GoGreen Portland Conference

Restorative Economics practitioner, Nwamaka Agbo, brings a solutions-oriented approach to her project management consulting. With a background in organizing, electoral campaigns, policy and advocacy on racial, social and environmental justice issues, Nwamaka supports projects that build resilient, healthy and self-determined communities rooted in shared prosperity. In addition to her consulting practice, Nwamaka is now an Associate with the Movement Strategy Center after having completed a Senior Fellowship with the organization. She is also 2017 Fellow for the RSF Integrated Capital Fellowship Program. Nwamaka serves as a Faculty member with EcoDistricts, where she previously served as the Director of Programs for Target Cities-a program to support 11 neighborhood-scale sustainable urban regeneration projects across North American committed to equitable economic development. ▼

In the 1980s, she developed and managed the City of Toronto's Environmental Protection Office - the first local government environmental office in Canada - and in the 1990s her environmental policy consulting company provided services to international agencies and the Canadian federal government. She has lived in the Pacific Northwest since 2002 and was Director of the Center for Creative Change at Antioch University. Her first book, The Rise of the US Environmental Health Movement was chosen as one of the top ten books on sustainability published in 2013, and her second book, Intrinsic Hope: Living Courageously in Troubled Times, has recently been published by New Society Publishers.

Marcelino J. Alvarez is the founder and CEO of Uncorked Studios, an integrated product design studio that connects people, technology, and context to create meaningful change. Uncorked partners with the world's top brands, including Google, Adidas, Diageo, Care.com, and Samsung, to build products with purpose. Previously, Alvarez served as Executive Interactive Producer at Wieden + Kennedy. He produced the Nike Chalkbot, a robot that printed messages of hope and inspiration on the Tour de France in 2009 and 2010. He's a co­founder of Safecast, an open data initiative to help residents of Japan report and understand the levels of radiation following the Fukushima earthquake and nuclear disaster, and Incúbate, one of the first design-thinking workshops in Havana, Cuba. He sits on the board of the Freshwater Trust and Portland State University's Center for Retail Leadership, and is an investor in the Oregon Venture Fund. He resides in Northeast Portland with his wife Margaret, son Caleb, daughter Lucia, and pets, Luke and Calvin.

Lena is a Senior Project Manager at Brightworks Sustainability, a green building and energy consulting firm headquartered in Portland, Oregon. During her 10 years of experience with implementing sustainability programs, energy incentives, and green building rating systems, Lena has managed the successful certification of more than 75 sustainability projects. She is a LEED Accredited Professional, LEED for Homes Green Rater, GreenPoint Rater, Energy Star Rater, Certified Energy Analyst, Home Energy Rater, Certified Carbon Reduction Manager. Lena loves guiding progressive clients, including Salesforce, Microsoft and Facebook, to execute their sustainability goals.

Olga Aulet-Leon is the Sustainability Champion for Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA). Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, DTNA is the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America which produces and markets commercial vehicles under the Freightliner, Western Star and Thomas Built Buses nameplates. Olga has a passion for working on sustainability topics within the corporate world. At DTNA she is responsible for leading the company's sustainability program, and works with employees across the organization to continuously improve social and environmental impact. This includes work on DTNA's robust alternative transportation plan for employees. Olga has a BA from UCLA in Business Economics with a minor in Environmental Systems and Society and an MA from Syracuse in International Relations.

Elaine is a widely respected green building consultant whose background in both interior design and architecture gives her unique insight into building operations and how occupants interact with built environments. Clients benefit from Elaine's rich expertise in certification frameworks such as LEED, WELL Building Standard and EcoDistricts. With over 30 years' professional experience, including nearly 20 years in the green building industry, she is an engaging communicator and educator who takes a results-driven, pragmatic approach to facilitating diverse project teams, guiding them through sustainability strategies that best meet their individual high-performance goals. From developing "best in class" webinar series and curricula to presenting on national stages such as Greenbuild, IFMA and NeoCon, Elaine has taught diverse people across many disciplines about LEED, WELL, SITES, GRI, and the integrative process.

With over 25 years of experience in construction and building science, Alex Boetzel is a Certified Passive House Consultant and has consulted on dozens of LEED, Passivhaus, high-performance and zero energy projects in the US as well as in Europe. He plans and executes Green Hammer's innovation concepts, technical training, including building envelope and HVAC, and ensures quality control of envelope, energy, and water systems in design, construction, and commissioning. Under his leadership, Green Hammer has consulted on over 200,000 square feet of commercial multifamily, office, retail, academic, industrial, and single family residential Passivhaus projects designed, built, or retrofitted in Oregon to date. Alex plays an essential role as a company-wide resource for brainstorming and ensuring solutions to any challenge. His role as Director of Operations and Sustainability allows him to flow through company operations, teams and projects as a 'free radical' ensuring his wisdom and innovative expertise is pervasive throughout the organization.

