Plenary Speaker
Melissa Hoffer
Melissa Hoffer is Massachusetts’ first ever Climate Chief. She joined the Biden Administration as a Day 1 political appointee, serving as the Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. She led the EPA’s Office of General Counsel through the transition until November 2021, and continued to serve as Principal Deputy General Counsel. Prior to that, she worked in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office as Chief of the Environmental Protection Division beginning in 2012 and was named Chief of AG Healey’s newly formed Energy and Environment Bureau in 2015. Hoffer oversaw the work of the Bureau’s attorneys on matters including prosecuting civil and criminal enforcement of environmental laws, proceedings before the DPU, energy policy, and defensive cases. She led the Office’s litigation against ExxonMobil for deceiving Massachusetts investors and consumers about the risk climate change poses to Exxon’s business and global financial markets, and the impacts of its fossil fuel products on climate change. In her spare time, she raises a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats at her farm in Barre, Massachusetts.
Keynote Speaker
Jamal Lewis
Jamal Lewis is the Director of Implementation Learning & Integration for Rewiring America, where he works to drive the widespread adoption of best practices to accelerate and scale up building electrification. Previously, he led Rewiring America’s efforts to pass and implement the Inflation Reduction Act as well as advance state and local policy in the Mid-Atlantic and South regions of the U.S. Jamal is the Advisory Board Chair for the DC Sustainable Energy Utility, a member of the board for Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP), and a member of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change’s Mitigation Working Group. He was recently named a Climate Changemaker by the New York Times and was previously recognized as a Young, Gifted, & Green 40 under 40 award recipient for his leadership in Environmental Justice. He has an MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and a certificate from the Fall 2021 DC Cohort of the Clean Energy Leadership Institute.
Keynote Speaker
Joshua Low
Joshua Low leads the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication’s strategy for engaging and supporting the climate and clean energy advocacy, media, government, and education communities. He leverages a strong curiosity, evidence-based insights, and 20 years of experience leading social change campaigns to help organizations solve strategic challenges, clarify their goals, and develop capacity for strategic climate communications and transformational organizing. Prior to YPCCC, he managed campaigns and led organizing efforts across the country that advanced bipartisan support for climate action, elected climate champions, and passed legislation that expanded access to clean energy. His deep experience scaling supporter recruitment, managing coalitions, and leveraging multichannel communications strategies is underscored by his passion for nurturing volunteers and empowering community leaders to lead on climate solutions.
Plenary Speaker
Thea Iberall
Thea Iberall, PhD, has been called ‘a shimmering bridge between heart and mind.’ A teacher, scientist and poet, Iberall is an inductee into the International Educators Hall of Fame. Her book of contextual poems, The Sanctuary of Artemis, traces the roots of patriarchal domination as they springboard from the personal into moral issues and emotional truths. Thea’s poetry has been published in anthologies and journals including in Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust. Her ecofeminist novel, The Swallow and the Nightingale, is about a 4,000-year-old secret brought through time by the birds. She is a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the Medfield UU Church and the co-president of the Jewish Climate Action Network which works to add a visionary Jewish voice to the climate crisis.
David Abel
David Abel is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who covers climate change for The Boston Globe. He is also a professor of the practice at Boston University. Abel’s work has won an Edward R. Murrow Award, the Ernie Pyle Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation, and the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Feature Reporting. His most recent film, “Entangled,” which was broadcast by PBS’s World Channel, was nominated for a 2022 Emmy, won a Jackson Wild award, known as the Oscars of nature films, and Best Feature Film at the International Wildlife Film Festival, among other awards. Abel's other new film, "In the Whale," won the Audience Choice Award at the New Hampshire Film Festival and Best New England Film at the Mystic Film Festival. Abel, who began learning to make films as a Nieman fellow at Harvard University, is INUNDATION DISTRICT’s producer, director, writer, and cinematographer.
Cindy Arens
Cindy Arens began her strong climate advocacy work seven years ago, after spending almost 20 years in engineering and software development. She is Chair of the Sustainable Lexington Committee and has spent the last five years focused on building electrification, passing two Lexington bylaws on electrification and advocating for stronger state regulations. She is an advisor for Lexington residents and housing agencies on weatherization, electrification and solar installation and she works with ZeroCarbonMA to promote strong decarbonization policies in other MA communities.
