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The Board of Directors of SustainUS is a group of SustainUS alumni, leaders in the field of sustainable development, our allies, and key members of the Steering Committee that assume legal responsibility for the organization and advise the Steering Committee on organizational, financial, and management issues.
For more information on the Board of Directors, contact Ben Wessel, our Secretary and liaison to the Board.
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Jason K. Babbie is the Membership Services Program Director for the Environmental Grantmakers Association, which includes approximately 230 public, private and corporate foundations from around the world that are concerned with environmental issues. Jason is responsible for helping members strategize and collaborate on their efforts and coordinating the National Policy Briefings, Regional Briefings, and content of the Annual Retreats. From 2000 to the start of 2008, Jason was the Senior Environmental Policy Analyst for the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), where he directed the organization's state-level clean air, energy, and global warming legislative and regulatory campaigns and all federal environmental activities. During his tenure at NYPIRG, Jason was instrumental in the state’s proposed carbon dioxide and final mercury emissions limits on power plants, energy efficiency standards for products and appliances, and clean renewable energy requirement, among other successful initiatives. He was also an adjunct professor at Pace University teaching Environmental Politics and Policy for a semester, the Air and Energy Program Director at Environmental Advocates of New York, and a consultant to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. |
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Julie Larsen works to promote sustainable development by translating international agreements and targets into practical strategies and projects at the regional and national levels. She has worked for the United Nations for five years, most recently as an Associate Adviser on Social Policy and Development with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) in New York. She focuses on issues of social inclusion and incorporating the needs, priorities, and concerns of specific social groups, including young people, into development planning and policies. Current projects include working to integrate youth priorities in poverty reduction strategies and encouraging the use of group methodologies worldwide through her recently acquired Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) designation. Through her involvement at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, she heard the first rumblings of SustainUS and is now pleased to serve the organization as a member of its Board. Julie is originally from Montréal and studied international development at the University of Toronto in Canada. |
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Cat Manzo is currently pursuing a duel MBA/Masters in Environmental Management degree at Yale University. Cat first learned about SustainUS in spring of 2003 and remained a loyal volunteer over the next 4 years. She was involved with Citizen Science, served as the Membership Coordinator for 2 years, and spent her last year with SustainUS as Chairperson from 2006 - 2007. Cat graduated in 2004 with an environmental engineering degree from Columbia University. In her spare time away from SustainUS, Cat worked at MBDC, the consulting firm that coined the "cradle to cradle" design philosophy, and the Design for the Environment Program at the EPA. At graduate school, Cat is focusing on corporate environmental strategy and clean tech entrepreneurship.
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Lockey White started sustainable development advocacy in 1990 as a teenager organizing Earth Day and Earth Week celebrations in India and California. A Morris K. Udall Scholar, she graduate summa cum laude from Humboldt State University with a degree in Natural Resources Management Policy and a minor in International Relations. She completed her law degree and a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. While in law school she worked as an environmental Law Clerk for Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and later as a Law Clerk for the International Environmental Law Project, which led her to attend the International Whaling Commission meetings in London as an assistant to one of the United Kingdom's delegates. Lockey is currently a member of the Club of Rome's young think tank program (the tt30 program), an interdisciplinary global sustainable development think tank. She is the Director of Business Development for CarbonTrader. She has lived abroad in India, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Holland and currently spends her free time with her German husband and beautiful new baby daughter. |
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Monika Kerdeman has worked at the intersection of environmental sustainability, business, management and design for the last five years. Currently, she serves as Project Coordinator for the global secretariat of the Access Initiative (TAI) at the World Resources Institute, helping to manage network operations. TAI is an international network of over 150 civil society organizations in over 40 countries promoting access to information, participation and justice in environmental decision-making. In addition to working towards greater environmental democracy and policy reform, Monika is actively involved with several sustainable businesses, networks, organizations and initiatives in the Northeast region including: Be Carbon Neutral, The Little Cupcake Initiative, Bettencourt Green Building, Amicus Green Building Center and Net Impact. Also, Monika served as Secretary for the North Capitol Regions Emerging Green Builders, a young professional affiliate for the US Green Building Council and was an active member of SustainUS, serving as Treasurer from 2005 to 2007. |
