects of solid waste since 1983. Over this time, he has conducted research on biological refuse decomposition, methane production, and the biodegradation of hazardous wastes in landfills. Dr. Barlaz is recognized for his research on the use of life-cycle analysis to evaluate environmental emissions associated with alternate solid waste management strategies. He has studied waste management policy in many parts of the world, is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications and has made over 200 presentations at conferences throughout the world.

Jeff Bassett
Director of Marketing
Unisource Global Solutions

Jeff Bassett serves as Director of Marketing where he oversees and manages the strategic positioning and marketing efforts for UGS and its products and services. Jeff is a versatile professional with significant experience in marketing, design, and strategic positioning. Having joined UGS in 2011, Jeff has quickly demonstrated an innate understanding of marketing sustainable technologies and packaging.

Jeff Graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Marketing where he was a semi-finalist for the prestigious distinction of being the Edward M. Carson Outstanding Graduating Senior in Marketing. Prior to joining UGS, Jeff served as the Director of Marketing at a commercial real estate firm as part of a global network that offered investment services, acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate and property management services.

Rob Bethea
Manager, Environmental Sustainablity
Altria Client Services

Rob serves as Manager, Environmental Sustainability for Altria Client Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Altria Group. He is responsible for developing strategies and tools to help Altria and its companies, Philip Morris USA, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., John Middleton and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, reduce the environmental impact of their businesses and create long-term value. Between October 2009 and December 2011, Rob held the role of Communications Manager supporting a variety of business units including environmental management, Altria companies’ manufacturing operations and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. In this role, he led the development of Altria’s first Corporate Responsibility Report. Previously he led Altria’s grassroots outreach on legislative issues.

Rob joined PM USA in 1997 as a Territory Sales Manager in Orlando, Fl. He advanced through the Sales and Marketing organizations, holding a number of positions including as District Manager and as Associate Director for Retail Marketing.

Rob holds a B.A. in political science from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Richmond. Altria Client Services, a services subsidiary of Altria Group (NYSE: MO), helps Altria Group and its operating companies responsibly meet their business goals by providing the high-quality services they require in a financially disciplined way.

Coleman Bigelow
Global Sustainablity Marketing Director
Johnson & Johnson

Coleman Bigelow is a brand marketing professional with a passion for building sustainable brands that both delight and empower consumers. He currently serves as Global Sustainability Marketing Director for Johnson & Johnson’s Family of Consumer Companies. In this role, Coleman leads sustainability marketing and engagement initiatives and supports individual brand teams as they pursue greener product development and communication. His main focus is on the development of brand strategies that build credibility, maximize community impact and minimize product footprint. Recent brand work includes the development and launch of Neutrogena Naturals.

Prior to this role, Coleman helped build the Sustainable Brand Marketing function within Johnson & Johnson’s World Wide Environment, Health and Safety group. In this role, he also worked on developing Earthwards™, a process designed to reduce product footprint and uncover environmental claims. Before taking on sustainability full-time, Coleman was a brand manager for a number of leading personal care brands. He has a background in corporate social responsibility, innovation, digital media, and business development with professional experience at Johnson & Johnson, Electronic Arts, and Juno Online.

He received his MBA and his Bachelor’s degree from The University of Virginia. He also recently achieved LEED Green Associate certification. He lives in Maplewood, NJ with his wife and two children.

Dr. Jeffrey R. Boehm
Executive Director
Marine Mammal Center

Dr. Jeffrey R. Boehm joined The Marine Mammal Center as its Executive Director in 2008 from the famed John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois where he was the Senior Vice President of Animal Health and Conservation Science, Louis Family Conservation chair, and joint chair for the Great Lakes Conservation Awareness initiative. Dr. Boehm oversees The Marine Mammal Center's Sausalito headquarters and its operations in Monterey Bay, San Luis Obispo, and Fort Bragg. A Marin County native, Dr. Boehm gained his first experience with marine mammals, and was inspired to pursue his ultimate career, when he volunteered at The Marine Mammal Center in 1980.

Dr. Boehm is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, where he received his bachelor's degree, and the University of California, Davis, where he received his degree in veterinary medicine. His professional affiliations include: American Zoo and Aquarium Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine, and the Society for Marine Mammalogy.

April Crow
Global Director, Sustainable Packaging
The Coca-Cola Company

As Global Director, Sustainable Packaging for The Coca-Cola Company, April Crow is working to help the company reach its vision of a world in which packaging is no longer seen as waste but as a valuable resource for future use. During her sixteen years at Coca-Cola she has held a variety of roles in Environment and Water Resources, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, and Quality.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Health and a Master of Science Degree in Instructional Technology.

She serves on the Executive Committee of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, the Global Alliance for Recycling and Sustainable Development and as a board member of AMERIPEN.

