Are We There Yet? Ratings and Reporting Speakers
Kenneth Pucker
Senior lecturer at Tufts University’s Fletcher School and Boston University, Advisory Director at Berkshire Partners, Board Member at Rag & Bone, Nexite and QUINN Foods, and former COO of Timberland.
Ken is an operator, advisor, investor and educator with an abiding focus on sustainability and ESG. Ken is a published author in periodicals such as the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Institutional Investor and the Harvard Business Review. He spent the majority of his professional career working at Timberland as COO from 2000 to 2007. After joining the company in 1992, Ken served in multiple roles over a fifteen-year period. During his tenure with the company, Timberland grew by ten fold to over $1.6b in sales. During this period, the company was recognized for nine consecutive years as one of Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies; as a Forbes magazine's Platinum Investment and as a top ten ethical company according to Business Ethics magazine. Ken serves on the boards of the Commonwealth School, Green City Force, and The High Meadows Institute. After playing goalie on the varsity hockey team for four years and graduating cum laude from Middlebury College, Ken worked as an Analyst in the Municipal Finance Department at Goldman Sachs and as a Research Associate at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Ken received a Master of Science in Business Administration from M.I.T’s Sloan School of management in 1990 and a B.S. from Middlebury College. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife Leslie and their two daughters.
Erika Karp
Executive Managing Director, Chief Impact Officer at Pathstone, and former Founder and CEO of Cornerstone Capital Group
Erika is Executive Managing Director, Chief Impact Officer at Pathstone, and former Founder and CEO of Cornerstone Capital Group. Erika’s leadership in developing meaningful ESG investment strategies is driven by her vision of a world where capitalism fully values all forms of capital, including human and natural capital, and where investments serve to foster a regenerative and inclusive global economy.
Nicole Darnall
Foundation Professor of Management & Public Policy and Director and Co-founder of Arizona State University’s Sustainable Purchasing Research Initiative
A Distinguished Sustainability Scholar at the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation and Abe Fellow, Nicole was previously Associate Dean of Faculty Success in ASU's College of Global Futures and Associate Director. Her research investigates organizations' and individuals' sustainability behaviors especially as it relates to purchasing.
Fred Gersdorff
Socially Responsible & Sustainable Supply Chains Manager at General Motors
Fred is passionate about unlocking human potential in every person and views sustainability as a pursuit that puts people at the center of what we do. He has extensive business experience working in the medical devices, power distribution and automotive industries. Fred currently leads the sustainability efforts in GM’s Global Purchasing and Supply Chain organization. His educational background is in Chemistry with an MBA, and he is currently pursuing a PhD in Systems Engineering.
Julia Litvak
CPSM, Director of Responsible Supply Management Program at Medtronic
Julia has over 20 years of experience in Category Management, Strategic Sourcing and Procurement with large enterprises such as Medtronic, Ahold USA, Staples and Ariba/SAP. In her current role, she leads the Responsible Supply Management Program which includes multiple supplier compliance initiatives. Prior to joining Medtronic, Julia held several strategic sourcing positions that included managing a broad range of product and service category teams and developing key supplier relationships. Julia started her career as a Manufacturing Engineer at Raytheon Company and built up her sales and marketing skills as Regional Sales Manager prior to focusing on Supply Management. Julia holds a bachelor’s in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University, is a Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM), and holds an ISM certification for Supply Chain professionals.
Julia Wolfe
Environmental Purchasing Director, Operational Services Division, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Julia is working to integrate sustainable specifications into statewide contracts. She helps administer Executive Order 515: Establishing an Environmental Purchasing Policy and co-chairs the Commonwealth’s Toxics Reduction Task Force. Before joining OSD, Julia worked for the US EPA on Pollution Prevention and Toxics and Solid Waste Programs and then for the Commonwealth’s Department of Environmental Protection Waste Programs Division and Toxics and Hazards Program. Julia’s work resulted in an award-winning multi-state procurement for Environmentally Preferable Cleaning Products which has resulted in over $100M spend and counting. She led an effort to identify healthier furniture in statewide contracts, identifying ways to incorporate EPP’s into Maintenance, Repair and Operations contracts, and has worked to increase the use of commercial grade battery powered lawn equipment. Her new obsession is to identify ways to automate EPP data collection.
