Board of Directors
Kevin Butt
Chair
Senior Director, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainability & Regulatory Affairs, Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
Kevin Butt is the senior director, environmental sustainability, sustainability & regulatory affairs at Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (TMNA). He is responsible for the development of environmental programs and for regulatory/legislative development for all of Toyota’s North American operations. Under his leadership, TMNA has accomplished a number of environmental kaizens (improvements), including a 27% reduction in energy consumption per vehicle produced since 2000, a 23% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per vehicle produced since 2000, a 26% reduction in water usage per vehicle produced since 1999, and a zero landfill status at nearly all of Toyota’s North American manufacturing and engineering locations. Since joining the company in 1992, Butt has served in a variety of roles, including overseeing the welding, stamping, and paint operations in body production engineering. Prior to his career with Toyota, he worked for AK Steel Company, where he was manager of environmental affairs. Butt serves on a number of boards, including those of the National Wildlife Habitat Council, Yellowstone Forever, National Environmental Education Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, and the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Butt earned a BS in environmental science from Georgetown College.
Jennifer Love
Vice-Chair
Former Chief Security Officer and SVP, Safety, Health and Environment, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Jennifer Love recently retired from Royal Caribbean where she was responsible for leading their global operations that included multiple land sites, over 60,000 employees, 5 million annual guests, and a fleet of 48 cruise ships. Before joining Royal Caribbean in September 2015, Ms. Love served as senior vice president and chief security officer for Cablevision Systems Corporation where she headed enterprise-wide security programs and processes, and served as its chief liaison to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Ms. Love retired as the assistant director of the FBI Security Division after serving as a senior executive of the Federal Bureau of Investigations for nearly 25 years. At the FBI, she gained broad experience and received numerous honors and awards for her exemplary leadership in both national security and criminal financial law enforcement. Among her honors are the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive Service in 2010 and the National Association for Advancement of Colored People’s Community Leader Award in 2009. She holds Bachelor of Science in accounting from Jackson State University.
Todd Greenwood
Treasurer
Vice President of Business Development, Farm Journal Foundation
Todd Greenwood is the vice president of business development for the Farm Journal Foundation. The Foundation is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to achieving global food security by sustaining agriculture’s leadership role and ability to meet the vital needs of a growing population. Previously, Greenwood served as the chief development officer for university research initiatives for the Purdue Research Foundation’s Discovery Park. Located at Purdue University. Prior to that, Greenwood served the director of strategic partner development & industry relations for the National Future Farmers of America (FFA) Foundation. The National FFA Organization is a national, intra-curricular youth organization of more than 650,000 student members as part of 8,600 local middle and high school chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. Greenwood received his BS in hospitality and tourism management from Purdue University and serves on Purdue’s College of Consumer and Family Sciences alumni board and Purdue Alumni Association's board of directors.
Robert D. Bullard, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University
Robert D. Bullard, Ph.D. is often described as the father of environmental justice. Previously serving as dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University (TSU) from 2011-2016, Bullard is currently a Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at TSU, as well as co-chair of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium and National Black Environmental Justice Network. Prior to this, he was the founding director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. Bullard is an award-winning author of eighteen books covering topics such as sustainable development, environmental racism, community reinvestment, and climate justice, among others. His latest books include Race, Place and Environmental Justice After Hurricane Katrina, Environmental Health and Racial Equity in the United States, and The Wrong Complexion for Protection. Dr. Bullard earned his doctoral degree from Iowa State University and is a US Marine Corps veteran.
Sally Cole
Director of Employee Communications, Apple
Sally Cole has held leadership positions in the corporate, public and non-profit sectors. She began her career in Washington, D.C. where she served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chief Operating Officer of President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development. She recently retired after 15+ years in tech, where she led employee communications for Google and then for Apple, greatly increasing employee engagement and leadership communications at both companies. Previously, Sally was a Senior Director of Strategy at the Gap, and VP of Development and Corporate Partnerships at Earth Force, an environmental education non-profit. Sally lives in Northern California with her son Wyatt and enjoys volunteering in her local community. She holds JD and MBA degrees from Stanford University and a BA from Yale University.