Dean Berg
In 2016, after spending 20+ years in the software industry, Dean made a personal decision to shift his focus to sustainability. Specifically, he wanted to focus on inspiring people to take action—showing them how to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. After studying a variety of residential engagement models and approaches, Dean and team developed the core of the Green Community Catalysts model that we have today. In 2020, Dean led two fairly significant citizen engagement projects. One was the development of a 4 year, 5M Euro, 14 member team EU Green Deal proposal to pilot citizen engagement across 6 diverse cities and regions in Europe and the second was a 4 town, residential engagement sustainability program located in the Upper Valley of NH/VT. In 2021, Dean was asked to deploy the model in his hometown, Beverly MA, and has led to what Green Beverly has become today.
Dean believes that taking a systems based approach to residential sustainability engages the broadest spectrum of individuals and yields the greatest impact. Dean also believes that it's not only important but critical to engage the community in an equitable and inclusive manner. We can not solve this climate crisis with 10% of the population, it requires 100% of the population.
In addition to spending time with family and friends, Dean enjoys working on their 1888 home, staying in shape at the local CrossFit, and periodically exploring the underwater world with some scuba diving friends.
Steve Breit
Steve Breit is a co-founder of the HeatSmart Alliance. He serves as a board member, leader of its Coaching Working Group, and volunteer coach. Since 2019, he has coached scores of neighbors and friends on converting their homes to heat pumps. Steve originated a training course for volunteer heat-pump coaches, offering it first to volunteers in Wayland and later via the HeatSmart Alliance to volunteers and sustainability officials from many other communities. He also serves as a volunteer and board member for MassEnergize. Steve brings over 40 years of multi-disciplinary engineering, software development and management experience to his volunteer activities. When not involved with all things heat pump, Steve enjoys cycling, birding and other outdoor activities.
Dan Britton
Dan Britton enjoys using his decade+ experience in solar to educate homeowners and businessowners about all things energy related, especially the clean renewable kind. Dan lives in Southampton where he spends his free time biking around the hills, skiing, taking walks in the woods, and enjoying the music of Western MA.
Michele Buni
Michele Buni is a senior at The Bromfield School in Harvard Massachusetts. She loves to hike, ski, surf, and rest in hammocks or on mountain peaks. She is a leader of her school's environmental group, (The Bromfield Green Team) and she is also a member of the Massachusetts Youth Climate Council. She works for a nature-based education program in Maine during the summer and is a ski instructor at Wachusett Mountain in the winter. She loves working with and learning from young kids, and combining her passions for climate action and education through her work both in and out of school. Michele plans to study early childhood and elementary education after high school.
Zana Cranmer
Zana Cranmer is a faculty member at Bentley University. She teaches business students about energy efficiency and renewable energy, decision making, and carbon accounting. Zana and her students have partnered with more than ten communities to complete greenhouse gas inventories as service learning projects. She is collaborating with the Clean Energy Extension to develop an online energy and emissions tool for tracking progress on climate action at the local level.
Lisa Cunningham
Lisa Cunningham is a lifelong climate advocate and a main petitioner of Brookline’s 2019 fossil fuel prohibition legislation, as well as subsequent building electrification legislation. She is a co-founder of ZeroCarbonMA, a statewide grassroots climate organization committed to creating and passing impactful climate legislation. ZeroCarbonMA is working in collaboration with over 90 municipalities throughout Massachusetts to implement policies and expand our collective reach to the State and National level. Lisa holds a Masters of Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She is a registered Architect and principal of her architecture firm with a focus on residential decarbonization.
Julie Curti
Julie Curti serves as the Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s (MAPC) Director of Clean Energy. MAPC is the regional planning agency that serves the 101 cities and town in and around the Greater Boston region. In this role, she leads a team that works with municipalities on developing and implementing clean energy and climate plans, policies, and programs. She leads projects and guides the team’s work on building an equitable clean energy supply system, supporting the electrification and accessibility of our transportation systems, and working to make buildings electrified, highly energy efficient, and affordable. Ms. Curti also serves on the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act Implementation Advisory Committee and the Grid Modernization Advisory Council. She previously worked as a climate change and clean energy consultant with The Cadmus Group and as Associate Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Partnerships Center, focusing on increasing household food security and building local food systems. Ms. Curti holds a Master in City Planning with a certificate in Environmental Policy and Planning from MIT and is a trained facilitator and certified mediator in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Riddhima Dave
Riddhima Dave is a program coordinator at All In Energy engaged with supporting energy efficiency programs through MassSave's Community First Partnership in over 40 communities. Riddhima has a strong passion for energy and environmental justice, having previously worked with the Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative. A proud graduate of Emerson College, Riddhima is committed to advancing equity and justice within the clean energy sector and looks forward to continuing this important work.
