Panel Discussions: Thursday, May 21, 10 a.m.
10 a.m. – Concurrent Conference Sessions:
Please note:
- This information is current as of 5/18/09; information is being updated daily with panel descriptions and speaker bios.
- For panel and workshop locations scroll to the bottom of the page.
- All conference sessions will be audio recorded, and recordings will be available at the conclusion of the conference. Some sessions will also by videotaped. Speakers and panelists will be asked to sign releases for both. In addition, the organizers encourage live blogging and twittering, and may use materials provided as the basis for subsequent publications.
- Sustainable Communities (2): Towns and Suburban Areas (Mary Reilly)
- Socially Responsible Investing (Bill Russell)
- Optimizing Performance in Existing Green Buildings (Walter Kanzler)
- Transformational Leadership for Sustainability (Jerry Flach)
- Electrifying the Transportation System (Sai Sankar)
- Stretching & Going Beyond the Business Case: The Evolving New Role of Business (Matt Polsky)
- Small Business: How to be Green and Stay Alive (Gene Strupinsky)
- Financial Permaculture and Ecosystem Investing (Ethan Roland)
- Campus Eco-Tour (Jan Graff)
– Dreyfuss Theater Classrooms
1. Sustainable Communities (2): Towns and Suburban Areas
A panel of Sustainable Community Leaders will discuss with participants the successes and challenges of bringing sustainability to NJ towns. What has worked, what to avoid, and what they would like to do next.
Their discussion will include:
- Keys to successfully sub-urban sustainability community-building
- Next steps in sub-urban sustainable development
- Needs for the future and possible opportunities
Panel members will include:
- Donna Drewes, PP/AICP, Municipal Land Use Center at The College of New Jersey
- Pam Mount, Mayor, Lawrence Township
- Jennifer Kelley and Lori Braunstein, Sustainable Cherry Hill
- Jun Choi, Mayor of Edison
Moderated by Mary Reilly
2. Socially Responsible Investing
This panel will explore how individuals, institutions and enterprises might invest their capital in alignment with their values and receive a fair or even superior risk adjusted return on that capital. Each panelist will review their unique offerings and how it contributes to our understanding of SRI or Sustainable Investing and provide insights that allow audience participants to identify opportunities and actions to better invest their personal or enterprise capital. After each speaker presents for about 10 minutes, an open audience question and answer session will be facilitated.
Panelists:
- Peter Kinder, KLD
- Fern Jones, FJ Corp
- Stephen Viederman
- Mary Barrett, Edgewood Partners
3. Optimizing Performance in Existing Green Buildings
Market forces are beginning to provide ample and rising incentives for property developers, owners, and managers to incorporate sustainability more directly into their business plans and financial calculations. Energy Efficiency and GHG emmission reductions are driving the demand for the Optimization of Existing Buildings thru Retro Commissioning, Performance Contracting and Green Action Planning which according to McKinsey could achieve 33% of the energy reduction potential and 30% of the greenhouse gas reductions available from all sources through 2020.
Panelists:
- Joe Porrovechio, USGBC vice chair and Ramapo College
- Tim Barnish, Johnson Controls confirmed Bio + headshot
- Ed Liberty, Dome-Tech confirmed
- Paul Qvale, Gale Construction confirmed. Bio + headshot
Moderated by Walter Kanzler, Ecocollaborative.
4. Transformational Leadership for Sustainability
A panel of Sustainable Leadership Practitioners will discuss with participants how from thought, to words that become actions, leaders can transform self, organizations and systems to create a sustainable future.
Panel participants will include:
- Antuan Cannon, Director, Business Development, Envirolution
- Roshi Paul Genki Kahn, President and Vice-Spiritual Director of the Zen Peacemakers
- Wendy Blumenstein, President, Momentum Partners, LLC
- Elyssa Serrilli, AmeriCorps Alums Policy Liaison, enviropreneur, Green Collar Futures co-founder
- Ariane Burgess, Regenerative Leadership Coach at Regenerative Culture
Moderated by Jerry Flach, Project Director, Paterson Habitat for Humanity and Principal, Sustainable Solutions, LLC
5. Electrifying the Transportation System
This panel discusses the future of electric and hybrid vehicle technology, its effect on the grid and future technologies and processes that will make an electric of hybrid vehicle fleet possible. The experts on this panel will cover topics that range from electric vehicle technology breakthroughs, infrastructure, relation to the smart grid and the effect on local economies.
Panelists include:
- Paul Heitmann, Comverge
- Doug Stansfield
Moderated by Sai Sankar
6. Stretching & Going Beyond the Business Case: The Evolving New Role of Business
Building upon but going beyond the relatively new thinking on why businesses should go green, this panel will explore whether there is an argument, and evidence, for an active, explicit, needed, perhaps motivated role for businesses to go further in addressing our environmental and social problems.
Panelists:
Moderated by Matt Polsky
7. Small Business: How to be Green and Stay Alive
Panelists:
Moderated by Gene Strupinsky, Business Advocate for Hillsborough Township
8. Financial Permaculture and Ecosystem Investing
Carbon-Negative Chocolate and the New Realm of Ecosystemic Investing. We will present new ecosystemic investment opportunities and facilitate activities on systems-thinking for economic regeneration and financial permaculture. Our goal is to develop clear permaculture business language to capture and direct the large capital investments that are available whether from private or public sectors.
Led by Ethan Roland and Greg Landua
9. Campus Eco-Tour
Conducted by Jan Graff. Learn about permaculture, campus sustainability, local food production, composting, and more – while walking the campus in the open air. Rain or shine.
Detailed Event Locations:
[...] speaking at the GreenVentures Conference on May 21. The topic: “Stretching & Going Beyond the Business Case: The Evolving New Role of [...]
[...] However Matt Polsky, a moderator of the GreenVentures Conference, decided he wanted to go “Beyond the Business Case” and said to potential panelists – “come up with another [...]