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Ceres Staff

Mindy S. Lubber JD, MBA

President
Email: lubber@ceres.org

Mindy S. Lubber is the 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 responses to the financial risks and opportunities posed by climate change.

INCR activities include organizing the Institutional Investor Summit on Climate Risk at the UN Headquarters, hosting fiduciary training programs for pension fund trustees, producing research reports to improve investor understanding of climate risk, and coordinating engagement of its members with companies, money management firms, and policy makers.

Ms. Lubber has held leadership positions in government as the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; in the financial services sector as Founder, President and CEO of Green Century Capital Management, an investment firm managing environmentally screened mutual funds; in the private sector as the President of an environmental law and policy consulting group; and in the not-for-profit sector for more than a decade leading environmental and public interest law organizations, including the National Environmental Law Center, which she founded. She was the Senior Advisor and Communications Director to former Governor Michael Dukakis, and for a decade, held leadership positions with the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG), including Chairwoman of the Board of Directors.

Ms. Lubber holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration.

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Dan Bakal

Director of Electric Power Programs
Email: bakal@ceres.org

Dan Bakal joined Ceres in 2000, and has helped launch and advance two of the organization’s signature efforts, The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which develops sustainability reporting guidelines and the $7 trillion Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), whose members are addressing the risks and opportunities associated with climate change.  Dan oversees Ceres’ electric power and coal research, shareholder engagement, and furthers the understanding of environmental risks, with a particular focus on climate risk. He works closely with Ceres coalition members, including environmental, investor, labor and public interest groups, to engage in dialogues with electric power companies, which often involve a comprehensive review of environmental policies, performance, and disclosure practices.

In 2002, Dan developed and launched the Electric Power/Investor Dialogue, a working group of electric power companies, institutional investors, environmental NGOs, and analysts that focus on taking action on climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power sector. In 2005, the group issued a report highlighting best practices by the industry and financial services sector in addressing climate change. Following this initiative, Dan organized two investor/analyst briefings in collaboration with Sanford C. Bernstein Research, a subsidiary of AllianceBernstein, to assess the financial impacts of climate change on the electric power sector.

Since 2002, Dan has worked with PSEG, Inc. and the Natural Resources Defense Council to publish four editions of the report, Benchmarking Air Emissions of the 100 Largest Electric Generators. The report compares the air pollutant emissions of power industry and provides analysis of issues and trends facing the sector.

Dan has also been helping institutional investor members of INCR deploy more than $3 billion into clean energy investments.

Dan holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Brooke Barton

Senior Manager, Corporate Accountability Program
Email: barton@ceres.org

Brooke is Senior Manager of Corporate Accountability and is responsible for advising Ceres member companies on sustainability strategy, reporting and stakeholder engagement. In this role, she facilitates dialogues between companies and their stakeholders to foster corporate sustainability. Brooke works with companies in the food and beverage, oil and gas, and airline sector. She also leads Ceres’ work with companies and investors to address the growing business risks posed by water scarcity.

Prior to Ceres, Brooke was a researcher for the Harvard Business School's Social Enterprise Initiative, where she wrote case studies and articles on the CSR strategies of multinational corporations in developing countries. While at Harvard, she co-edited Business Solutions for the Global Poor: Creating Economic and Social Value, a book examining over 20 business models for serving low-income consumers.

Brooke's other professional experience includes communications and advocacy work with ACCION International, a microfinance NGO, and project evaluation with Catholic Relief Services in Bolivia. She holds a master's degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she studied corporate social responsibility and development economics, and a B.A. in economics from Duke University. She speaks Spanish and Portuguese.

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Rob Berridge

Senior Manager, Investor Programs
Email: berridge@ceres.org

Rob is Program Manager in the investor team at Ceres, where he assists investors and companies in addressing the risks and opportunities posed by climate change. Rob helps coordinate various projects of the Investor Network on Climate Risk. Prior to Ceres, Rob served as a board member and Vice President of Green Century Capital Management and as a staff member of US EPA's Green Lights and Energy Star Programs. He has also worked in commercial lending, as an environmental consultant, and for various recycling organizations. Rob has a degree in Environmental Studies from Brown University and a Masters in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

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Rebecca Berwick

Associate, Corporate Programs
Email: berwick@ceres.org

Becca is a member of the Corporate Accountability team at Ceres. As the Corporate Programs Coordinator, she assists staff in their company relationships and planning efforts. Becca graduated from Brown University last May (2008) with a B.A. in International Relations. Her focus throughout her time there was on environmental issues and their intersection with economics, politics, and international development.