Samikshya Dhami
Samikshya Dhami is a climate and energy planner at MAPC, the regional planning agency for the Greater Boston area. In this role, she works with municipalities to plan, develop policies, and implement programs that advance clean energy and climate goals and workforce development at both the local and regional levels. Her current projects include developing a regional climate action plan for the Greater Boston area and designing a training curriculum for municipal energy and sustainability managers. She holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science and Policy from Smith College and a Master of Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Tom Ehbrecht
Tom Ehbrecht has been a climate activist for the past decade. Currently, he is the Save Green program manager for the Cape Ann Climate Coalition Inc. He is also on the board of TownGreen. Save Green supports low- and moderate-income renters, landlords, and homeowners of Cape Ann in decarbonizing their homes by insulating, weatherizing, and electrifying them, installing solar, and buying EVs. TownGreen is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit regional organization based in Gloucester, MA. Its mission is to be a catalyst assisting the greater Cape Ann region to become a vibrant and inclusive model of sustainability that is fossil fuel-free and better prepared for the impacts of climate change. Tom spent 32 years working in the corporate sector in management consulting, training & development as well as project, operations and software management. He has a degree in Economics and Political economy from Princeton University. Prior to moving to Cape Ann in 2022, he lived in Arlington MA and was co-chair of Sustainable Arlington. Tom enjoys sailing and exploring the surrounding coast and forests with his wife Caitlin and friendly dog Una.
Travis Estes
I believe access to clean air and water is a fundamental human right. How we power our lives, our homes, our businesses, and our communities directly impacts environments near and far. Decarbonization is complicated and nuanced. We must all rise to the occasion with innovation, pragmatism, and inclusion to transform our grid and save our planet. With no effective federal leadership in the USA, we are tasked with leading in any way we can. Let's do this together. As co-founder and COO of Abode Energy Management, I support (with an amazing team) the development and implementation of efficiency and decarbonization programs throughout New England.
Alexander Gard-Murray
Alexander Gard-Murray is the Executive Director of Passive House Massachusetts, where he leads advocacy and outreach efforts to promote high-performance building techniques across the Commonwealth. He was previously the Director of the Greenhouse Institute, a climate policy research organization. Before that he earned a Doctorate in Politics at Oxford, and taught and researched energy policy in the Government Department at Harvard and the Climate Solutions Lab at Brown.
Fabiane Goncalves
Fabiane Goncalves, Program Coordinator at MassEnergize, connects residents with energy-saving opportunities, focusing on outreach and engagement to make clean energy accessible to all, particularly in environmental justice communities. She leads the Solar Para Todos (Solar for All) program in Framingham, promoting and assisting households in enrolling in community solar. Fabiane also supports the plugIN initiative, a multi-town effort aimed at electrifying homes and communities in the Metrowest area. Originally from Brazil, Fabiane holds a bachelor's degree in Environmental Engineering and a Master's in Environmental Science from the Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense.
David Green
David Green holds a BA (honours) in physics from Oxford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School (with distinction). After HBS, he worked for four years as a strategy consultant advising global companies and Nelson Mandela’s new government of South Africa. After returning to the U.S., he founded, and was CEO of, two biotechnology companies: Harvard Bioscience™, which makes scientific instruments used in biopharmaceutical research and BioStage™, which makes a stem-cell therapy to treat, and hopefully cure, esophageal cancer. He took both companies public. His home has net-zero carbon emissions and net-zero bills. He is the author of the books Zero Carbon® Home and Zero Carbon® Pool and the webinar Zero Carbon®, Zero Bills. Recently he has co-authored the Save Money with Clean Heat legislative campaign which is currently filed in the MA legislature. This saves the average home $2,500 each year and gets all 2m MA homes to net zero by 2050. He has recently launched a simple to use web-based software tool that creates a detailed 10-page plan to save money by cutting your home’s carbon emissions from only your address and type of heating fuel. He is a member of the State Legislative Team of 350.MA. His work on zero carbon has appeared on global news media outlets including ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox and has appeared on the front cover of Green Energy Times and in Renewable Energy World, as well as the websites of the U.S. Department of Energy, Zero Energy Project, Cool Effects and the Green Home Institute.
