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Speaker Bios
Todd Ambs
Director, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition
Todd Ambs is the Director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.
For more than 30 years, Todd has worked in the environmental policy field.
From 2010 until becoming Director of Healing Our Waters in July, 2013, Ambs
was President of the national conservation group River Network. Prior to that,
he ran the Water Division for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
for nearly a decade (2003-2010).
His extensive experience in both state government and nonprofit
organizations includes serving as Executive Director of two statewide river
organizations, Policy Director for the Ohio Attorney General and Senior Policy
Analyst for the Wisconsin Department of Justice .
Todd was the lead negotiator for the State of Wisconsin during the development of the Great Lakes
Compact. Todd has served on a number of water-related boards and commissions including the Great
Lakes Commission, Great Lakes Protection Fund and the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association. (WI).
He currently serves on the Coordinating Committee for the Alliance for Water Stewardship and on the
Regional Administrative Council for the North Central Region Water Network.
Todd graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1980 with a BS in Political Science/Speech.
Marcia Argust
Officer, Pew Charitable Trusts
Marcia Argust is based in Washington, DC where she has worked on
conservation issues for nearly 25 years. Her experience comes from past work
on Capitol Hill, with associations and non-profits, and her current position with
the U.S. Public Lands program at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where she focuses
on public lands legislation and advocacy. Marcia has an MS in environmental
science from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in political science and
psychology from Binghamton University. She can be reached at [email protected].
Phil Aroneanu
U.S. Managing Director and Co-Founder, 350.org
Phil Aroneanu is an organizer and political strategist advocating for solutions
to the climate crisis. He has over a decade of experience working at the local,
state, national and international levels on climate policy and politics. He cofounded the national Step It Up campaign in early 2007, and in 2009, went on
to become a co-founder of 350.org, which organized what CNN dubbed "The most widespread day of
political action in history," with over 5200 public events in 181 countries.
Vicki Arroyo
Executive Director, Georgetown Climate Center
Vicki Arroyo is the Executive Director of the Georgetown Climate Center at
Georgetown Law where she also serves as the Assistant Dean of Centers and
Institutes, the Director of the Environmental Law Program, and a Professor
from Practice.
She oversees the Center’s work at the nexus of climate and energy policy,
supervising staff and student work on climate mitigation and adaptation at the
state and federal level. She teaches “experiential” environmental law courses
to both law and public policy students.
She previously served at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, most recently as the Pew Center’s
Vice President for Domestic Policy and General Counsel. For over a decade, she directed the Pew
Center’s policy analysis, science, adaptation, economics, and domestic policy programs. She also served
as Managing Editor of the Center’s book and oversaw publication of numerous reports and policy briefs.
Matt Barreto
Principal, Latino Decisions
Dr. Matt A. Barreto is the co-founder (with Gary Segura) of the polling and
research firm Latino Decisions, and Professor of Political Science, and adjunct
Professor of Law at the University of Washington and Professor of Political
Science and Chicano Studies at UCLA.. In 2012 Time Magazine called Latino
Decisions the “gold-standard in Latino American polling” and Barreto’s
research was recognized in the 30 Latinos who made the 2012 election by
Politic365, listed in the Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2012 by the European
Politics Magazine LDSP, and was named one of the top 15 leading Latino pundits by Huffington Post
which said Barreto was “the pollster that has his finger on the pulse of the Latino electorate.”
In 2010 Barreto implemented the first ever weekly tracking poll of Latino voters during the 2010
election, which LD continued in 2012. Working closley with Segura, he has also overseen large multistate election eve polls, battleground tracking polls, extensive message testing research and countless
focus groups.
Angela Becker-Dippmann
Staff Director (MIinority), Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Ms. Becker-Dippmann is the Democratic Staff Director for the Senate Energy
and Natural Resources Committee. This committee develops legislation that
shapes U.S. energy resources and development, including regulation,
conservation, strategic petroleum reserves, and appliance standards; nuclear
energy; Indian affairs; public lands and their renewable resources; surface
mining, federal coal, oil, gas, and other mineral leasing; territories and insular
possessions; and water resources. Prior to this she was a Senior Policy Advisor
in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Energy and Environment
Directorate from 2011-2014. Ms. Becker-Dippmann was also an Executive Vice
President with McBee Strategic Consulting, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting and public affairs firm.
