Speakers
Speakers will be posted as they are confirmed. Please check back. Thank you.
Luncheon SPEAKER
Jaime Lerner
Renowned architect and urban planner
Founder and Executive Director
Joseph Adelegan
Global Network for Environ and Econ Dev Research
Joseph Adelegan is a Chartered Civil Engineer, Chartered
Structural Engineer, Certified Public Health Engineer and an
Entrepreneur. He is the Founder of the Global Network for
Environment and Economic Development Research, a frontline
African non-governmental organization involved in environment and
sustainable development issues in sub-Saharan Africa. The
organization implements development projects to alleviate identified
local, national, regional and global environment and development
problems.
He has over 16 years professional experience spread across engineering consulting on internationally financed (African Development Bank and World Bank) water and sanitation projects, construction, project management, research, university lecturing, policy advocacy and social development.
In 2001, he pioneered a partnership called “Cows to Kilowatts [PDF]”, a CDM project converting slaughterhouse waste into renewable energy in Nigeria with replication across Africa. The partnership project is a recipient of the Prestigious 2005 SEED International Environment and Development Award.
He was recently selected by the World Economic Forum based in
Geneva, Switzerland as 2006 Young Global Leader in recognition of
his noteworthy global contribution to Environment and Sustainable
Development issues in Africa. He has been invited to attend and
speak at several International Environmental Leadership Summits
around the World. He has also attended and presented research
papers on environment and development issues at international
conferences in Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America
spreading over 26 countries of the World. He has over 10
international research publications. He is a recipient of several
international research awards and fellowships on environment and
sustainable development issues.
Karen Anderson
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey
Karen Anderson is the executive director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey. She joined NOFA-NJ in November of 1997 as certification administrator and was appointed executive director in February 1999. She currently serves as co-chair of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, and on the boards of the NJ Environmental Federation and the NJ Agricultural Society. She was appointed by Gov. Jim McGreevey as a public representative to NJ State Agriculture Development Committee in 2004. From 2001-2003 Ms. Anderson was a Food and Society Policy Fellow, writing and lecturing on organic agriculture, community-based food systems and farm and farmland preservation. She has an M.S.L.S. from Catholic University and a B.S.F.S. in International Affairs from Georgetown University.
Ofira Ayalon, Ph.D.
University of Haifa, Department of Management of Environmental and Natural Resources, School of Management
Since 2000, Dr. Ayalon serves as a lecturer and a faculty member at the University of Haifa- the Department of Management of Environmental and Natural Resources, School of Management
Dr. Ayalon is the Coordinator of Environmental Policy Projects at S. Neaman Institute, Technion- IIT (www.neaman.org.il) Amongst other topics, Dr. Ayalon is involved in the following projects: National Environmental Priorities 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004; Business Opportunity in Environmental Technologies and; Coordinator of The Green Campus Project.
She earned her Ph.D. degree in 2000. The topic of research was "Environmental Accounting as a Means for the Development of Solid Waste Management Policy in Israel".
Mekorot WaTech Commercial Manger -Technological Business Development
Assaf Barnea
Mekorot WaTech
Assaf Barnea is the commercial manager of WaTech, The Entrepreneurship and Partnership Center for Water Technologies at Mekorot Israel's national water company. Previously, he served for 4 years as a director business development at Comverse, a global telecom provider. Prior to Comverse, Barnea was a founder and a board member of Cardiosense, a medical device start up company. He is a certified lawyer, holds law and business degrees from the interdisciplinary center in Herzelia and a political science and psychology degree from Tel Aviv University. In his previous career, Barnea played college basketball and professional basketball at Seton Hall and Israel's top division and was a member of the Israeli national basketball team.
Principal
Millard H. Berry, III, PE, LEED®
Cannon Design
As the leader of Cannon’s Mechanical Engineering Group, Mr. Berry has been a major contributing factor to Cannon’s strong engineering reputation. As group leader of the firm’s mechanical engineers, he has provided expertise in the design of a wide variety of engineering systems - from central heating and cooling plants to distribution, control, and integrated systems analysis.
Mr. Berry is particularly skilled in providing innovative design solutions for specialized high technology systems and the integration of those systems into learning, research, and workplace environments. His portfolio includes many nationally recognized and widely published projects for clients such as Boston University, Tufts University, Johns Hopkins University, and the State University of New York. An expert in energy efficiency, Mr. Berry participated in the research and preparation of the New York State Energy Office’s Guidelines to Energy Efficient Building Rehabilitation.
Architect and Professor
Laura Briggs
Parsons New School of Architecture and Design
Laura Briggs a partner with BriggsKnowles Architecture+Design in New York City, a practice recognized for its use of light, color and ecological strategies. Their work has been published in several venues including AD, Dwell, Domus, the Home Living Channel and Metropolis Magazine. Projects have ranged from speculative work on the city and research into the integration of photovoltaic and interactive energy technologies into building surfaces. Recent commissions include several townhouse renovations in Harlem and a television studio in the New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard. Director of the BFAAD program at Parsons School of Design. She has taught architecture studio and construction technology at the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, Columbia University New York/Paris, Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Michigan where she was the Mushenheim Fellow.
