PROGRAM: Keynote Speakers

Ray Anderson

Ray Anderson has been called a "born-again environmentalist". He is an industrial engineer by training and is the founder, chairman, and chief operating officer of Interface, Inc., the largest commercial carpet manufacturer in the world. Anderson relates that he had never really been concerned about the environment or sustainability until he read Paul Hawken's The Ecology of Commerce in 1994 and had what he calls an "ecological epiphany," literally crying while reading the book.

Since then, Anderson has taken steps to make Interface a sustainable corporation. Currently, it practices in-house recycling, makes carpet from recycled soda bottles, and even recycles discarded carpet from other manufacturers. However, unlike some corporations with "green" programs, Anderson admits that these steps are not enough. He hopes to attain "closed-loop recycling," in which there will be no waste products or pollution produced.

Anderson has quickly become a world-renowned advocate for sustainable industry. In 1997, he was named co-chair of the President's Council on Sustainable Development. In 1999, he published a book, Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise -- The Interface Model, about his conversion to sustainability. He now travels the world, spreading the "gospel" of sustainability with an energy and dedication reminiscent of the Baptist preachers of his Georgia childhood.

Ray has a new book coming September 15 from St. Martin's Press: CONFESSIONS OF A RADICAL INDUSTRIALIST. During his time at the conference he will host a book signing of this new release.

Geoff Chase

Dr. Chase joined Northern Arizona University in 1992 as the Director of English Composition. While at Northern Arizona University, Chase also served as English Department Chair, Dean of Liberal Studies, and as the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies. At NAU, he revamped the composition curriculum to give it an environmental focus and became a leader of the Ponderosa Project, a faculty development project aimed at helping faculty from throughout the university integrate issues of environmental sustainability into their courses. The Ponderosa Project has become a model faculty development project that has been introduced to faculty on more than 120 campuses. 

In 2004 he co-edited, with Peggy Barlett, Sustainability on Campus: Stories and Strategies for Change which was published by MIT Press.  He currently serves as Board Chair for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), and has served on that board since 2005.He has also served on the Executive Committee for the American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD), as Co-Chair for the Proposal Review Committee for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and has served as team chair for accreditation teams. Dr. Chase lectures widely on sustainability in higher education and, with Peggy Barlett, offers workshops on institutional change, curriculum, and sustainability.

Frances Moore Lappé

Jerome Ringo

Jerome Ringo is the president of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of organized labor, environmental, business and civil rights leaders determined to free the United States of dependence on foreign oil. The alliance is trying to educate the public and lobby the Hill about the need to invest in alternative clean-energy sources, energy-efficient technology and jobs. Ringo’s experience organizing environmental and labor communities, and his drive to further diversify the environmental movement, unites many of Apollo’s partners to create a broad based coalition providing real solutions for our energy crisis.

In 1996, Ringo was elected to serve on the National Wildlife Federation board of directors and, in 2005, Jerome became the chair of the board. In so doing, he also became the first African American to head a major conservation organization. Jerome Ringo was the United States’ only black delegate at the 1998 Global Warming Treaty Negotiations in Kyoto, Japan. In addition to being present during Kyoto Treaty Negotiations, Ringo represented the National Wildlife Federation at the United Nations conference on sustainable development in 1999.

PROGRAM: Panel Sessions

Plenary: The NCAA on Greening Intercollegiate Athletics

This two-part session, sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, includes a panel presentation, followed by an audience-participation conversation, about challenges and opportunities in "greening" intercollegiate athletics.  The panel will illustrate current initiatives from campuses and in the NCAA's national office, including efforts with NCAA corporate partners, and will suggest areas  in which campus sustainability offices and athletics offices can enhance their work together.  The conversation is intended to bring sustainability and athletics officers together to talk with each other about specific areas for closer campus cooperation and/or where greater NCAA involvement might be helpful.  Such areas might include, e.g., special characteristics of athletic facilities, how athletics events  present "green outreach" opportunities for campuses, and the contributions of food-service and recycling at athletics events within overall campus efforts in those activities.

Panel Members:

Bill Browne, Jr., FAIA, LEED AP is the founding principal of RATIO Architects, an award-winning design and planning firm founded in 1982.  Bill and RATIO combine professionals from all disciplines to provide unique, innovative solutions for challenging projects from higher education, community, life science, workplace, lifestyle and cultural clients.  RATIO offers services in architecture, historic preservation, interior design, landscape architecture and urban planning. Bill advocates that all building types be designed in an environmentally sensitive manner. His career has included focusing specifically on the varsity athletics and student recreation facilities at higher education institutions. His collaborative project approach utilizes specialists in planning, architecture, landscape architecture and historic preservation to unify design, minimize of site impact, and use materials and energy efficiently.