She signed on with McBee in 2008, following nearly eight years of work with the U.S. Senate, which
included service as a Professional Staff Member for the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee
under Chairman Jeff Bingaman. During the 110th Congress, her portfolio at the Committee included
work on the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007, as well as a number of legislative and
oversight initiatives on topics ranging from commodity market regulation to energy technology financing
and federal oil and gas royalty collection. She is a graduate of Carleton College (Northfield, Minn.),
where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology
Shamar Bibbins
Program Officer, Environment, The Kresge Foundation
Shamar Bibbins serves as a program officer for Environment at The Kresge
Foundation, where her grantmaking supports policies and programs that help
communities build resilience in the face of climate change.
Shamar plays a lead role in managing the Environment Program’s Climate
Resilience and Urban Opportunity Initiative. That initiative supports
community-based nonprofit organizations seeking to influence local and
regional climate resilience planning, policy development and implementation
while reflecting the priorities and needs of low-income people. She also
contributes to the development and implementation of program strategies.
Shamar joined Kresge in 2014, bringing a history of engagement in environmental efforts and a
commitment to action on climate change. She previously served as the director of national partnerships
at Green For All, a national nonprofit dedicated to building a green economy strong enough to lift
people out of poverty.
Shamar earned a bachelor’s degree in science, technology and society from Vassar College and received
a Fulbright Fellowship to Fukushima University where she conducted research on environmental social
movements in Japan.
US Congressman Rob Bishop
In November, Congressman Bishop was appointed Chairman of the House
Natural Resources Committee. Congressman Bishop also serves as Chairman
of the Public Lands and Environmental Regulation Subcommittee. He is
recognized by his colleagues in Congress for being a dedicated advocate for
public lands and natural resource issues.
A public school teacher turned public servant, Rob Bishop represents Utah’s
First Congressional District in the U.S. Congress.
Rob Bishop is a life-long resident of the First District, with the exception of two years he spent in
Germany while serving a mission for the LDS Church. He was born and raised in Kaysville, Utah, where
he graduated from Davis High School with High Honors. He later graduated magna cum laude from the
University of Utah with a degree in Political Science. He has been a resident of Brigham City since 1974.
Carol Browner
Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Carol M. Browner is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at American Progress and
senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group. Ms. Browner also serves on
the League of Conservation Voters board, the Bunge Limited board of
directors, the Global Ocean Commission, and Opower’s advisory board.
Browner most recently served as assistant to President Barack Obama and
director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy,
where she oversaw the coordination of environmental, energy, climate,
transport, and related policy across the federal government. During her
tenure, the White House secured the largest investment ever in clean energy
and established a national car policy that included both new automobile fuel-efficiency standards and
the first-ever greenhouse gas reductions. Previously, Browner was a founding principal of The Albright
Group LLC from 2001 to 2008.
From 1993 to 2001, Browner served as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. As
administrator, she adopted the most stringent air-pollution standards in our nation’s history, set a fineparticle clean air standard for the first time, and spearheaded the reauthorization of the Safe Drinking
Water Act, as well as the Food Quality Protection Act. She was known for working with both
environmentalists and industry to set science-based public health protections while providing
businesses with important flexibilities in how to meet those standards. She worked across the agency to
ensure a focus on protecting the most vulnerable, particularly children.
Keya Chatterjee
Executive Director, USCAN
Keya Chatterjee is Executive Director of USCAN, and author of the book The
Zero Footprint Baby: How to Save the Planet While Raising a Healthy Baby. Her
work focuses on building a movement in support of climate action. Keya
recently appeared in the documentary 'Disruption,' promoting the People's
Climate March . Keya's commentary on climate change policy and sustainability issues has been quoted
in dozens of media outlets including USA Today, the New York Times, Fox News, the Associated Press,
The Washington Post, and NBC Nightly News. Prior to joining USCAN, Keya served as Senior Director for
Renewable Energy and Footprint Outreach at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), where she worked for
eight years. Before that, Keya was a Climate Change Specialist at USAID. Keya also worked at NASA
headquarters for four years, communicating research results on climate change. Keya was a Peace Corps
Volunteer in Morocco from 1998 to 2000. She currently serves on the board of the Washington Area
Bicycling Association. Keya received her Master's degree in Environmental Science, and her Bachelor's in
Environmental Science and Spanish from the University of Virginia.