Senior Project Manager/Geologist
Mark J. Colmerauer
American Consulting Professionals of New York, PLLC
Mr. Colmerauer has a Bachelor of Science degree in Geophysics from the State University of New York, College at Fredonia. Since graduation, he has 14 years experience serving as project manager and geologist for a variety of environmental studies including CERCLA due diligence investigations, environmental remediation, permitting, planning and GIS projects. He has also recently served as a senior scientist for several environmental impact studies related to the New York Power Authority’s Robert Moses Niagara Power Project re-licensing project in Niagara Falls, New York and for three years was one of the principal geologists leading the environmental investigations of hazardous waste disposal sites at the former Bethlehem Steel Corporation facility in Lackawanna, NY. For the last four years, Mr. Colmerauer has also been serving as project manager for a variety of wind farm development projects in New York State and Maryland. His work in that area involves working with the developer in siting projects in rural townships. His role in the wind farm projects involves coordination of New York State Environmental Quality Review Act studies, GIS data management, preparation and completion of Environmental Impact Statement’s, State Historic Preservation Office coordination, wetland delineation, federal and state agency permits and approvals as well as topographic and boundary surveys. Mr. Colmerauer lives in Hamburg, New York and was recently appointed to the Hamburg Environmental Management Commission. He is currently employed as a Senior Project Manager/Geologist at American Consulting Professionals of New York, PLLC located in Buffalo, New York.
Managing Partner
Sebastien Douville
Axios Energy, LLC
Sebastien Douville is a managing partner at Axios Energy, LLC, heading the company’s R&D efforts in technology development, feedstock procurement and by-product treatment. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University’s Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department last June. He also earned a Materials Science certificate. His undergraduate thesis on a novel design of a biodiesel reactor was well received by the engineering faculty, who awarded him the Calvin C. MacCracken and Donald J. Dike Thesis Awards for most innovative independent work and best thesis in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, respectively.
Douville is also the President of the Alumni Council of Engineers Without Borders-Princeton, an organization that aims to better the lives of disadvantaged communities around the world through the appropriate implementation of sustainable technologies. He has headed construction projects in Ethiopia (2006, irrigation system) and Peru (2005, sanitation and water storage).
President
Richard S. Dovey
Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA)
Richard S. Dovey is President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA), a position he has held since 1990. Mr. Dovey oversees a staff of 250, an annual operating budget of $60 million, and a capital budget averaging $6 million yearly.
The ACUA operates a wastewater treatment plant in Atlantic City, NJ, and a regional sewerage collection system serving 14 municipalities in Atlantic County. The ACUA also operates an extensive solid waste management system in Egg Harbor Township, NJ that includes a landfill, a recycling processing center, a vegetative waste composting facility, a waste transfer station, a vehicle maintenance center, and a recycling and trash collection system serving 100,000 homes and businesses in Atlantic County.
While Mr. Dovey has served as president, ACUA wastewater and solid waste operations have been nationally recognized for excellence in innovation, efficiency, and environmental stewardship. Mr. Dovey has been a strong proponent of alternative energy and has initiated many green projects at the ACUA, most notably the construction of New Jersey’s first windfarm in Atlantic City.
A leader in the New Jersey environmental infrastructure and utility community, Mr. Dovey has served as chairman of the New Jersey Solid Waste Advisory Council and on the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Association of Environmental Authorities (AEA). Mr. Dovey is also active in numerous community organizations.
Prior to joining the ACUA, he was department head of Regional Planning and Development for Atlantic County Government for eight years, and manager of the Rutland County, Vermont, Solid Waste District for two years. Mr. Dovey graduated from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona, NJ, with a bachelor of arts degree in urban studies. Since 1986 he has resided in Egg Harbor City, NJ, with his wife Mary and their three children, Kate, Luke and Scott.
Vice President
Michael Ekstract
Verdant Magazine
Michael Ekstract is a Founder and Vice President at the newly launched Verdant magazine – an upscale sophisticated consumer lifestyle magazine offering reliable information on green initiatives. He currently serves as Vice President for Advertising, Partnerships and Sustainability.
Prior to Verdant, Michael served as the Director of Marketing at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a coalition of leaders in business, government and non-profits promoting environmentally responsible building. Michael’s background includes extensive experience in marketing and advertising as well as a long commitment to promoting environmental sustainability and conservation as an avocation.
In a seven year career at Comedy Central, Michael directed design production and technology use, helping the television network grow its brand recognition, ratings and profits. Before Comedy Central, he was a partner in advertising/design firm Race Point Graphics and helped Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre grow into a leading regional theater company. Michael is an avid naturalist and long-time member of a number of well known environmental organizations and over the years has volunteered locally with organizations such as the South Fork Natural History Society. He has a B.A. in Geography from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Melvin S. Finstein
ArrowBio
Melvin S. Finstein (B.S. 1959 and M.S. 1961, Cornell University; Ph.D. 1965, University of California, Berkeley) served as Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, from 1965 to 1999, and is now Emeritus Professor. He is author or coauthor of many scientific and technical publications on microbial aspects of environmental pollution, with emphasis on the control of solid waste treatment processes.
In 2000 while giving guest lectures at the Israel Institute of Technology,
Haifa, Dr. Finstein visited a developmental version of the ArrowBio
process for unsorted municipal solid waste (MSW). Its unique approach to
preprocessing, use of advanced anaerobic digestion, and integration of the
two, was so intriguing that, upon further investigation, he came to
represent the system in the USA and elsewhere. Since then, a full scale
ArrowBio plant came into operation at the Tel Aviv MSW transfer station,
and a 100,000 ton per year facility is under construction near Sydney,
Australia.