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Betsy Boyle

Manager, Real Estate Program
Email: boyle@ceres.org

Betsy is responsible for developing the program content for Ceres’ annual conference, including plenary sessions and workshops. In addition, she coordinates Ceres’ work to promote energy and resource efficiency in buildings by working with real estate investors and companies to change the way buildings are designed, constructed, and operated. Prior to this position, Betsy directed the first phase of development of Nexus, a green building resource center in downtown Boston, and from 2000 to 2005 was the director of operations at Ceres and managed finances and administration for the organization. Before that, she worked at the Harvard School of Public Health for seven years in development and administration. 

Betsy recently received a Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where she was a Public Service Fellow. She has been a LEED Accredited Professional since 2004.

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Vivian Buckingham

Director, Government Relations
Email: buckingham@ceres.org

Vivian Buckingham is the Director of Government Relations for Ceres.  She came to Ceres from the 1Sky Campaign where she served as Policy Director during its launch phase.  Prior to joining 1Sky, Vivian directed the Campaign for Communities for Earth Day Network, worked for the Environmental Law Institute, the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Program of Earthjustice and the Center for International Environmental Law in Geneva, Switzerland. She was appointed a fellow by the First Nations Institute to the Roundtable on the North American Pharmaceutical Industry and Research Involving Indigenous Knowledge. In 2002 she directed and coordinated the "Conference on Trade, Sustainability and Global Governance" (Symposium Issue, Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, Volume 27 No. 2). Before joining the legal profession, Vivian enjoyed careers in the field of public relations, in university administration and finance, and in project management for Fortune 100 companies. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University magna cum laude and earned her JD from Columbia University School of Law graduating as a Lowenstein Fellow, a CLEA Outstanding Student awardee and a recipient of the Alfred A. Forsyth Prize for Environmental Law. She currently serves on the boards of Redefining Progress, the Eastern Environmental Law Center, the Institute for Conservation Leadership and the Columbia Law School Alumni Association.

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Marilyn Castriotta

Manager, Conference
Email: castriotta@ceres.org

Marilyn joined Ceres in October 2005. As conference and event manager, she is the key organizer for major Ceres events, including Ceres' annual conference. Marilyn was among the 1000 volunteers trained by Al Gore to present his slide show on which the film An Inconvenient Truth is based, and she now serves as District Manager for The Climate Project.

Prior to Ceres, Marilyn held clinical, corporate, and consulting positions in the medical field. She then transitioned to the environmental field, where she coordinated a new organic land care program for the Massachusetts chapter of Northeast Organic Farming Association, and also worked for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation in park interpreter and regional interpretive coordinator roles.

Marilyn graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in Cardiopulmonary Science and a M.S. in Applied Anatomy and Physiology.

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Jim Coburn

Senior Program Manager
Email: coburn@ceres.org

As a Senior Program Manager at Ceres, Jim works with institutional investors to improve corporate environmental practices, organizes training workshops for investors, and produces Ceres publications on climate risk. In addition, he manages campaigns to promote mandatory corporate climate risk disclosure and to help investors engage with asset managers to address this risk.

Before joining Ceres, Jim worked for Morgan Stanley, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Co-op America. He holds a BA in Government from Cornell University, a JD from Boston College Law School, and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.

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Meg Crawford

Manager, Corporate Programs
Email: crawford@ceres.org

Meg works with Ceres companies and coalition members on sustainability reporting, strategy, and stakeholder engagement. In this role, she facilitates dialogues between companies and their stakeholders to foster corporate sustainability. Meg works with companies in the food and beverage, manufacturing and electric power sectors. Prior to Ceres, Meg was a researcher supporting Harvard Business School's curriculum on Leadership and Corporate Accountability, and while earning her master’s she worked with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change’s Markets and Business Strategy team. Meg holds a master's degree from Georgetown University, where she studied foreign policy, government relations and corporate responsibility, and a B.S. in foreign languages from Georgetown University. She speaks both English and French.

