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Speakers biographies

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

George Azevedo
George Azevedo began working for the U.S.EPA in 1998 for the Water Division and Superfund where he focused on Superfund Areas of Concern and modeled sediments in the Chicago River. He later assisted the Regional Laboratory to develop the first low-level method for alkylphenols, and assisted other Regional endocrine disrupting projects. Currently, Mr. Azevedo works in the NPDES Branch where his assignments include serving as a Liaison for the State of Minnesota, Water Quality Trading Coordinator and the NPDES Nutrients Coordinator.

Shane Cherry
Shane Cherry serves as the natural resource practice lead for Shaw Environmental in the Western U.S. In this role, Mr. Cherry provides technical oversight and leadership on diverse projects involving environmental impact assessments, environmental permitting of capital projects, strategic mitigation solutions, watershed management, and regional habitat restoration programs. The integration of technical solutions with business solutions forms a core component of the natural resource practice in developing marketable ecological value. Mr. Cherry currently serves as the technical lead for one of the mitigation bank development projects included in Washington State's pilot program for mitigation banking. He is involved in multiple mitigation bank development and operation projects in Washington and around the U.S. Mr. Cherry recently served as principal scientist and technical lead on a literature review and feasibility study conducted for EPA to assess the potential use of created wetlands as a component of nutrient trading programs. Mr. Cherry earned a BS in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he earned an MS in Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He has 14 years experience as a technical professional.

Kellie DuBay
Kellie DuBay is an environmental scientist with Tetra Tech, Inc. Ms. DuBay has supported the U.S. EPA in its efforts to promote watershed-based permitting and water quality trading, including the development of technical assistance tools such as the Watershed-Based Permitting NPDES Implementation Guidance and the toolkit entitled Implementing Water Quality Trading Through NPDES Permitting. She is currently supporting the Conservation Technology Information Center to develop a water quality trading technical assistance manual for the agricultural community through a cooperative agreement with U.S. EPA. Contact: Kellie DuBay 1468 West Ninth Street Suite 620 Cleveland, OH 44113 P: 216-861-2950 F: 216-861-2960 kellie.dubay@tetratech-ffx.com

Gordon Feighner
Gordon Feighner is a project analyst for the City of Portland's Stormwater Marketplace Project. Prior to joining the project team in January 2006, he worked at the US EPA's Office of Research and Development researching the impact of a proposed cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions in the New England region. Other projects he has worked on include a feasibility study of establishing a mitigation banking program for threatened salmon habitat in the Portland metro area. He has a Master's degree in environmental management from Duke University and a B.A. in economics from Reed College.

Brent Fewell
Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Water, United States Environmental Protection. Agency In September 2004, Brent Fewell was appointed Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Brent has over 15 years environmental experience in the private sector, where he counseled clients on a wide array of legal, policy, and technical issues involving water. Prior to his appointment, Brent practiced environmental law as an associate in the law firm of Jones Day. Before entering the practice of law, Brent also served as an environmental scientist with several environmental consulting firms. Over his career, Brent has given talks and published on a number of water related issues, including TMDLs, water quality trading, wetlands, wellhead protection and enforcement. Brent graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maine, where he received his B.S. degree in Wildlife Management, received his Masters in Environmental Management from Duke University, and earned his J.D. from Duquesne University, where he also served on law review.

Douglas 'Dusty' Hall
Manager of Program Development, The Miami Conservancy District. Dusty joined The Miami Conservancy District in 2002 and is currently the Manager of Program Development. Prior to joining the Conservancy, Dusty served for 15 years as a manager and executive with the City of Dayton and 10 years as a research scientist with the University of Dayton Research Institute. Dusty has a wide range of experience in water resources management ranging from drinking water protection to storm water management. In 1999, Dusty was named as one of seven National Drinking Water Heroes by the U.S. EPA. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Wright State University and a Master of Science from the University of Dayton. He is also a graduate of the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia.

Sarah C. Hippensteel
Sarah is the Program Development Specialist for the Miami Conservancy District where her main focus is developing new programs. She coordinates and interacts with community members, federal, state, and local agencies, businesses, and agricultural producers throughout the Great Miami River Watershed - a fifteen county region in Southwest Ohio. Using effective partnerships she has successfully raised nearly $8 million dollars to use on water quality improvements in the watershed in just 3 years. Sarah is currently earning a Doctorate in Leadership and Change from Antioch University. She has a Master of Arts degree from Antioch University Seattle in Environment and Community and a Bachelor of Science degree from The Ohio State University in Watershed Resource Policy and Planning. Prior to working for the Miami Conservancy District her experience includes government, private industry, and nonprofit organizations. She served as the Executive Director of the Little Miami River Partnership, an Environmental Information Specialist for YSI, Inc., the Hoosier Riverwatch Coordinator for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and an Environmental Manager for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