Brennan Conaway
Procurement Analyst, U.S. General Services Administration
Brennan Conaway is a Procurement Analyst with the General Services
Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service. Mr. Conaway’s primary
responsibility is to ensure that GSA complies with federal green purchasing
requirements. He is also contributing to other federal-wide green purchasing
initiatives, such as guidelines regarding federal use of eco-labels, analyses that
prioritize federal purchasing based on their environmental impacts, and the development of a
sustainable standard for services and service providers. Mr. Conaway previously worked as a Contract
Specialist and a Contracting Officer for GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule program, the Federal Strategic
Sourcing Initiative Blanket Purchasing Agreements, and other contract vehicles. Mr. Conaway earned his
B.B.A. from James Madison University in 2003 and his M.B.A. from George Mason University in 2009.
Phyllis Cuttino
Clean Energy Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Phyllis Cuttino directs Pew’s clean energy initiative, which works to accelerate
the clean energy economy in order to seize its economic, national security and
environmental benefits for the nation. Pew advocates for national energy policies that enhance
industrial energy efficiency, expand energy research and development and deploy advanced
transportation and renewable technologies.
She joined the Pew Charitable Trusts in 2007 as project director for the Pew campaign for fuel efficiency,
which played a critical role in passage of the first increase in federal fuel efficiency standards for cars
and light trucks in more than 30 years.
Cuttino has a background in policy, strategic communications and campaigns. In the policy arena,
Cuttino worked on the senior staffs of two United States senators. In philanthropy, she served as vice
president of public affairs for Ted Turner’s $1 billion gift to U.N. causes. As a senior vice president at a
consulting firm in Washington, Cuttino helped Fortune 500 companies and nongovernmental
organizations to influence public policy and increase awareness of critical issues. Cuttino has directed
issue advocacy campaigns and served in various roles for political campaigns.
Cuttino holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Furman University
Fred Ferguson
Chief of Staff, Rep. Jason Chaffetz
Fred returned to Rep. Chaffetz' office as Chief of Staff in June 2014 after a twoyear stint as Rep. Rob Bishop's Legislative Director. Fred orginally began his
career on Capitol Hill working for then-freshman Rep. Chaffetz as his Staff
Assistant. Ferguson quickly moved into a legislative role, covering the Natural
Resources and Oversight and Government Reform Committees. During his five
and a half years on Capitol Hill, Fred has been a mainstay in Utah and western
public lands and energy policy circles. He lead the Congressional Western Caucus as their Policy Director
and continues to manage the Utah delegation's multi-county Eastern Utah Public Lands Initiative. Fred
graduated from the University of Utah with a political science degree and was captain of the baseball
team. He resides in Washington, DC and is married to his beautiful wife, Nicole.
Geoffrey Garin
President, Hart Research Associates
Geoffrey Garin is the president of Hart Research Associates, one of the
nation's leading survey research firms. He became president of Hart Research
in 1984, after having worked in the firm since 1978 as a senior analyst and vice
president.
Mr. Garin has undertaken landmark policy research for many of the nation’s leading foundations and
educational institutions on a wide variety of issues, including global health, school reform, college
affordability, health care reform, global climate change, and federal fiscal policy. His clients for this
research include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Mott
Foundation, Harvard University, and the College Board.
John Gilroy
Director, U.S. Public Lands, The Pew Charitable Trusts
John Gilroy, Director, U.S. Public Lands, manages operations and planning for
the Wilderness and BLM work at Pew. Previously, he was a consultant to Pew.
He helped develop and promote regional and national campaigns to protect
old growth forests, critical habitat, and roadless areas throughout National
Forests. Prior to that, John spent a year at the Rockefeller Family Fund as a
program associate. From 1988 until 1992, he was the executive director of the Vermont Public Interest
Research Group. Earlier experience was with the Center for Study of Responsive Law, US Public Interest
Research Group, and the New York Public Interest Research Group. He has a law degree from
Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor’s from New York University. He serves on the boards
of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, NEO Philanthropy and the Alaska Wilderness League.