Kate Williams
Senior Impact Monitoring & Evaluation Manager, Fair Trade USA
Kate led the design of FTUSA's Impact Management System and Theory of Change. She is responsible for operationalizing research and the implementation of data collection methods through a global team of field staff across all Fair Trade USA supply chains. Kate has experience in the corporate world working with financial institutions before completing her International MBA with a focus on corporate social responsibility and strategy. She has dedicated the last seven years of her career to project managing international economic development impact monitoring & evaluation at Fair Trade USA. Kate is committed to bringing awareness to the developing world through her work.
Workshop Leads and Facilitators
Fatima Abdul-Khabir
Research Associate, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
As young professional in the sustainability field, Fatima strives to make connections between climate work, energy savings and equity. She has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University and is an accredited LEED Green Associate. Currently as a researcher at Berkeley Lab, she supports federal and state programs to guide organizations to save energy and GHG emissions by purchasing more clean energy technologies.
Maiah Alman
Head of Customer Success for ecomedes
Maiah has been working in the software and green building industry for several years. With a background in Environmental Management, her passion for environmental conservation and sustainability is always at the forefront of her work. As an experienced professional in the customer-centric B2B model, data-driven processes and decision making, and green building certifications and rating systems, Maiah is driving the charge towards better sustainable building product procurement for all players in the global built environment to ensure a better planetary future.
Michael Bloom
High-Performance Buildings Program Advisor with the U.S. General Services Administration, Office of Federal High-Performance Buildings
With 20 years of experience at GSA, Michael manages the Sustainable Facilities Tool, (www.SFTool.gov), as well as the Green Building Advisory Committee, including the Environmental Justice and Equity for Federal Green Buildings Task Group. Michael graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Communications and Political Science from University of Colorado, Boulder and an MA in Political Science from the University of Chicago.
Kate Harris
Secretariat of the Global Ecolabelling Network, Chair of the Australian standards committee for environmental communication and the Vice Chair of the Living Future Institute of Australia
Kate is a sustainability leader coach and facilitator of Leadership Development programs for social and cultural change. Previously Kate was the highly regarded CEO of Good Environmental Choice of Australia and the Centre for Sustainability Leadership. With an extensive background in helping high performing individuals, organisations and communities create a better future, Kate brings these foci to her work. She believes passionately in human potential to create meaningful change which she brings to all her positions.
Billie Holecek
Research Associate, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Billie Holecek is a research associate at LBNL working to increase energy efficient and renewable product procurement in both the state and federal sectors. She graduated with a B.S. in Sustainable Energy Management from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Alison Kinn Bennett
U.S. EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and Adjust Professor at American University
Alison has focused her 20+ year career on leveraging private sector innovation and billions in federal spending to support cleaner and greener supply chains for all. She co-founded two influential networks within EPA—the Green Building Workgroup and the Sustainable Products Network—which bring together policy and technical staff to advance holistic, market-based approaches to furthering EPA’s mission. Since 2001, Alison has served in the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Program, representing EPA in the development of private sector sustainability standards within the US Green Building Council, Sustainable Sites Initiative, ASTM, NSF, and UL, among others. Alison has represented EPA on the advisory committees of the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council, Cradle to Cradle Product Innovations Institute, ISEAL, and the UN Sustainable Public Procurement Program. In 2016, Alison and her team released Recommendations of Specifications, Standards, and Ecolabels—a game changer in bringing clarity to the sustainability marketplace. Recently, Alison is leading a new effort at the Agency exploring innovative financing approaches for capital intensive pollution prevention projects in various manufacturing sectors.
Sravan Chalasani
Senior Research Associate in the Building Technology & Urban Systems Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
In his current role, Sravan focuses on implementation and evaluation of U.S. Department of Energy Federal Energy Management Program's (FEMP’s) Energy Efficient Product Procurement (EEPP) initiative. At LBNL, Sravan's work includes estimating the Energy, Cost and GHG savings from the use of energy efficient products in the U.S federal government as well as conducting market assessments to set the energy efficiency standards for FEMP designated products.
