GoGreen Conference

Regional Advisory Board Drives Content

Each GoGreen event is supported by a local advisory team made up of 5-10 business and government leaders, which provides crucial direction on programming content, regional issues, and recommendations on exemplary speakers to pursue.

GoGreen Seattle Advisory Board

Christie True | Department Director, Department of Natural Resources and Parks, King County, Washington

Christie True was appointed by King County Executive Dow to lead King County's Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP) in July 2010. True previously served as the director of DNRP's Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) and is a 25-year veteran of King County, where she started her career in 1984 as a water quality technician. The Department of Natural Resources and Parks has four major divisions — Parks and Recreation, Solid Waste, Wastewater Treatment and Water and Land Resources — perform tasks ranging from improving water quality, to enhancing parks and trails, to protecting citizens from flooding, to restoring crucial fish and wildlife habitat, to recycling and reusing wastewater and solid waste byproducts. Its overall mission is to safeguard the environment, ensure public safety and preserve the region's quality of life. ▼

Christie has proven to be a leader in positive community engagement, managing change and being dedicated to continuous system improvement. Christie is known for her experience in establishing processes to better manage and deliver complex projects and budgets, and for her technical expertise and analytical approach to challenges. In 2006, she was named Local Official of the Year by the National Association of Home Builders for her work on the Brightwater project.

Brenna Davis | Director of Sustainability, Virginia Mason

Brenna Davis is an environmental scientist and sustainability expert working in the nexus of health, environment and business for nearly 20 years. She is recognized as one of the nation's authorities on health care sustainability, and a thought leader on climate change business engagement. In 2012, she began work as the inaugural Director of Sustainability at Virginia Mason. Under her leadership, Virginia Mason has improved its performance and grown into an industry leader on sustainability. Virginia Mason is now recognized as one of the Top 25 Sustainable Hospitals in the US by Practice Green Health, their highest honor. In 2015, Virginia Mason received three gold medals in the Global 2020 Health Care Climate Challenge at COP21, the highest achievement of any organization globally. ▼

Brenna's reach and commitment extends beyond Virginia Mason's facilities. In 2013, she founded the Pacific Northwest Health Care Sustainability Roundtable, in order to create a collaborative dialogue in the local Health Care industry. In 2014, she facilitated and led the process that created the Washington Climate Declaration. The same year, she co-founded and became chair of the Washington Business for Climate Action, a group of businesses collaborating to act on climate. Also in 2014, she was invited to advise the Obama Administration on climate resilience during the White House Health Care Climate Resiliency Roundtable facilitated by John Podesta. In 2015, she presented on health care climate action at the White House Summit on Climate and Health, urging other health care organizations to engage in climate advocacy. In the end of 2015, she presented at the French Health Care Federation's Low Carbon Conference at COP21 in Paris.

Laura Clise | Director of Sustainability, Weyerhaeuser

Laura Clise leads sustainability and corporate responsibility at Weyerhaeuser. Prior to Weyerhaeuser, she led corporate sustainability at Plum Creek and served as the President of the Plum Creek Foundation. Laura's sustainability experience also includes roles leading sustainable development, supplier diversity, external communications, and corporate citizenship at AREVA Inc., preceded by work for the U.N. Global Compact, Intel Corporation, and Business for Social Responsibility. She began her career in brand management at General Mills and subsequently worked for McMaster-Carr Supply Company, where she led the international sales operations department. Laura received an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a BA in International Relations from Carleton College. ▼

She is a 2013 Aspen Institute First Mover Fellow, and the recipient of an Exceptional Individual Achievement Award from the Human Rights Campaign. She proudly serves on the Athlete Ally Board of Directors, the IslandWood Board of Directors, and is a member of the Net Impact Corporate Advisory Council and the Reaching Out MBA Catalyst Committee.

Molly Ray | Director of Global Sustainability, Office Depot

Molly Ray is the Director of Global Sustainability for Office Depot, Inc. She represents and supports the initiatives and evolution of the GreenerOffice program for the company. She works with customers and partners to make greener decisions around their supply chain as well as to utilize the various resources and tools that can help them to benchmark and monitor their progress. In addition to external engagement and visibility, she focuses on strengthening sustainability awareness with internal stakeholders through the creation of the GreenerOffice Champion Program.

Sarah Severn | Strategic Advisor, Washington Business for Climate Action

Sarah worked at Nike for 21 years. Following 13 years in the advertising industry Sarah joined the Nike brand marketing team in Europe to establish their consumer insights department. Her passion for environmental issues enabled her to relocate in 1995 to the Nike World Headquarters in Oregon as Global Director of the Environmental Action Team. From 1995 to 2000 she championed the introduction of sustainability into the business, from operations and supply chain through to product design and manufacturing. Following that she had a number of senior roles within the corporate responsibility and sustainable business teams, with a focus on leading environmental stakeholder engagement activity, tracking emerging issues and facilitating futures oriented work. ▼

As Senior Director of Stakeholder Partnerships in the Sustainable Business & Innovation (SB&I) team, her final role at Nike Inc. she was responsible for collective action within the Systems Innovation function. As one example in this capacity, Sarah led the development of Nike's climate change advocacy strategy and initiated the BICEP coalition (Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy), and the ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) business coalition. Sarah is passionate about cultivating conscious leaders for sustainability. She specializes in helping leaders and organizations find their passion, cement their purpose, and use their power for change. Sarah is currently Strategic Advisor for Washington Business for Climate Action

Megan Smith | Director of Climate and Energy Initiatives, King County

Megan Smith is the Director of Climate and Energy Initiatives for King County, Washington, the 13th largest county in the United States. She is responsible for coordinating climate change and energy initiatives across King Countys diverse lines of business. She develops partnerships with cities, businesses, and community-based organizations to accelerate progress in meeting the countys ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for climate change impacts. Prior to this appointment, she served as Environmental Policy Advisor to the King County Executive for 5 years on a wide range of issues, from stormwater management to climate change policy. She has over 20 years of experience supporting policy makers as they use science and performance data to inform decisions and manage natural resource programs.