Verna Harrison
Philanthropic Advisor, Verna Harrison Associates LLC
Verna Harrison is principal of Verna Harrison Associates, LLC, a consulting and
philanthropic advising firm. Previously she was Executive Director of the Keith
Campbell Foundation for the Environment from 2003 – 2014, responsible for
its grantmaking in the Chesapeake region which focused on improving living
resources management, reducing nutrient pollution, & strengthening political
will. She also served as co-chair of the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network
during that period. For the previous 20 years she was Assistant Secretary of
the MD Dept. of Natural Resources: managing the Water Quality Monitoring,
Geologic Survey, Power Plant Assessment, Coastal Zone Management
programs (1995-2003); directed Bay policy for the MD Governor’s Office (1988-1995); managed the
Forest, Park & Wildlife Service, Tidewater Fishery Admin, Natural Resources Police, & MD Environmental
Trust (1983-1987.) Previously was the Governor’s Assistant Legislative Officer, lobbyist for the MD DOT,
& staff of the MD Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.
Nicole Hernandez Hammer
Climate Change Consultant, Moms Clean Air Force
As a sea-level researcher, Nicole Hernandez Hammer has studied how the cities and regions most
vulnerable to the effects of climate change and sea-level rise also have large Hispanic populations -something she learned firsthand growing up in South Florida. A Guatemalan immigrant with Cuban
heritage, today Nicole works to mobilize the Latino community to better understand and address
climate change's disproportionate effects on the health of Hispanics. Most recently, that means working
with Moms Clean Air Force to increase public awareness of climate change on children's health
specifically.
Sara Kendall
DC Office Director, Western Organization of Resource Councils
Sara is a graduate of Middlebury College with a B.A. in Environmental Studies. She has represented
WORC in Washington, DC since 1994, monitoring Washington policy decisions that affect WORC’s
members, activating our organizations and leaders, and leading issue campaigns. Sara has written and
edited many WORC publications, including Uncertain Fortune, Law and Order in the Oil and Gas Fields,
and Model Oil and Gas Laws, Regulations and Ordinances.
Alison Kinn Bennett
Senior Advisor, Office of Pollution Prevention & Toxics, Environmental
Protection Agency
Alison Kinn Bennett is U.S. EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention senior advisor for sustainable products and purchasing. She
founded and co-leads two influential networks within EPA—the Green Building
Workgroup and the Sustainable Products & Purchasing Network—which bring together policy and
technical staff to advance holistic, life cycle-based approaches to environmental and human health
protection. Kinn Bennett is currently leading the EPA effort to propose an approach and a set of
Guidelines for assessing product environmental performance standards and ecolabels for Federal
procurement. Kinn Bennett is also representing EPA on the advisory committees of the Sustainable
Purchasing Leadership Council, the Responsible Purchasing Network, and UNEP’s Sustainable Public
Procurement Initiative.
Cat Lazaroff
Managing Program Director, Resource Media
Cat Lazaroff, Managing Program Director at Resource Media, has extensive
experience supporting state, regional and national policy initiatives on water
quality, clean energy, climate change and other issues, including work with
NOAA, the IPCC, and numerous NGOs. Her work around reproductive health
and rights has helped build bridges between the conservation and family
planning communities. Cat has over fifteen years of communication and
writing experience, previously serving as the Policy Press Secretary at
Earthjustice and most recently as the Communications Director at Defenders
of Wildlife, where she led a team focused on strategically supporting the
organization’s wildlife conservation mission through both new and traditional media channels. Cat also
has worked as a science writer and environmental reporter, including serving as the D.C. Bureau Chief
for the Environment News Service, where she covered issues ranging from air and water quality to land
conservation and public health.
Matt Lee-Ashley
Director, Public Lands, Center for American Progress
Matt Lee-Ashley is the Director of Public Lands at American Progress, focusing
on energy, environment, and public lands.
Prior to joining American Progress, Lee-Ashley served as deputy chief of staff
at the Department of the Interior, overseeing policy, external,
communications, and legislative matters on behalf of Secretary Ken Salazar. In
2010 Lee-Ashley was named the Interior Department’s communications
director during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, leading the department’s
communications response to the crisis and helping undertake the aggressive
offshore oil and gas reform agenda of the Obama administration. Lee-Ashley also led an update to the
department’s communications policy to provide the first-ever protections of scientific integrity, helped
formulate and implement the administration’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative, and advised
Secretary Salazar on a wide range of land management and energy issues.