Martha Grover
Martha Grover is the Policy Advisor for Building Decarbonization for the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. In this role she coordinates building policy efforts across EEA agencies in support of the Commonwealth’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan (CECP) goals for 2050. Recent projects include the Building Decarbonization Clearinghouse initiative in 2024 and more recently the Massachusetts Energy Savings Finder, an update of the Rewiring savings calculator, a project with MassHousing and other great partners.
Gabrielle Hajos
Gabrielle Hajos serves as Worcester's Energy Advocate through the Mass Save Community First Partnership. In this role, she helps residents access valuable energy-saving incentives and services offered by the Mass Save program. Gabrielle is passionate about empowering the community by guiding them through the process of improving energy efficiency in their homes. Her work focuses on reducing energy costs, enhancing sustainability, and ensuring that Worcester residents can take full advantage of the opportunities available through Mass Save.
Jo Jagger
Jo Jagger, is the Administrative Assistant at MassEnergize, providing cross-organizational support to help MassEnergize advance its mission of accelerating local climate action. In addition to her role, Jo is also the Art Project Facilitator for the 2025 Community Climate Leaders Conference, leading this year’s Tree of Hope initiative. Jo brings over a decade of experience in Project Management and Communications, including her time on the Diversity and Inclusion team at Johnson & Johnson, where she helped organize community-driven art projects. Originally from the United Kingdom, she holds a B.A. in French and Hispanic Studies and moved to the United States in 2020 with her husband and now three children. A creative at heart, Jo enjoys crocheting, designing, crafting, and spending time outdoors—skiing, hiking, paddleboarding, and enjoying the New England coastline.
Sara Karp
Sara Karp (she/her) is a senior at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School and Massachusetts-based climate organizer focused on the intersection between climate change and our schools. Sara has worked on local, state, and federal climate policy campaigns. Currently, she works at Mass Audubon as an organizer and youth engagement lead for the MA Climate Resilient Schools Coalition, which works with students, teachers, and community members to catalyze local policy for climate education and clean school infrastructure.
Tamara Ledley
Dr. Tamara Shapiro Ledley is a STEM education consultant, Earth and climate scientist, an En-ROADS Climate Ambassador, an Adjunct Professor at Bentley University teaching Global Climate Change, an active member of the Board of Directors of the Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center, and Secretary of the Education Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She was a 2017 Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow where she explored her interests in improving climate change education efforts. She served as a senior scientist and chair of the Center for STEM Teaching and Learning at TERC for 20 years. She received her PhD from MIT in atmospheric and climate science and her BS from the University of Maryland in astronomy.
Luke Lefeber
Luke Lefeber oversees financial operations at Vineyard Power and helps plan the company's organization and strategic initiatives. He also manages the implementation of the Resiliency and Affordability program, working with municipalities, non-profits, and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) to enable the development of resiliency projects as critical facilities and deliver electricity bill savings to income - eligible ratepayers. Luke earned a BA in Mathematics and a minor in Political Science from Vassar College. He serves on the Aquinnah Climate and Energy Committee and contributed to the formation of the Martha's Vineyard Commission's Climate Action Plan, 'The Vineyard Way'.
Leslie Lowe
Leslie Lowe is a 40 year resident of Sudbury, originally from California, a retired cell biology researcher in biopharma, a wife and mother of two, and a member of Sustainable Sudbury, 350MA Metrowest, and First Parish Sudbury UU. Leslie strives to have a low carbon footprint to live an honorable life. Her other passions include native plant and organic gardening, cooking, eating well, quilting, and nurturing friendships. She recently co-chaired the New-To-You Thrift Sale in Sudbury and is co-chairing the Sudbury Garden Club annual plant sale coming up in May.