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Michael Gale is a passionate advocate for sustainable development and wildlife conservation. The son of a West Virginia forest ranger, Michael has worked for a variety of organizations, including the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the National Geographic Society, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare. A Truman and Udall Scholar, Michael spent a year in Galway, Ireland as a George Mitchell Scholar and later received his Masters of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Michael currently works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, DC in the Office of External Affairs. Michael has been extensively involved with SustainUS, serving for a year on the Steering Committee as the Communications Coordinator and as a Delegation Leader for numerous Agents of Change delegations, including the first meeting of the Kyoto Protocol process in Montréal, Canada in 2005. |
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Sara Standish Currently Sara is working at Root Capital, where she is focusing on strategic growth initiatives. Prior to joining Root Capital, she worked at Bain and Company, where she will be returning in January 2010. Sara began her career at the World Resources Institute’s New Ventures Program, where she identified, supported and connected entrepreneurs to investors in Indonesia and managed the MBA Consulting Corps. Additionally, she initiated the program’s monitoring and evaluation efforts globally. While at WRI, Sara served as the 2004-2005 Chairperson of SustainUS. Sara holds a B.A. from Tufts University and an MBA from Cornell University, where she was a Park Fellow. She enjoys playing soccer and learning Spanish. |
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David Turnbull David began as Director of Climate Action Network – International in October 2008. He works to coordinate the Network, which includes nearly five hundred NGOs in dozens of countries working to develop and advocate for global solutions to the climate crisis. He also serves as an advisor to the Global Campaign for Climate Action, providing input on strategy and policy matters. In his capacity as Director of CAN, David has been quoted in major publications in the US, Denmark, France, Germany, India, and South Africa, and by a number of international wire services. Previously, David was Communications Director of the US Climate Action Network, where he coordinated joint communications efforts for US NGOs, as well as for CAN-International at the UNFCCC negotiations. Before joining CAN, David worked at the World Resources Institute as a Coordinator for a pair of international networks working to promote inclusive and accountable environmental governance. In a previous incarnation, David spent time observing the “world’s worst weather” and conducting climate research at the Mount Washington Weather Observatory in New Hampshire. He was born and raised in the Washington, DC area and received his B.A. from Dartmouth College in Geography and Environmental Studies. |
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Smita Nakhooda leads WRI’s initiative to promote good governance in the electricity sector in developing countries. Smita works with the International Financial Flows and the Environment Project, which seeks to influence patterns of development finance to be more environmentally sustainable. She leads WRI’s initiative to promote good governance in the electricity sector. Prior to joining WRI, Smita has worked with the United Nations Development Program in Uganda on environmental issues. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College with a dual degree in Government and Environmental Studies. Her honors research explored the impact of renewable energy technologies and rural electrification in Kenya and Uganda on sustainable development. |
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Nivedhya Ramaswamy Nivi is an Environmental Engineer whose expertise lies in subsurface remediation. Her commitment to SustainUS spans serving as a Delegation Leader at UN CSD17; Agent of Change at UNFCC COP-14 and UN CSD-16;and Citizen Science coordinator (2008-2009). Born and raised in India, Nivi completed Graduate School in the United States, earning her M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Georgia Tech. Her graduate research efforts were concentrated on subsurface remediation technologies with a focus on a Superfund site in Washington State. Prior to graduate school, Nivi earned her Bachelors in Civil Engineering and worked at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, India. At IISc, she focused on sustainable building technologies, green buildings, energy efficiency and renewable energy. Nivi currently works with Geosyntec Consultants in Boston, MA. |
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Ex-Oficio |
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Kyle Gracey |
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Ben Wessel |
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Peter Stolarski |
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