Christopher Leonard
Fellow, Schmidt Family Foundation
As a Schmidt Family Foundation Fellow, Christopher Leonard published "The
Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America's Food Business," which
explores the modern American meat system. He is currently writing a book
about Koch Industries. He was a national business reporter with The
Associated Press and his work has appeared in Fortune, Businessweek, Slate
Magazine and The New Republic. He is a graduate of the University of
Missouri.
Antonio Lopez
Executive Director, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
Born in Gary, Indiana and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Antonio Reyes López
received his doctorate in Borderlands History at the University of Texas at El
Paso. Dr. López has written extensively on anti-poverty and anti-racist social
movements in Chicago. He has also contributed to human rights,
environmental justice, and economic justice struggles in Chicago and on the
U.S./Mexico border. Prior to joining LVEJO, Lopez coordinated a mentorship program for youth
incarcerated at Illinois Youth Center, St. Charles, and contributed to the Chicago Grassroots Curriculum
Taskforce (CGCT).
Patty Lovera
Assistant Director, Food and Water Watch
Patty Lovera is the Assistant Director of Food & Water Watch. She coordinates
the food team. Patty has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from
Lehigh University and a master’s degree in environmental policy from the
University of Michigan. Before joining Food & Water Watch, Patty was the
deputy director of the energy and environment program at Public Citizen and
a researcher at the Center for Health, Environment and Justice.
Maribeth Malloy
Director, Environmental Sustainability and Exte, Lockheed Martin
Maribeth Malloy is director for Environmental Sustainability and External
Engagements for Lockheed Martin Corp., where she is responsible for
developing the corporate strategy for environmental sustainability in
coordination with the Corporate Sustainability Office and external
communications regarding the company’s positions relative to these issues.
Malloy began her career with IBM, assuming responsibility for the chemical
management program and environmental impact assessments at a major
semi-conductor facility. During the business transitions of the 1990s when the IBM business was sold to
Lockheed Martin, Malloy progressed with responsibility for the corporate environmental safety and
health (ESH) audit program and corporate governance. After leading the ESH and medical functions in
the aeronautics line of business, Malloy returned to a corporate position with the focus on
sustainability.
Gina McCarthy
Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency
Appointed by President Obama in 2009 as Assistant Administrator for EPA’s
Office of Air and Radiation, Gina McCarthy has been a leading advocate for
common-sense strategies to protect public health and the environment.
Previously, McCarthy served as the Commissioner of the Connecticut
Department of Environmental Protection. During her career, which spans over
30 years, she has worked at both the state and local levels on critical
environmental issues and helped coordinate policies on economic growth,
energy, transportation and the environment.
Brentin Mock
Author and Editor, Grist
Brentin Mock is the Justice Editor for Grist.org where he covers the
intersections between civil rights, racism, environmentalism and climate
change. He's focused on environmental justice matters since 2009, upon
completing the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting
Diversity Fellowship. He's covered these issues for a wide spectrum of outlets
including The American Prospect, GOOD Magazine, The Nation, Essence,
NAACP's The Crisis, Gawker, Colorlines and Next City.
Jennifer Morgan
Global Director, Climate Program, World Resources Institute
Jennifer is the Global Director of the Climate Program at the World Resources
Institute. In this capacity, she oversees the Institute’s work on climate change
issues and guides WRI strategy in helping countries, governments, and
individuals take positive action toward achieving a zero-carbon future. She is
responsible for day-to-day management of the 50+ person program, and
under her leadership, the program is in the process of deepening its
engagement in China, India and Brazil. In addition, Jennifer is WRI’s lead
representative at international climate meetings, including the UNFCCC
negotiations. Prior to joining WRI in 2009, Jennifer worked at E3G as Global
Climate Change Director, where she led the organization’s climate change work on its full range of global
activities, and remains a non-executive Board member. Before E3G, Jennifer led the Global Climate
Change Program of Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), growing its climate program both in size and
geography, with a focus on Asia Pacific. While at WWF, she headed its delegation to the seminal Kyoto
Protocol climate negotiations. Jennifer’s career has also included working for the US Climate Action
Network, and through the Robert Bosch Foundation, the European Business Council for a Sustainable
Energy Future and for the German Federal Ministry of Environment, supporting the head of the German
delegation to the UN climate change negotiations. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts from Indiana
University in Political Science and Germanic Studies and a Masters of Arts from the School of
International Service at The American University in International Affairs. At Germanwatch’s 20th
anniversary celebration, Jennifer was named an honorary member of the organization for her long-term
commitment to international climate issues and the empowerment of civil society.
