2010 Class

Joseph Ageyo	Jospeh Ageyo, Head of News Production, NTV (Kenya), Nation Media Group Joseph Ageyo is an all-round journalist and has covered major stories on the African continent for more than ten years. He is also widely acclaimed as having pioneered Environmental Journalism on Kenyan television. He has won prestigious awards such the “Environmental Journalist of the Year” in 2001 staged by the National Media Trust, a World Bank fellowship to attend the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and is a fellow of the Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP). Mr. Ageyo holds an MSc in Environmental Governance from the University of Manchester, a Bachelor of Agribusiness Management from Egerton University, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication from the University of Nairobi, and a certificate in Advanced Studies in Environmental Diplomacy from the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Maria Blair	Maria Blair, Deputy Associate Director, White House Council on Environmental Quality Maria Blair is a deputy associate director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, where she helps to lead an interagency effort to develop Federal recommendations for adapting to climate change impacts both domestically and internationally. Prior to CEQ, Ms. Blair was Associate Vice President and Manager Director at the Rockefeller Foundation, where she provided leadership and strategic direction for Foundation initiatives, and led major initiatives in climate change and innovation. She was also an associate principal with McKinsey & Company, where she worked with financial services and nonprofit clients. Ms. Blair earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard, and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University’s Balliol College, where she received a master’s degree in politics, economics, and philosophy.
Aimée Christensen	Aimée Christensen, Founder and CEO, Christensen Global Strategies Aimée Christensen, CEO of Christensen Global Strategies, advises clients including the Clinton Global Initiative, Duke Energy, Global Observatory, Ogilvy, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Swiss Re, The Elders, U.N. Development Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Virgin Unite, and Wolfensohn + Co. Ms. Christensen has two decades' experience in policy, law, advocacy, and philanthropy, including with Google.org, World Bank, Baker & McKenzie, and the Department of Energy, where she drafted the first bilateral and regional climate change accords. In addition, she served on the Council of Foreign Relations Task Force on Climate Change, addressed the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and at the 1992 Earth Summit, introduced Al Gore on behalf of U.S. Youth at Rio. Ms. Christensen received a B.A. from Smith College and J.D. from Stanford Law School, where she wrote the Climate Change and Investment Responsibility Policy, which was adopted by Stanford's Trustees in 1999.
Miquela Craytor	Miquela Craytor, Executive Director, Sustainable South Bronx Miquela Craytor is the executive director at Sustainable South Bronx where she serves on the advisory boards of the DC Project, Green, Jobs Green NY, and the NYC Chapter of the Apollo Alliance. She has over 7 years urban planning experience. As an advocate for using sustainable development to address reinvestment in under-served communities, Ms. Craytor is frequent speaker at conferences spanning the globe. Prior to joining SSBx, Ms. Craytor worked in the economic arm of the Bronx Borough President’s office. Ms. Craytor received her B.A. in Planning, Public Policy and Management from the Honors College at the University of Oregon and her M.S. in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.
Jacob Duer	Jacob Duer, Senior Advisor, United Nations Environment Programme Jacob Duer in a Senior Advisor with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) leading UNEP’s work related to the synergies between three global chemicals and waste-related conventions. Before taking up this position he was leading UNEP’s reform agenda on human resource management as a core member of a strategic change management team of the Executive Office. Mr. Duer has a strong track record in practical implementation and problem solving, coupled with strategic thinking and proactive leadership skills. He has more than fourteen years of experience with the United Nations with focus on environment and sustainable development, including more than seven years of experience at the managerial level and in change management positions. Mr. Duer has lived and worked with the United Nations in Austria, Senegal, Kenya, and Switzerland. He received a Master of Science Management and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Lauren Faber	Lauren Faber, Assistant Secretary for Climate Change, California Environmental Protection Agency Lauren Faber has extensive experience working on energy and climate policy development at the state, federal, and international levels, including the coordination of campaigns across large networks. Before joining Cal/EPA, Ms. Faber served as Senior Director for Lighthouse Consulting Group, where she advised on comprehensive climate change and energy strategies for domestic and international companies, and non-government organizations. She also served over four years at the British Embassy in Washington, DC as the Senior Policy Advisor for climate change and energy. In this capacity, she advised the UK Government on its strategic engagement with the U.S. government, as well as with the business, labor and non-profit communities. Ms. Faber was responsible for maintaining strong relationships with Congress and the Administration, with specific expertise in emissions trading, competitiveness, international climate finance, and negotiations for a post-2012 international agreement on climate change.