Sales Account Manager
Mike Fisher
Community Energy
After nearly ten years in the renewable energy and energy efficiency fields, Mike joined Community Energy in 2004 in the Commercial & Industrial Renewable Energy sales division. Before CEI Mike served for one-year with Americorps Green Light’s program where he was able to save more than $750,000 for public schools in Montana, Oregon and Washington through energy efficiency upgrades with a payback under 5 years. On the policy side, Mike was the lead researcher and co-author of a novel three-year energy efficiency pilot program that was ratified and funded by the capital city of Olympia, WA. After having lived off-grid in a solar home installing residential solar and wind systems, Mike moved back to his hometown to be closer to family. In CEI, where evangelizing the message of clean energy and linking customer demand to new wind farm development, Mike has found a marriage of personal and professional missions.
Community Energy is proud to have built New Jersey’s first wind farm and the nations first commercial scale coastal wind farm in Atlantic City. Community Energy is working with Fortune 500 companies and over 60 colleges & universities, including the top two and six out of the top ten green power purchasers nationally, to commercialize America’s vast wind resource to ensure a clean and secure energy future.
KL Hassen
Organic Home, LLC
KL Hassen co-founded Organic Home LLC with Heather Radawski in January of 2006. They are a green cleaning, organizing and consultation company in the Philadelphia area operating on the principles of a 'Triple Bottom Line' – people, planet and profit.
James D. Heiden
Teko®, LLC..
Personal History: I was born December 8, 1950 in Glendive, MT, and spent my first 20 years in Minneapolis, MN, where I got acquainted with the great outdoors. I moved to Colorado in 1972 to get closer to the mountains; and have lived in Boulder and Estes Park ever since. My enjoyment and appreciation for being in the outdoors developed my great love for the environment. I am married with a 13-year-old step son. I’ve had many great adventures; this year to celebrate my wife’s 50th birthday we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.
Business: The first company I started was Banana Equipment in 1972 in Estes Park, CO. We were the first wholesaler of Gore-tex® fabric clothing in the world. I sold Banana Equipment to pursue other interests. In 1984, I became director of product development for Performance Bicycles the leading retailer in the world for cyclists. I left Performance Bicycles in 1989 to work for Nike as marketing manager for running and cycling apparel. In 1990, I started InterSource, LLC to do global sourcing for companies such as Lands’ End, Moonstone, Trek Bicycles, LL Bean, and REI. Late 2003, I became unhappy with the outdoor industry’s apathy to the environmental impacts of their products and I started Teko®, LLC..
Teko produces the highest performing outdoor and sport socks with the least environmental impact. Teko tries to “walk the talk” of sustainability with every aspect of the business: people, planet, and profit.. We use organic cotton, EcoMerino™ (sustainably farmed wool from Tasmania), Ecopoly™ (recycled polyester), and Ingeo™ (corn- based fiber). All of our raw materials, except out Tasmanian EcoMerino wool, come from within 100 miles of our factory in Mount Airy, NC. We’re an Exchange Participant in the Chicago Climate Exchange allowing us to offset the green house gasses created through the transportation of our materials and buy wind energy certificates to offset all of manufacturing and office energy use. Our catalogs use recycled and FSC certified paper and are printed with soy ink. Our reward winning sock packaging is made out of recycled chip board printed with soy ink. We even use compressed wheat straw to make our floor retail displays.
Not only does Teko strive to use the most environmentally friendly packaging and materials we also donate a portion of on-line sales to several non-profit organizations who embrace the outdoors. We pay above fair market value for our wool which in turn allows our supplier to actively practice conservation on their property. Teko now sells to over 250 stores in the United States, Canada, Japan, Tasmania, and Korea including REI and LL Bean.
Raphael Herz
Green Affordable Housing
Raphael is responsible for developing and implementing the Massachusetts $25 million Green Affordable Housing Initiative, to incorporate high-performance design and renewable energy technologies to build healthier, more affordable, energy-efficient homes for Massachusetts residents. Raphael has been with the Massachusetts Technology Corporation for several years, guiding or contributing to the launch of several initiatives here at MTC, including work demonstrating fuel cells, a K-12 renewable energy education initiative, the Waste-to-Energy program, and the early days of MTC e-gov initiative, MassConnect. Previously, he worked in various environmental non-profit organizations and the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He graduated from the South Carolina Honors College of the University of South Carolina and earned a Master’s from Duke University in Environmental Management.
Todd J. Hill, ASLA
EDAW Inc.
Todd Hill is a designer and land planner who has built a career with EDAW since 1984. His focus is centered on applying sustainable principles for landscape architecture, community planning and urban regeneration projects. His experience with EDAW has led to work worldwide, based from three different EDAW offices. He is a graduate of EDAW's Summer Student Program, class of 1985 and holds professional Landscape Architecture state licenses in Florida (No. 1407) and Georgia (no. 859).
Mr. Hill's background includes comprehensive project work for both
public agencies and private-sector clients, providing services to
establish the vision, principles and design concepts for their projects;
large-scale campus and community master plans; regeneration of urban
districts; and design of public realm urban spaces, resorts, recreation
and entertainment projects. Todd has successfully completed many large
award-winning design projects ranging from communities, institutions,
resorts and urban spaces. He has led multi-disciplinary teams through
the planning and design process, which have been followed through to
detailed construction documentation and construction administration,
including 3 years of fulltime on-site experience.