Colin Narod
Solutions Engineer at Oracle
Colin provides an innovative approach to problem-solving across the Procure-to-Pay landscape. He is driven by efficiencies and process automation to make work and life more enjoyable.
Christopher Payne
Head, Building & Industrial Applications Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Christopher Payne is the Leader of the Sustainable Operations Group and the Project Co-Lead for the LBNL Empower Procurement Program. Over his career in energy efficiency and sustainability policy research, Christopher Payne has focused on understanding how decisions related to energy consumption are made, how public policy shapes those decisions, and how energy policy can be made more efficient, effective, and persistent. Dr. Payne is a recognized expert in organizational decision-making related to energy and sustainability, with a research specialty in institutional acquisition processes and their role in clean energy technology adoption. His current projects include Federal acquisition of energy-efficient products, institutional procurement of clean energy technologies in California, and State & local government procurement of emerging technologies
Paul Shahriari
Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at ecomedes
Paul is an authority on green building and the application of technology in the real estate, design, engineering and construction industries. He began his career as a sustainability consultant in 2000. He was one of the first people in the US to become a LEED accredited professional and served as a US Green Building Council’s faculty member for 5 years. In support of his work with clients, he founded 3 greentech companies: ecologic3 and ecoScorecard which were acquired in 2010. In 2016 he launched ecomedes, a data platform that leverages product performance data to simplify green decision making aligned with Sustainability and ESGs. Ecomedes streamlines the analysis of economic and environmental impacts for anyone looking to make better data-driven decisions. He has consulted on over $50 billion of real estate, design and construction projects in his career. Paul is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Masters of Engineering.
Gerald Robinson
Project Manager, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Gerald Robinson is the Project Co-Lead of the LBNL Empower Procurement Program and an Energy manager with over 25 years experience initiating and completing a broad range of energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy system initiatives. Gerald has an extensive track record of innovative yet practical problem solving in both the private and public sectors. Gerald’s management experience spans a wide variety of organizations including universities, municipalities, large corporations, non-governmental organizations and federal agencies. Gerald boasts many firsts and significant accomplishments in his career such as the development of the largest solar PV system in the US at its time and developing the first every hydrogen peroxide on-site water treatment facility for reclaimed water.
Jeff Waterman
Senior Solution Consultant at Workday
Jeff focuses on financial and procurement solutions for the public sector and has been with Workday since 2018. Jeff has over 20 years of experience with large Enterprise Management solutions. Over the course of his career, Jeff has helped organizations in civilian and defense agencies, state & local governments, and many not-for-profit organizations. Jeff lives in Indianapolis, IN and when not helping public sector organizations improve their financial solutions, he referees youth and adult hockey games.
Bob Willard
CEO, Sustainability Advantage
Bob is a leading expert on quantifying and selling the business value of corporate sustainability strategies. His six books, two DVDs, numerous tools ‒ including a Sustainable Procurement Toolkit ‒ provide further capacity-building resources for sustainability champions. Bob previously worked 34 years with IBM Canada, “retiring” in 2000. He also serves on the board of the Future-Fit Foundation and the B Corp Standards Advisory Council, was inducted into the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) Hall of Fame in 2011, received Clean50 awards in 2015 and 2017, and has earned six “Best for the World - Overall” and five “Best for the World – Community” awards since becoming a Certified B Corp in 2012. He is an ISSP Certified Sustainability Professional, is a Future-Fit Certified Professional and Accredited Partner, and received a PhD in sustainability from the University of Toronto in 2005. His purpose is to ensure his three children and three grandchildren’s quality of life is at least as good as he has enjoyed.
Tom Chen
Account Manager, Ecovadis
Tom Chen's academic background in Environmental Geography and Sustainability led him to EcoVadis, a vision-driven company where he now works as an Account Executive. At EcoVadis, Tom focuses specifically in the Retail, Apparel, Consumer Goods, and Food and Beverage Sectors. Previously, Tom worked in the North American bioenergy industry and is an avid 10-pin bowler in his free time.