Katharine Emerson
Chief of Staff, World Food Program USA
Katharine Emerson was previously the director of political affairs for Bayer where she directed the company’s U.S. political engagement strategy and managed the organization’s political PAC. Prior to joining the team at Bayer, she was the Director of Public Policy & Political Strategy at the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA). At NCGA, Emerson was responsible for political strategy development and the PAC, and for leading lobbying efforts for conservation and domestic biotechnology issues. Emerson previously served as director of strategic partnerships at the World Food Program (WFP) USA. Prior to her service with WFP USA, she served as manager of government affairs for Monsanto Company for nearly eight years, where she also managed the company’s DC-based food and nutrition security partnerships, an issue near to her heart. A passionate advocate to end hunger, Emerson is a board member for the Congressional Hunger Center, where she chairs the development committee and is also a member of the board for the National Environmental Education Foundation. She earned a BA in politics from Washington and Lee University. Katharine lives in Washington, DC with her golden retriever, Fitzgerald.
Arturo Garcia-Costas
Program Officer, Local, National, and International Environment, The New York Community Trust
Arturo Garcia-Costas serves as the Program Officer for the Local, National, and International Environment at The New York Community Trust, where he manages a program focused on climate change, environmental health, and biodiversity conservation. He also oversees The Trust’s New York City environmental grantmaking, and a fund that supports a clean energy transition in Central Appalachia. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector and at all levels of government to the board. In the early 2000s, Garcia-Costas managed a global initiative to help developing countries implement the Earth Summit treaties for the United Nations Development Programme. During the Clinton Administration, he led an effort by the Environmental Protection Agency to engage with the Latinx community on pressing environmental concerns, and later worked on climate and energy justice issues with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. He also worked in the Mayor’s Office of Operations under David Dinkins on emergency planning and preparedness early in his career. He has earned a Baccalaureate in international affairs and theater from the City University of New York; a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School, where he focused on international and environmental law; and a Master of Science in urban policy and leadership from Hunter College.
Jeniffer Harper-Taylor
Head of STEM Education, Siemens Foundation
Ms. Harper-Taylor serves with of the nation’s preeminent non-profit organizations dedicated to STEM education. During more than a decade of service she has impacted students, teachers and schools on a national scale, introducing tens of thousands of young people to opportunities in STEM. Today she oversees an annual investment of more than $7 million in innovative education programs in STEM that support, recognize and encourage the scientists and engineers of tomorrow. Ms. Harper-Taylor became Siemens Foundation’s program manager in March 2000, subsequently serving as program director and vice president before being named president in March 2010. In 2015, Ms. Harper-Taylor assumed responsibility for STEM Education efforts for the foundation. Throughout her tenure she has spearheaded partnerships with such education leaders as the College Board and Discovery Education to broaden the reach and impact of the foundation’s programs. Ms. Harper-Taylor is active on a number of fronts to close the minority gap in STEM. She is a charter member of the Advisory Board for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Office for Access and the Advancement of Public Black Universities. Previously, she served as the Diversity Council Chairperson for Siemens Corporation, USA. She is a graduate of Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she earned her bachelor’s degree.
Katie Hogge
Digital Outreach Manager, The Ocean Conservancy
Katie Hogge is a passionate writer and content specialist dedicated to curating game-changing messaging around wildlife and environmental conservation. She currently serves as Digital Outreach Manager at Ocean Conservancy, where she helps develop creative digital strategies to grow and cultivate marine conservation initiatives. Growing up on the southeastern coast in Norfolk, Virginia, Hogge received her B.A. in Communication Studies from Christopher Newport University in 2016, where she graduated from the President’s Leadership Program. She went on to work in the outdoor recreation marketing sector before joining the environmental field. In addition to her work at Ocean Conservancy, she is also Deputy Editor at the American Conservation Coalition (ACC) and a digital and editorial consultant for conservation, travel, and outdoor lifestyle brands. Most recently, she was awarded designation under EarthX, The Audubon Society, and ACC’s ‘30 Under 30: The Green Generation’ list, and has spoken about conservation messaging at events such as Global Citizen’s World Oceans Day panel.