April maintains active roles with several environmental organizations in her local community as a board member of Keep Georgia Beautiful and the Georgia 4-H Foundation.

Steve Davies
Director, Marketing & Public Affairs
NatureWorks

Steve leads communications & public affairs globally for NatureWorks LLC, a company formed with the unique mission of bringing to market a broad family of performance plastics and fibers created from plants, not oil. He is responsible for the strategy, direction and management of the company’s external communications, media relations, issues management, and brand.

Previously as NatureWorks’ global marketing director, Steve was responsible for market development with Ingeo natural plastic innovations in packaging, bottles, food service-ware, films, and durable electronics, and with Ingeo fibers in apparel, personal care, home and garden. Since joining NatureWorks in 2003, he has led fibers applications development, business development in apparel, home textile, and nonwovens markets, brand management, and marketing communications.

Alex Earl
Executive Director
Project AWARE Foundation

Alex is a committed environmentalist and an enthusiastic diver. Originally from the west coast of Canada, he has lived and worked in four countries including Costa Rica, Japan, and the United States and has a BA in World History and Political Science from the University of British Columbia. Alex has dived in many regions of the world including the Philippines, Australia, Tanzania, Fiji, Tahiti, Canada, and the United States. He comes to Project AWARE from Sea Shepherd Conservation Society where he demonstrated his ability to combine his solid business acumen with his passionate commitment to making a lasting difference in the health and well-being of our ocean and for the animals that live in it. He served on the Boards of Sea Shepherd Australia and Sea Shepherd United Kingdom and has participated in volunteer efforts with numerous ocean conservation and animal protection groups. Alex has an extensive background in global non-profit management, strategic planning, program development, fundraising, and business development including corporate relations, cause marketing and co-branding in the non-profit sector, as well as extensive cross-cultural and international experience.

The challenges of marine conservation are increasing exponentially year by year. Project AWARE and the dive community are uniquely positioned on a global scale to help fight the critical battles that must be fought and to win the strategic victories that must be won. The alternative of an ocean devoid of apex predators and full of marine debris is unthinkable and a legacy humanity does not want to pass on to future generations. Alex and the team at Project AWARE along with the global dive community are dedicated to protecting our ocean planet - one dive at a time.

Deb Fillis Ryba
Nestle Waters NA

William R. Francis
President
Algalita Marine Research Institute

William received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kansas. He worked for Monsanto Specialty Chemicals, then for Nalco Company, an industrial specialty chemical company, until his recent retirement. His specialty is the use of reclaimed water for industrial applications, and on the monitoring and control of the quality of industrial water treating applications.

He has co-authored and presented two papers as part of his career with Nalco Company. The first paper documents the re-use of municipal waste water from the City of Los Angeles Hyperion Waste Treatment Plant. This publication documents the successful implementation of this recycled water to be used as cooling water make up to the petroleum refining industry in the Los Angeles Basin. Since that publication, Bill has been involved with consultation to these refineries to allow re-use of over 12 million gallons per day of waste water from the Hyperion facility. The water recycling end use has been for both cooling water and boiler water make-up to the refineries. The second paper involves the implementation of new technology to reduce the amount of extra water treating chemicals, such as industrial sodium hypochlorite (bleach) as a disinfectant going to Santa Monica Bay. Bill continues to be heavily involved with the day to day monitoring and control of the above subjects.

Laurie Hansen
NatureWorks

Samantha Harvey
Program Manager, Conservation; Environment Program Associate
The Overbrook Foundation

Samantha Harvey is both Associate to the Environment Program at The Overbrook Foundation and Program Manager of Conservation 2051, an Overbrook initiative looking at unifying tools the conservation community can employ to be as inclusive and efficient as possible against the coming challenges of mid-century. Before joining Overbrook, she coordinated an internship program for under-served New York City high school students at The American Museum of Natural History. Samantha found her environmental calling in the canyons of Utah on a 2002 Outward Bound trip, and went on to earn a Master’s in Journalism through the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado.  Her first career was as a modern dancer, and she has performed and taught with dance companies internationally and throughout the New York area.

Steve Henn
Group President, Global Packaging Solutions
Illinois Tool Works (ITW)

Steve Henn's 21-year ITW career includes a number of General Management & Executive assignments in both the PPF (Performance Polymers & Fluids) and Consumer Packaging Segments. Steve's current responsibilities (Group President) include managing a Global portfolio of companies in the Consumer Packaging Segment within ITW that focusses on Packaging Solutions for the Beverage and FMCG industries.

In addition to his corporate responsibilities Steve is also involved in a number of Philanthropic causes including: Junior Achievement (Board Member) and the Ocean Conservancy. Steve also is a member of the Board of Directors of the Beer Institute.