Michele has over 20 years of experience in the environmental field, with deep expertise in the areas of climate action planning, resilience, pollution prevention, sustainable operations and alternative transportation fuels. As Portland's Chief Sustainability Officer, Michele leads 40+ staff in the development and implementation of policies and programs focused on climate action, waste reduction and recycling, energy efficiency and renewables, emerging mobility, green building, business assistance, and community outreach and engagement. Michele led the development of Portland's award winning Climate Action Plan (2015) and seeks to ensure Portland's marginalized communities reap the benefits of those efforts. Michele has a Master of Science in Environmental Science and Regional Planning from Washington State University, and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Geology from the University of North Dakota.

Hector comes from a mixed background of entrepreneurship, research and non-profit organizations, with expertise on Internet of things, advanced analytics, robotics and automation and Artificial Intelligence. Hector has developed sensor networks for agriculture, food production, forest monitoring and the oil industry. Hector has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on manufacturing solar concentrators and sustainable manufacturing.

Erica is an award-winning architect and Green Hammer's Director of Design. She has served as the Lead Architect on five net-zero energy homes, two net-zero energy pocket neighborhoods, and the Living Building Certified Tasting Room at Cowhorn Vineyard and Garden. Erica has served on the Portland chapter of the AIA's Board of Directors and been a Co-Chair for the chapter's Committee on the Environment. She has also been a guest lecturer, critic, and studio instructor at the University of Oregon. In 2012, Erica was awarded the Van Evera Bailey Fellowship for researching the Human Aspect of Net-Zero Energy in High Performance buildings. Her research included Post-Occupancy Evaluations of nine Net Zero/High Performance buildings in Oregon and around the country looking at occupant comfort and how to engage occupants in energy saving behavior. Erica was recently named a 2017 Woman of Vision by Oregon's Daily Journal of Commerce.

Mark Gamba is a world class visual artist. His long career in still photography for clients like National Geographic, Sports Illustrated , Nikon and Adidas has earned him a reputation as a communicator able to bring back great images, no matter the difficulty of the situation. This career allowed him to experience firsthand a number of issues facing us all, and his frustration at the distinct lack of appropriate response to these issues by the government caused him to run for office in 2012. He has been serving on the Milwaukie City Council for five years, the last three as Mayor. He currently serves on the Clackamas County Coordinating Committee and on the Metro Policy Advisory Committee. Mark is working to make Milwaukie: entirely equitable, delightfully livable and completely sustainable.

Maria García is the owner of Revolución Coffee House in downtown Portland. She serves as Co-Chair of the New Portlanders Policy Commission and is President of Don't Shoot Portland, a community action nonprofit organization focus in social justice through art. Born in Mexico City, Maria came to Portland via Palm Springs. Following her work in the Community Affairs division of Portland's Mexican Consulate, she opened Revolución Coffee House, Portland's first Mexican-inspired cafe, in 2014. Maria is very proud of her Mexican roots as is shown through her business and her community engagement with art and culture. Maria also serves as a board member of Boom Arts, a boutique theater local company. She serves as counsel of the ICO (Instituto de Cultura Oregoniana), Institute of Oregonian Culture where Hispanic culture and multilingualism is promoted as a source of common prosperity. Following her passion for social justice and social change, Maria ran for Multnomah County Commissioner of District 2 in 2018 helping her to broaden her platform of awareness towards minority communities and strengthen her desire of service to the community. Now Maria is working with Latino youth incarcerated connecting resources and creating cultural activities and workshops that will re-enforce Latino identity.

As a Senior Consultant with our Building Performance and Sustainability teams, Joel brings over 10 years of consulting experience on building-energy and sustainability projects. Our clients benefit from Joel's deep understanding of energy, daylight, airflow and comfort modelling in complex buildings and climates. Whether designing for low energy, performing energy simulations or supporting building code compliance, Joel always adds value and helps secure strong project outcomes. His keen insight into the unique challenges and opportunities of each project helps project teams make the most of the natural passive energy potential offered by a site's specific climate.

