SPEAKERS
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Michael Webber
Associate Director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Texas- Austin
Michael Webber is the Associate Director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy in the Jackson School of Geosciences, Fellow of the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, and Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where he trains a new generation of energy leaders through research and education.
Prior to joining UT-Austin, Michael studied issues relevant to energy, innovation, manufacturing, and national security at the RAND Corporation. Previously, he was a Senior Scientist at Pranalytica inventing sensors for homeland security, industrial and environmental monitoring applications. Michael has published twenty peer-reviewed scientific articles and has been awarded four patents.
A highly sought public speaker, he has given more than 100 lectures, speeches, and invited talks, including testimony for a hearing of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, keynotes for scientific conferences, and briefings for chief executives at some of the nation's leading companies. Michael is one of the originators of the Pecan Street Project, which is a citywide, multi-institutional effort in Austin to create the utility of the future by the innovation and implementation of smart grids, smart meters, and smart appliances.
Michael's education includes a B.A. with High Honors (Plan II Liberal Arts) and B.S. with High Honors (Aerospace Engineering) from UT-Austin, and an M.S. (Mechanical Engineering) and Ph.D. (Mechanical Engineering, Minor in Electrical Engineering) from Stanford University, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow from 1995-1998.
Michael lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three children.
CLOSING KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Jeff Fulgham
Chief Marketing Officer of GE Water & Process Technologies
Jeff Fulgham is Chief Marketing Officer of GE Water & Process Technologies. In this role, he is responsible for global strategic marketing initiatives on existing and emerging markets, and leads the business intelligence, regional segmentation, and commercial training functions for the business. Before assuming his current role in 2006, Jeff was the General Manager of Global Marketing.
A 27-year veteran in the water industry, Jeff began his career in 1981 in industrial water treatment chemical sales at Nalco. In 1989, he joined Betz Laboratories, Inc. as a field salesman in the Power Division and was promoted to Corporate Sales Manager for Power Generation in 1994. From 1998 to 2002, he held positions of increasing responsibility within the commercial and corporate sales organizations until the company was acquired by GE Water & Process Technologies. From the date of acquisition, Jeff held a variety of senior leadership roles in the global marketing function.
Jeff has been a key speaker at numerous industry events, including UN International Water Conference, Goldman Sachs Global Water Conference, US-India Business Council for Green India, NASA Environmental & Energy Conference, and Executive Energy Forum. During his career, he has published numerous technical papers on power and water topics.
Jeff was recognized as a member of the Marketing Dream Team by Event Marketer Magazine in 2007. In 2008, he was recognized with the Ex Award by Event Marketer Magazine for his leadership driving GE's World Water Tour. He was also awarded multiple GE "Proof Not Promises" awards for delivering enhanced customer value.
Jeff holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Ohio State University. He resides in Doylestown, Pennsylvania with his family.
Paul Beatley
Director, Enhesa Inc.
Paul Beatley is a co-founder and director of Enhesa S.A. and its US subsidiary, Enhesa Inc., an international EHS regulatory consulting group. Operating from offices in Brussels and Washington, with satellite presence in Los Angeles, London, Singapore and Shanghai, Enhesa provides international EHS policy and regulatory consulting services to global businesss.
Under Paul's leadership, Enhesa advises and assists companies operating around the world in all aspects of international environmental and occupational safety and health (EHS) compliance, both with respect to industrial and commercial activities, and the products they place on international markets.
Based in Washington, DC, Paul has over twenty years of professional experience in EHS management and regulatory consulting, including ten years based in France and Belgium, and has led consulting assignments, including forecasting and analysis of regulatory and policy change, strategy and management of extended producer responsibility obligations for global markets, compliance audits, due diligence assessments, and management and organisational studies around the globe, including throughout Europe and the Middle East, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific-Oceania region.
Prior to starting Enhesa, he was director of the Law-Gibb Group's Environmental Policy Centre in Brussels, and previously a senior consultant at Booz-Allen & Hamilton, based in Paris, and before that, a manager with A.T. Kearney in Washington. Paul holds an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, a B.A. from University College, Dublin.
Dr. Joseph Fiksel
Executive Director, Center for Resilience
Dr. Joseph Fiksel is Executive Director of the Center for Resilience at The Ohio State University, an interdisciplinary research center that is developing a unified approach for modeling risk, resilience, and sustainability in complex systems. As Senior Research Scientist for Integrated Systems Engineering, he engages in collaboration with companies, government agencies, non-profits, and other research organizations to develop new methods and tools for understanding the interdependence among social, environmental, and economic interests. Currently he is leading the development of a toolkit for optimization of industrial ecology networks, with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Joseph is also Principal and Co-Founder of the consulting firm Eco-Nomics LLC, and is an internationally recognized authority on sustainable business practices. He has over 20 years of experience in applied research and management consulting, specializing in environmental risk assessment, product stewardship, design for environment, and sustainability.