Ron Gonen	Ron Gonen, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO, RecycleBank During Ron Gonen's tenure as CEO, RecycleBank has grown from an idea to a company that today is rewarding millions of people for their positive green actions across North America and the UK. RecycleBank has been recognized by a number of leading business and environmental organizations including the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer, the United Nations Environment Programme as a Champion of the Earth and the Wall Street Journal as one of the top 10 venture backed clean tech companies. Mr. Gonen is a recipient of the University Medal of Excellence from Columbia University, which is awarded to annually to alumnus under the age of 45 for outstanding achievement in scholarship, public service, and professional life. He received a BA in History from the UMass-Amherst where he graduated with Departmental Honors and was a Massachusetts Commonwealth Scholar, and an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he was a Eugene M. Lang Center for Entrepreneurship award winner.
Kellee James	Kellee James, White House Fellow, NOAA, Department of Commerce Kellee James was appointed by President Barack Obama as a 2009-2010 White House Fellow. Her responsibilities include development of ecosystem services valuation tools such as tradable fishing quotas (catch shares), and other environmental markets at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Prior to her work as a Fellow, Ms. James spent five years as an economist at the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), a greenhouse gas trading platform and registry. In 2009, she was named by Crain’s Chicago Business Magazine as a ‘40 Under 40’ rising leader. From 2003-2009, she also served on the Board of Net Impact, a membership organization of over 12,000 MBA professionals committed to sustainability through corporate responsibility. Ms. James received an MBA and MA in International Development from American University in Washington, DC, and completed a BA in Spanish and International Studies from the University of Kentucky.
Brett Jenks	Brett Jenks, President and CEO, RARE Conservation Based in Arlington, Virginia, Brett has overseen RARE’s global effort to equip people in the world’s most biodiverse areas with the tools and motivation they need to protect their natural resources for nine years. Mr. Jenks leads RARE’s organizational development, from strategic planning to program development and fundraising. Under his leadership, RARE has expanded to 5 continents and reached 6 million people; formed worldwide partnerships with the leading environmental NGO’s; and received four straight Fast Company Social Capitalist Awards, which honors organizations that combine savvy business models with solutions to pressing social needs. He has worked in the field of tropical conservation and rural education since 1992. Prior to his work with RARE, Mr. Jenks served as the Costa Rica Program Director for WorldTeach, and as both a journalist and filmmaker. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts and holds an MBA with honors from Georgetown University.
Sarah King	Sarah King, Manager, Climate & Sustainability, DuPont Based in Washington, DC, Sarah works with DuPont businesses to help them identify and manage climate-related business risks and opportunities, and leads efforts on a corporate goal to grow annual revenue to $2 billion by 2015 from products that help customers reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Prior to joining DuPont, Ms. King was the Climate Change Program Manager for GLOBE USA, a bipartisan network of members of the U.S. Congress interested in energy and environment issues. Prior to this, she was a Senior Research Associate at the Environmental Law Institute, where she focused on international environmental law and governance. Ms. King holds BA in economics with a minor in environmental policy from Carleton College and an MBA from The George Washington University School of Business and Public Management.
Adam Lowry	Adam Lowry, Co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper, Method Products, Inc. Adam Lowry believes that business is our greatest vehicle for positive social and environmental change and that design, redefined, has the power to change our world. At Method, the leading innovator in hip, healthy, home care products, Mr. Lowry's focus is bringing sustainable innovation to product design, sourcing, production, and marketing. Prior to co-founding Method, he worked as a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institiution of Washington, developing software for the modeling of climate change, including work on the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Mr. Lowry began his career in product design in the automotive industry. He has been honored as a Vanity Fair Global Citizen and Man of the Year by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In 2006, Method ranked #16 on Fast Company’s Fast 50, the 50 most innovative companies in the world.
