Charting New Waters Speakers, September 15, 2010

Charting New Waters Speakers, September 15, 2010

 
Chuck Clarke
Chief Executive Officer, Cascade Water Alliance
 
Chuck Clarke is CEO of Cascade Water Alliance, a nonprofit corporation of five cities and three water and sewer districts that provide water to almost 400,000 residents and more than 22,000 businesses. 
 
Under his leadership, Cascade is undergoing an extensive, inclusive public process to determine how best to deliver water supply to its members over the next 50 years and beyond. In December 2009, Cascade acquired Lake Tapps, the last major water resource in the region.
 
He was most recently the Director of Seattle Public Utilities (SPU). SPU is responsible for managing 4 utilities: water, wastewater, solid waste and drainage. SPU provides water to 1.4 million customers. 
 
Prior to joining SPU, Chuck served as one of former Seattle Mayor Paul Schell’s deputy mayors; he is the former Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency managing its operations in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Chuck has served as Director for the Washington State Departments of Community Development and Ecology. In Vermont he served as Agency Director of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.
 
He is a Board Member of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies and a founding member of the Water Utility Climate Alliance.

 
John R. Ehrmann
Senior Partner, Meridian Institute
 
Dr. Ehrmann is a founder and Managing Partner of the Meridian Institute.  He has pioneered the use of collaborative decision-making processes for over two decades at the local, national and international level. He has designed and implemented projects in national and international forums; in public policy arenas involving legislation, negotiated regulations and Federal Advisory Committees; in organizational management and strategic planning settings; in communities and site-specific disputes; and with stakeholder groups advising NGOs and companies. His work focuses on environment, natural resources issues, energy and climate change, health policy, science and technology, and the economic and social challenges associated with developing sustainable practices for communities and industries.
 
In addition to his extensive involvement in convening and facilitating collaborative processes, Dr. Ehrmann also works to promote the use of collaborative decision-making. He lectures and has published numerous articles on collaborative decisions in public policy issues. He serves as an adjunct faculty member for the University of Wyoming and provides advice to the Ruckelshaus Institute and School of Environment and Natural Resources on the use of collaborative problem solving in natural resource decision-making.
 
Dr. Ehrmann received his undergraduate degree from Macalester College and his Ph.D. in Natural Resource Policy and Environmental Dispute Resolution from the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources. His doctoral dissertation involved developing a practice-based model of the policy dialogue, which can be applied to both practice and research. Between 1983 and 1997, Dr. Ehrmann was executive vice president at the Keystone Center, Keystone, Colorado. In September 1997, he became one of the founders of the Meridian Institute.

 
Cecilia V. Estolano
Chief Strategist for State and Local Initiatives, Green for All
 
Cecilia V. Estolano is Green For All’s ChiefStrategist on State and Local Initiatives. Green For All is a national organization that advocates for broad access and opportunity in the clean-energy economy. Ms. Estolano oversees Green For All’s State and Local Initiatives and the Capital Access Program. She is charged with spearheading Green For All’s effort to scale public-private partnerships as a means to grow family-supporting green jobs in cities across the United States, particularly in under-served communities.
 
Prior to joining Green For All, Ms. Estolano served as Chief Executive Officer of the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA). With an annual budget of over $726 million and a work program covering 32 project areas, Ms. Estolano redefined the role of the largest redevelopment agency in the State of California. Under her leadership, CRA/LA rebuilt its housing department, adopted a landmark policy on local hiring in construction jobs, adopted a Healthy Neighborhoods policy, and created a $42 million Land Acquisition Fund to jump-start development in underserved markets like South Los Angeles.
 
Prior to joining CRA/LA, Ms. Estolano was counsel in the Los Angeles firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  She represented developer, private equity fund and lender clients in land use, zoning, redevelopment, environmental, real estate, energy, and telecommunications matters.
 
Ms. Estolano has served on the California Coastal Commission, as a Special Assistant City Attorney, as a Senior Policy Advisor with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and as Environmental Policy Advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.
 
Ms. Estolano was the Deputy Chair of the Environmental Protection Agency Review Team, Energy and Environment Group for the Obama Presidential Transition Team. She is currently a member of Senator Barbara Boxer’s Judicial Advisory Committee.
 