Navin Nayak
Senior Vice President, Corridor Partners
Navin Nayak has more than a decade of experience running environmental
campaigns on both the electoral and advocacy front. As Senior Vice President
for Corridor Partners, he advises clients on strategic political and policy
opportunities to address the threat of climate change. Prior to joining Corridor
Partners in 2014, he held a leadership position at the League of Conservation
Voters, where he worked for nearly eight years. During that time, he
developed LCV’s program on global warming and guided the organization to
its most successful electoral cycle ever. In 2009-2010, he served as the deputy
campaign manager on the Clean Energy Works campaign that focused on
passing comprehensive federal climate legislation. Navin holds a Bachelor Degree from McGill University
and a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University. In 2013, Politico named Navin one of 50
Politicos to Watch.
Simon Nicholson
Assistant Professor of International Relations, American University
Simon Nicholson is Assistant Professor and Director of the Global Environmental Politics Program in the
School of International Service at American University. He is also co-founder of the Forum for Climate
Engineering Assessment, a scholarly group committed to building a more open and inclusive
conversation around climate engineering ("geoengineering") proposals. Simon is co-editor of Global
Environmental Politics: From Person to Planet (Paradigm Publishers, 2014) and New Earth Politics (MIT
Press, forthcoming).
Jason Pearson
Executive Director, Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council; Principal,
TRUTHstudio
Jason Pearson is a strategist and social entrepreneur. His work focuses on how
public interest advocates can harness social innovation and democratic values
to advance a positive environmental, social, and economic future for all.
He is the President & CEO of the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council,
whose mission is to support and recognize purchasing leadership that accelerates the transition to a
prosperous and sustainable future. Previously, as President/CEO of GreenBlue (www.greenblue.org),
Jason pioneered successful approaches for enhancing private sector supply chain collaborations to
achieve sustainability objectives, such as through GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition
(www.sustainablepackaging.org). His consultancy, TRUTHstudio (www.truthstudio.com), specializes in
understanding, visualizing, and communicating complexity to support informed decisions in the public
interest, including through the research project, Economy Map (www.economymap.org), which
visualizes how economic demand drives environmental impacts across the entire US economy.
Jason has also held leadership positions at The Summit Foundation and the National Endowment for the
Arts.
Nick Penniman
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Issue One
Nick is the former executive director of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund,
which he founded with Arianna Huffington in 2009. Staffed by a newsroom of
veteran journalists from mainstream newspapers and magazines, the team
focused most of its energy on uncovering stories behind the financial crises
that precipitated the Great Recession. The Investigative Fund was favorably
profiled in media publications like the American Journalism Review and the
Columbia Journalism Review and later merged with the Center for Public Integrity, the largest nonprofit
investigative reporting group in the nation’s capital.
Prior to that, Nick launched the American News Project, an experiment in online video muckraking, and
served as the Washington director of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy, a foundation
headed by broadcaster Bill Moyers. He has also been publisher of The Washington Monthly magazine,
where he oversaw a redesign of the magazine; the executive editor of TomPaine.com, where he
editorially focused the operation on shaping elite opinion about public-interest issues; the associate
editor of the American Prospect, where he wrote extensively about the nonprofit sector and
government reform; editor of the Lincoln Journal, a weekly newspaper; and associate editor at the
Missouri Historical Society. In the late 1990s he ran a national grassroots group called the Alliance for
Democracy, which focused on the role of money in politics and of large corporations in economic
globalization.
He has served on multiple nonprofit boards and advisory boards, including the Homeless Empowerment
Project, which publishes Spare Change News, and the Roosevelt Institute. He has appeared regularly on
MSNBC and blogs frequently on the Huffington Post. His most recent essay about money in politics was
published by the journal Democracy.