Zach Henkin is a Deputy Director at Forth, a non-profit public-private partnership founded to promote, support, the electric vehicle industry and to increase the adoption of clean transportation options in the Pacific Northwest. Zach leads Forth's mobility programs bringing together collaborators and stakeholders to design and lead clean transportation projects. Zach has an MBA from Marylhurst University and is a certified Project Management Professional.

Ashley leads the efforts of BBPDX to engage Portland's business leaders in the civic processes that shape the direction of the city. She is passionate about ensuring that our community's business leaders are connected with strategic opportunities to bring greater shared prosperity to all Portlanders. Just five months after launching BBPDX, the organization was recognized by the Portland Business Journal as one of the region's Top 25 Chambers of Commerce. Ashley was also personally named as "One of 18 To Watch in 2018" by the Portland Business Journal. Her work prior to BBPDX has been at the intersection of the business, civic, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Her areas of focus have included community development, affordable housing, impact investing, climate and renewable energy policy, and fish and watershed restoration.

Wisdom Co-founder and Executive Producer Rose High Bear (Deg Hit'an Dine) was born and raised in a remote subarctic Athabascan village of McGrath along Alaska's Kuskoquim River. Following graduation from Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR (B.S.), she made Portland, OR her home where, in 1993, she co-founded Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. (Wisdom). For the past 25 years, she has dedicated herself to Wisdom's mission and vision as Executive Director and now serves as Senior Consultant to the organization as needed.

Caitlin is the Sustainability Manager at Portland General Electric (PGE), the largest electric utility in Oregon. In her role, Caitlin works internally across PGE business units to advocate for sustainability and embed sustainable practices throughout the business. Caitlin started her career as an AmeriCorps Volunteer at Prosper Portland working with small, minority-owned businesses to implement sustainability. Since, Caitlin has built a breadth of experience implementing sustainability programs and projects across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Caitlin is excited to be implementing sustainability at PGE as they continue the journey to a clean energy future and accomplish their goal of at least an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Kelly Hostetler is a Customer Success Manager at Luum where she helps employers meet their commuting goals. Luum's software helps reduce parking demand, promote behavior change, improve administrative efficiencies, and meet sustainability goals. Kelly has an extensive academic background both studying and teaching transportation planning at the University of Washington. Now at Luum, she finds great joy applying her knowledge of behavior change theory and transportation policy to help Luum's customers achieve their business goals by turning commute from an obstacle to a benefit. Kelly commutes most often via Seattle's ever-expanding light rail.

Julie designs wow-we-did-that experiences that help teams and organizations build collaborative capacity. Part facilitator, part strategic thought partner. Passionate about her paddle board and travel to hard-to-reach places. Past lives: Partner at improv-based consultancy On Your Feet; leadership educator in North America, Europe, Asia and Central America; author of The Deeper Funner Facilitation Cookbook; barista-to-marketing-strategist at Starbucks Coffee Company in 1990's. Faculty at the Banff Leadership Centre. Cultural anthropologist as Morehead-Cain Scholar at the University of North Carolina, MBA from Portland State University, MA in Human Development and PhD in Organizational Leadership & Change from Fielding University.

Before joining the Renew Oregon team, Tera Hurst served as Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff for Portland Mayor Charlie Hales. Tera also worked for the Oregon House Majority office, served as Chief of Staff to Oregon State Representative Jennifer Williamson, and managed successful elections for both Williamson and State Representative Jessica Vega Pederson. Prior to her public service, Tera spent six years in the private sector in sales and management for a Chevrolet Dealership in South Florida. She has a degree in social work from Portland State University.

Jessica leads strategic market transformation initiatives to accelerate Oregon's adoption of energy efficient buildings. With a focus on setting strategies to encourage the industry toward high-performance building design and construction practices, a big part of her job, her work focus on enabling more net zero energy buildings to be designed and built. To bring innovative technologies and programs to Oregon, Jessica serves on national and regional working groups for new technologies, markets and trends and brings long-term strategic vision to her work with Energy Trust. She has a B.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon. Energy Trust New Buildings was awarded by American Council for and Energy-Efficient Economy for Exemplary Programs in 2013, and in 2016 by Association of Energy Services Professionals for Outstanding Achievement in Energy Program Design for Path to Net Zero.

As SVP's Senior Vice President for Community Impact, Lauren provides strategic direction & management of SVP's investments of human, social and financial capital in organizations & initiatives that build community capacity to solve intractable problems collaboratively. The current focus is to ensure equitable access to high quality, culturally relevant preschool experiences for children across Multnomah County, especially those children from communities who have experienced systemic social, economic, and/or political inequity. Lauren consistently seeks to pursue the greatest potential, not the easiest path, by working to build genuine partnerships with leaders - across sectors - to develop shared goals, metrics and strategies, so that all children in Portland have the foundation for learning and life success.