Steve received his BA in Accounting & Finance at Seattle Pacific University and his MBA from Georgia State.

Elizabeth Hogan
Campaign Manager for Oceans & Wildlife
World Society for the Protection of Animals

Elizabeth Hogan is the Campaign Manager for Oceans & Wildlife at the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), where she is responsible for developing and implementing US campaigns on illegal wildlife trade and marine animal welfare. She has worked most recently with the consulting firm David Gardiner & Associates, where her portfolio included projects for NGOs, the private sector, and the Obama Administration pertaining to climate change, deforestation, and sea level rise. She joined the firm after working for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), where she focused on marine mammal conservation through responsible commercial fishing practices in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and members of the Atlantic fishing industry. Prior to joining IFAW, she worked with the Camara de Industrias of Costa Rica to assist Central American businesses in the transition toward more sustainable business operations. Elizabeth’s entry into the environmental and conservation fields began after a private sector career including five years as a project manager at AOL Time Warner.

Elizabeth is a contributing author to two books on corporate and non-profit environmental responsibility. She has a degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a dual Master of Science in Natural Resources and Master of Science in Sustainable Development from the University for Peace in Costa Rica and American University in Washington, DC. Elizabeth speaks Spanish and Portuguese, and has lived in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.

Ramani Narayan, Ph.D.
University Distinguished Professor, MICHIGAN BIOTECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE
Michigan State University

Carrie Norton
Founder and President
Green Business BASE CAMP

Carrie Norton is Founder and CEO of Green Business BASE CAMP, a global entrepreneurial education company serving early stage green business and cleantech entrepreneurs. Carrie’s broad expertise in sustainable business and entrepreneurship has evolved as strategic career choices allowed her to appreciate a range of perspectives, starting with her positions at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Garage.com and Idealab. Most recently, Carrie served early-adopting clients such as Google, Sony, and British Telecom as a senior executive responsible for Market and Project Development in the commercial solar power industry. Carrie is a Catto Fellow of the Aspen Institute, Class of 2010. She co-founded the Sustainable Business Council of Los Angeles, and her community leadership has included work with Grid Alternatives, the Clean Economy Network and Net Impact. She has served as adjunct faculty member at the Graziadio School of Management at Pepperdine University. She earned an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management and a BA from Trinity University. Carrie speaks and consults frequently on topics related to innovation & entrepreneurship, cleantech, and triple bottom line investing.

Dietmar Offenhuber
Research Fellow, SENSEable City Lab
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Kelly Polich
Plastics Sustainability Manager
The Dow Chemical Company

Kelly works as the Plastics Sustainability Manager for The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) in North America.  In this role, Kelly identifies packaging market trends and helps companies develop new, innovative and sustainable packaging for their products.  She also promotes the sustainability benefits of plastics throughout the value chain and manages efforts to improve the end-of-life performance of plastics (e.g. increasing recycling and decreasing litter) by developing and implementing advocacy and communications programs.

Kelly joined Dow in 1999 after receiving a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida.  During her time at Dow, she has gained extensive knowledge in the development, production and end-use markets for plastics as a Technical Service & Development Engineer and Commercial Account Manager.

Kelly lives in the Washington, DC metro area with her husband and two daughters.

Daniella Russo
Co-founder and Executive Director
Plastic Pollution Coalition

Daniella Dimitrova Russo is the co-founder and Executive Director of Plastic Pollution Coalition, a global organization of people, organizations and businesses working together to end plastic pollution. 

Daniella is a social entrepreneur who believes that progressive societies are fueled by the power of informed and engaged people. Daniella has spent many years in the high-tech industry as a founder and executive of a range of businesses – from Internet startups to Fortune 500 companies. She has always been interested in applying her executive experience to social profit ventures. In 2006 she began work on National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth project, and developed and launched the award-winning "Think Beyond Plastics" 360 campaign. In 2009 she co-founded the Plastic Pollution Coalition, where she continued working on growing the global movement to end plastic pollution.

Daniella is committed to elevating the issue of plastic pollution to the forefront of social, political and environmental discourse. She believes that all people have the right to a world free of plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on people, animals and the environment.

Nancy Wallace
Marine Debris Division Chief
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Nancy Wallace is the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program, where she oversees federal efforts to research, prevent, and reduce the impacts of marine debris in the United States. Ms. Wallace has 10 years of experience in ocean policy, and her work has ranged from resource conservation with the National Park Service, to developing sustainable catch limits for fisheries off the U.S. East Coast, to efforts to improve water quality in the Gulf of Mexico. She holds a Master’s degree in Marine Affairs and Policy from the University of Miami and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Fairfield University.

Michael Westerfield
Corporate Director of Recycling Programs
Dart Container Corporation