Michael Deane, Turner Construction, US Green Building Council

Michael Deane joined Turner Construction Company in November 2004 following 15 years of construction project management and administrative experience as both owner and construction manager. His responsibilities at Turner include training, green project setup, operational oversight, sales and action as liaison to the U.S. Green Building Council at the national and chapter levels. Mr. Deane is a LEED Accredited Professional and a founding member and immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of the NY Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. He was elected to the USGBC National Board of Directors in 2005.

schedule | top

Jackie DeCarlo, Catholic Relief Services

Jacqueline DeCarlo is a Senior Program Advisor for Catholic Relief Services, an international relief and development organization currently working in almost 100 countries.  She is responsible for leading the three core programs of the CRS Economic Justice portfolio—crafts, coffee, and chocolate—as well as developing new programmatic initiatives.  She is the author of “Fair Trade: A Beginner’s Guide” published by Oneworld Publications in 2007.

schedule | top

Jeffrey Dinowitz, State Assemblyman, 81st District

Jeffrey Dinowit, a lifelong Bronx resident, was elected to the New York State Assembly to represent the 81st Assembly District on February 15, 1994. The district includes Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Van Cortlandt Village, Norwood, Woodlawn and Wakefield.

Assemblyman Dinowitz chairs the Assembly Standing Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and serves on eight other committees: Judiciary, Environmental Conservation, Health, Mental Health, Consumer Affairs, Governmental Operations, Election Law and Oversight. He has served as Chair of the Legislative Commission on Government Administration, the Subcommittee on Housing for the Elderly and is currently Chair of the Subcommittee on Protecting the Elderly Consumer. In Albany he has focused on legislation dealing with senior issues, education reform, housing, and the environment.

schedule | top

Thomas P. Dobbins, Jr. J.D. Justice and Peace Coordinator, Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New York

Tom Dobbins Jr. is a graduate of Fordham University School Of Law – where he received his Juris Doctor in 1990, and Manhattan College - where he graduated with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Political Science and Peace Studies in 1986. For the past six years, he has been the Justice and Peace Coordinator in the Department of Social and Community Development of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. In that role, he has worked in partnership with numerous parishioners of the 400 plus parishes in the Archdiocese: educating them on the social teachings of the Church, and connecting them with opportunities in advocacy and service to put these teachings into practice. Prior to this, Tom worked in other justice and policy related work for the Archdiocese, serving as both Catholic Charities’ Criminal Justice Outreach Coordinator, and the Coordinator of the Archdiocesan Public Policy Education Network, where he helped parishioners advocate nationally and in Albany for policies that enhance and support the life and dignity of all people. 

Before starting his work for the Archdiocese, Tom worked in the fields of both healthcare and labor relations, when he was the Director of Human Resources at Gracie Square Hospital, a 100 bed psychiatric hospital on the Upper-East Side of Manhattan, and Assistant Director of Human Resources at St. Vincent de Paul Residence, a 200 bed nursing home in the South Bronx sponsored by the Catholic Charities. Before Law School, Tom worked with homeless pre-schoolers for one year at St. Bernard’s Center for Learning, a day-care center for children from homeless families in White Plains, New York, and for international peace and reconciliation as Assistant Coordinator of the Westchester Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign in Scarsdale, New York. While in law school, Tom was the 1989-1990 Stein Fellow of Law and Ethics and worked as a research fellow on ethical dimensions of law and policy, and was the recipient of the both the Ryan Medal of Governmental Studies and Pope John XXIII Medal for Peace Studies upon his graduation from college in 1986.  

schedule | top

Charles Geisst, Professor of Finance, Manhattan College

Dr. Charles Geisst is a professor of finance at Manhattan College. Formerly an investment banker, Dr. Geisst is the author of numerous books on the history of Wall Street, including Wall Street: A History; Undue Influence: How the Wall Street Elite Puts the Financial System at Risk; and Deals of the Century: Wall Street, Mergers and the Making of Modern America.

schedule | top

Jessica Haller, The Climate Project/Columbia University

Jessica P. Haller is in the unique position to combine payments industry experience with environmental sector expertise.  She has ten year's experience in strategic business consulting, most recently with MasterCard Worldwide. Jessica is a volunteer climate messenger with The Climate Project, and was trained by Al Gore to spread information about climate change, its impacts and solutions around the community.  In 2007, she was awarded NYC Community Board 8's Community Service award for her work in this area. Jessica graduated cum laude from the Wharton School of Business and is currently a candidate for a Masters of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia University and the Earth Institute. 

schedule | top

Les Judd, President, Green Boroughs

Les Judd has been a life-long environmental activist.  When he was a member of the cub-scouts, he remembers participating in a clean-up of the local brook in Ossining, NY where he grew up.  During the 1980s, Les was a leader in the Nuclear Freeze movement.  In the 1990s, Les became active in the Sierra Club and helped to create an environmental action committee at his synagogue.  His professional experience includes many years in NYC government, private business, and in the private not-for-profit sector.  On April 22, 2007, (Earth Day) he launched Green Boroughs, a company that promotes eco-friendly business in NYC through educational, marketing, and networking services. Les has a Master's degree in Public Administration from New York University and a Bachelor's degree from SUNY Brockport. 

schedule | top

G. Oliver Koppell, City Council Member, 11th District

G. Oliver Koppell attended Bronx public schools, including the Bronx High School of Science. After high school, he went on to Harvard College, and then Harvard Law School, graduating with both degrees Cum Laude. After law school, Koppell received a post-graduate fellowship from the Maxwell School of Public Administration at Syracuse University to study in India.

