Featured Speakers

SPEAKER SERIES
Presented by Shell
Friday, April 30
John Q Hammons Convetion Center, Rogers, AR
$10 breakfast tickets
Register today! Call 479-273-2841

Tom Szaky, TerraCycle
7:30 a.m. Breakfast
8 a.m. Kick-off Keynote Speaker

8:45 a.m. Panel: The Problem is Environmental Impact - Why Should We Care?
Michelle Harvey, Environmental Defense Fund; Dr. Alan Hecht, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Stanley Alpert, Constantine Cannon

9:30 a.m. Panel: The Solution is to Take Action - What Can We Do?
Eric Jackson, Conservis; Derrick Maines, GreenNurture; George Orbelian, Project Kaisei; Andrew Nisker, film "Garbage"

10:15 a.m. Smarter Cities
Catherine Lasser, IBM

Exhibit Hall opens at 11 a.m.


Meet our Emcee
Marty Metro
Founder & CEO of UsedCardboardBoxes.com

Marty Metro is the Founder & CEO of UsedCardboard Boxes.com (UCB), a national, venture funded company tackling the gratuitous $49+ Billion cardboard industry in the US, where most cardboard boxes are used only once, then recycled or simply thrown away. Metro developed the “Rescue, Resell, Recycle” model and led UCB’s expansion across the US and into Canada. A former “Big 6” consultant, Metro is a passionate eco-entrepreneur with over fifteen years experience in enterprise technology, supply chain consulting and business development.

Featured Speakers

Tom Szaky
Co-Founder and CEO of TerraCycle, Inc.

Tom Szaky is founder and Chief Executive Officer of TerraCycle, Inc.

TerraCycle enables consumers to collect waste which it then upcycles into thousands of various consumer products that are sold at the world's biggest retailers from Wal-Mart to Whole Foods. TerraCycle has been named the producer of most eco-friendly products in America, has won over 100 environmental and social awards, received the Home Depot Environmental stewardship award twice, been featured in Wal-Mart's sustainability report and been repeatedly named the ultimate eco-friendly brand.

 

As a freshman, Tom left Princeton University to found TerraCycle, building a company that has doubled in size every year since inception becoming the 233rd fastest growing company in America. Tom has won over 50 awards for entrepreneurship, blogs for Treehugger and Inc Magazine, has recently published a book called "Revolution in a Bottle" and is the star of National Geogrphic Channels hit TV show, "Garbage Moguls."

Today TerraCycle, through partnerships with virtually all major CPG companies from Unilever to Kraft, operates in over 5 countries, has over 10 million people engaged in its waste collection programs, has collected over 2 billion pieces of garbage and donated over $500,000 to charities to collect that waste. In addition, TerraCycle products are not only made from waste but are also available at over 20,000 big box stores globally sustaining sales of over 20 million dollars. TerraCycle has been featured in virtually every major media outlet from "60 Minutes" to the Wall Street Journal (5 times) and is on its way to help eliminate in the idea of waste!


Catherine Lasser
Vice President and CTO Global Distribution Sector, IBM
Presenting IBM Smarter Cities

Catherine is the Vice President and CTO for the Distribution Sector of the IBM Sales & Distribution division. Her role is to leverage IBM’s technical community to bring value to clients in the retail, consumer packaged goods and travel and transportation industries. She was previously Vice President, Industry Solutions and Emerging Business for the Research division, and responsible for connecting research with all industries to focus innovation on the application of technology to real-world problems. In her current role she continues the linkage with the research community to get leading technologies and solutions into the market quickly. Catherine is also an executive member for the Women in Technology for the corporation.

Catherine began her career with IBM in 1978 as a programmer supporting Test Engineering in Endicott, New York. Within a year, she moved to the New York tri-state area where she has held various technical and leadership positions including: Manager and creator of the information center and advanced technology development departments for IBM Credit Corporation; Development manager for corporate common financial systems; IT manager in the PC company; Executive assistant to the SR Vice President of Research; CIO and director of Information Technology for the IBM Research division and Vice President of B2B Initiatives in the IBM CIO’s office.

Stanley Alpert
Environmental and Sustainability Attorney

Stanley N. Alpert is an Environmental and Sustainability attorney and former federal environmental prosecutor with a national practice. As Chief of Environmental Litigation at the U.S. Attorney's Office, he achieved multiple Superfund hazardous waste site cleanups, clean air and clean water enforcement, endangered species protection, safer drinking water, and some of the toughest penalties for toxin mishandling the government has seen. He was highly decorated by the U.S. Department of Justice.

After his government service, Stan was Plaintiffs' Liaison Counsel in the lawsuits brought by municipal water districts for the cleanup of MTBE, a gasoline additive that has infected drinking water supplies in many states. Stan firmly believes that the country is moving in the right direction with its sustainability movement, and that our best chance to compete globally and succeed environmentally is for businesses to go to the green triple bottom line. He led a seminar in New York recently entitled The Business of Green: How Emerging Laws Make Sustainability an Imperative, and he is planning a legal seminar series entitled Green Building: The Future is Now.

Stan is also the author of The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival, describing how Stan managed to sustain himself through a 25-hour kidnapping ordeal when he was still a prosecutor. The movie rights were sold to United Artists under Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. www.stanleyalpert.com.