Eyrique Miller	Eyrique Miller, Vice President in Investment Banking, J.P.Morgan Eyrique Miller is a Vice President at J.P. Morgan, where he works in Natural Resources Investment Banking (IB). Mr. Miller divides his time between covering traditional chemical companies and helping lead an effort to expand the firm's alternative energy and cleantech IB coverage. Prior to assuming this role, he held an appointment as a White House Fellow spanning both the Bush and Obama administrations. As a Fellow at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, he worked with the private sector and multiple government agencies to identify opportunities to create green jobs from the Recovery Act and energy & climate change policy. Before becoming a Fellow, Mr. Miller worked as an investment banker at Citi in technology and chemicals. In addition to his work on domestic challenges, he has spent time working on issues in emerging markets with Endeavor, a global non-profit focused on high-impact entrepreneurs, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government agency focused on reducing poverty through economic growth.
Melanie Napoleon	Melanie Napoleon, Senior Director, Great Lakes Conservation, John G. Shedd Aquarium Melanie Napoleon is senior director of Great Lakes Conservation at John G. Shedd Aquarium. She manages the Great Lakes program staff and leads a team of key department heads to fully integrate the initiative throughout the aquarium and to implement all aspects of the program. Ms. Napoleon is the aquarium’s Great Lakes spokesperson to partner institutions, the media and the community. She has more than 12 years experience in museums, informal education, and environmental programs with expertise in Great Lakes ecology, animal behavior and evolutionary biology, asset-based community development, community-based social marketing, and not-for-profit management. Before joining Shedd Aquarium, Ms. Napoleon worked for a natural history and ecology museum in Chicago. She received a BS degree in environmental biology from Bradley University and MS degree in biology from Northern Illinois University.
Carrie Norton	Carrie Norton, Vice President, Commercial Solar Solutions, PetersenDean, Inc. Carrie’s professional mission is to prove the business case for sustainability, and she has spent over a decade building expertise in sustainable business and entrepreneurship in a broad range of companies, including Garage Technology Ventures and Idealab. Carrie has had success in the solar power industry since 2004, serving Fortune 500 companies such as Google, Sony, British Telecom, Dow Corning and Toyota. Today, Carrie is Vice President of Commercial Solar Solutions for PetersenDean, the largest privately held roofing and solar contractor in the U.S. Carrie’s community leadership includes work with Grid Alternatives, the Clean Economy Network, Net Impact, the Sustainable Business Council of Los Angeles (an organization she co-founded in 2005), and as an Adjunct Faculty member at the Graziadio School of Management at Pepperdine University. Carrie earned an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management and a BA from Trinity University.
Colin O'Mara	Collin O’Mara, Cabinet Secretary, Environment and Energy, State of Delaware Collin O'Mara serves in the Cabinet of Governor Jack Markell and leads the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. In this role, he oversees all environmental regulatory programs (air, water, and waste), natural resources, (state parks, fish and wildlife, watershed stewardship), and energy and climate policy for the State. Previously, Secretary O'Mara served as the Clean Tech Strategist for the City of San Jose, where he was a primary architect of Green Vision, a 15-year plan to transform Silicon Valley into a world center of clean technology innovation. He was a Marshall Scholar at the University of Oxford, a University Fellow at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and a Presidential Scholar at Dartmouth College. Secretary O'Mara is a USGBC LEED AP and completed Stanford Business School's Executive Management Program in Environmental Sustainability.