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Mary Demerle

Operations Coordinator
Email: demerle@ceres.org

As Operations Coordinator, Mary Demerle is responsible for helping to run the administrative, financial, and human resources functions for the organization. She also serves as Ceres' first point of contact as Ceres' receptionist.

Mary has extensive experience in office management, having served as office manager for Travelers Aid/Boston and Thi Do Labs, and as receptionist for Ceres coalition member Trillium Asset Management.

Mary has an Associates Degree from Boston Business School, and has received staff-voted awards for providing outstanding customer service in her previous positions.

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Peyton Fleming

Director, Strategic Communications
Email: fleming@ceres.org

Peyton Fleming oversees external communications, media relations, outreach materials and the web site at Ceres. He joined Ceres in fall 2004, after working for six years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's New England Office in Boston. He has an extensive background in journalism, covering the environment, business and various other issues for more than a decade at such newspapers as the Providence Journal and the Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Mass. He won several environmental and business reporting awards.

Peyton has a B.A. in Intercultural Studies from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

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Hilary A. Forbes

Director, Human Resources and Operations
Email: forbes@ceres.org

Hilary Forbes oversees human resources and facilities management at Ceres.  She joined Ceres in the spring of 2008 after working for five years at the Junior League of Boston as their Managing Director.  Previously Hilary worked in higher education in Nashville, TN at the Margaret Cuniggim Women’s Center at Vanderbilt University managing a federal grant to combat violent crimes against women on college campuses and organizing programming for the center. 

Hilary has an A.B. from Smith College in Economics and a M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University in Higher Education Administration.

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Chris Fox

Director of Investor Programs
Email: fox@ceres.org

Chris Fox is Director of Investor Programs at Ceres. He leads the staff team that coordinates the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR). Chris has played a central role in organizing three Investor Summits on Climate Risk at United Nations Headquarters that Ceres co-hosted with the United Nations Foundation in 2003, 2005, and 2008. He has led Ceres' programs aimed at organizing investors to address climate change since 1998. Chris is co-author of Questions and Answers on Climate Risk for Investors (2004) and editor of several Ceres reports, including Value at Risk: Climate Change and the Future of Governance (2002) and Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Making the Connection (2003). In addition, in 1997 and 1998, Chris led the development team for the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) project of Ceres.

Before joining Ceres, Chris served as a program associate at the Heinz Family Foundation in Washington, D.C. from 1995-1997 and was co-founder and executive director of the Center for Environmental Citizenship from 1992-1995. Chris's professional experience includes working for the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Harvard University Committee on the Environment, the Environmental Leadership Program, organizing the international Campus Earth Summit at Yale, and co-authoring a book entitled The Student Environmental Action Guide. For his work to increase student environmental leadership and civic participation he was awarded the Michael Schwerner Activist Award, a national award from the Gleitsman Foundation, Chris has conducted research on the responses of the world's religions to the ecological crisis and received a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from Harvard University. Chris graduated with honors from Yale University (B.A.).

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Mary Gardiner

Operations Associate
Email: gardiner@ceres.org

As Operations Associate, Mary supports and orchestrates finance, administration and logistics activities for Ceres. Mary graduated from the University of Richmond magna cum laude with a B.A. in Leadership Studies and a minor in Economics, in May 2008.  She studied abroad in Copenhagen, where she saw first-hand the possibilities of a sustainable economy and became passionate about working toward change.  Before joining Ceres, she spent a few months traveling and doing work exchange--first in Greece as an English as a Second Language instructor and then in Hawaii as a hand on an organic farm.  She also interned at EIRIS, a socially responsible investment research non-profit.

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Jessica Halverson

Manager of Development Programs
Email: halverson@ceres.org

Jessica Halverson joined Ceres in June 2007 as Manager of Development Programs. She is responsible for cultivation and stewardship of individual donors, and manages the design and roll-out of special development projects.