Joseph has served on numerous advisory boards, including the U.S. Technical Advisory Group for ISO 14000 and the advisory boards for sustainable enterprise MBA programs at both University of Michigan and University of North Carolina (UNC). He was an officer and founding member of the Society for Risk Analysis, and has testified on health risk analysis issues before Congressional and White House committees. He has published over 70 refereed articles and several books, and is a frequent invited speaker at business and professional conferences. His most recent book, Design for Environment: Creating Eco-Efficient Products and Processes, has been translated into Spanish and distributed worldwide. Joseph holds a B.Sc. from M.I.T., a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Stanford University, and an advanced degree in applied mathematics from La Sorbonne.
Robert A. Holden, Esq.
Vice President, Stateside Associates
Robert A. Holden, Esq., is Vice President of Stateside Associates. Mr. Holden has assisted government, corporate, and association clients manage environmental, financial, healthcare, employee safety, professional licensure, and transportation issues.
During his tenure with the firm, Mr. Holden has managed a team of attorneys within Stateside's Regulatory Services practice, as well as a team of legislative professionals in the Legislative Monitoring practice. On behalf of clients, Mr. Holden has worked with a number of policy groups, including the Environmental Council of the States and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Working directly with state and local officials, Mr. Holden has assisted retail and industrial clients engage in nationwide roll-outs of new products and services by assessing existing regulatory systems for both compliance and marketing purposes. Mr. Holden has also helped clients meet compliance needs with independent intelligence gathering and by successfully planning interactions with regulatory enforcement officials.
Prior to joining Stateside Associates, Mr. Holden worked as an attorney with Dilworth Paxson PLLC. Mr. Holden holds a Juris Doctor from George Mason University School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Studies from Washington & Lee University. He is a member of the Virginia Bar.
Deb Kennedy
Principal Engineer, PepsiCo
Deb Kennedy is the Principal Engineer in the Resource Conservation group for beverages at PepsiCo in Chicago. She is responsible for identifying energy and water reduction opportunities across PepsiCo beverage manufacturing facilities. Deb's career began with Frito Lay and has since held various roles in R&D, Operations, and Engineering in the food and beverage industry.
She is Certified Energy Manager and has been working on Environmental and Energy projects since 2000. Deb received a BS in Food Process Engineering and BS in Biochemistry from Purdue.
She currently resides on north side of Chicago with her husband.
Bruce Klafter
Senior Director, EHS, Applied Materials Inc.
Bruce Klafter is Sr. Director, Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) for Applied Materials, Inc. in Santa Clara, California. Bruce also serves as Head, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability for the company. Bruce heads up Applied's EHS department, which is responsible for assisting business units worldwide with compliance, industrial hygiene, product safety and various strategic initiatives. The Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability role encompasses a wide variety of reporting, employee engagement and other projects aimed at enhancing Applied's global citizenship programs. Before assuming his current role, Bruce was EHS counsel for the Company. Prior to joining Applied in August, 2000, Bruce was Chair of the Environmental Group at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (a top 100 U.S. law firm) in San Francisco. Bruce began his career in 1980 as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of California. For more information about Applied Materials, see http://www.appliedmaterials.com/
Bruce is a past Chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel America's (ACC-A) national Environmental Committee as well as a past chair of the State Bar of California's Environmental Law Section and the Bar Association of San Francisco's Environmental Committee. Bruce presently serves as an Advisory Council member for Sustainable Silicon Valley and for Next Ten's Green Innovation Index.
Bruce received his JD from the University of California-Davis School of Law in 1980 and served as an Editor of the UC-Davis Law Journal and as Editor of Environs (a publication of the Environmental Law Society). He earned a B.S. magna cum laude in Urban and Environmental Planning (interdisciplinary) from Tufts University in 1976.
John Stier
Partner, Delta Environmental
John Stier is a Partner with the Delta Environmental Global Corporate Consultancy Group. He joined Delta after 30 years at Anheuser-Busch, most recently as Director of Global Environmental Affairs. During his tenure, Anheuser-Busch was ranked first in the beverage industry for social and environmental sustainability in FORTUNE magazine's 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 " America's Most Admired Companies" and "Global Most Admired Companies".
His experience includes leading and implementing water and climate change sustainability strategies for various corporate business sectors. He has participated in a number of global organizations focused on defining water sustainability practices for leading corporations.
He is currently engaged with the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER), a consortium of 13 global beverage companies representing beer, soft drink, spirits and bottled water. BIER is currently working on defining a methodology and boundaries for quantifying water use across the product or enterprise value chain. BIER is developing definitions, defining boundaries for quantification, and detailing calculation methods in sector-specific water footprinting guidance .