Eric Jackson
Chief Sustainability Officer & President, Conservis Advisory Services

Eric Jackson has developed and led numerous business enterprises with activities in 50+ countries. Trained as an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois, Eric started his career with The Pillsbury Company. He joined International Proteins Corporation in 1988 as VP of Commodity Operations and subsequently became CEO after purchasing the company in 1993. In 1998 IPC was sold to the The Scoular Company where Eric served as SVP, a member of their Board, and GM of the Industrial Markets Division. In 2007 he co-founded CP Holdings LLC (dba Carbonless Promise), a carbon credit trading firm that is a member of the Chicago Climate Exchange. Also in 2007, Eric was the CEO-in-Residence for Renewable Energy at the University of Minnesota Office for Technology Commercialization.

Eric helped envision the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Illinois in 2008 and currently serves as its Senior Carbon Expert. In 2009 Eric became a shareholder in Conservis, an eco-compliance software company, and serves as its Chief Sustainability Officer and President of Conservis Advisory Services. Mr. Jackson is a contributing author to Sustainable Graphic Design (John Wiley & Sons, 2009). He serves on the Board of the Minnesota International Center and several other NFP organizations.

Dr. Alan D. Hecht
Director for Sustainable Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development

Dr. Alan D. Hecht is Director for Sustainable Development in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development. In this capacity, he manages EPA’s research programs on science and technology for sustainability, including EPA’s research on biofuels. Spanning a federal career of 34 years, Dr. Hecht previously served as Director for International Affairs at the National Security Council and Associate Director for Sustainable Development at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (2001-2003). Before his detail to the White House, he was EPA’s Deputy Assistant Administrator for International Activities from 1989 to 2001.

He has served in science and policy positions with the National Oceanographic Administration and was Director of the National Climate Program from 1981 to 1989 and with the National Science Foundation (1976-1981.) Dr. Hecht has a PhD in geology and geochemistry from Case Western Reserve (Cleveland, Ohio). His most recent publication is “Resolving the Climate Wars,” was published in Sustainable Development Law and Policy; Winter 2009. 

Michelle Mauthe Harvey
Project Manager, Corporate Partnerships co-leads Environmental Defense Fund's on-site partnership with Walmart in Bentonville, AR advancing sustainable business practices throughout their operations and supply chain. Michelle’s areas of responsibility include alternative energy; chemicals; human and environment interactions; sustainable agriculture and forestry; life cycle inventory and analysis; and sustainability training for Wal-Mart associates.

Prior to joining EDF, Michelle ran a consulting business focused on facilitation, strategic planning, and project management in sustainable forestry and agriculture. Previous employers include the Society of American Foresters; National Environmental Education Foundation; Management Institute for Environment and Business; Duke University School of the Environment; and International Paper Company. Michelle is an advisor to the University of Michigan Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute and the Center for Environmental Learning; she previously served on the US CDC National Center for Environmental Health Advisory Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Verifiers Accreditation Subcommittee.

Environmental Defense Fund is a leading national nonprofit organization, representing more than 500,000 members. Since 1967, EDF has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. EDF is dedicated to protecting the environmental rights of all people, including future generations. Among these rights are clean air, clean water, healthy food and flourishing ecosystems. Guided by scientific evaluation of environmental problems, Environmental Defense Fund works to create solutions that win lasting economic and social support because they are nonpartisan, cost-effective and fair. For more information, please visit www.edf.org/partnership.


Derrick Mains
CEO, www.greennurture.com

Derrick Mains is a proven entrepreneur and experienced executive with a deep knowledge of the recycling industry and development of sustainability and product stewardship initiatives for Fortune 10 companies. Derrick has been the driving force behind a number of producer responsibility/green initiatives including a labeling initiative seen on over 5 billion consumer products globally.

Derrick is the CEO of GreenNurture, the first-ever Web-based sustainability platform focused on engaging a company’s most critical resource—its people—empowering them to improve the environment and their company’s bottom line. The platform blends triple-bottom-line accounting principles and community-based social marketing techniques to improve efficiency and reduce wasteful practices within a company--resulting in more sustainable People, Planet AND Profits. 

George Orbelian
Project Kaisei
George Orbelian is Co-Founder of Project Kaisei a network of top scientists, analysts, business and economic experts around the world working for sustainable solutions for our global ocean. George has spent the last 30 years as a principal in Orbelian Properties, a San Francisco-based firm with a commercial and multi-family real estate portfolio. He is Co-Founder of Ojingo Labs, LLC, a web 2.0 rich media convergence technology company. A surfer for over 37 years, Mr. Orbelian has authored the standard reference of surfboard design, “Essential Surfing,” and is currently at work on a book about the legendary surfboard designer, Dick Brewer. Passionate about the ocean, our environment and sustainable business, he serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association as well as member of the board of directors of the San Francisco Global Trade Council. A fluent Russian speaker, Mr. Orbelian holds a BA in Art from San Francisco State University.


Andrew Nisker, writer and director of the movie, "Garbage!"
Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home  is a feature documentary about how the family household contributes to environmental problems including water pollution, air pollution, soil pollution and marine pollution.

Concerned for the future of his new baby boy Sebastian, writer director Andrew Nisker takes an average urban family, the McDonalds, and asks them to keep every scrap of garbage that they create for three months. He then takes them on a journey to find out where it all goes and what it's doing to the world.

From organic waste to the stuff they flush down the potty, the plastic bags they use to the water they drink out of bottles, the air pollution they create when transporting the kids around, to using lights at Christmas, the McDonalds discover that for every action there is a reaction that affects them and the entire planet.

Everyday life under a microscope has never been so revealing. By the end of this trashy odyssey, you are truly inspired to revolutionize your lifestyle for the sake of future generations.

In Garbage!, filmmaker Andrew Nisker, skillfully and succinctly puts all of the information in one place -- shifting the movement from melting glaciers and oil slicks to our neighborhoods and into our homes, so that average people can connect the dots between their actions and the environment and be inspired to change their polluting ways.