Jessica has a background in nonprofit consulting, communications, and development. She most recently worked for the Melville Charitable Trust to build the Partnership to End Long Term Homelessness (PELTH), a funder network of corporate and foundation grantmakers committed to ending homelessness in the U.S.

Jessica graduated with honors from Grinnell College with a BA in Sociology. She earned an MBA from Boston University, where she completed dual concentrations in Public & Nonprofit Management and Strategy & Business Analysis.

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Anne Kelly

Director of Governance Programs
Email: kelly@ceres.org

Anne Kelly is an environmental attorney with twenty years of experience in the private sector and in state and federal regulatory agencies. Currently she is the Director of Governance Programs at Ceres, a non-profit coalition of investors and public interest groups working toward sustainable prosperity. She is also a principal in the law and mediation firm, Creative Resolutions, LLC based in Boston.

Prior to joining Ceres, Ms. Kelly was the Director of the Massachusetts Environmental Strike Force, a specialized unit of the Attorney General's Office dedicated to bringing criminal and civil actions against major environmental violators. She also served as Special Assistant to John DeVillars, Regional Administrator of EPA New England. Ms. Kelly is a member of the adjunct faculty at Boston College Law School and has taught environmental law at Tufts University, Suffolk University and New England School of Law. She is on the board of the Environmental League of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance.

In addition to her JD, Ms. Kelly received her Masters in Public Administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School.

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Scott Kleiman

Executive Associate
Email: kleiman@ceres.org

Scott Kleiman joined Ceres in 2007 as a Program Fellow.  In May 2008, he stepped into a new role of Executive Associate, primarily working with Mindy Lubber to provide administrative, operational, and programmatic support.  He is also liaison with the Board of Directors and coordinates the annual Bavaria Awards.  As Program Fellow, Scott managed special projects supporting Ceres' operations, and worked with the Communications and Corporate teams on a variety of initiatives.

Prior to Ceres, Scott was as an intern with Strategic Sustainability Consulting, a small sustainability consultancy out of Washington, DC and was a fellow with StartingBloc's Institute for Social Innovation.  He's pruned vineyards and built pig-pens as a farmhand at Spannocchia, an organic farm in Italy, taught teens nutrition and cooking at the youth development organization Brainfood in Washington, D.C., and managed a restaurant on Cape Cod.

Scott graduated from Middlebury College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.

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  Sharlene Leurig

Senior Manager, Insurance Program
Email: leurig@ceres.org

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Andrew Logan

Director, Oil & Insurance Programs
Email: logan@ceres.org

Since joining Ceres in 2002, Andrew has launched and directs two program areas for the organization: the first focuses on working with investors to engage the oil sector on key sustainability issues including climate change, biodiversity and water. Andrew's second area of focus is the insurance sector, particularly the role that insurers could play in encouraging solutions to climate change.

Andrew has a background in corporate strategy from his work with Bain & Company, a leading management consultancy. While with Bain, Andrew developed high-level strategy for companies in the finance, e-commerce, manufacturing, retail and media sectors. Prior to joining Ceres, Andrew directed U.S. PIRG's corporate campaign to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He was graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College.

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Gordon MacFarland

Chief Financial Officer
Email: macfarland@ceres.org

Gordon MacFarland serves as Chief Operating Office, and joined Ceres in November 2007.  He oversees all aspects of operations including finance, information technology, and human resources.  Gordon supports the president and program directors in developing and implementing strategic and operating plans and managing the day-to-day workflow of the operations team.

Gordon is a certified public accountant with over 15 years of experience with international accounting firms and his own practice.  Gordon also was executive director of the Vermont Economic Progress Council and held management roles with the Vermont Institute of Natural Science and the SmartWood Program of the Rainforest Alliance.  Most recently, he served as CFO for two renewable energy companies.

Gordon has a MPA in environmental policy from the University of Washington, a Masters in accounting from Colorado State University, and a B.A. from Miami University (Ohio).