Ms. Estolano is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law and holds an M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA.  She received her undergraduate degree in Social Studies with honors from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges. Ms. Estolano is a Regents Lecturer at UCLA where she teaches courses in Urban Planning.

 
Peter Gleick
President and Co-Founder, Pacific Institute

Dr. Peter Gleick is co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute, Oakland, California. His work addresses the connections between water and health, human rights, climate change, privatization, and international conflicts. Gleick was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2003 and elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2006. Gleick received a B.S. from Yale and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of eight books, including The World's Water (Island Press, Washington).
 

 
 
David Kohler
President and Chief Operating Officer, Kohler Co.
 
David Kohler is President and Chief Operating Officer of Kohler Co. and was elected to the position by the Board of Directors in April 2009. He is the eighth individual to serve in the role of President since the company’s inception in 1873. A member of the company’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee, Kohler oversees three of Kohler Co.’s four worldwide businesses – Kitchen & Bath Group, Global Power Group, and Interiors Group – as well as the Corporate Technical Services organization including Information Technology, Operations Support, Global Procurement, and Business Travel and Aviation. 
 
Kohler joined the Kohler Co. Executive Management Team in 1993, when he was appointed Director – Fixtures Marketing for Plumbing North America. He was named Vice President – Sales for Plumbing North America in 1995, and Sector President – Plumbing North America the following year. In 1999, he was named Group President of the Kitchen & Bath Group and elected to the Kohler Co. Board of Directors. In 2007, he was elected to the position of Executive Vice President – Kohler Co. and a member of the Executive Committee.
 
Earlier, he worked for the company from 1988 to 1990 as a corporate business analyst in Financial and Strategic Planning, as a foreman in the Cast Iron Foundry, and as a materials analyst for Kohler Engines. Prior to rejoining the company in 1993, he served in management positions at Dayton Hudson Corporation.           
Kohler received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Duke University and his master’s degree in management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
 
Kohler currently serves on the Board of Directors of both Interface Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, Ga.; and Internacional de Cerámica S.A.B. de C.V., headquartered in Chihuahua, Mexico. Kohler is a past chairman of the National Kitchen and Bath Association’s Board of Governors of Manufacturing, and a former member of the board of directors of Menasha Corporation.
 
David and his wife Nina have four children and live in Kohler, WI.

 
 
Patrick O'Toole
President of the Board, Family Farm Alliance
President, Ladder Livestock
 
Patrick F. O’Toole is a rancher in the Little Snake River Valley on the Wyoming/Colorado border, and is currently the president of the Family Farm Alliance (FFA) and the Salisbury Livestock Company, as well as the managing member of Ladder Livestock Company and Banjo Sheep Company. As FFA president, Mr. O’Toole speaks extensively to water user groups and agencies and lobbies on behalf of the group on water use and irrigation issues. 
 
Mr. O’Toole has a depth of experience in water policy, agriculture, and land use. His accomplishments include six years as the Carbon County Representative to the Wyoming House of Representatives Select Water Committee; four years as the commissioner to the President’s Western Water Policy Commission; six years on the Wyoming House of Representatives Agriculture Committee; and service on the Governor’s “Wyoming Plan” Task Force. Additionally, he has testified before the Resource and Energy Committees of the US House and Senate. In 2008, Mr. O’Toole was the recipient of the Partners for Wildlife award from the US Fish and Wildlife Service for stream management practices on Battle Creek.
 
His home life involves managing the family ranching businesses to ensure a healthy balance between livestock, landscape and watershed. The six-generation ranching operation includes cattle, sheep, horses, dogs, ranch recreation and land conservation.
 

Closing Remarks:
 
Michael A. Nutter
Mayor, City of Philadelphia
 
Since taking office in January 2008, Mayor Michael A. Nutter has set an aggressive agenda for America’s sixth largest city – implementing a crime fighting plan that has sharply reduced the homicide rate, an education strategy to increase the high school graduation rate by 50 percent and a sustainability plan that will reduce the city’s energy consumption in the years to come.
 
He has vigorously managed city government through a deep recession, taken advantage of Federal recovery funding to create new green-collar jobs and established a customer friendly 311 system.
 
Born in Philadelphia and educated at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Nutter has been committed to public service since his youth in West Philadelphia. He served almost 15 years on the Philadelphia City Council, earning the reputation of a reformer, before his election as Mayor of Philadelphia.