Lori McFarling
President, Social Impact, Discovery Education
A highly respected industry leader with more than 20 years of media, marketing, and business development expertise, Lori McFarling serves as Discovery Education’s lead in the company’s global branding and public-private social impact partnerships. McFarling drives the development of Discovery Education’s strategic marketing initiatives that support educators in transitioning classrooms to digital learning environments, optimizing the power of media and technology to enhance instruction. With a diverse array of partnerships across the public-private sector—consumer brands, non-profit and advocacy organizations, sports leagues, and academia—McFarling guides the company’s work across diverse industries, disciplines, and subject areas that support youth achievement. McFarling is a sought-after thought leader and speaker on issues related to the intersection of social impact and brand activation. She has been a featured speaker at the Milken Institute’s Future of Health Summit, STEMConnector’s Global STEM Talent Summit, the Incite Marketing Forum, Landmark Media’s Tech Summit, and the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s 2016 Corporate Citizenship Conference. McFarling is a graduate of the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute and was named to the Most Powerful Women in Cable roster in 2017, 2015, and 2014. McFarling was also named to the “Wonder Women” class of television executives and has been recognized with notable awards, including the Vanguard Award for Marketing, the industry’s highest honor for marketing excellence, and the WICT Liberty Award, acknowledging her “demonstrated excellence in the areas of leadership, innovation, excellence, risk-taking, teamwork, and dedication to the cable and telecommunications industry.” McFarling earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and resides with her husband and three children in Bethesda, Maryland.
Omar Mitchell
Vice President of Sustainable Infrastructure and Growth Initiatives, National Hockey League (NHL)
Omar Mitchell is the vice president of sustainable infrastructure and growth initiatives for the National Hockey League (NHL). He is responsible for promoting strategies and innovations that address growth of the game via environmental, economic and social sustainability as well as environmental advocacy across the league and its member Clubs. Mitchell became the NHL’s first environmental sustainability director in 2012, overseeing NHL GreenTM – the award-winning environmental sustainability initiative – and has led League corporate social impact efforts including public affairs and philanthropic initiatives during his tenure. He started his career in architecture and real estate and holds an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and a master’s degree in architecture from Columbia University.
Stephen Sikra
Vice President and Head of the Americas, Alliance to End Plastic Waste
Stephen Sikra is Vice President & Head of the Americas for the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (Alliance) and is located in Austin, TX, USA. As part of the global leadership team, Steve and his team contribute toward the Alliance vision of ending plastic waste in the environment. Previously, he was Vice President & Chief of Staff for the Alliance located in Singapore. Steve retired from the Procter & Gamble Company with more than 28 years’ work experience and a career spanning technical and management roles in process development, package development, product supply operations and upstream material development. Notably, Steve established and helped deliver P&G’s global plastic sustainability strategy and was part of the formative effort building the global non-profit, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. He is a champion for plastic recycling. He has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), the Recycling Partnership, and served as an Advisor for the Closed Loop Fund. He holds degrees in materials science & engineering and business.Ex-Officio Board Members
Dr. Tinelle Bustam
National Director of Conservation Education, USDA Forest Service
Tinelle Bustam is the National Director of Conservation Education for the USDA Forest Service. She has served various capacities in the Forest Service including National Assistant Director of Recreation at the Washington DC office, District Ranger on the Colville (WA) and Los Padres (CA) National Forests, Public Services Staff Officer at El Yunque National Forest (PR), as well as duty stations on the Six Rivers and Lassen National Forests (CA). Tinelle holds a PhD in natural resource recreation (University of FL), MS in outdoor education (State University of NY), and BS in wildlife biology (University of MT). Tinelle is published in peer-reviewed journals and most recently for the United Nations Development Programme. Currently adjunct faculty at Frostburg State University, Tinelle teaches a graduate course and was named the 2017 FSU Wellner Scholar for her contributions to the field of recreation and student education.