Jiann-Yang (Jim) Hwang
The Institute of Materials Processing (IMP) Michigan Technological University
Dr. Jim Hwang was born in Taiwan. He came to United States in 1977 and
received his PhD degree from Purdue University in 1982. He joined
Michigan Technological University afterwards and is currently a
Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the
Director of Institute of Materials Processing. His research interests
are truly multi-disciplinary. This is the reason why he has also been
recruited as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Environmental
Engineering, the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Department of
Geological and Mining Engineering and the Department of Electrical
Engineering at Michigan Technological University. Dr. Hwang has 15 U.S.
Patents and more than 100 publications. His research in the
environmental related areas include the recycling of various kind of
materials such as fly ash, glass, tires, automobile shredding residues,
plastics, aluminum slags, steel slags, foundry sands, etc. His patents
in fly ash processing have been licensed by CEMEX, the second largest
cement company in the world. He is going to share his experience in fly
ash with us.
Scott Inwood
Technology Transfer and Licensing Office University of Waterloo
Mr. Inwood has nine years experience identifying, protecting and commercializing intellectual property developed at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada). In his role as a Technology Transfer Manager, Mr. Inwood has negotiated numerous commercial arrangements with commercial partners and startup companies contributing to the University’s history of successful technology transfer performance with a particular focus on the commercialization of the numerous groundwater remediation innovations from the University’s world renowned Earth Sciences department.
Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, Mr. Inwood accumulated 10 years of experience in a variety of the technical business development roles. Mr. Inwood began his career in the chemical industry working for a multinational chemical company as a process chemist and technical marketing representative before assuming more progressive positions as a Project\Contract Manager for a public sector environmental training organization, a Technical Marketing Manager for a water treatment company, and as a Business Development Manager for a start-up solid waste remediation technology company.
Mr. Inwood obtained his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) and his MBA degree at Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan, USA).
Managing Partner
Annie Johnson
Cleantech Capital Group (CCG)
Ms. Johnson recently joined Cleantech Capital Group (CCG) as a Managing Partner. She spearheads Cleantech Capital Advisors, a newly formed unit of CCG. During her 20-year business career, Ms. Johnson has specialized in developing corporate and business strategies, implementing business plans and building organizations. She has extensive experience serving not only as a third-party and internal strategy consultant for major corporations, but also as a line manager in several of those firms. Her experience includes significant strategic marketing, finance, P&L and partnership roles.
Prior to Cleantech, Annie was a Senior Vice President at Fidelity Investments where she headed Banking & Brokerage Account Services within the Retail Division. In her previous Fidelity role, she ran the Strategic New Business Development Practice, a senior level advisory and analytical resource focused on growth strategies, within the firm's cross-company Consulting & Strategic New Business Development Group. Before Fidelity, she worked as Vice President of Finance for Staples $1B Contract & Commercial Division. Prior to this, she helped build Liberty Mutual Group's Strategy Consulting Group into a world-class organization, then ultimately ran the department.
Additionally, she served as Vice President for Diversified Investment Advisors/The MONY Group, where she ran the Managed Funds business unit after a stint as Vice President of the company's newly formed Corporate Development department. Ms. Johnson began her post-MBA as an Associate in Temple, Barker & Sloane (now Mercer Management Consulting)'s Financial Services Industry Group where she specialized in strategy, marketing and merger & acquisition assignments.
Annie earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Williams College, where she graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Between her degrees, she acted as Analyst for the MAC Group (now part of Gemini Consulting), where she worked on organizational design, m&a and strategic marketing assignments in the consumer products, telecommunications, banking and securities industries. When she's not on the tennis courts or golf course, Annie spends her free time with a windsurfer or skis strapped to her feet.
Advisor
Arun Kashyap
Private Sector Development
Capacity Development Group
Bureau for Development Policy
UNDP
Arun Kashyap is Advisor for Private Sector Development in the Capacity Development Group of the United Nations Development Programme. Previously, as UNDP’s Climate Change and Clean Development Mechanism Advisor, he initiated UNDP’s engagement in Clean Development Mechanism and issues of adaptation to climate change. Earlier, Kashyap was Associate Director, Global Environment Division, at the Rockefeller Foundation where he designed strategies to build global leadership capacity for equitable development and entrepreneurship based models for provision of sustainable energy services. Prior to that, as Senior Project officer with the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International’s Regional Office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he was responsible for capacity development activities and projects in environment, agriculture, forestry and human health in the Asia Pacific region. He also managed Forestry Research Support Program for Asia Pacific (FORSPA) knowledge network to promote multi stakeholder partnerships for meeting the needs of the poor through sustainable forestry management.
Kashyap has considerable practical experience with global project management, partnership building, and support for local capacity development. On the policy side, he has helped countries integrate global mandates into national development priorities. His current work focuses on supporting locally led private sector development in UNDP’s client countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The emphasis is on the creation of a stable, predictable and transparent policy environment and the capacity to encourage a competitive, socially and environmentally responsible private sector suited to individual country needs. Kashyap is working on inclusive models for provision of sustainable financial services including those of credit, savings and market based safety net mechanisms like micro-insurance that build upon the role of remittances in the context of strengthening entrepreneurship at the bottom of the pyramid. He also has experience in engaging the private sector in building up disaster relief interventions.
Kashyap began his career in the Indian civil service. His multidisciplinary academic background includes a PhD in economics and business administration from the East West Center and the University of Hawaii, master’s degrees in business administration, economics and physics, and a post-graduate diploma in forestry.