Susan Wickwire | Executive Director, Seattle 2030 District

Susan Wickwire is the Executive Director of the Seattle 2030 District, a groundbreaking public- private partnership that aims to dramatically reduce environmental impacts of building construction and operations through education and collaboration in downtown Seattle. Previously, Susan spent over 20 years with the U.S. EPA and the State Department in Washington, DC where she directed national climate change programs, managed international climate change projects, and served on U.S. delegations to UN climate change meetings. A Seattle native, she received her BA in Political Science from Whitman College and her Masters in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

GoGreen Portland Advisory Board

Megan Shuler | Program Manager, Sustainability at Work, City of Portland, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability

Megan Shuler is the Sustainability at Work program manager with the City of Portland, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. Sustainability at Work is a free service for businesses looking to green their workplace. Megan has over nine years of experience working on sustainability-related programs. In the past three years alone, those programs have served over 3,000 Portland businesses in the areas of transportation, water, energy and waste.

Pam Neal | Senior Program Manager/Clean Energy Liasion, Prosper Portland (formerly PDC)

Pam currently serves as a liaison to clean technology firms to develop and implement strategies and innovative approaches to support business development activities. Pam has 20 years of economic development experience in the Portland metropolitan area and has been actively involved with the recruitment of new firms and implementing activities that allow Portland's regional manufacturing companies to diversify into clean technology supply chains.

Susan Jowaiszas | Senior Marketing Manager, Commercial + Industrial, Energy Trust of Oregon

Susan Jowaiszas is the senior marketing manager for the commercial and industrial programs at Energy Trust of Oregon. She brings a long history of energy and utility experience, having worked with Bonneville Power Administration, Portland General Electric and several Northwest utility trade associations.

Osvaldo 'ozzie' Gonzalez, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP BD+C | Global Sustainability Director for Industrial & Advanced Technology, CH2M HILL

Trained in Architecture and Environmental Science, Ozzie has been involved with sustainability since 1996. His involvement in the industry is as a designer, a strategic planner, a LEED Administrator, and an educator. As a member of CH2M Hill, Ozzie is part of an enterprise-wide task force dedicated to implementing project delivery tools and methods designed to facilitate the application of sustainable design principles. On projects, Ozzie works across the design and construction team to apply environmental performance criteria to real world situations. Ozzie is a member of the USGBC's LEED for Manufacturers User Group assisting in the development of compliance pathways for large-scale industrial projects. He is also a regular speaker for the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneur's monthly Sustainability Moment. Ozzie is a champion for diversity within CH2M Hill's Portland Office and facilitates teaming efforts with Oregon certified MWESB firms.

John Wasiutynski | Director, Multnomah County Office of Sustainability

John Wasiutynski is a Portlander by choice, relocating from the east coast in 2011. Before moving to Portland John lived Washington DC where he worked as a watershed planner, and helped to implement DC's five-cent-per-a-disposable-bag-fee, and other litter reduction strategies designed to keep rivers free of trash. John has also worked cleaning and greening community gardens and neighborhood parks in NYC; the same city where he graduated with a BS in Biology from Fordham University. John also received an MPA from American University. John has worked for Multnomah County since 2011 and has served as the Office of Sustainability Director for the past year.

Tamara Kennedy-Hill | Vice President of Diversity and Community Relations, Travel Portland

Tamara Kennedy-Hill is Vice President of Diversity and Community Relations for Travel Portland. In her role at Travel Portland, Tamara seeks to bring the voice of the tourism/hospitality industry to a wide array of local community issues as well as advance the organization's work in building and strengthening relationships with diverse groups, organizations and communities. Tamara serves on the City of Portland's Private for Hire Transportation Board, Travel Oregon's Sustainable Tourism Advisory Committee and provides staff support to Travel Portland's Community Action Community and Multicultural Advisory Board. ▼

Prior to her role at Travel Portland, Tamara served as the executive director for the Green Meeting Industry Council, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting sustainability in the meetings and hospitality industry. In this role, Tamara advocated for green meeting standards and served on the APEX/ASTM green meeting panel as well as the GRI Event Sector Advisory Committee.

Mark Brady | Clean Tech Industry Strategist, Business Oregon

Mark Brady is a Clean Tech Industry Strategist with Business Oregon, formerly the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. Mark is responsible for promoting industries and practices that leverage sustainability as a competitive advantage and foster the wise use of natural resources. He is also responsible for helping to ensure state policies facilitate the adoption of sustainability principles. Particular focus areas are electric vehicles, energy storage devices, smart grid technologies and wave energy. In addition, Mark serves as the Sustainability Coordinator for the Department to implement sustainability measures within the departments own operations. Mark previously worked as the Director of the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition, which is a public private partnership that works to reduce the amount of petroleum used in transportation. Prior to the Coalition, he worked for more than five years in environmental consulting. Mark has masters and bachelors degrees in engineering from Columbia University and University of Miami, respectively.