Kenneth W. Harding
Regional Director of the Central Region, National Weather Service
Kenneth W. Harding is the Regional Director of the Central Region in Kansas City, MO. The Central Region consists of 45 NWS offices with nearly 1000 employees spread across 14 states of the north-central U.S. Mr. Harding started his career as a weather officer in the Air Force and had tours of duty at McChord Air Force Base in Washington and Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. Most of his military career was spent supporting the air defense mission of NORAD. He also led the Department of Defense NEXRAD deployment and training effort in Alaska and was deployed to Korea and Guam. Mr. Harding came to NWS as a general forecaster in the Air Route Traffic Control Center/ Center Weather Service Unit in Anchorage, AK, in 1995. He was selected as the Science and Operations Officer at Weather Forecast Office (WFO) Aberdeen, SD in August of 1996 where he led the spin-up of the new WFO. He was selected as Meteorologist-in-Charge (MIC) at WFO Topeka, KS in June of 2006 where he was instrumental in the introduction of new tornado warning text to convey impacts expected. Mr. Harding served as the MIC of WFO Des Moines, IA beginning in June 2014. He then moved to Central Region HQ as Chief Program Officer in June 2016 and became Central Region Deputy Director in May 2017. Mr. Harding received his Bachelor of Science in Meteorology from Iowa State University in May 1986 and his Master’s degree in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University in August of 1991. Mr. Harding is a native of Rembrandt, Iowa, and has one adult daughter.
Capt. Sara B. Newman, DrPH, MCP
Captain, United States Public Health Service
Director, Office of Public Health, National Park Service
Ericka L. Reid, PhD
Director, Office of Science Education & Diversity, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health
Dr. Reid directs the Office of Science Education & Diversity (OSED) at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). As the educational and career exploration/preparation outreach arm of the institute, OSED coordinates national, regional, state-wide, and local outreach efforts designed to raise the awareness of students, teachers, parents, scientists and the general public regarding the mission, research, and goals of NIEHS. Prior to coming to NIEHS, Dr. Reid worked with a Science & Technology Center funded by the National Science Foundation, where she served as the deputy director of education for the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN), a consortium of eight local colleges and universities and based at Emory University. Additionally, she completed a science and technology policy fellowship at the National Academies in Washington DC. She assisted the Committee on Engineering Education in the National Academy of Engineering with reports on the Engineer of 2020 and Educational Technology. Dr. Reid was born and raised in High Point, NC where she established an early desire and determination to make great strides in education, both for herself and for those around her. She attained an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master's degree in education (counseling and development) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She also has a doctorate in educational psychology from Georgia State University.
Louisa Koch
Director of Education, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Luisa Koch has served as NOAA’s director of education from October 2005 to the present. NOAA’s education programs are developing the next generation of professionals educated in the NOAA sciences and educating the public about the role of the ocean, coast and atmosphere in the global environment. Ms. Koch served as NOAA’s Deputy Assistant Administrator for Research from 1998 through 2005. Before joining NOAA, Ms. Koch served at the Office of Management and Budget as the Commerce Branch Chief. She was a Presidential Management Intern at the Department of Defense and an economist at the Joint Economic Committee, US Congress. Ms. Koch earned a master’s in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1987), and a bachelor’s in physics from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont (1982). She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with her husband Robert and two daughters.