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Kylee McGee

Senior Associate, Investor Programs
Email: mcgee@ceres.org

Kylee joined Ceres in September 2007 as a Fellow for the Investor Program where she helped to organize the Investor Summit on Climate Risk at the United Nations Headquarters. Now serving as Program Associate for the Investor Program, she works to ensure implementation of the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) Action Plan, recruit new members to INCR, and support its various working groups.

Prior to Ceres, Kylee led the Alliance to Save Energy's Green Campus Program at UC San Diego, educating the campus community about environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.  She then developed an implementation plan for the University of California's Environmentally Preferred Purchasing Policy with UC San Diego's Purchasing Department. Kylee studied in Brazil and Australia and is fluent in three languages. She graduated from UC San Diego with a BA in Environmental Policy and International Studies-Political Science.

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Matt Moscardi

Manager, Investor Programs
Email: moscardi@ceres.org

Matt is Program Manager in the investor team at Ceres, coordinating Cleantech investments with INCR members and technology solutions for INCR. Prior to joining Ceres, Matt was the President of Smug Investments, LLC, a Boston based green investment firm.  Matt also worked as a licensed financial analyst for Foundation Investment Group based in Berkeley, CA, and designed alternative and green investment portfolios for high net worth clients.  He enjoys playing and coaching soccer, volunteering for Boston Cares, and collecting comic books.  Matt has a degree in Computers and Music from Brown University.

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Andrea Moffat

Senior Director of Corporate Programs
Email: moffat@ceres.org

Andrea Moffat is the Senior Director of Corporate Programs and oversees Ceres’ Corporate Accountability, Corporate Governance, and Corporate Outreach programs.  With over 10 years of experience, Andrea manages a team, which engages with over 70 companies to help them meet sustainability commitments and achieve greater performance results. Andrea works directly with company leadership in over two-dozen Fortune 500 companies in order to develop new strategies, facilitate stakeholder engagement, and elevate sustainability to the boardroom.  

Andrea also works to encourage businesses to become Ceres Companies so they can realize the business value of engaging with stakeholders, reporting publicly, and committing to continuously improve environmental and social performance. 

Before joining Ceres, Andrea led and managed a corporate responsibility program for Canada's Environment Department. This program was focused on supporting corporations in a number of areas, including sustainability reporting, developing the link between sustainability and business value, and providing corporations with sustainability tools, research and information. Establishing partnerships with a wide-range of stakeholder groups was an important component of this program.

Andrea's other professional experience includes community development work with the African Medical Research Foundation in East Africa, research with the Canadian Environmental Law Association, and an environmental lecturer at the University of Toronto.

Andrea has a Master of Environmental Studies degree from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Arts Honors degree in sociology/psychology from Queen's University, Canada.

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Gabriela Ochoa

Manager, Finance
Email: ochoa@ceres.org

Gabriela Ochoa joined Ceres in January 2007.  As Finance Manager, Gabriela oversees the financial and administrative aspects of the organization.  Gabriela as well provides grant accounting services, and produces grant budgets and financial reports. Before coming to Ceres, Gabriela worked at Banco de la Nacion in Peru, and as a Technical Analyst for Rimac Internacional EPS, a Medical Care Insurance company.  Recently, she worked at MIT as a Financial Assistant supporting the Biology Finance Office.
Gabriela’s other professional experiences include consulting and project evaluation at Partners HealthCare and Dell.  Gabriela holds a BS in Economics from Universidad del Pacifico in Lima, Peru and a Masters in Business Administration from Hult International Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dan Mullen

Senior Manager, Electric Power Programs
Email: mullen@ceres.org

As manager of electric power programs at Ceres, Dan advances understanding about the risks of carbon-intensive electric power generation and promotes energy efficiency, clean technology and renewable energy as integral solutions for a low-carbon economy. He is the architect of Ceres' energy efficiency program and is managing its implementation across multiple program teams.  He also provides input to companies developing sustainability strategies and reporting on social, environmental and financial performance.

Prior to his current role, Dan spent three years managing foundation development at Ceres, a period during which Ceres' foundation portfolio, foundation revenue, staff size and organizational budget all doubled.

A graduate of Stanford University, Dan has written about sustainability and climate risk for numerous Ceres reports, op-eds, speeches, and books.