Andrealis Martinez Padilla
Andrealis Martinez Padilla earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Bay Path in Springfield, MA. She is a proud Puerto Rican who loves connecting with and spending time in nature, she is a dedicated advocate for climate justice, environmental justice, and health equity. As the Climate Justice Community Organizer at the Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative, Andrealis addresses the intersections of climate change, health equity, and systemic inequities in environmental justice neighborhoods. Guided by her belief that everyone deserves access to a healthy and equitable environment, her work focuses on empowering communities and fostering collective action. She organizes community events designed to inspire engagement, education, and advocacy. From workshops on sustainable living to discussions on local environmental challenges, these events provide platforms for community members to share their stories and collaborate on meaningful solutions. Through her work, Andrealis is committed to fostering resilience, equity, and hope, ensuring every community has a voice in the fight for climate justice and health equity.
Susan Mlodozeniec
Susan Mlodozeniec is Marketing Director for Residential Electrification at MassCEC. She has led MassCEC’s Clean Energy Lives Here campaign and MassCEC’s overall Marketing function for the last seven years. Under her leadership, Clean Energy Lives Here has undergone two website re-designs, grown from four topic areas to seventeen, and migrated hundreds of PDF pages to online content. The campaign has advertised in Worcester’s Polar Park, on bikeshare kiosks in metro Boston, on billboards across Massachusetts, on Pandora streaming radio, in Boston’s South Station atrium, on various social media channels, and on local TV during the 2024 Summer Olympics. Prior to MassCEC, Susan worked in Marketing roles at Forrester Research, EnerNOC (now Enel), and Ford Motor Company. She also consulted for Mercer and Extraprise. She received her MBA from Duke University and BS in Commerce from University of Virginia.
Meghan Murphy
Meghan Murphy is a community engagement strategist and nonprofit program leader whose work centers around convening people to solve tough problems together. She’s spent nearly 15 years building communities in the journalism industry, and is currently working on an initiative to support more impactful climate journalism. She serves on the organizing team for Energize Framingham and the statewide growth and engagement team for Mothers Out Front. She was a 2020 fellow with New Leaders Council, a program to develop progressive leadership, and a 2018 fellow with Rising Organizers, an intensive training program for emerging community organizers. Meghan holds a B.A. in journalism and Spanish from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Julia Nassar
Julia Nassar is a climate and energy planner at MAPC, the regional planning agency for the Greater Boston area. In this role, she provides technical assistance to municipalities to develop and implement climate action and net zero plans and supports initiatives at the intersection of climate resilience, mitigation, and equity. Her current projects include designing a training curriculum for municipal energy and sustainability managers. She holds a bachelor's degree in Environmental Analysis and Policy and a master’s degree in Energy and Environmental Analysis from Boston University.
Lissette Paukert
Lissette Paukert is the Residential Services Director at Nectar Community Investments, a community development financial institution (CDFI) headquartered in Lawrence, MA. She began her career in community development in 2006 implementing and leading various programs focused on providing education and resources for homeowners in underserved communities. In her current role, Lissette is dedicated to advancing affordable financial programs and initiatives that promote home preservation, wealth building, healthy living, energy efficiency, and financial well-being. In 2023, Lissette played an instrumental role in launching Nectar’s Solar Plus pilot program, which provided homeowners interested in rooftop solar energy with an accessible ownership financing option. The design of the pilot program paired a low-cost loan and subsidies, enabling homeowners to invest in solar energy plus additional home improvements aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering energy costs. Through her work, Lissette continues to advocate for initiatives that enhance the quality of our existing housing stock and provide all communities with access to the resources they need to thrive.
Lisa Paul
Lisa Paul is the recently appointed Curriculum Coordinator and School Liaison for Cooler Communities. After earning her bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke in biology, she worked in industry for a few years before making the switch to education. She has spent over ten years in the classroom teaching environmental science, biology, and chemistry and has also worked with the Massachusetts Audubon Society as an outdoor educator and naturalist. She has a particular passion for incorporating climate change education across all grades and disciplines and has worked with a number of organizations to design and implement lessons with this goal. When not working, Lisa enjoys spending time with her family and numerous animals on her small farm in central Massachusetts. The current count is 2 horses, 2 goats, 3 cats, and one dog - at least for now!