Christine Kendrick is an air quality scientist specializing in monitoring, policy and the public health impacts of air pollution. She is currently the Smart City PDX Coordinator for City of Portland in the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. Her work on sensors, governance, and data collection projects focuses on the technical, ethical, and policy questions surrounding the uses of data, distributed sensors and Internet of Things technologies. She completed her PhD in Environmental Science and Resources with a focus on urban air quality, data analysis and instrumentation.

Dylan Kruse is Sustainable Northwest's Director of Government Affairs & Program Strategy, providing strategic direction and decision-making across the organization's programs. As Director of Government Affairs, Dylan represents and advocates for the state, regional, and national priorities of Sustainable Northwest. In this role, he is responsible for state and federal legislative activity, agency relations, and stakeholder engagement. Dylan also coordinates the Western Juniper Alliance, a 50 member organization working to restore the health of western rangelands, develop markets for Western Juniper wood products, and support rural economic vitality and wildlife habitat. He is also the bioenergy specialist at Sustainable Northwest, serving on the Oregon, Washington, and Idaho Statewide Wood Energy Teams, and supporting the development of a variety of woody biomass projects across the Pacific Northwest.

Mary is the Director of the Multnomah Idea Lab (MIL). The MIL, part of the Multnomah Department of County Human Services, is charged with seeking policy and innovation within the human services and government sectors. The MIL seeks to positively change community conditions resulting from poverty and racism by practicing human-centered design, seeking out critical thinking and research, and conducting applied research tests in the real world.

Kristofor is a consummate creator. He views business as the ultimate platform to affect positive change in the world. His goal is to build the most innovative and creative restaurant group in America. Sustainable Restaurant Group is the living embodiment of this mission, whereby the environment, people, community, and profits are all accounted for at the highest level, in unison. When Kristofor is not working to foster and grow the culture and people of Sustainable Restaurant Group, you can find him traveling the world to give talks on sustainability, leadership, and culture. As well, he frequently works with suppliers, environmental scientists, and policy makers to create deeper impact for his companies.

Michele has over a decade of experience in the nonprofit, hospitality and tourism industries. Her work focuses on sustainable operations, community engagement and authentic visitor experiences that contribute to the power of travel to create a more tolerant world. She works alongside tour operators, small business owners, hostel operators and community groups to achieve quality management systems, programs and events that are sustainable across the triple bottom line, community centric and globally focused. Since 2009 Michele's work has received over 25 sustainability awards and certifications. She regularly presents at industry events such as the Lodging Green and Sustainability Conference, International Youth Hostel Federation Conference, Corporate Sustainability Collaborative and BDNY. She also manages a local travel scholarship fund that helps underserved Metro youth travel outside the USA for the first time and participates as a judge for NEWH's Annual Sustainable Design Competition. ▼

Kevin leads the City of Portland's Smart City PDX team. He has in-depth experience developing, implementing and managing systems and applications to improve delivery of services, increase community involvement in City projects, and to support Portland's long-range planning. Kevin manages a diverse team of Smart Cities and Open Data coordinators, web developers, web designers, graphic designers, database administrators, GIS analysts, and an air quality scientist.

Minal Mistry, is the business initiatives lead with the Oregon DEQ. He works with a wide range of entities to implement strategies for Oregon's 2050 Vision for Materials Management. His primary focus is on helping businesses produce and consume materials in more sustainable ways. Minal supports research, planning and implementation for Vision related strategies. Minal's professional experiences include life cycle assessment, environmental testing, IT, and technical training, and consulting for implementing Design for Environment (DfE) strategies for consumer packaged goods.

Athena is the Sustainability Program Manager for New Seasons Market, a privately owned chain of grocery stores selling organic and locally produced products alongside conventional groceries operating in the Portland Metro area, SW Washington and Seattle. New Seasons was the world's first B Corp certified grocery store and strives to be the ultimate neighborhood grocery store by giving back to its staff, community and the environment. Athena works to integrate sustainability principles into all areas of business, from reporting systems and communication, to engagement and program implementation, she believes that in order to solve the most pressing issues of our time, we must shift the way we work to focus on ways to make a positive impact on the environment and our communities. Athena brings over 10 years of work in sustainability and efficiency from her roles at Pacific Natural Foods, and Energy Trust of Oregon and the Northwest Earth Institute.