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Kristen Parkinson Lang

Senior Associate, Corporate Program
Email: lang@ceres.org

Kristen Parkinson is a Senior Associate in the Corporate Program for Ceres.  Her responsibilities include supporting outreach to potential Ceres network companies and direct engagement with companies in the Ceres network. Kristen manages relationships with the consumer product companies within the Ceres network and works with them on sustainability reporting, stakeholder engagement, and dialogue facilitation.  Kristen also manages the Ceres-ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards and the annual Bavaria Awards, and she leads the production of Ceres' annual sustainability report.

Prior to working for Ceres, Kristen was the Manager of Finance for a Cambridge-based environmental non-profit.  Kristen graduated from Dartmouth with a Bachelor of Arts in environment and policy.

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Justine Pattantyus

Associate, BICEP
Email: pattantyus@ceres.org

Justine Pattantyus is a member of the Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP) team. As a Program Associate, she assists in outreach and policy work. She is a former intern with the Ceres Corporate Program.

Prior to Ceres, Justine's experiences focused her skills around green business, CSR and corporate accountability during a semester abroad through the School for International Training and work with Pax World Mutual Funds. Justine graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Business Administration from Simmons College in May 2008.

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Veena Ramani

Manager, Corporate Accountability Program
Email: ramani@ceres.org

Veena joined Ceres in July 2006 as Manager of Corporate Accountability Programs. She works with Ceres companies and coalition members on sustainability reporting, stakeholder engagement and facilitates dialogue between stakeholders and companies to foster corporate sustainability.

Before Ceres, Veena worked as a Management Consultant with CDM, an environmental consultancy in Cambridge, focusing on providing sustainability services to clients. Prior to that, she spent three years with Integrative Strategies Forum, a Washington DC based NGO, working on developing national and international policy solutions on sustainable development, building consensus and coalitions among civil society groups on these issues and lobbying government representatives.. Veena has also practiced law in India.

Veena has an LL.M (Masters in Law) degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a B.A. LL. B (Hons) degree from National Law School from India University, Bangalore

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Carol Lee Rawn

Senior Manager, Transportation Program
Email: rawn@ceres.org

Carol Lee Rawn manages the Transportation Program at Ceres.  She is an environmental attorney with over eighteen years of experience working with federal and state regulatory agencies, companies, and nonprofit organizations on a wide variety of environmental issues.

She previously served as General Counsel for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, as well as Deputy Legal Counsel to the Governor of Massachusetts. She has also been an attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, and NRDC.

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Brian Sant

Communications Manager
Email: sant@ceres.org

Brian supports Ceres' external communications, media relations, and outreach materials production, and is responsible for managing both the Ceres and Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) websites.

Prior to joining Ceres, Brian was the Online Organizer for TrueMajority.org where he worked to engage everyday people on progressive political issues including universal health care, election protection and climate change. Before that, he developed and managed the online communications program at Corporate Accountability International.

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Erica Scharn

Email: scharn@ceres.org

Erica joined Ceres as a Program Associate for Investor Programs in October 2008.  She helps to coordinate shareholder engagement with companies, which includes assisting Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) members with filing and co-filing shareholder resolutions on climate change and sustainability issues.  She also works on INCR's disclosure program.

Erica has a Master of Public Policy from Brown University.  While at Brown, she spent almost a year as a Policy Fellow at the Office of the Rhode Island General Treasurer.  Originally from western Massachusetts, Erica graduated from UMass Amherst with a B.A. in Sociology (Departmental Honors) and a minor in Psychology.  

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Natasha Scotnicki

Senior Manager, Corporate Relations
Email: scotnicki@ceres.org

Natasha is responsible for corporate outreach, special partnerships and sponsorship of Ceres events. She also facilitates stakeholder engagement for companies in the tech sector.

Prior to joining Ceres, Natasha worked in sales management at CNET Networks in San Francisco, where she sold international marketing solutions to U.S.-based technology clients. Prior to CNET Networks, at publisher Addison Wesley, Natasha was an account manager, supporting six teams in South America.  Natasha graduated Cum Laude from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Spanish.

