Month: October 2017

Global Manager of Environmental Sustainability Initiatives, General Motors

Bridget Burnell is the global manager of environmental sustainability initiatives at General Motors, leading a team of experts in areas such as renewable energy, biodiversity, waste reduction, recycling and environmental outreach. She manages programs that help employees leave a smaller footprint and share best practices to drive greater progress.

Burnell mobilizes a team working to achieve wildlife habitat certification at all GM facilities, expand beyond the 152 facilities that send zero waste to landfill, and make progress on a goal to power all GM facilities’ electricity needs with renewable energy by 2050. She also has led GM’s Global Environmental Compliance and Sustainability student program supporting recruitment and professional development.

Burnell joined GM in 1997. Prior to her current role, she was the senior environmental engineer for global environmental programs. She has served as an environmental engineer for GM facilities in Lansing, Grand Rapids and Saginaw, Michigan. Key activities included regulatory reporting, data analysis, and collaboration with government agencies, NGOs, and community groups. Burnell worked with the design team to construct the Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant, which ultimately achieved LEED Gold certification and launched with Wildlife Habitat Council certification as a “Rookie of the Year” site.

Burnell earned a Master of Science in Leadership for leading sustainability from Walden University in Minneapolis and a Bachelor of Science in environmental policy and political science from Central Michigan University. She is a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager, Advanced Certified Sustainability Practitioner and Certified Storm Water Operator. Burnell is a member of the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment and Michigan Association of Hazardous Materials Professionals.

Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer, Exelon Corporation

In his role as SVP, Corporate Strategy & Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer Christopher Gould is responsible for overall corporate strategic planning as well as the company’s corporate sustainability and innovation programs. Chris has been with the company since 1999, having previously served as Vice President Corporate Planning where he was responsible for Exelon’s planning and project evaluation functions, as director of pricing and structuring, as director of financial planning and analysis, and as manager of market planning at Exelon Power Team, located in Kennett Square, PA.

Prior to Exelon, Gould was with Dames & Moore (URS Corporation) in Washington, D.C. serving in a variety of engineering and project management roles in the environmental and infrastructure professional services sector. He began his career at EA Engineering as a project engineer working on various federal, state and local government agency and public utility projects to protect and remediate the environment.

Gould earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA. He received his MBA in finance from the University of Pittsburgh.

President, Wildlife Habitat Council

Margaret O’Gorman operates at the intersection of business and nature. As President of the Wildlife Habitat Council, she helps companies find value in natural resources conservation and mainstream biodiversity across operations. She works with multinational corporations to develop integrated strategies to implement conservation projects to meet business needs and, in so doing, enhance ecosystems, connect communities and engage employees. She helps WHC members build conservation into their sustainability efforts and helps sustain conservation efforts through WHC’s signature Conservation Certification recognition, which serves to define the standard for corporate conservation worldwide.

Prior to joining WHC, she served as the Executive Director of Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey where she transformed the little-known statewide non-profit into a well-respected and effective organization focused on rare and imperiled wildlife protection and recovery in the Garden State. Margaret’s extensive fundraising and development experience comes from almost a decade in lead development roles at New Jersey Future and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. She began her career in education publishing, developing an expertise in secondary and university STEM education.

Margaret is a compelling writer and speaker on the power of natural resource conservation to restore ecosystems, recover species, connect people and make a positive difference to business, people and planet.

She holds a BSc in geology and geophysics from University College Ireland, Galway and a Masters in Micropaleontology from the University of Southampton, UK.

General Manager, Communications and Corporate Responsibility, ArcelorMittal Americas and President, ArcelorMittal USA Foundation

William (Bill) Steers serves as general manager, communications and corporate responsibility for ArcelorMittal Americas’ region, which encompasses more than 50 steel production, mining and finishing facilities, and approximately 40,000 employees. He oversees external and internal communications, branding and corporate responsibility (CR) efforts throughout North & South America.

As a member of ArcelorMittal Americas’ senior management team, Steers leverages his expertise to counsel the company’s leadership on a wide variety of stakeholder engagement issues and community investment strategies. He is ArcelorMittal’s chief spokesperson for the Americas and leads corporate responsibility initiatives across the segment, aligning with core business priorities while working to address local stakeholder expectations. He serves as President of the ArcelorMittal USA Foundation.

Steers has spearheaded ArcelorMittal’s role as the sole corporate partner in Sustain Our Great Lakes, a bi-national public-private partnership focused on awarding financial support to programs working to restore, protect and preserve the world’s largest freshwater system, the Great Lakes basin.  Since 2006, Sustain Our Great Lakes has leveraged over $144 million in total conservation investment, and Bill remains on the SOGL Advisory Board.

Promoting collaboration across borders and industries, Steers serves on the advisory boards for the Chi-Cal River Fund and the Calumet Land Conservation Partnership, focused on restoring the health, vitality and accessibility of local waterways. Steers also serves on the Board of the Wildlife Habitat Council and is a trustee at the John G. Shedd Aquarium, serving on its conservation and PR/marketing committee since 2010.

In 2016, Bill Steers was appointed Chair of the Calumet Collaborative Board of Directors. Calumet Collaborative catalyzes innovative partnerships between Illinois and Indiana community, government, business and nonprofit stakeholders to advance a thriving Calumet region.

Senior Editor of Digital, WBEZ, Chicago Public Media

Tricia Bobeda is the Senior Editor of Digital at WBEZ – Every Other Hour and the co-host of the Nerdette Podcast. She leads the team of producers, reporters and editors responsible for WBEZ’s website, apps and social media.

Prior to joining WBEZ’s digital team, Tricia reported for its news desk and worked on the Front and Center series. After studying journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School, she spend several years as a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. She was a finalist in the KCRW 2013 Radio Race.

Senior Editor, WBEZ, Chicago Public Media

As a WBEZ editor, Cate Cahan works with reporters and producers to conceive and research stories, edits scripts and digital copy, and organizes long-term projects, including series.

Cate joined WBEZ in 1998 as editor for Eight Forty-Eight, then WBEZ’s weekday morning newsmagazine. She’s played a number of key roles here, including as interim news director and metro editor of beat reporters in community bureaus, and in business, politics, science, criminal and legal affairs, education, urban affairs and arts. Because she works with excellent reporters and producers Cate has received numerous local, regional and national awards. Before coming to WBEZ, she worked as editorial director and later planning editor for the local CBS station, WBBM.

She’s also been a magazine editor and worked as a newspaper reporter, which she still sometimes misses. Cate has a M.A. in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.A. in English from Mundelein College.