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Board

Natalie Halich is an Senior Investment Officer with the International Finance Corporation (IFC). She is responsible for making investments in the mining sector, including structuring mitigation plans for environmental and social impacts of mining projects. Ms. Halich also worked for IFC's carbon funds, where she structured and negotiated carbon contracts for CDM and JI carbon assets. Before joining IFC, Ms. Halich was with Energy Investors Fund Group focused on making equity investments on behalf of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund. Previously, she was a Director at Enron International, where she executed several major corporate acquisitions in the Latin American energy markets and held commercial positions in Brazil and Colombia. Before joining Enron, she was with the IFC based in Ukraine advising the government on economic reform. Ms. Halich received a MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of Michigan.

Andrew McElwaine is the President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. For thirty years the Council has served as Pennsylvania's leading environmental education and advocacy organization, emphasizing sustainable use of land and resources, conservation of essential watersheds, and innovation.

The Council uses many tools to achieve its goals, but focuses on leadership, partnership, and enterprise. Prior to joining the Council, Andrew was Director of Environment Programs at the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Endowments. With over $1 billion in assets, the Endowments are among the largest conservation grant-making organizations in the Nation. He helped to create their environment programs, and served as their first environment program director. In addition, he served as an Alternate Commissioner at Governor Ridge's Commission on the 21st Century Environment, and is a Board member of the Great Lakes Protection Fund, Environmental Resources Trust, Friends of National Parks at Gettysburg, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania/ Advocates, Pennsylvania Biodiversity Partnership, and the Pocono Environmental Education Center.

In 1998, he co-founded Enterprising Environmental Solutions, Inc. (EES), a non-profit corporation devoted to the use of market forces to improve environmental quality. EES is currently conducting water quality trading programs in Pennsylvania and Michigan, has proposed improvements to air quality trading in Pennsylvania, and is creating water quantity trading programs for water withdrawals from the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Andrew is an adjunct faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. He has also served as a staff member of the President's Commission on Environmental Quality, and as a legislative assistant and subcommittee staff director for the late U.S. Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania. He was also Director of Congressional Affairs for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, the nation's largest private-sector recycling organization. He holds a M.S. degree from Carnegie Mellon University, an M.A. degree from George Mason University, and a B.A. degree from Duke University.


Michael Rubino is a partner in Palmetto Aquaculture, a shrimp farm in South Carolina. Michael Rubino has founded and managed startup companies and developed pioneering investment funds in the fields of environment, alternative energy, agribusiness, and aquaculture.

Mr. Rubino was Manager, New Funds Development, with the World Bank's Carbon Finance Group. He led the team that developed the Community Development Carbon Fund and the BioCarbon Fund. During the 1990s, Mr. Rubino was at the International Finance Corporation (private sector affiliate of the World Bank) where he developed renewable energy and biodiversity investment funds. Earlier he was the CEO of Bluewaters, Inc., an aquaculture production and R&D company. Mr. Rubino has been a trustee of Vassar College and the vice-chairman of the State of Maryland's Aquaculture Advisory Committee. He holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from Vassar College.



Paul Savage is the CEO of Nextek Power Systems Inc. , a manufacturer and developer of DC power networks in Long Island, NY. Nextek has developed and patented a new platform for today's power markets that delivers customers greater efficiency, flexibility and security versus conventional practice. His prior experience includes Investment Banking for development-stage companies, and Fixed-Income trading at CS First Boston Corporation. He also had responsibility for over $1 billion in credit risk management and portfolio hedging at Lehman Brothers, Inc. Starting in 1994, he spent 2 years in Hanoi, Vietnam to start-up operations for V-Trac, a JV with Caterpillar Inc.

Mr. Savage is an outside Director of Red-Horse Securities, the first Native-American owned and operated Broker/Dealer in the United States. He is a graduate of Haverford College and speaks German and Vietnamese. He and his wife Fay have three daughters, Samantha, May, and Lorna.

Tim Profeta is the founding director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. Prior to his arrival at Duke, he served as counsel for the environment to Sen. Joseph Lieberman. As Lieberman’s counsel, Profeta was a principal architect of the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act of 2003. He also represented Lieberman in legislative negotiations pertaining to environmental and energy issues, as well as coordinating the senator’s energy and environmental portfolio during his runs for national office. Profeta has served as a visiting lecturer at Duke Law School, where he taught a weekly seminar on the evolution of environmental law and the Endangered Species Act. Before joining Lieberman’s staff, he was a law clerk for Judge Paul L. Friedman, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.