Quentin T. Kelly
World Water and Power Corporation
Quentin T. Kelly is WW&P’s founder and has been Chairman of the Company since its inception in 1984. He has many years experience in international business involving water and solar power needs in the developing world, and has worked with several international assistance agencies, including UNDP, UNICEF and USAID. He holds three patents relating to water and solar systems. In 1998, he was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame. Earlier, Mr. Kelly was Assistant to the President of Westinghouse Electric Corp., and CEO of corporations manufacturing and marketing specialized water and solar systems internationally.
Global Warming and Clean Energy Advocate
Suzanne Leta Liou
Environment New Jersey
Suzanne directs the energy program for Environment New Jersey, a
statewide, non-profit, non-partisan citizen-based environmental advocacy
organization that is the new home for NJPIRG's environmental work.
Suzanne is currently heading up Environment New Jersey's Global Warming
Solutions and New Energy Future campaigns.
Suzanne co-authored "Consolidation of Power: How Exelon's Takeover of PSEG Could Raise Rates, Reduce Reliability and Risk Public Safety" and "A Blueprint for Action: Policy Options to Reduce New Jersey's Contribution to Global Warming," which was released September. She has also organized campaigns to stop Exelon's proposed takeover of PSEG, the largest electricity buy-out in the country, and to close the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant on schedule and directed citizen outreach offices in Princeton and New Brunswick.
Suzanne graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003. She is a
member of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities' Clean Energy Council
and a Senior Associate in the Delaware Valley Environmental Leaders
Program.
Head of Technology Transfer and Applications Research
Lewis D. Meixler
Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory
Lew Meixler is Head of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) Office of Technology Transfer and Applications Research. In this position he is responsible for establishing sponsored research, licensing opportunities, CRADAs and other collaborations between industry and PPPL He is a registered Patent Agent, and a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New Jersey.
The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a collaborative national center for plasma and fusion science. The Laboratory is managed by Princeton University for the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science. An associated mission for PPPL is to provide the highest quality science education in fusion energy, plasma physics, and related technologies.
CEO
Darius F. Mosun
Soheil Mosun Limited
Mr. Darius F. Mosun joined Soheil Mosun Limited (SML) in 1990 after graduating in Manufacturing Engineering and Business Management from Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. He represented Humber College in the 2001 Premier’s Awards and was inducted into the college’s Alumni Wall of Distinction in 2002.
Under his guidance as Chairman and CEO, SML has evolved into a world-renowned manufacturer specializing in high-end custom fabrication and design. The company, founded by his parents in 1972, established itself as a business whose attention to detail was second to none. Recognizing the company’s core competency in quality fabrication and design, Darius focused on developing its Project Management and Manufacturing Design departments, through the addition of professional managers and industrial designers. Today, SML is now undertaking complete Design Build projects such as the supply and installation of the building enclosure for the Bahá’í Temple for South America in Santiago, Chile and the Jewish War Veterans International Memorial in Toronto, Canada.
SML has recently completed projects including multi-million contracts at General Motors’ Global Headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, GM’s Vehicle Engineering Center in Warren, Michigan and Merrill Lynch’s Headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey. Other recently completed work includes the passenger waiting room booths, wheelhouses and information kiosks for the Long Island Railroad in Jamaica New York (for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) and the elevator interiors at the San Francisco International Airport. SML has also been a proud participant in other prominent projects such as the design, supply and installation of solid bronze windows at one of Canada’s most historic building, the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, Ontario and the design and development of outdoor benches and custom food service kiosks for the Battery Park Conservancy in New York, New York.
Chairman
Daniel E. Murnick
UV Solutions Inc
Daniel Murnick serves as Chairman of the Board of UV Solutions Inc. in Newark NJ. -a company formed to commercialize highly efficient clean ultraviolet light sources used for water purification and other applications. He received the Ph. D. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories (now Lucent Inc.) before joining Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey as a Physics Professor. While at Bell Labs, he was elected as a Fellow of The American Physical Society and received the Humboldt Award for Distinguished American Scientists from the government of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1996 he was awarded the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award of the Research and Development Council of New Jersey for developing an instrument called the Laser Assisted Ratio Analyzer (LARA), a device for measuring isotopic ratios in carbon dioxide to high accuracy and at low cost. The same year he was named The Donald H. Jacobs Chair in Applied Physics at Rutgers University. He is the author or coauthor of more than 130 technical papers and holds several patents in the areas of isotope analysis, ultraviolet light production and laser surface modification. He also holds guest appointments at GSI in Darmstadt Germany and MIT in Cambridge Mass. and he has been a consultant and advisor to several industrial companies including Spectra Gases Inc. Branchburg NJ, Diagnostics & Devices, Inc., Bernardsville, NJ, American Standard Medical Systems, Piscataway NJ, Alimenterics Inc., Morris Plains NJ and Titan Systems Inc., San Diego CA.