Maggie Peard
Maggie Peard currently serves as the Sustainability & Resilience Officer for the Town of Lexington—a role she has held for three years. Before moving into the public sector, Maggie worked at Kim Lundgren Associates (KLA) where she supported municipalities with the creation of climate action plans with a focus on equity and robust community engagement, as well as other sustainability planning efforts. She holds a B.A. in environmental policy from Williams College and a M.S. in environmental policy and planning from Tufts University. She lives in Arlington, and spends her free time getting outside!
Lincoln Pekock
Lincoln Pekock is a senior at Andover High School and a dedicated youth activist. He serves as president of his high school’s environmental club, is a member of the Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition, and interns with Andover WECAN through his school’s Environmental Sustainability Internship Course. As part of his internship, Lincoln helped create and host Andover’s second annual Youth Sustainability Fair, which seeks to increase engagement through showcasing current youth-led sustainability work. Through his work, he hopes to spark change within his community and motivate others to do the same.
Aimee Powelka
Aimee Powelka focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our buildings as the Manager for Decarbonization Analytics with the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Prior to joining EEA, she worked with MassEnergize on all things data and the plugIN campaign. Aimee has a background in energy efficiency evaluation with Eversource and supporting municipal efficiency efforts with DOER’s Green Communities Division. A resident of Framingham, Aimee is the community lead of Energize Framingham and Vice Chair of the Framingham Sustainability Committee.
Mark Ralston
Mark learned about cold climate heat pumps while working in energy efficiency in the Pacific NW. When he and his wife moved to Massachusetts and bought a house a few years ago, one of the first things they did was to replace the oil boiler and baseboards with a whole-home heat pump system. He was soon annoying the neighbors with questions about their heating systems and the virtues of heat pumps. He joined the HeatSmart Alliance, where he received training as a heat pump coach. He’s been a volunteer heat pump coach in Natick for the past two years and is a member of the Town’s Net Zero Committee. When he’s not coaching, you can find him digging up the lawn to plant natives.
Darr Reilly
Dorothy Reilly, M.Arch. is an environmental activist whose three primary interests are reducing global warming, health and wellness, and building community. She has organized many events including Inherit The Earth, the First New York Women’s Conference for Sustainability, and Drawdown100Women4Women. She is co-founder of both Drawdown East End and Carbon CREW Project. Her inspiration comes from Paul Hawken; climate change is happening for us and is our opportunity to come together collaboratively with creativity and build a thriving community.
Bryson Rose
Bryson Rose (he/him) is the Community Engagement Associate at Rewiring America. Through education courses and community-level activations, his goal is to raise awareness of the benefits of electrification for all communities, but especially communities most impacted by climate catastrophe and environmental racism. Prior to Rewiring America, Bryson spent over a decade leading capacity building and advocacy initiatives at Hetrick-Martin Institute, the nation's oldest and largest non-profit supporting LGBTQIA+ youth and their families. Bryson is a native of Columbus, OH and loves all things Midwestern including but not limited to: The Ohio State University football, using confusing phrases like, "Yeah, no", and casseroles.
Karen Root Watkins
Karen Root Watkins is part of the EnergizeActon.org planning team, in Acton, MA. Her passion is community outreach where her mantra is “How we use energy matters for our kids and for the natural world!” She grew up in the Berkshires, the daughter of an activist mother and a woodsman father, but her studies took her far afield, including Latin America. She began a teaching career in the South Bronx, joined Teach for America, and spent most of her career as a bilingual public elementary teacher in Trenton, NJ. Karen always brought her love of nature to the kids and the kids to nature, working closely with the Alliance of New Jersey Environmental Educators, the Monarch Teachers Network, and local community groups. Since retirement she has worked on climate change issues in the hope that future kids can continue to experience the wonder of our interconnected world. Karen has a B.A. in Religion and Public Policy from Duke University and a M.A. in Theology from Maryknoll School of Theology.
Eileen Ryan
Eileen Ryan is the leader of Beyond Plastics Greater Boston, a local group of Beyond Plastics which is based at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont. She is also on the Steering Committee of the Beyond Plastics Virtual Group and Plastic Free Mass. She is a trained public speaker on plastic pollution. Eileen uses her artistic skills to create art and costumes to bring attention to climate and social justice causes. She lives in Watertown and is the mother of three grown children and the grandmother of two.
