Plenary Speakers

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is the CEO of Green For All.  Since March 2009, she has assembled a civil rights coalition that successfully lobbied for two significant improvements to the U.S. House of Representatives' version of the American Clean Energy and Security Act; securing funding for job training, and guaranteeing broad access to clean energy jobs. Under her leadership, Green For All has won major legislative victories in Washington State and New Mexico which are pioneering state-level green jobs and energy efficiency programs.  Prior to Green For All, Ms. Ellis-Lamkins headed the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and Working Partnerships USA where she earned her reputation as one of the nation's most brilliant, inspirational, and creative problem solvers for working families.  She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal online, San Francisco Chronicle, NBC News and ABC News.

Bennett Freeman

Mr. Freeman leads Calvert's Sustainability Research Department and oversees its company research and analysis as well as its policy and advocacy work. From 2003 until early 2006, he led Burson-Marsteller's Global Corporate Responsibility practice advising multinationals on policy development, stakeholder engagement and communications strategies related to human rights, labor rights and sustainable development. During the Clinton Administration, Mr. Freeman served in three positions as a political appointee in the State Department, most recently as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Earlier in his career, he was Manager-Corporate Affairs for General Electric and a presidential campaign aide to former Vice President Walter Mondale. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he serves on several NGO boards including Oxfam America and the Institute for Human Rights and Business.

Gil Friend

Gil Friend is President and Chief Executive Officer of Natural Logic, and author of The Truth About Green Business.  A systems ecologist and business strategist with nearly 40 years experience in business, communications, and environmental innovation, Mr. Friend combines broad business experience with unique content experience spanning strategy, systems ecology, economic development, management cybernetics, and public policy.  He is a founding board member of the Sustainable Business Alliance, Sustainable Berkeley and the California Sustainable Business Council, and serves on the advisory boards of CleanFish, WattBot and Green World Campaign.  Mr. Friend served in the California Governor's Office developing early sustainability policies and programs, and was a founding board member of internet pioneer Institute for Global Communications.  Back To Top

Mark Fulton

Mark Fulton is Global Head of Climate Change Investment Research and Strategy with DB Climate Change Advisors in New York.  Mr. Fulton joined Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM) in 2006 after 29 years of investment experience in senior roles in research and management at Citigroup in the U.S., Salomon Smith Barney and NatWest in Sydney, Potter Partners in Melbourne and James Capel in London.

During his tenure at NatWest, he oversaw production of the "Greening of the Stock Market" publication in 1990 which served as one of the first examinations of the investment implications of climate change.  In Mr. Fulton's role as Head of Research and Head of Strategy of Citigroup, Sydney, he maintained an interest in socially responsible investing issues which he carried forward with his move to Citigroup in the U.S.

James K. Galbraith PhD

James K. Galbraith, PhD is the Lloyd M. Bentsen Chair in Government and Business Relations and Professor of Economics at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Galbraith holds degrees from Harvard and Yale, and served in several positions on the staff of the U.S. Congress, including Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee. He has been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and has directed the LBJ School's PhD Program in Public Policy. He is a Senior Scholar of the Levy Economics Institute and Chair of the Board of Economists for Peace and Security. Dr. Galbraith's newest book is The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too (2008). He writes a column for Mother Jones, and occasional commentary in many other publications. Back To Top

Michel Lent

Michael Lent is the Chief Investment Officer of Veris Wealth Partners.  He brings extensive experience in sustainable investment research to align investment planning with client values.  He specializes in financial consulting for individuals, family offices, foundations and non-profit organizations.  Prior to joining Veris, Mr. Lent was the Manager of the New York office of Progressive Asset Management for 13 years.  He is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA).  He serves as a Board member of the Social Investment Forum, and of Lotus Music and Dance, an organization that promotes traditional ethnic dance forms.  He is the Treasurer of The Edward W. Hazen Foundation, and is a member of the Social Venture Network and the Investment Management Consultant Association.

L. Hunter Lovins JD

L. Hunter Lovins is founder and President of Natural Capitalism Solutions which educates and creates innovative, practical tools, and strategies to enable companies, communities, and countries to become more sustainable.  Her areas of expertise include natural capital, sustainable development, globalization, energy and resource policy, economic development, climate change, and land management.  Trained as a sociologist and attorney, Ms. Lovins cofounded the Rocky Mountain Institute which she led for 20 years.  She has consulted for scores of companies and governments worldwide, and serves as an advisor to the Energy Minister of the Government of Afghanistan.  Ms. Lovins was named Time Magazine "2000 Hero of the Planet".  She is founding Professor of Business at Presidio School of Management, one of the first accredited programs offering an MBA in Sustainable Management. Back To Top