Education and Outreach Coordinator
Chris Neidl
SolarOne
Chris Neidl is the outreach coordinator for Solar One, a Manhattan based green energy, arts and education center. Since joining the young organization in 2004, much of Chris' work has not only strived to bring focus to key initiatives that are appropriate and achievable for New York, but also to do so in an idiom that celebrates and honors, rather than disavows, the city's rich history of innovation and iconoclasm. This effort has been forwarded, to date, with a number of programs that he has spearheaded; most notably the Green Renter weekly lecture series, and Citysol, a recurring solar powered music and green market series that is hosted throughout the summer in Manhattan's Stuyvesant Cove Park. In addition to these programs Chris is involved in a number of other Solar One projects that combine policy, education and the arts. Before beginning his current position, Chris studied and worked as an outreach coordinator at the Solar Living Institute, a renewable energy education center in Northern California. Originally from Albany, New York, Chris received his B.A. in Geography from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in 2001. He currently lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
President, chief Scientist and technologist
Stanford Ovshinsky
ECD Ovonics
Stanford R. Ovshinsky is President and Chief Scientist and Technologist of Energy Conversion Devices (ECD Ovonics). His originating and pioneering work in amorphous/disordered materials since 1955 has become the enabling technology in four major areas: energy generation including photovoltaics and fuel cells; energy storage including Ovonic nickel metal hydride consumer and electric and hybrid vehicle batteries and solid hydrogen storage; information systems, including amorphous semiconductors, switching and phase change memories both optical and electrical; and atomically engineered synthetic materials for a wide variety of uses.
He has over 300 U.S. patents and is the author of over 275 scientific papers ranging from neurophysiology to amorphous semiconductors. He has received numerous awards, the most recent are: “Hero for the Planet” by Time Magazine (1999); the Karl W. Boer Solar Energy Medal of Merit awarded jointly by the University of Delaware and the International Solar Energy Society (1999); the International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE) Sir William Grove Award (2000); Hero of Chemistry 2000 with his wife Dr. Iris Ovshinsky by the American Chemical Society; Recipient of the Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award presented by the American Solar Energy Society (2004); and The 2005 Innovation Award for Energy and the Environment by The Economist for "his pioneering work in the development of the high-powered NiMH battery" (November 2005).” He was profiled in Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse, published by MIT Press in association with Lemelson-MIT Program (December 2001), as one of the 35 American Inventors over the past century “who helped to shape the modern world.” The Stanford R. Ovshinsky Award for Excellence in Non-Crystalline Chalcogenides was established in 2001 to honor Stan Ovshinsky’s pioneering work in the field of Non-Crystalline Chalcogenides. Three festschrifts in honor of Stan Ovshinsky’s 80th birthday were dedicated to him (November 24, 2002).
Lecturer
Scott Page
University Of Pennsylvania School Of Design, Interface Studio
Mr. Page is an urban designer and planner with degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and The Georgia Institute of Technology. With a portfolio encompassing neighborhood design, waterfront planning, downtown revitalization and economic development, Mr. Page has led projects in diverse locations such as Jersey City, Atlanta, Fort Wayne, Singapore and Philadelphia. A lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design, Mr. Page has participated in international conferences focused on emerging trends in urban design and planning.
Mr. Page founded Interface Studio in 2004 with Brian Phillips to explore innovative solutions to community-based design and architecture. With an emphasis on environmental sustainability, the firm is engaged in a wide range of design assignments from market-rate and affordable green housing developments to comprehensive neighborhood plans, open space strategies, waterfront design and a city-wide housing strategy for the City of Rochester, NY. Interface Studio’s cross-disciplinary work has been featured in 306090, Salon, City, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the recently released Crossover: Architecture, Urbanism and Technology.
Head of Desalination Unit
Menahem Priel
Mekorot
Dr. Anand Rangarajan
World Water and Power Corporation
Dr. Anand Rangarajan, Executive Vice President, is a solar and water pump specialist. He has 20 years of experience in all aspects of the solar electric business and has pioneered the development of several proprietary solar–driven water pumping systems, products and markets. His systems have been installed in over 20 countries. He holds his Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Wisconsin and spent several years working with MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory.
P.C. Rossin Professor
Arup K. SenGupta
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Lehigh University
Executive Director
Captain Bill Sheehan
Hackensack Riverkeeper, Inc.
Captain Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper, is a lifelong resident of the Hackensack River area, having lived most of his life in Union City and Secaucus, New Jersey. He is a dedicated, active conservationist who founded Hackensack Riverkeeper in 1997 and serves as the organization's Executive Director. Captain Bill, as he is known to most people, holds a Master of Inland Waterways license from the US Coast Guard.
In June 2006, Captain Bill was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Waterkeeper Alliance, the international coalition of clean water advocates. Earlier that year, he was named co-chair of the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Program Citizens Advisory Committee, a bi-state agency that oversees federal management efforts in the region. He is a founding (and current) member of the Bergen County Trust Find Public Advisory Committee and is the current Chair of the Meadowlands Conservation Trust; the latter being the agency charged with acquiring, holding and managing conservation properties in the New Jersey Meadowlands and throughout the Hackensack River watershed.
Captain Bill has been recognized for his work on numerous occasions by the media, government and the environmental community including the New Jersey Audubon Society's 1996 Conservationist of the Year Award and the 1999 Annual National Clearwater Award for excellence on the waterfront from the Waterfront Center in Washington, DC. In 2002 the US Fish and Wildlife Service recognized him for his work on behalf of Meadowlands conservation.
In 2003, he and the organization received an Environmental Excellence Award from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. Also that year, Captain Bill was named Bergen County’s Person of the Year by County Executive Dennis McNerney. In 2004 River Network honored him as one of America’s River Heroes.