Cheryl Schnitzer
Cheryl Schnitzer is a Chemistry Professor at Stonehill College and serves as Chair of their Environmental Stewardship Council. Plus, she is the Founder & CEO of Reuzzi, tracking takeout food containers to ensure reuse. Since 2017, Cheryl has served as President of the Sustainable Sharon Coalition—thoroughly enjoying her work with other inspiring volunteers.
Ibrahim Shabra
Ibrahim Shabra is a dedicated student activist with a strong commitment to fostering a sustainable and prosperous future. He is particularly passionate about educating students on climate change through En-ROADS, an interactive simulation that enables users to explore the impact of various policy decisions on the climate. Ibrahim is also on track to become an En-ROADS Climate Ambassador. He is a 9th grade student from Bromfield School and has been a member of his school's environmental club, The Green Team, since 6th grade.
Frank Stone
Frank Stone is the Building Performance Manager at the Massachusetts Community Climate Bank (MCCB). MCCB is the nation’s first green bank focused on decarbonizing affordable housing, and it is the sponsor of the Energy Saver Home Loan program and the Massachusetts Energy Savings Finder. Prior to joining MCCB, Frank was proud to work on affordable multifamily passive house projects and retrofit projects around Massachusetts. Frank has also lived and worked in Shanghai, China, where he got to witness decarbonization steps in action and heat pumps installed everywhere!
Gabriella Temps
Gabriella Temps is a sophomore at the Bromfield School and has been on Bromfield's environmental club (The Green Team) for 2 years, and has served as a club officer for 1 year. Her most memorable project in the Green Team was designing, organizing and leading a hands-on lesson about climate change for fifth grade students. Outside of school, she loves snowboarding, visiting the beach, and running on the trails in her town. Gabriella is passionate about protecting the environment, and hopes to study marine biology in the future.
Lori Timmermann
Lori Timmermann is Community Solutions specialist at National Grid, she works with municipalities, residents, businesses and community-based organizations to launch solutions in the areas of energy efficiency, electrification, clean transportation, and demand response; areas assisting communities in reaching their climate action goals. Her customer’s recent projects include launching a new all-electric school, retrofitting and electrifying 25+ municipal facilities, launching electric school buses, the installation of 150+ charging ports, and many community outreach efforts to engage with the residents and businesses of the commonwealth in learning more about weatherization and heat pump technologies.
Ellen Tohn
Ellen Tohn is the co-chair of Wayland’s Energy and Climate Committee (WECC). Ellen co-founded MassEnergize in 2017 to help local residents and businesses take action. She is passionate about driving local actions and larger policy solutions to address our climate crisis. Ellen is a nationally recognized environmental health policy expert with over 30 years of experience working at the intersection of energy, housing and health. She is President of Tohn Environmental Strategies and an Assistant Professor of Practice at the Brown School of Public Health. She received her BA from Cornell University and a Masters Degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Sue Vatnick
Sue Vatnick grew up in the state of Vermont and received her BA from Middlebury College. She went on to complete a master’s degree in Special Education and had a fulfilling career in special education that spanned 40 years and 4 states. She is currently a volunteer with THIS! Is What We Did, an organization created in response to the ultimate question: “What did you do about climate change?” As a team member of THIS!, Sue helps people have effective conversations about climate change, move their money from the 4 worst banks, and coaches parents & caregivers on helping their young people cope with the climate crisis.
Tiana Veldwisch
Tiana Veldwisch runs Tiana V Consulting & Coaching, supporting teams and individuals in effective work practices and communication habits. Her clients range from tiny startups to the 200+ person Innovation team of a Fortune 500. Her passion is helping technology-oriented teams in the climate sector with effective teamwork, collaboration, feedback, and work habits, and she serves as an advisor at Greentown Labs and a mentor for Third Derivative, MassChallenge, and CleanTechOpen. She has 15+ years experience in product management and tech leadership across health tech and climate tech, most recently leading the launch of the carbon credits for farmers product at Indigo Ag. She has an engineering degree from Olin College of Engineering, where she was in the third graduating class of the then-new school, and an MBA from MIT Sloan. She currently chairs the Wakefield Environmental Sustainability Committee which engages the community across food rescue, waste reduction, electrification, and policy initiatives.