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Jennifer Shull

Database Administrator/Development Associate
Email: shull@ceres.org

Jennifer joined Ceres in June 2007 and splits her time between Development and Operations.  As a Development Associate for individual giving, Jennifer supports cultivation and stewardship of donors, as well as the materials and communications processes required of these activities.  As the Database Coordinator, she oversees the organizational database and its coordination with the reporting and communications teams.

Prior to joining Ceres, Jennifer worked in the foundation giving department of a California design college, supporting the grants management and foundation stewardship processes.  She also spent time working with the National Park Service, where she led educational and interpretive events, and contributed to the coordination and marketing of the park's summer festival. 

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Kirsten Spalding

California Office Director
Email:spalding@ceres.org

Ms. Spalding is the California Director for Ceres.  She works with members of the Investor Network on Climate Risk on their initiatives and represents Ceres on the West Coast for all Ceres programs. 

Prior to joining Ceres, she served as Chief Deputy Treasurer under California Treasurer Phil Angelides and Director of the Treasurer’s environmental financing authorities. 

Prior to her government service, Ms. Spalding worked in the labor movement as Chief of Staff for the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. With the California Sierra Club and the Ella Baker Center, Ms. Spalding co-founded the California Apollo Alliance. And for six years, she chaired the Center for Labor Research and Education at University of California, Berkeley and taught at Boalt Hall School of Law.  

In her early career she worked as a community organizer in the townships around Durban, South Africa organizing cultural events with the United Democratic Front and the ANC for an end to the apartheid government there. 

She holds a BA from Yale College in music and a JD from Hastings College of Law.

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Stacy Thompson

Senior Associate, Events and Sponsorship
Email: thompson@ceres.org

Stacy joined Ceres in September 2008 as the Event and Conferences Fellow. Stacy works with the Conference & Event Manager to help organize the annual Ceres Conference and other Ceres events.

Before joining Ceres, Stacy coordinated justice programming for the Office for Peace and Justice of the Archdiocese of Chicago.  While in Chicago, she received her M.A. in Social Justice from Loyola University.  Stacy graduated with a B.A. in Religious Education from St. Vincent College.

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Steve Tripoli

Communications Manager
Email: tripoli@ceres.org

Steve Tripoli brings decades as a nationally-recognized broadcast and print journalist to Ceres. His chief responsibilities will include articulating the strong economic case for national energy and climate policies, and bringing the broad array of business leaders who support such policies to the public forum.

Steve was most recently an on-air fixture at "Marketplace," public radio's nationwide daily business program, where he led coverage of the unfolding economic crisis. He has also worked for National Public Radio in Washington, the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun, and as a Beijing-based adviser to the Chinese government's English-language newspaper China Daily. Aside from "Marketplace" his broadcast stories have been heard on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered," on Public Radio International's "Monitor Radio" and on the BBC World Service.

In his one previous stint outside mainstream journalism Steve was a consumer fraud investigator at the National Consumer Law Center. He says he couldn't help but notice, while there, that the in-depth reports he wrote about consumer scams and fraud had more impact on actually changing things than much of modern journalism, which too often lacks the resources for in-depth reporting these days. That made the decision to bring his skills to Ceres an easy one.

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Ariane van Buren Ph.D.

Director of Investor Engagement
Email: vanburen@ceres.org

Ariane van Buren directs investor engagement at Ceres, and for the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), of which Ceres serves as the secretariat.

Dr. van Buren coordinates trustees and staff of institutional investors - state and city pension funds, labor funds, and teachers retirement systems - concerned about their fiduciary risk as trustees and the financial impact of climate risk upon their beneficiaries' investments.

Prior to this position, she was a Director on the Board of Ceres, representing Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), where she directed the environmental and energy programs and coordinated shareholder actions on financial exposure to climate risk and Fortune-500 company commitments to public environmental accountability.

She served as Director of the Transnational Institute in the Netherlands. Previously, in the UK, she worked in energy research for multilateral and bilateral agencies in Europe and developing countries. Fluent in eight languages, she analyzed energy economies in Europe, Tanzania, Kenya, Senegal, China, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. She has served on advisory boards for Portfolio 21, Shareholder Action Network, Good Neighbor Project, and on the boards of directors of Ceres, Dos Pueblos in Nicaragua, and the European Association for Social Science Research in Central America. She has a double BA from Yale University and a PhD from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex (UK).