When he is not conducting Eco-Cruises aboard the vessel Edward Abbey, chairing meetings, or otherwise advocating for the Hackensack River watershed, Captain Bill enjoys rock n’ roll music, movies and fishing for Striped bass in his favorite river.
Economic Minister to North America
Yair S. Shiran
Government of Israel Economic Mission
Yair S. Shiran assumed the post of Israel Economic Minister to North America in
August 2006. He has broad experience in international trade negotiations as well as business development and bilateral trade and investment promotion.
Prior to arriving in the U.S., Mr. Shiran served as the Director of International Agreements and Trade Policy at Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. In this position, he served as Israel’s Chief Negotiator for international trade agreements between Israel and its key trading partners, including the U.S., Canada, Egypt, Turkey and the World Trade Organization (WTO). He also led an inter-ministerial committee that introduced amendments to Israel’s intellectual property legislation.
From 1996-2001, Mr. Shiran was Israel’s Representative to the WTO, representing Israel in all trade negotiations and talks in Geneva, Switzerland.
He has also been a guest lecturer at the Tel Aviv University School of Government’s Program on Diplomacy and at the Hebrew University’s School of Business Administration.
Mr. Shiran received his MA in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where he studied as a Wexner Fellow. He received his MBA and BA from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Ron Smith
Verdant Power Inc.
Mr. Smith is a founding partner in Verdant Power Inc., a renewable energy company commercializing kinetic hydropower systems that deliver hydro electricity without dams or impoundments, in the United States for global applications. His experience includes leading the start-up, growth and sale of a nationwide consumer advertising company; and management consulting as a Principal with Booz Allen Hamilton, on the headquarters management advisory staff at Bendix Aerospace Group, and to staffs and operating units in the U.S. Navy. He served as a U.S. Navy carrier pilot in Vietnam. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Masters in Systems Management from the University of Southern California.
David Specca
Rutgers EcoComplex
David Specca is the Acting Director of the Rutgers University EcoComplex. The EcoComplex is part of the NJ Agricultural Experiment Station System and is focused on applied research, demonstration and business development for environmental technologies. The facility is located adjacent to an active landfill and contains 60,000 square feet of laboratory, tech scale-up and high tech greenhouse space. Since starting in 2001, the Rutgers EcoComplex has graduated three environmental technology companies and currently has 10 other companies in various stages of development. One of the companies that graduated has a landfill gas cleanup system that allows for the production of LNG for refuse truck fuel. Another company has developed a national brand of organic fertilizer derived from vermi-compost. The third company developed small scale arsenic removal filters for drinking water for home use. Dave will discuss some of the attributes he sees as being important to offer startup environmental businesses.
Founder and Editor
Mark Spellun
Plenty Magazine
Mark Spellun is the founder of Plenty, an eco-lifestyle magazine which focuses on the revolution in green culture and technology. It is Plenty’s mission to give voice to this new paradigm, one that is transforming not only how individuals conduct their daily lives, but also how companies innovate and compete in the market place. Previously, Spellun was a senior editor at the Economist Group and worked as a policy analyst for the US Federal Government.
Specialist in ethanol technology and environment issues
Dr. Alfred Szwarc
UNICA
Alfred Szwarc has been serving since 1998 as Adviser to the Board of UNICA, the leading Sugarcane Agribusiness Association in Brazil, and chairs UNICA’s Sugarcane Environmental Committee. He is also founder and Director of ADS technology & sustainable development, a consultant firm specialized in renewable fuels and environment issues. Mr. Szwarc has served as a consultant to public and private organizations in Brazil and overseas and has contributed to the development of fuel ethanol programs in various countries.
Prior to his present activities he worked for CETESB, the São Paulo State Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as Director of Environmental Engineering and played a key role in the establishment of the Brazilian and Mercosur motor vehicle air and noise pollution control regulations, improvement of fuel specifications and the no-drive day scheme implemented in the city of São Paulo. Mr. Szwarc was recently selected by the Ministry of the Environment as one of the 10 most outstanding contributors to the development of the Brazilian Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Program.
Mechanical Engineer (1975), he holds a M.Sc. degree in Environmental Pollution Control from the University of Leeds, UK (1977). In 1984 he attended as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow a one year Special Study Program in Environmental Management at the University of Southern California, USA.
Dr. Stephan Taylor
Learning, Training & Knowledge Systems
Process Research and Development
Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute
Dr. Stephan P. B. Taylor is Director of Learning, Training & Knowledge Systems in Process R&D, Pharmaceutical Research Institute of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Steve obtained his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1974 from the University of Vermont and then spent a year postdoc with Prof. Emil White at Johns Hopkins University, before joining the Process Development department at E. R. Squibb and Sons, later to become Bristol-Myers Squibb. His responsibilities have included process development, optimization and pilot plant scale-up, as well as, process transfer to manufacturing facilities. Project assignments have included ß-lactams, steroids, and natural products. Steve has supervised process development groups for 20 years, leading the Biorecovery Group, supporting the synthesis and isolation of natural products. Steve has been actively involved in Training, IT, Information Management, GMP, EHS, and green chemistry and engineering initiatives for many years. Steve was a BMS member of the IntelliChem consortium for “Synthesis” software. Steve has been a member of Collaborative Electronic Notebook Systems Association (CENSA) since 1998 and has served on it's Steering Committee 2001-2003, and is a member of the AspenTech BatchPlus User Group.
CEO
Michael C. Trachtenberg, Ph.D.,
Carbozyme, Inc.