Sabine von Mering
Sabine von Mering, holds a Ph.D. in German Studies from the University of California, Davis and is Professor of German and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (OTS), a core member of the program faculty in the Environmental Studies Program since 2017, affiliated with the Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation minor, and Director of the Center for German and European Studies (CGES) at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. Her latest publications include her co-edited Routledge Handbook of Grassroots Climate Activism (2025), and her English translation of German climate activists Luisa Neubauer and Alexander Repenning’s Beginning to End the Climate Crisis. A History of Our Future (2023). She was a 2023 Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with The OpEd Project, in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and often walks around in a polar bear costume.
Bret Wilkins
Bret Wilkins manages the HEAT Loan offer at National Grid, which aims to support broader residential energy efficiency and decarbonization programs in the Mass Save® program. The HEAT Loan is recognized as the largest 0% interest financing tool in the country, making it a vital resource for homeowners seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. Since its inception in 2013, nearly 20,000 loans worth over $2 billion have been issued to Massachusetts residential customers. With a strong background in designing and delivering residential and commercial energy efficiency initiatives in Massachusetts and Hawaii, he has also consulted for various clients including CableLabs, Design Lights Consortium, and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, focusing on projects like electric vehicle charging infrastructure rollout, and consumer product efficiency standards. Bret believes that decarbonization is not only critical to preserving the natural environment, but also a vital step towards enabling energy-intensive innovations to progress in a cleaner and more sustainable manner.
Jillian Wilson Martin
Jillian Wilson Martin has worked as the Sustainability Director for the Town of Natick since 2014. In her role, she seeks to partner with other municipal departments, residents and businesses across the community to lower emissions, prepare for climate change and reduce waste. Some of the projects she is most proud of include her work to: install the community's first solar canopies and solar battery storage systems, support the Charles River Dam Advisory Committee, develop Natick's Net Zero Action Plan, install the Town’s first air-to-water heat pump, secure a $2M Renew America’s Schools grant, pilot and expand curbside composting, and lead the MetroWest Climate Equity Project. When she isn’t working, you can find her on her stand up paddle board or hiking with her two daughters. At ages 6 and 10, she wishes she could freeze time and enjoy more of this magical time with them.
Lisa Wolf
Lisa Wolf returned with her husband to her hometown, Marblehead, to build the town’s first fully electric net zero home. She is a member of Sustainable Marblehead’s clean energy and public policy committee and former Chair of the Marblehead Municipal Light Commission. As Wellesley Municipal Light Plant’s sustainability coordinator, Lisa helped develop the Town’s energy coach program. Her public service and career path have been informed by her graduate education in environmental engineering and early awareness of the consequences of burning fossil fuels on Earth’s equilibrium. From environmental consultant to founder of the non profit HOBBES Inc (Hands-On Boat-Based Education & Science) to high school physics and engineering teacher, to her involvement with municipal power, her passion is to help individuals transition away from fossil fuels by electrifying everything.
Jim Wolf
Jim Wolf believes in the power of success stories to inspire change. Recently retired as Sustainability Director at Cape Air, he spent 15 years exploring what it means for an airline to go green. Starting in 2009, he led projects installing solar arrays on airport hangars and fields, reducing reliance on fossil fuels. His efforts influenced industries and communities, while employee training programs lowered household energy costs and supported climate action. Cape Air’s sustainability initiatives earned numerous awards, and later, the company began collaborating on fully electric aircraft—paving the way for sun-powered, short-hop flights. Before Cape Air, Jim trained teachers and legal professionals in storytelling and worked in schools to enhance academic skills. He also performed Cape Cod stories for audiences of all ages. An author of two children’s books on environmental themes, he lives with his wife, two dogs, and plenty of coyotes on Cape Cod.
Bob Zogg
Bob Zogg is a founding member of the HeatSmart Alliance, a volunteer organization that accelerates the adoption of energy-efficient heat pumps in Massachusetts homes. Bob retired in 2016, after almost 30 years in energy-related consulting. As a consultant, he led numerous evaluations of residential and commercial building energy use, focusing on space heating and cooling, domestic water heating, and refrigeration. He has a BS and MS in mechanical engineering.
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