PROGRAM – IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Tommy Jackson is the Senior Area Supply Chain Manager, responsible for all procurement activities including equipment, supplies and services. As part of the Inclusion, Equity and Diversity group he wants to be a part of the gage and the vision that WM has of being a diverse and equitable company; one that treats everyone with fairness and embraces inclusion at all levels of the company. 

Veronica Pardo serves as the Regulatory Affairs Director for the Resource Recovery Coalition of California. Thanks to the growing complexity of the waste and recycling industry since the passage of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, Veronica has the pleasure of working on a diversity of issues ranging from waste diversion policies, air and water emissions, organics management, and renewable energy production. 

Calla Rose is Natural and Working Lands Climate Change Coordinator at California Natural Resources Agency and Strategic Advisor at Phoenix Rising Resources. A political economist, legislative strategist, organizer, and science communicator Calla Rose serves as a Climate Change Innovations Advisor to individuals and organizations dedicated to stabilizing Earth’s climate. Current projects include the California Carbon Project in conjunction with the People Food & Land Foundation, with lead support from the Jena King & Michael King Foundation and several other funders.  

Kelly Schoonmaker is a program manager at StopWaste (Alameda County Waste Management Authority) where she works on compost and mulch, carbon farming, SB 1383 procurement requirements, and manages the agency’s rangeland property in the Altamont Hills.  

Nick Harvey graduated from the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara with a degree in chemistry and biochemistry, then headed to the Bay Area to work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a staff scientist while working on a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis.  Shortly thereafter, Nick struck out on his own to pursue entrepreneurial ventures: BayAreaRedwood.com was founded serendipitously when Nick saw trees being thrown away while riding his bike. Nick leverages his background in chemistry and materials science in this current venture.

Zro is a child of the Pacific. They are a land steward, builder and problem-solver living in the Greater San Diego area on ancestral Kumeyaay [koom-ya-i) and Payómkawichum [pie-yome-kah-weech-oom] lands where they work on various projects to heal the soil, waterways and people. Zro serves as a Regional Coordinator for CACC’s “Community Composting for Green Spaces” program, which is funded by CalRecycle and California Climate Investments.

**BREAK 10:15-10:30**

Caroline Cotto is the Co-Founder/CEO, Renewal Mill and Board President of the Upcycled Food Association. Renewal Mill is a next generation ingredients company that’s reducing food waste by upcycling the byproducts of food manufacturing into high quality ingredients and products. The vision of both Renewal Mill and the Upcycled Food Association is to create a new circular economy of food that closes the loop in today’s current supply chain, keeps valuable nutrition from going to waste, and reduces our impact on the environment.  Caroline was included among Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 honorees in the Food and Drink field for 2022.

Gena McKinley is the Strategic Initiatives Division Manager for the City of Austin, Texas’ Resource Recovery department, which leads implementation of the City of Austin’s Zero Waste Plan. She has spent over 15 years working in the solid waste industry. Her leadership, commitment, and advocacy for zero waste earned national recognition as she was chosen to be included in Waste360s 40 Under 40 list of rising stars in the industry.

Lawrence Grown studied architecture at the University of Cincinnati, with a focus on organic architecture. He founded the custom fabrication company Metro Lighting in 1993, along with his wife Christa, Later he founded West Berkeley Design Loop in 2012, Commotion West Berkeley in 2019, and Berkeley-Built Magazine in 2020, all organizations that focus on design, sustainability and community. 

Matt Zimbalist has been in the waste reduction and ecological building world for the past decade. Through his work as a builder, designer, and engineer, he has  created state of the art aquaponics systems, campus wide greywater installations, nutritive cycling systems, and implemented farm efficiency programs. He currently heads operations, marketing, product, and strategy for the waste reduction organization Re-Up Refills in Oakland. 

Tom Steele is passionate about finding the best next uses for often unusual items which otherwise are likely to be discarded as waste.  As Executive Director of Bio-Link Depot (Oakland), he supports educators at all levels and throughout the Bay Area with free scientific equipment and lab supplies to broaden access to hands-on STEM education for all.  In Tom’s other job, as Operations Director of Friends of SCRAP (Bayview, SF), he collaborates closely with staff and volunteers to develop a wider practice of Creative Reuse,  including sustainable hands-on Art engagements for underserved youth. 

Alexandrina Chavez currently serves as a Policy Associate with Californians Against Waste and as Secretary on the California Latinx Capitol Association Foundation Board. Her current work at CAW involves working on recycling and plastics legislation, including advocacy for  passage of the California Recycling and Plastic Pollution Act on the November 2022 Ballot.