S. Page Cotton is entering his 14th year as the Theodore M. Katula Director of Athletics at DePauw University, where he oversees the University’s 21 men’s and women’s intercollegiate athletic teams, several club and intramural programs and recreational sports generally.  During his tenure as director of athletics, DePauw’s athletic program has consistently performed well in the Division III Directors’ Cup standings, finishing 13th in 2005-06, 15th in 2006-07 and 18th in 2007-08.  DePauw also has played host to several NCAA regional tournaments as well as national championships in men’s tennis and men’s and women’s indoor track and field. A professor of kinesiology at DePauw, Cotton received DePauw’s Medora C. Adams Distinguished Professor Award in April, 2004.  He also served as men’s soccer coach for 39 seasons, compiling a 390-190-33 record.

Jeff Orleans (Moderator) is Co-Chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s “Green Team”, which includes both NCAA staff and representatives of the NCAA’s more than 1000 member schools and conferences.  The Green Team is charged with bringing greater sustainability to NCAA administrative, championship and other activities and with developing ways to share sustainability best-practices and resources throughout collegiate athletics.  Orleans retired on July 1 after 25 years as Executive Director of the Council of Ivy Group Presidents and Commissioner of the Ivy League, the nation’s broadest-based Division I athletic conference. Orleans served on numerous NCAA governance committees and also has been active in the National Association of College and University Attorneys, which named him a “Fellow” in 1999.

Steve Simmerman was named Assistant Athletics Director at Purdue in January of 2003 after eight years as Facilities Operations Director. He oversees all Athletic Dept. new construction, remodeling, event management, renovation and maintenance of all the athletics department buildings and grounds. He is currently the Athletic Department Project Manager for the Mackey Arena Renovation and Expansion project at Purdue, the largest single construction project the university has ever undertaken. Simmerman began working for Purdue in 1983 as assistant superintendent of Ross-Ade Stadium. He was promoted to superintendent in 1989.

Plenary: Institutional Investments

This panel session will explore the relationships between universities and their foundations whose holding accounts can reflect the institutional commitment to principles of social, environmental and economic equity.  Panel participants from the Rockefeller Philanthropy Group and select institutions will review past practices, cite exemplary new models for equitable investment management and address the role of this metric in the “scoring” of universities by the nationally accepted public reporting tools such as STARS and the Sustainable Endowments Institute College Sustainability Report Card. Panel participants will field questions from the audience in this 90-minute session.

Panel Members:

Steven Godeke is an independent financial advisor who works with foundations, corporations, and non-profit organizations to integrate their investment and philanthropic goals.  He advises organizations and individuals on the creation and execution of mission-related investment strategies across asset classes and program areas. His clients include The Rockefeller Foundation, The Robin Hood Foundation, The Conference Board, The F.B. Heron Foundation, The World Economic Forum and corporate clients in the financial services and pharmaceutical industries.  Steven is also an adjunct professor at New York University where he currently teaches a course in Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship.

Francis Janes is a Vice President at ShoreBank Pacific’s Seattle Office. Prior to his career in banking, Francis was the Chef/Owner of Café Ambrosia - an organic, vegetarian restaurant in Seattle. Francis has also worked in the Information Technology industry in positions ranging from Systems Consultant to Marketing Manager. Francis is a member of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council and a board member of Pigs Peace Sanctuary and iLEAP – The Center for Critical Service. He volunteers for organizations that include Food Lifeline, YMCA, Habitat for Humanity and Washington Community Alliance For Self Help (CASH). He has served as Chair of the Board of EarthSave International and as an Area Governor for ToastMasters International.

Atlee McFellin is a graduate student in economics at The New School for Social Research in New York City.  He is working with trustees, faculty, staff, and students to create a committee on sustainable investing for its endowment.  In addition to the sustainable investing committee, Atlee is designing a class to educate students on sustainable investing and assist the work of the committee through research and advocacy.   Atlee is also the author of an upcoming book with Pluto Press on the economic crisis, its long-term historical origins, and its relation to US foreign policy.  Aside from graduate school and sustainable investing at New School, Atlee is a research intern at Veris Wealth Partners, a firm that focuses on financial planning and consulting on sustainable investing for high net-worth individuals, endowments, and foundations.

Morgan Simon is the co-founder of the Responsible Endowments Coalition, a non-profit organization that promotes responsible investment by colleges and universities on over 95 campuses nationwide, controlling $150 billion in investments. Supporting over 1,000 students, administrators and trustees each year, her work has led major institutions like Columbia University and Amherst College to address corporate practices through shareholder activism, and engage in proactive investment in community and environmental ventures. She was a Social Venture Network Innovation Award winner in 2007, and her work has been followed by national media such as the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.

Dr. Sheri Tonn (Moderator) past Chair of the Board of Directors of AASHE, is Vice President for Finance and Operations and a Professor of Chemistry at Pacific Lutheran University where she has been on the faculty since 1979. Sheri is responsible for university facilities, human resources, business operations, dining services, risk management, real estate, and university finances, budgeting and investments. She has taught environmental chemistry, field methods and environmental courses in the integrated studies core curriculum and participates in the university's sustainability committee. Sheri is particularly interested in integrating pedagogy and campus operations to create a more sustainable campus.