Michael Richter	Michael Richter, Partner, Environmental Capital Partners LLC Michael Richter, a recognized environmentalist, currently serves on the Board of Directors for Riverkeeper, a leading environmental NGO organized by Robert Kennedy Jr., and on the Board of Trustees for the Adirondack Nature Conservancy/ Adirondack Land Trust. He recently began collaborating with the Natural Resources Defense Council in their efforts to bring best ecological practices to the sports industry, and is a frequent speaker at environmental events. Prior to joining ECP, Mr. Richter enjoyed a successful 15-year career with the New York Rangers, where he was a three-time NHL All-Star and in 1994 led the New York Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Championship in 54 years. Mr. Richter also represented the United States on numerous international competitions including three Olympic teams, earning World Cup gold in 1996 and an Olympic Silver Medal in 2002. After retiring, Mr. Richter enrolled in Yale University and received a degree in Ethics, Politics, and Economics with a concentration in Environmental Policy.
Kirsten Saenz Tobey	Kirsten Saenz Tobey, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Revolution Foods Founded in 2006, Revolution Foods is transforming school communities by providing over 50,000 healthy school meals per day as well as nutrition education. Revolution Foods largely serves students in underserved urban communities in California, Colorado, and Washington DC. Ms. Tobey also serves as a board observer for the Nest Collective, Revolution Foods’ retail product partner. While developing the business plan for Revolution Foods, she evaluated school feeding programs in Ghana for the UN Hunger Task Force and consulted with McDonald’s on environmental responsibility in beef procurement. Prior to Revolution Foods, Ms. Tobey worked on environmental litigation campaigns for Earthjustice and managed operations for a coastal ecology research station in Mexico. Her career began as a teacher and children’s garden educator. She has an AB in Development Studies from Brown University and MBA from UC Berkeley.
M Sanjayan	M. Sanjayan, Lead Scientist, The Nature Conservancy M. Sanjayan has a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is a faculty research affiliate at the University of Montana. His interests are in exploring the nexus between conservation and poverty alleviation. Dr. Sanjayan's scientific work has been published in journals including Science, Nature, and Conservation Biology. In addition, his work has received extensive media coverage from Vanity Fair to National Geographic Adventure, and the New York Times. He is a frequent guest on NBC’s Today Show and has appeared on the Letterman Show. Dr. Sanjayan has co-hosted several documentaries and is currently at work on a mini-series for Discovery Channel (Powering the Future), scheduled to air in 2010. When not at work, he can be found either hiking or fly-fishing in Western Montana, where he lives.
Jigar Shah	Jigar Shah, CEO Carbon War Room A renowned visionary, Jigar Shah is committed to renewable energy and sustainable solutions that enable prosperity beyond the carbon economy. As CEO of the Carbon War Room, Mr. Shah is dedicated to indentifying business-as-usual practices and replacing them with low-carbon solutions. Prior to the Carbon War Room, he founded SunEdison in 2003. Under his leadership, SunEdison revolutionized the solar industry by introducing a business model to sell solar as a service. The transformation to solar power service agreements is responsible for turning solar services into a multi-billion dollar industry. Mr. Shah is also an expert on energy project finance, changing energy policy, working with entrenched stakeholders, and convincing individuals to embrace energy technology. He works closely with entrepreneurs, policymakers, and investors around the world to develop, incubate, and implement sustainable solutions that enable prosperity beyond the carbon economy. Mr. Shah sits on the boards of the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development, SB NOW, and Greenpeace USA.
Carlo Viviani	Carlo Viviani, Director for Energy, Climate change, and EU2020, Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Department for European Affairs Carlo Viviani is responsible for the coordination, definition, and representation of the Italian position in the policy making of the EU in fields such as energy, climate change, environment, and the Lisbon Strategy (now EU2020). Mr. Viviani is in charge of leading national working groups on EU policy issues, coordinating national position papers, maintaining relations with relevant stakeholders, and participating as Government delegate in EU working groups. He also writes speeches and briefing papers for the Italian Minister for EU Affairs, Hon. Andrea Ronchi. From 2011, he will be teaching International Economic Institutions and Global Governance. Mr. Viviani is a member of the board of the World Energy Council (Italy), a member of Aspen Institute Italia, and of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.