Lorette Picciano
Executive Director, Rural Coalition//Coalición Rural
Lorette Picciano has served as Executive Director of the Rural
Coalition/Coalición Rural, a Washington, DC-based alliance of more than 70
culturally diverse community based organizations representing small
producers and farmworkers in the US and Mexico, since 1992. She works with
the RC’s diverse Board and members to promote just and sustainable development in rural areas. In
2012, she is participating in her 7th Farm Bill Debate. RC has for more than 30 years been a leading
organization working to secure civil and human rights in the agriculture and trade sectors, and especially
in the movement to secure equity for all farmers and farmworkers from the US Department of
Agriculture. Rural Coalition also connects with its sister communities in North America and globally, and
is a member organization of the international farmers movement, La Via Campesina.
Ricardo Salvador
Director, Food & Environment Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
As the senior scientist and director of the Food & Environment Program at UCS,
Ricardo Salvador works with citizens, scientists, economists, and politicians to
transition our current food system into one that grows healthy foods while
employing sustainable practices.
Before coming to UCS, Dr. Salvador served as a program officer for Food,
Health, and Wellbeing with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In this capacity, he
was responsible for conceptualizing and managing the Foundation’s food
systems programming. He partnered with colleagues to create programs that addressed the connections
between food and health, environment, economic development, sovereignty, and social justice. Dr.
Salvador also worked as an extensionist with Texas A&M University.
Nicky Sheats
Director, Center for the Urban Environment of the John S. Watson Institute for
Public Policy at Thomas Edison
Dr. Nicky Sheats, Esq., is director of the Center for the Urban Environment of
the John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy at Thomas Edison State College,
which provides support for the environmental justice (EJ) community on both
a state and national level. Among
the issues he is working on are particulate matter air pollution, climate
change, cumulative impacts, developing EJ legal strategies and increasing the
capacity of the EJ community to address these and other issues.
Sheats is a founding member of the NJ EJ Alliance, the EJ Leadership Forum on Climate Change and the
EJ and Science Initiative. He has been appointed to the NJ Clean Air Council, EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory
Committee and the National EJ Advisory Council. He was also a co-author of the public health chapter of
the National Climate Assessment. Sheats holds an undergraduate degree in economics from Princeton
University and a law degree and Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University. He
previously practiced law for almost eight years as a public interest attorney.
Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome
Director of Federal Policy, WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome is the Director of Federal Policy for WE ACT for
Environmental Justice (WE ACT), a 26-year old community based
Environmental Justice (EJ) organization, headquartered in Harlem, New York.
Jalonne manages WE ACT’s DC Office and in this capacity, engages in advocacy
and education on a variety of environmental issues on Capitol Hill, within the
federal Agencies and the Administration to ensure an EJ perspective is included in policy conversations.
Jalonne coordinates a national coalition of environmental justice leaders called the Environmental
Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change (EJ Forum), and also gives leadership to a regional EJ effort
in the DC-Metro region. She currently serves as a co-chair of the Urban Air Toxics Workgroup for the
Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee, a federal advisory committee.
Before coming to WE ACT, Jalonne was the first Kendall Post-doctoral Fellow in Climate and Health with
the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). She published and engaged in advocacy on climate
change/extreme heat and county level adaptation, a natural progression from her doctoral work to help
prevent heat-related deaths among low income, elderly citizens in Detroit, Michigan. Jalonne is an
adjunct professor at Kettering University (Flint, Michigan), and a Professorial Lecturer at The George
Washington University in Washington, DC. A proud native Detroiter, Jalonne holds a bachelor’s degree
in chemical engineering from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in Environmental
Engineering from Southern Methodist University, and a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the
University Of Michigan School Of Public Health. Jalonne is a featured author for emPower Magazine.
Outside of work, Jalonne is a wife and a proud mother of 2, a Girl Scout Troup leader, residing in
Northern Virginia.
US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is fighting to reduce carbon pollution,
protect our air and water, and position America as a leader in the clean energy
economy. As a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee, he plays a key role in crafting policies addressing climate change
and environmental protection. He has earned a lifetime score of 98% on LCV’s
National Environmental Scorecard.