Staff

Wiley Barbour is the Executive Director of Environmental Resources Trust, where he is focused on developing the infrastructure for a robust GHG emissions trading market by providing independent registry services. Mr. Barbour has and will continue to work extensively in the development of GHG measurement and verification protocols, GHG management and reporting systems, and GHG emissions auditing.

Mr. Barbour has over 14 years of experience working as an air pollution engineer, climate and energy policy analyst, and greenhouse gas emissions estimation specialist.  Prior to joining ERT, he served six years in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, first in the Policy Office and most recently as a senior environmental engineer in the Market Policy Branch, in EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs. His responsibilities included directing the development of the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory Program, supporting market based solutions to air pollution problems, providing policy analysis in support of international negotiations, and developing near and long-term global emission scenarios.  Mr. Barbour has also worked in numerous expert groups of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is a lead author of several United Nations Inventory Review Reports, and represented the U.S. EPA on several interagency teams addressing emission estimates, international bunker fuels, carbon sequestration, and compliance assurance.

Prior to joining EPA Mr. Barbour was a consultant and Program Manager at Radian Corp where he directed numerous projects for federal, state and corporate clients, developing and improving emission inventory techniques and estimating emissions of criteria and toxic pollutants.  Mr. Barbour has also served with the State of Florida’s Department of Environmental Regulation, reviewing permit applications for solid waste facilities and performing compliance audits at landfills.

John Kunz is Director of EcoPower Programs at ERT. He provides technical and policy support for all of ERT’s programs, with a focus on renewable energy. Mr. Kunz is responsible for ERT’s renewable energy certification activities, and took a lead role in the development of ERT’s Uniform National Standard for EcoPower® Renewable Energy Certificates. Mr. Kunz also maintains ERT’s online registry of verified greenhouse gas emission reductions. Mr. Kunz holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University.

Michael Gillenwater is Director of Verification Policy for ERT.

Michael has worked on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change since 1995. Along with his colleague Wiley Barbour, they established the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Program within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Michael’s work at EPA concentrated on development of an overall system for producing high quality greenhouse gas emission inventories and on the international process for doing so under the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He was lead author of the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks reports published from 1997 to 2003.

Michael is listed on the rosters of technical experts and is actively engaged in the work of the UNFCCC and as an author with the IPCC. He is also a core advisor to World Resources Institute and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development for the revised edition of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

Prior to joining ERT, Michael was first with the U.S. EPA’s Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation and then EPA’s Clean Air Markets Division. He has also worked for Sandia National Laboratories and ICF Consulting’s Global Environmental Issues Group. He has a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University and masters degrees in environmental engineering and “Technology and Policy” from MIT. He also completed a year at the University of Sussex as Fulbright Scholar in Evolutionary Adaptive Systems.

Alexia Kelley is Treasurer at ERT. Alexia Kelley has served in diverse capacities in nonprofit organizations committed to poverty reduction, the environment, and social justice. She is most interested in helping nonprofit organizations to strengthen their resource base, communicate effectively, and create effective and collaborative programs to achieve their goals. She launched the development program at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the largest private funder of anti-poverty organizations led by low income people. She is a founding board member of Language, Education and Technology Center (Language ETC), a nonprofit adult education center serving 1,000 Washington DC area immigrant students each year.

Gordon Smith, Ph.D. is Director of the EcoLandsSM Program  at ERT. Dr. Smith is working to develop cost-effective methods for measuring change in forest and soil carbon stocks, with special attention to the statistical variability of carbon measurements made using different protocols.  Another key component of his work is developing contracts and institutional arrangements to define and exchange greenhouse gas emission offsets.  Dr. Smith has worked with landowners to implement land management practices that sequester carbon, quantify sequestration, and contract for sale of sequestration credits.

Dr. Smith's previous work includes establishing a forest ecology research center at the University of Washington, performing institutional analysis for several government agencies and non-profits, and administering a committee of the Oregon House of Representatives.  Other work included developing guidelines for certifying sustainable forest management under the Forest Stewardship Council, advising Indian tribes about management of reservation lands and resources, and operating a consulting and construction businesses.  Dr. Smith has a Ph.D. in Forest Management from the University of Washington, a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University, and an undergraduate degree from Reed College.  He is a member of the Board of Directors and Rescue Chair for Seattle Mountain Rescue.  Dr. Smith has numerous publications to his credit.

 

 

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