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Alison Vicks

Development Associate
Email: vicks@ceres.org

Alison Vicks joined Ceres in June 2008 as the Development Coordinator. She is responsible for a variety of development activities, including foundation stewardship, grants management, and identifying potential foundation partners.

Prior to Ceres, Alison served in the Peace Corps in Mozambique, where she taught 8th and 9th grade English and coordinated a youth group about HIV/AIDS awareness.

Alison graduated with honors from the University of Southern California with Bachelor's degrees in International Relations and English. While she was in Los Angeles, she interned at Global Green USA and developed an abiding love for football. She is originally from Reno, NV.

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Lindsey White

Development Manager, Foundations
Email: white@ceres.org

Lindsey White joined Ceres in October 2007 as a Development Associate for foundation giving. Now serving as Development Manager, Foundations, Lindsey is responsible for generating foundation revenue for, and contributing to the development of, key programs essential to the overall progress and success of Ceres. In this capacity, Lindsey frames and writes foundation proposals, reports, and letters of inquiry; orchestrates and guides the cultivation and stewardship of current and prospective foundation funders; maintains electronic records of foundation materials; and supports the planning and implementation of special development-related events.

Prior to joining Ceres, Lindsey worked as an Associate Editor for Houghton Mifflin Company. Lindsey graduated with honors with a B.A. in European History from Princeton University, where she served on the editorial board of The Daily Princetonian. She is fluent in French.

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Meg Wilcox

Communications Outreach Manager
Email: wilcox@ceres.org

Meg manages media relations at Ceres, and contributes to external communications, web communications and the production of outreach materials. She joined Ceres in fall 2008, after working as communications manager at Environment Northeast (ENE), an advocacy organization focused on climate change and energy policy. At ENE Meg led media relations, revamped the organization’s website, and generally elevated the rising organization’s public profile.

Meg worked for Ceres previously as a communications consultant in 2006. She has provided communications consulting to other organizations, including the Unitarian Universalist Association and Grassroots International, a resource rights organization, and has also worked as a freelance writer. Her articles on the environment have appeared in the Boston Globe, Cape Codder, and a variety of community newspapers.

Prior to her work in communications, Meg worked in the public health field. She has a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Cornell University, and a M.S. in Environmental Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

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Lauren Wolpin

Email: wolpin@ceres.org

Lauren Wolpin joined Ceres in July 2009 as a Development Associate for foundation giving.  As part of the Development Team, Lauren writes foundation proposals and reports, and is responsible for grants management and foundation stewardship.

Prior to joining Ceres, Lauren worked at the Trust for Public Land, raising funds and crafting campaigns to protect open space across Massachusetts.  She also spent time as field researcher, studying native plants on Martha’s Vineyard.  Lauren graduated Cum Laude from Colby College with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Biology, and has been passionate about environmental issues since growing up surrounded by nature on a dirt road in Vermont.

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David Ziv-Kreger MD

Director, Foundation and Government Development
Email: ziv-kreger@ceres.org

David Ziv-Kreger has more than two decades of experience in the start-up and development of innovative not-for-profit initiatives. David came to Ceres in 2006, where he serves as Director of Development, working with the development team to secure the resources needed to fuel Ceres' initiatives from foundation, corporate and government sources, as well as from a growing numbers of generous and forward-thinking individuals.

Before coming to Ceres, David directed development efforts for Project HEALTH, a Boston-based national organization. From 1996-2002, he provided consulting services to not-profit enterprises, during which time he served as adjunct faculty for a leadership development fellowship for the environmental movement in Israel. Previously (1993-1996) he served as director of community campaigns for Global Action Plan for the Earth, recognized by Renew America as the best program in the nation for mobilizing community participation in sustainability. In 1989, he co-founded Golubka, the first leadership training organization for the emerging not-for-profit sector in the former Soviet Union, after serving on the staff of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War when it was awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. He has an MD from Harvard Medical School and a B.S. in Physics from Stanford University.

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