Khanh Pham is the Manager of Immigrant Organizing at APANO. She also serves as the Board Chair of OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon. She's worked as a community organizer, fundraiser, and communications associate in a variety of social justice organizations, including VietUnity, Global Fund for Women, Refugee Transitions, and National Radio Project. Khanh leads the immigrant organizing programs and our Climate, Health, and Housing Institute (CHHI) fellowship program. She focuses on political education, leadership development, and policy advocacy, with a particular emphasis on the intersections between climate, health, and housing.

Amy serves as a Policy Advisor to the Mayor on environmental, sustainability and climate issues. She also works as a liaison for the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. Prior to joining Mayor Wheeler's staff, she worked as a Communications Director for Eric Burnette in Oregon's 2nd Congressional District and in a communications-based position for Joe Trippi & Associates. Amy has also worked in advocacy and outreach roles with the Oregon League of Conservation Voters and Renew Oregon, primarily on policy working to create clean energy jobs in Oregon. She also served briefly as a constituent liaison in Salem for the Kitzhaber administration. She earned a Bachelor's in Political Science and Public Service/Civic Leadership from Portland State University, and will graduate with a Master's in Political Communication from American University in Washington, D.C. in December of 2018. In her spare time, Amy is an avid hiker and general outdoor enthusiast. She loves landscape photography and CrossFit, and is always game for an adventure.

Mike is responsible for expanding BrownFlynn's market engagement across North America, developing new and existing strategic partnerships, providing innovative corporate responsibility and sustainability solutions to clients and helping shape the strategic direction of the Firm. Having helped establish and then direct GRI's North American operations from 2010 to 2014, Mike was instrumental in driving sustainability and reporting across the North American economy. Mike's 20+ years of international experience in the sustainability field provides BrownFlynn clients and strategic partners with a global view of the sustainability landscape. Having given expert testimony to the European Commission, U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, Environmental Protection Agency and the General Services Administration, and having presented on the topic of sustainability and reporting at an array of executive level conferences and meetings. Mike worked for ERM US and Australia during the first part of his career. His expertise in the field is highly regarded and valued by a wide range of colleagues and organizations around the world. ▼

Laura Whipple is a dreamer, doer and creative entrepreneur. She's the CEO and Co-founder of Scout Books, a B Corp certified custom notebook manufacturer housed in two incredibly yellow buildings in Portland, Oregon. Always the print culture enthusiast, her work is fueled by a love for ink, paper, fostering curiosity, collaboration, nature, and the making of meaningful things. A former Fulbright scholar, she's served as a member of the Advisory Team for Design Week Portland, and and holds Bachelor degrees in Anthropology and History from Willamette University. Along with her incredible team, she's had the honor of working with thousands of inspiring clients over the past sixteen years to bring their big ideas to life in print, including the Center for Civic Design, Wikipedia, United by Blue, 33 Books, 99% Invisible, Etsy, Travel Portland, WordPress, WeWork, Squarespace, Bitch Media, The Sketchbook Project, The NY Times, Google, and Patagonia.

As Statewide Sustainability Officer for the State of Oregon, Dave leads sustainability efforts for the Department of Administrative Services and supports sustainability across the entire state government enterprise. He regularly collaborates with the Governor's Office on executive orders and statewide policy, and he supports the work of the Oregon Sustainability Board and Interagency Sustainability Coordinators Network. His work at the State of Oregon builds on his 25+ years of work as a sustainability consultant for higher education institutions, K-12 schools, government and the ski and tourism industries. Dave is also author and contributor to over 150 papers, articles and book chapters on sustainability and the outdoors including Engaging People in Sustainability, published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Justin founded FMYI, a visual database for goal tracking software company, in 2004 after a successful career at Nike managing corporate sustainable development. His accomplishments there included creating organizational change programs, collaboration tools, the business case for sustainability, and global employee engagement efforts. Justin is Board Chair for the Street Trust and on the Board of Trustees for the National Crittenton Foundation. Justin holds a degree in International Studies from The Johns Hopkins University.

Megan Shuler works at the City of Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, where she leads a team that encourages Portlanders to take climate action through reuse, repair, recycling and composting. With over a third of Portland's carbon emissions coming from the "stuff" we consume and dispose of, these programs empower Portlanders to reduce their impact with smart choices. Megan has 16 years managing sustainability programs, and is committed to advancing racial equity, diversity, and inclusion through her work.