Mary Lou Van Deventer has been involved with Urban Ore in Berkeley, California, since itsfounding in 1980 and incorporation in 1981. After college she was a high-school teacher andenvironmental journalist. Now she is co-owner of all of Urban Ore’s shares, with her husband,Dr. Daniel Knapp, and is currently the Special Projects Manager. In 1980 Urban … Read more
Leah Tischler is the Global Sustainability Manager for CBRE on a pharmaceutical life science account. After graduating From Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, she started her career in the Waste Industry with the County of Kauai’s solid waste department. After working in local government, for private waste hauler, and for a corporate client designing and … Read more
MacKenzie is a Florida native who works as a Climate Justice Director for Florida Rising. He works to build towards a future based on the principles of climate justice and just transition to ensure our Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities are leading and not left behind as we develop solutions for the climate crisis. He … Read more
Nora Goldstein is Editor/Publisher of BioCycle CONNECT® and BioCycle.net, the Organics Recycling Authority. Nora is in her 5th decade of working at BioCycle. She received the US Composting Council’s Hi Kellogg Award for Outstanding Service to the Composting Industry, and the American Biogas Council’s Biogas Visionary Award. Nora serves on the Board of the Institute … Read more
Elizabeth Balkan brings extensive public policy and strategy experience to her role as Director, Reloop North America. She previously led the food waste program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, growing the Food Matters initiative to comprise more than 40 cities nationwide. Before that, Balkan developed and oversaw implementation of New York City’s zero waste … Read more
Kirstie Pecci is the Executive Director of Just Zero, a national Zero Waste non-profit. Kirstie established and was the Director of the Zero Waste Program at Conservation Law Foundation, and is a former MASSPIRG Staff Attorney actively engaged in waste reduction and opposing the expansion of landfill and incinerator capacity. She also founded the central … Read more
Nena Shaw has over 30 years of environmental law and policy experience from work in the public and private sectors. Nena is the Senior Advisor for Circular Economy and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law recycling efforts in the Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery within the Office of Land and Emergency Management. She holds degrees from Duke … Read more
Jay Bassett served the public over 35 years both as a naval military officer (retired) and as a civil servant and leader with the US Environmental Protection Agency. He was a charter member of EPA’s leadership cadre in transforming EPA’s land and waste program’s “Road Ahead” principles building capacity on materials management approaches, and broad, … Read more
About Sophie Hague, Founder of Positive Phee With a degree in fashion business Sophie “Phee”, Hague spent a decade immersed in the London luxury fashion & lingerie industries before moving to San Diego where in 2020 she founded her sustainable fashion events and services brand, “Positive Phee”. After researching the current fashion cycle and the … Read more
Richard is the Lead Organizer of a grassroots community group named Broward Clean Air. He is involved in environmental stewardship and educating various community stakeholders including elected officials about incinerators, landfills, and zero waste alternatives and measures such as zero waste education, municipal programs, policies, initiatives, composting and infrastructure to help build a sustainable circular … Read more