CRRA: Laura McKaughan

**Lunch 12:05-1pm**

Sally Houghton is the Executive Director of the Plastic Recycling Corporation of California (PRCC), which seeks to increase PET recycling in California. She is no stranger to the plastic recycling industry and has worked for the California non-profit since 2007. In this role Sally coordinates a team that manages all aspects of the PET recycling system, including a strong supply chain, knowledge of the PET industry, logistics, quality control and legislative understanding. 

Justin Wilcock is the Director of General Operations at Marin Sanitary Service working with their collection operation.  Prior to Marin Sanitary he was the Community Relations Manager for Sonoma County Resource Recovery and before that spent 8 years in various roles at Waste Management of Alameda County.

Jules Bailey is Executive Vice President for Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, and will be promoted to serve as President and CEO of the organization beginning in 2023.  As EVP, Jules is responsible for charting the future of Bottle Bill implementation and ensuring the deposit and redemption system remains convenient, relevant, and effective for Oregonians. He is also responsible for new initiatives, including the BottleDrop Refill program for refillable bottles, and projects and operations outside of Oregon, including California, Washington, and Canada.

Kevin Drew is the Senior Zero Waste Specialist for the City of San Francisco (City) with 35 years’ of diversified experience in the field.   Kevin is currently directing SF BottleBank, a mobile redemption drop-off pilot, using smartphone, electronic funds transfer and AI beverage container processing technologies to increase consumer participation and convenience. 

Marria Evbuoma is the Recycling Program Manager for the San Francisco Conservation Corps where she supports projects for E-waste, Tires, Used Oil, and beverage containers.  She is a board member of Plastic Free Future and Race to Zero Waste, where she formerly served as their Director of Communications.  Marria is a mother, writer, and serves on the Citizen Advisory Committee for SF Public Utilities Commission under the wastewater subcommittee. 

Caren McNamara founded Conscious Container as a Benefit Corporation to bring a refillable/reusable glass bottles back into the US, building infrastructure and economy of scale to reduce single-use packaging waste and climate impacts.  This economically viable business delivers beverage and food producers powerful reductions to the CO2 footprint and cost of packaging, while mitigating legislative and supply chain impacts. These systems exist around the world and we need to enable this infrastructure here in the United States… NOW!!

Felisia Castaneda will discuss NCRAs work on Diversity Equity and Inclusion and will reference the organization Holistic Underground that is working w NCRA on this topic.

**BREAK 3:00-3:15**

Jessica Irving Marschall, CPA, is President and CEO of The Green Mission Inc. a national scale appraisal firm helping to promote deconstruction and donation. Based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Green Mission seeks to encourage the donation of building materials, appliances, fixtures, furnishings and other material and property recovered via deconstruction, by applying the proper use of existing federal and state tax policy. Jessica is a CPA of over twenty years and an IRS Qualified Appraiser, ensuring that proper valuation theory and strict adherence to the Internal Revenue Code are followed.

Ruth Abbe is a Zero Waste practitioner and serves on the Board of Directors of Resilience Birthright. She will be pinch-hitting for CEO Jessica Jane Robinson. Jessica is an actor, writer and passionate advocate for the environment. She created Resilience Birthright to inspire people to take action in the climate crisis and strive for Zero Waste.

Doug Kobold has been “talking trash” for just under 30 years. He is currently the Executive Director for the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC). Previously he spent over 18 years with Sacramento County developing and managing recycling programs while dabbling in legislation and regulation, nearly 3 years with Edgar & Associates providing solid waste consulting services throughout California, and over 5 years with Yolo County in landfill design and managing its operation. 

Andrew De Los Santos (he/him) is the Zero Waste Supervisor of Race to Zero Waste. He has over 5 years’ experience in zero waste operations and management. At Race to Zero Waste, he acts as the project lead for Zero Waste Pop-ups, waste audits and zero waste facilitation projects. He also assists with waste diversion data tracking, marketing, public relations, content development, and social media management in the Bay Area. Mr. De Los Santos holds a Master of Science in Sustainability from Arizona State University and is TRUE Zero Waste certified.

Nicole Kurian is a Policy Associate at Californians Against Waste, advocating for and managing CAW’s legislative priorities.  Before joining CAW, Nicole worked for members of the California State Senate. Nicole graduated in 2018 with her Bachelors of Science in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning at the University of California, Davis, where as an undergraduate student, she directed waste diversion, composting, and sustainability programs as Director of the Campus Center for the Environment, in partnership with the university.