As Rhode Island’s U.S. Attorney, Whitehouse led the 1997 investigation into
the North Cape oil spill and secured more than $9 million in criminal penalties for restoration of
Narragansett Bay. Since his election to the Senate in 2006, he has continued to fight the big polluters,
calling on the Obama Administration to curb emissions of toxic mercury and smog, as well as interstate
pollution that harms residents in Rhode Island and other eastern states.
Senator Whitehouse understands that our economy and our way of life depend on the health of our
oceans. That’s why he joined with Democrats and Republicans to form the Senate Oceans Caucus to
respond to the pressures of pollution and commercial activity. He is also working to establish a National
Endowment for the Oceans, a dedicated funding source for ocean and coastal research and restoration.
Every week, Senator Whitehouse speaks out on the Floor of the Senate, calling on our leaders to wake
up to the threat of climate change. He co-founded the Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change and the
Senate Climate Action Task Force to further build awareness and to pursue real solutions to the alarming
challenges of a changing climate. And last month, Whitehouse introduced legislation to put a fee on
carbon pollution – establishing a market incentive to reduce emissions while generating as much as $2
trillion dollar over ten years.
Cindy Wiesner
National Coordinator, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance/Alianza Popular para
la Justicia Global
Cindy Wiesner is a queer working class Latina, originally from Hollywood, CA,
and now based in Miami, FL. Cindy has been a community organizer for the
last 20 years. Previously, she organized with HERE (Hotel and Restaurant
Employees Union) Local 2850, POWER (People Organized to Win Employment
Rights), and the Miami Workers Center. As GGJ National Coordinator, she
coordinates a broad alliance of US-based grassroots, base-building
organizations led by low-income communities, people of color, and indigenous peoples on issues of
climate justice, gender justice, new economies and militarism, and bridges US-based organizations with
global social movements.
Mary Christina Wood
Faculty Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center, University
of Oregon School of Law
Mary Christina Wood is the Philip H. Knight Professor of Law and Faculty
Director of the school's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program.
She teaches property law, natural resources law, public trust law, and federal
Indian law; she has also taught public lands law, wildlife law, and hazardous
waste law. She is the Founding Director of the school's nationally acclaimed
Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program and is Faculty Leader of
the Program's Conservation Trust Project, Sustainable Land Use Project, Native
Environmental Sovereignty Project, and Food Resilience Project. After
graduating from Stanford Law School in 1987, she served as a judicial clerk on the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals. She then practiced in the environmental/natural resources department of Perkins Coie, a
Pacific Northwest law firm. In 1994 she received the University's Ersted Award for Distinguished
Teaching, and in 2002 she received the Orlando Hollis Faculty Teaching Award. Professor Wood is a coauthor of a leading textbook on natural resources law (West, 2006), and a co-author of a textbook on
public trust law (Carolina Press, 2013). Her new book, Nature's Trust, was released in October, 2013 (by
Cambridge University Press). Professor Wood has published extensively on climate crisis, natural
resources, and native law issues. She originated the approach called Atmospheric Trust Litigation to hold
governments worldwide accountable for reducing carbon pollution within their jurisdictions, and her
research is being used in cases and petitions brought on behalf of children and youth throughout the
United States and in other countries. She is a frequent speaker on global warming issues and has
received national and international attention for her sovereign trust approach to global climate policy.
Elizabeth Yeampierre
Executive Director, UPROSE
Elizabeth Yeampierre is a nationally recognized Puerto Rican environmental
and climate justice leader of African and Indigenous ancestry born and raised
in New York City. She is Executive Director of UPROSE, Brooklyn's oldest Latino
community based organization. Her award winning vision for an intergenerational, multi-cultural and community led organization is the driving
force behind UPROSE. She is a long-time advocate and trailblazer for
community organizing around just, sustainable development, environmental
justice and community-led climate adaptation and community resiliency in
Southwest Brooklyn.
Ethan Zindler
Head of Americas and Head of Policy, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Ethan is Head of Policy Analysis with responsibility for managing coverage of
key policy developments globally impacting renewables, biofuels, and energy
efficiency. Ethan’s particular area of expertise is US clean energy policy and he
has testified on clean energy issues before the Senate Energy & Natural
Resources Committee as well as the US-China Economic and Security Review
Commission. Ethan previously served in the Clinton White House.