Nora Savage, PhD
Nano Program Director; Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems; Engineering Directorate; National Science Foundation
Dr. Savage has worked for the U.S. federal government for almost twenty years. In this capacity she has served the environmental nanotechnology research community through her contributions to strategic research direction. Dr. Savage served as a Team Lead for nanotechnology within the Office of Research and Development within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She currently serves as Program Director for the National Science Foundation. Dr. Savage has authored and co-authored numerous articles on nanotechnology and emerging technologies in leading journals, including the Journal of Nanoparticle Research and Toxicological Sciences. She served as lead editor for the books “Emerging Technologies: Socio-Behavioral Life Cycle Approaches” and for “Nanotechnology for Water Applications”) now in its second edition) and has contributed chapters to several other books, including the Oxford Handbook of Nanoscience and Technology, vol. III. Dr. Savage obtained her bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 1992 from Prairie View A&M University located in Prairie View, Texas. She received two Masters Degrees (in Environmental Engineering and Environmental Science) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, located in Madison, Wisconsin in1995, and a doctoral degree in Environmental Science from the same institution in 2000.
Shannon Steinbauer
Special Assistant to the Director, OLHCHH, US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Shannon Steinbauer, RN BSN MPH- is the special assistant to the director for the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH) at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. She has been with OLHCHH for 8 years. Shannon previously led local and state efforts for Lead and Healthy Homes activities in the State of Kansas. She has a dedication to public service and shares personal experience in educating and assisting communities meet goals and connecting them to resources for housing and health improvement priorities. Shannon’s expertise originates from assisting lead poisoned children and their families in their homes to State and Federal policy making.
Nicole Steele
Senior Advisor on Energy Justice and Workforce, SETO, US Dept of Energy; Head of National Community Solar Partnership
Nicole Steele is a nationally recognized leader and expert in clean energy with a focus on frontline communities and workforce development. She has 20 years of experience working with government officials, policymakers, advocates, and entrepreneurs to develop and implement inclusive clean energy policies and programs. She is currently the Senior Advisor on Energy Justice and Workforce for the Solar Energy Technologies Office at the U.S. Department of Energy and the head of the National Community Solar Partnership. She was the founding executive director of GRID Alternatives Mid-Atlantic, policy director at the Alliance to Save Energy, and ran the EECBG program for Loudoun County Virginia. She started her career in affordable housing, community planning, and politics. She is an AmeriCorps alumna and a passionate supporter of community service.
Rosemary Enobakhare
Office of Public Engagement and Environmental Education (OPEEE)
Rosemary Enobakhare was appointed by President Biden to serve as the Associate Administrator for the Office of Public Engagement and Environmental Education at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Rosemary was previously appointed by the Obama Administration to serve as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Public Engagement and Environmental Education in the Office of the Administrator at the EPA. She has previously served as the Coalition Director for the Clean Water for All Coalition, where she helped build one of the most diverse federal coalitions to defend bedrock clean water protections at the federal level.Liaisons
Sharunda D. Buchanan, M.S., Ph.D.
Director, Office of Priority Projects and Innovation, Office of the Director, National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Dr. Sharunda Buchanan currently serves as Director of NCEH/ATSDR’s Office of Priority Projects and Innovation (OPPI) where she provides leadership, management, and coordination of large-scale, priority environmental health initiatives and promotes innovation and “big idea” projects and prototypes. After receiving a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in chemistry, toxicology, and biochemistry, respectively, Dr. Buchanan joined the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) as an Environmental Health Scientist in the Division of Toxicology in 1990; she later joined CDC as as an Epidemic Intelligence Officer assigned to the Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects (DEHHE). During her six-year tenure with DEHHE, Dr. Buchanan greatly contributed to the expansion of the National Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Healthy Homes programmatic and research agendas. In 2001, Dr. Buchanan became Chief of the Environmental Health Services Branch, and served in this capacity until becoming Director of NCEH’s Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services (DEEHS). As DEEHS director for a little over a decade (2007-2017), Dr. Buchanan provided leadership, direction and guidance to a multi-disciplinary team overseeing national and international programs related to lead poisoning prevention, food and drinking water outbreak investigations; chemical demilitarization of warfare agents; cruise ship inspections; community design, and overall performance improvement of core and emergency environmental public health services. Dr. Buchanan is committed to advancing health equity, attaining environmental justice, and improving environmental public health across the country.Advisor
Beveridge & Diamond, PC