Mindy S. Lubber

Mindy S. Lubber, JD is President of Ceres, the leading U.S. coalition of investors and environmental leaders working to improve corporate environmental, social, and governance practices. She also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), an alliance that coordinates U.S. investor actions around the financial risks and opportunities posed by climate change. Ms. Lubber has held leadership positions in government as Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; in the financial services sector as Founder, President and CEO of Green Century Capital Management; in the private sector as the President of an environmental law and policy consulting group; and in the not-for-profit sector where she lead environmental and public interest law organizations and the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) where she served as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors. Back To Top

Raymond Offenheiser

Raymond Offenheiser has been President of Oxfam America for thirteen years. During his tenure, he has overseen the growth of Oxfam America from a small non-profit agency into a recognized world leader in the global social justice movement.  Under his direction, Oxfam America has increased its annual budget fivefold to $75 million.   With over 30 years of work in the field of international agricultural development, Mr. Offenheiser is active as member and advisor to numerous organizations on issues of food security, climate change, trade reform and sustainable development, and is currently active promoting foreign aid modernization in the United States.

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Smeeta Ramarathnam JD

Smeeta Ramarathnam specializes in a wide portfolio of financial reform and securities law issues.  She currently is chief of staff to the Honorable Luis A. Aguilar, one of five Commissioners of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.  Prior to her appointment to Commissioner Aguilar's staff, Ms. Ramarathnam served in a number of other capacities at the Commission, including as counsel to former Commissioner Roel Campos, and as an attorney in the Legal Policy Group of the Office of the General Counsel and in the Division of Investment Management.  Prior to joining the Commission, she worked for several years in an investment management practice of a large international law firm.  Ms. Ramarathnam was a law clerk for the Honorable Deborah Chasanow of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Auden Schendler

Auden Schendler is Executive Director of Sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company where he has led the industry in use of renewable energy, climate policy, certified green buildings, onsite renewables, biodiesel in vehicles, sustainability reporting, ISO 14001 certification and political activism at the Supreme Court and Congressional level.  A LEED (green building) certified professional, Mr. Schendler was previously research associate in corporate sustainability at the Rocky Mountain Institute.  He has been published in Harvard Business Review, the L.A. Times, Salon.com, Orion, and many other journals.  He has testified to Congress about climate change and lectured internationally.  His work has been featured in Outside, Fast Company, Travel and Leisure and Businessweek.  Mr. Schendler was named a global warming innovator in TIME magazine's 2006 climate change special issue.  His new book Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution, was published in February 2009. Back To Top

Damon Silvers JD

Damon A. Silvers is an Associate General Counsel for the AFL-CIO where his responsibilities include capital markets, corporate governance and general business law issues.  Mr. Silvers is the Deputy Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP, and a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Investor Advisory Committee.  He was the Chair of the Competition Subcommittee of the United States Treasury Department Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession and a member of the United States Treasury Department Investor's Practice Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets which he chairs.  Mr. Silvers is also a member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Standing Advisory Group.   Prior to working for the AFL-CIO, Mr. Silvers was a law clerk at the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Cees Talma

Cees Talma is the Global Vice President Brand Development for Lipton at Unilever. He oversees the development and execution of the brand's communication and innovation programs including managing Lipton's sustainability agenda and global partnership with the Rainforest Alliance. From 2003 to 2009, Mr. Talma worked in a similar capacity on Hellmann's, Unilever's Dressings brand.  Prior to this he held various regional and national marketing roles on Flora/Becel, Boursin and Wish-Bone.

Mark Way

Mark Way heads Swiss Re's sustainable development activities in the Americas and is part of the company's Sustainability & Emerging Risk Management unit. He works closely with the topic of climate change helping to coordinate the issue within the company. In 2006, he relocated to Swiss Re's Americas headquarters to coordinate the company's sustainability related activities in the United States, Canada and Latin America.  Previously, Mr. Way represented Swiss Re on the Climate Change Working Group of the United Nations Environmental Programme Finance Initiative.  He joined the Swiss Re Group in 1994 and has worked in various non-life marketing teams including those responsible for regions such as United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Japan.  Mr. Way contributes on a regular basis to publications and briefings on climate change, and sustainability and speaks often on the topics.

Tensie Whelan

Tensie Whelan serves as President of the Rainforest Alliance where she has been involved since 1990 in various capacities. Prior to joining the Rainforest Alliance, she worked as a management consultant to nonprofit organizations such as the Environmental Defense Fund.

Ms. Whelan has worked in the environmental field for more than 25 years. She has served as the vice president of conservation information at the National Audubon Society and executive director of the New York League of Conservation Voters. Tensie Whelan is an advisory board member for corporate social responsibility at Fortis, and for sustainable agriculture at Unilever, and sits on the governing body of the U.N. Foundation's World Heritage Alliance. She is the co-chair of the steering committee of the Sustainable Food Lab.