Dr. Trachtenberg is Chairman, CEO and CTO of Carbozyme, Inc. a development stage environmental science company focused on capturing carbon dioxide from flue gas stacks to reduce greenhouse gas levels and contribute to controlling global warming as well as developing beneficial uses for carbon dioxide, particularly regarding enhanced energy production.
He holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology and Biology from the City University of New York and a Doctorate in Anatomy and Neurobiology from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Dr. Trachtenberg has been a principal investigator and research director for over 30 years. He is the author of over 120 publications – papers, books and abstracts - and has received two patents in addition to a number of patent applications currently under review. He regularly presents at numerous national and international scientific meetings.
Prior to founding Carbozyme Dr. Trachtenberg co-founded NeuroGenesis, Inc. a neutriceutical company focused on the psychopharmacology of addictive diseases. During his tenure he served as VP of Research and Development. Dr. Trachtenberg has been a consultant to NASA working on sustaining humans in space. In addition he has held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School, Boston University School of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical Branch and has been Director of Neurological and Neurosurgical Research.
Harry L. Warren, AIA
Cannon Design
Mr. Warren’s 30 year career in architecture includes significant work in higher education, healthcare and high-technology facilities. An active presenter and lecturer, Mr. Warren’s design work has been recognized with over 100 local, regional and national design awards; in addition he has won several international design competitions, including the new 3000 student, Sabanci University, a totally new, 32 building campus on 240 acres of land, in Istanbul, Turkey
With a portfolio featuring projects from across the world, Mr. Warren has the unique insight needed to develop innovative design solutions, making the most of site characteristics while respecting the surrounding community and context. His portfolio includes several complete new universities, including design of the new 2 million SF, 5000 student, Ave Maria University in southwest Florida.
For the Canisius College, Montante Cultural Center in Buffalo, NY, he was awarded the National AIA Honor Award for Interior Architecture His work has been publish in several major national and international architectural publications including Architecture, Architectural Record, Interior Design, Process Architecture and World Architecture. His worked has been cited in several books on education and healthcare design.
Mr. Warren is an Associate Professor at the State University of New York, School of Architecture and Planning where he teaches a graduate design studio as well as administering a graduate scholarship and mentoring program that recognizes outstanding design talent. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, The Society for College and University Planning, and The American Planning Association.
Formerly Assistant Design Director with Harley-Ellington in Detroit, Michigan and Design Director of the RTKL, Health Sciences Studio in Baltimore Maryland, Mr. Warren is currently a Design Principal at Cannon Design, an 850 person international Architecture and Engineering firm with 15 offices worldwide. His current projects include the new academic facility for Kean University’s Center for Science, Technology, and Mathematics Education, and “Blue City”, a complete new city of 300,000, situated along the coast of Oman, which will include several new university campuses housing 40,000 students from the Middle East.
Executive Director, Otto H. York Center for Environmental Engineering and Science
Panasonic Professor of Sustainability
Daniel Watts, PhD
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Daniel Watts is the Executive Director of the Otto H. York Center for Environmental Engineering and Science and the Panasonic Professor of Sustainability at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He has been at NJIT since 1983 and is affiliated with the NJIT Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, teaching courses related to pollution prevention, industrial ecology and sustainability, and environmental policy. He has participated in joint research activities with the U.S. Army, primarily at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, for more than 15 years, first in pollution prevention projects, which have evolved into sustainable manufacturing and component design for environmental and performance benefits. His additional research interests include phytochemistry and applications of industrial ecology for policy enhancement, water treatment chemicals, environmental science; operational and regulatory change leading to Pollution Prevention in industrial operations; technical facilitation for environmentally affected communities; and sustainability
He received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana and a Masters degree in Botany from the same institution. His undergraduate work in chemistry and botany was at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Prior to joining New Jersey Institute of Technology he carried out research at the Squibb Institute for Medical Research and the American Can Company.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is also a member of the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT), which advises the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, he is participating in two projects for NACEPT related to facilitating the development and deployment of new environmental technology and to facilitating new approaches to securing a sustainable water infrastructure for the nation.
He is the immediate past President of the New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability and the Co-Chair of the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute. He is also a member of the New Jersey Commission on Environmental Education.
Founder
David Waimann
Orionsolar Photovoltaics
David is an experienced technology entrepreneur who is now concentrating on clean energy technologies
He started Orionsolar Photovoltaics in 2003, and the company has now developed the most advanced solar cell prototypes of its type with a staff of 10 scientists based in Jerusalem. He is now starting two more alternative energy companies.
Previously he was CEO and Founder of Barorianne Plasma and Chairman of Solcon Industries.
His education is in economics and engineering from Cambridge, UK and Rochester, USA and his interests range from alternative energy, development economics, and playing football with his kids.
US Representative in New York
David White
Transsolar
David White studied architecture and mechanical engineering at Yale University, graduating in 1997. He then apprenticed in energy efficient building design at Obayashi corporation in Tokyo and Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann in Pennsylvania. His growing interest in this field led him to enroll in UC Berkeley’s Master of Architecture program, where he continued to study architecture and mechanical engineering concurrently. While at Berkeley he taught energy and environmental management in architecture and worked as a consultant in San Francisco and London.
Mr. White joined Transsolar in the fall of 2004. Since May of 2005 he has served as the company’s US representative in New York. Since October 2005 he has taught a studio in climate-responsive design at Columbia University.