Koppell was elected to the State Assembly in 1970 where he served as representative of the Northwest Bronx for 23 years. While serving in the New York State Assembly, he wrote and sponsored 280 laws including the Utility Consumers Bill of Rights, the Returnable Bottle Law and the Automobile "Lemon Law." Environmental Advocates twice voted Koppell as the "Environmental Legislator of the Year." He served as the Chairman of the Environmental Protection, Corporations, and Judiciary Committees of the Assembly. Koppell initiated several important programs that continue to serve the community: the Kingsbridge-Riverdale Van Cortlandt Development Corporation, the Association of Riverdale Cooperatives, and the Citizens' Court Monitoring Project.

As State Attorney General, Koppell actively prosecuted consumer fraud, discrimination on the basis of race, family status and disability, environmental pollution and business crime. He acted as special prosecutor in a number of criminal proceedings and personally argued on behalf of the State of New York in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Elected in 1999 as the School Board President for District 10, Koppell fought the Board of Education bureaucracy for more resources, repairs and new equipment. The Chancellor singled out District 10 as one of the three most improved districts in the city.

Koppell was elected to the City Council in 2001. He has various organizational affiliations, including Volunteer Arbitrator of Civil Court of the City of New York, Board Member of the Lawyer's Committee Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith and the Fund for Modern Courts

schedule | top

Pat Logan, Community Preservation Corporation

Pat Logan is a mortgage officer with Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) in their Bronx-Manhattan office.  CPC is a private, not-for-profit corporation sponsored by more than 90 financial institutions.  CPC's mission is to stabilize and strengthen low and mixed income communities by providing lending capital.  Before joining the CPC in 2007, Mr. Logan served as the Director of Development for Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation for nine years.  He was responsible for fostering community development and affordable housing, focusing on sustainable development.  Before that he worked for four years as the Director of Community Service for Fordham University where he coordinated 30 service programs involving Fordham students and local residents.  Mr. Logan holds both a MA in Political Economy and Development and as BA in Communications from Fordham University.

schedule | top

Paula Lukats, Just Food CSA in NYC Program Manager

Having been a CSA member and a volunteer starting a CSA in the city, Paula began working at Just Food as the CSA in NYC Program Manager in May 2005. Prior to starting at Just Food she worked for over ten years as a social worker in community and program development in New York City. Originally from Ohio, she obtained her BS in economics and sociology in 1991 from the University of Notre Dame and her Masters in Social Work from Ohio State University. In 2006, she received a Certificate in Conservation Biology at Columbia University bridging her interest in community development and environmental sustainability.

schedule | top

Paul S. Mankiewicz, Gaia Institute

Dr. Paul S. Mankiewicz, Executive Director of the Gaia Institute, received his Ph.D. from CUNY/NY Botanical Gardens Joint Program in Plant Sciences. He holds patents on a modular composting system, lightweight green roof plant growth media,  as well as stormwater treatment technologies and a biogeochemical reactor for breaking down dioxins and PCBs. Past president of the Torrey Botanical Society, Dr. Mankiewicz is Treasurer of the Soil & Water Conservation District Board of New York City.

schedule | top

Edward Mazria, Architecture 2030

Edward Mazria is an internationally recognized architect with a long and distinguished career. His architecture and planning projects span over a thirty-year period and each employs a cutting-edge environmental approach to its design. His published material includes technical papers, articles for professional magazines, and a number of published works including The Passive Solar Energy Book published by Rodale Press. He outlines his strategy for addressing today's most pressing global challenge, climate change, in his article "It's the Architecture Stupid!" (Solar Today) and in subsequent pieces "Turning Down the Global Thermostat" (Metropolis) and "Blueprint for Disaster" (On Earth). His buildings have been published in Architecture, Progressive Architecture, Metropolis, Architectural Record, Landscape Architecture, Architectural Digest, Process, Public Garden, Solar Today, Texas Architect, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times to name a few.

schedule | top

Andrew J. McKeon, Assistant District Manager, The Climate Project, and Principal, carbonRational

Andrew McKeon is a native of the Bronx and a trained Mechanical Engineer (MS Columbia) who after 10 years as a Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories got an MBA (Columbia) and worked in Derivatives Finance.  Most recently, he has joined Al Gore’s The Climate Project to help raise awareness and provide solutions to anthropogenic climate change. He also has a practice (called carbonRational) that advises companies on strategic approaches to anthropogenic climate change.  One of his current projects is working with NASA Goddard to find private sector applications for their GCM (Global Climate Model.)

schedule | top

John Reilly, Fordham Bedford Housing Corp.

John Reilly is the founding Executive Director of the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation.  Established in 1980, Fordham Bedford oversees the operation of more than 2600 units of affordable housing in 90 buildings throughout the Northwest Bronx.  Mr. Reilly is a lifetime resident of the Bronx and a graduate of Manhattan College.

schedule | top