George Kelly
George Kelly is the Director of Business Development and Founder of the Environmental Banc & Exchange, LLC. Mr. Kelly is a cum laude JD and MSL graduate of the Vermont Law School As founder of EBX, he has drafted, negotiated and implemented mitigation banking instruments with regulatory agencies in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and Maryland as well as drafted and negotiated land deals with over seventy-five landowners for resource mitigation projects. Mr. Kelly was recently elected as Secretary of the National Mitigation Banking Association. Additionally, Mr. Kelly was appointed to serve on the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program, Nutrient Trading Task force. Mr. Kelly has also served as Chair of the Section of Environmental Law for the Maryland State Bar Association and was asked to represent the Maryland business and legal communities in the drafting of the precedent-setting Brownfields environmental legislation. Mr. Kelly also chairs the Piney Run Rural Legacy Program in Maryland involving the acquisition of over $14 million of environmental and agricultural easements. Prior to joining EBX, Mr. Kelly served as partner and member of the Environmental Law Group at the firm, Ober, Kaler, Grimes and Shriver.

Mark S. Kieser
Acting Chair, Environmental Trading Network, and Senior Scientist, Kieser & Associates, LLC. Since 2001, Mr. Kieser has served as Acting Chair of the Environmental Trading Network (ETN), a non-profit clearinghouse for water quality trading program information. As Senior Scientist and principal of the Kalamazoo, Michigan-based firm of Kieser & Associates, Mr. Kieser has 21 years of environmental consulting experience in addition to three years of academic research on water resource issues. Kieser & Associates has been involved in water quality trading program and policy development for over a decade. Mr. Kieser led one of the five EPA supported water quality trading projects in the U.S. in the late 1990s and served on the state of Michigan Water Quality Trading Workgroup that developed the framework for Michigan's water quality trading rules. Mr. Kieser is now leading a variety of trading projects in the U.S. focused on: state-wide and watershed trading program development; agricultural credit banking schemes; trading applications for urban storm water; electronic water quality trading registries; and, restoration of natural flow regimes in tributaries to the Great Lakes. The ETN is a national clearinghouse for water quality trading projects. It was initially established as the Great Lakes Trading Network, an adjunct to maximize the regional impacts of the Kalamazoo River Water Quality Trading Demonstration Project in May 1998 (Michigan). Today the ETN includes participants from many of the active and emerging trading programs across the country. The ETN is the only non-profit organization devoted solely to the development and implementation of successful water quality trading programs across the nation. The goals of the ETN are to facilitate implementation of the federal Clean Water Act, optimize the cost of improving water quality, support local watershed management initiatives, create incentives for voluntary point and nonpoint source programs, and, increase the level of public awareness and support for trading. Mr. Kieser holds a B.S. degree in biological sciences from Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio) and an M.S. degree from Michigan Technological University in biological sciences.

James Klang
Jim Klang is a Principle Engineer in the Impaired Waters Program at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Jim currently is lead engineer for nutrient pollutant trading, and Total Maximum Daily Load studies in the State of Minnesota where three water quality trading permits are currently active. Mr Klang graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering.

Dr. Richard Moore
Dr. Richard Moore is the primary author of the Alpine Nutrient Trading Plan. He is also the team leader for the 25 researchers and 11 graduate students conducting various social and natural science projects on the Sugar Creek Watershed located in the upper Muskingum Watershed in Ohio. His research team, which takes a participatory headwaters approach, currently has the top-ranked USDA water quality grant as well as other grants such as National Science Foundation Biodiversity, USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, and EPA 319. They are also collaborating with French and Japanese research teams. As a rural sociologist and cultural anthropologist, he is a member of the Ohio State University Agroecosystems Management Program and Environmental Studies Graduate Program.

Dennis O'Grady
General Manager, South Nation River Conservation Authority. Dennis O'Grady has managed watersheds for Conservation Authorities across Ontario for 26 years. For the past 19 years, he has been the General Manager of South Nation Conservation, a 4,000 sq. km. watershed covering 15 municipalities. South Nation delivers a wide variety of programs in groundwater protection, forestry, fisheries, water quality, flood and erosion control and land use planning. The South Nation River Watershed's trading program for phosphorus started 9 years ago and it has completed over 200 verifiable trades. South Nation recently completed a contract for the Province of Ontario detailing how to implement a phosphorus trading program in the Province. Mr. O'Grady has a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Queen's University, and an undergraduate degree in Geography from the University of Western Ontario.

Gary Stuhlfauth
Gary Stuhlfauth is with Ohio EPA's Division of Surface Water. He has worked in the NPDES permit program for the past 17 years, primarily with major municipal wastewater treatment plants. In addition to permit-related work, Gary's current responsibilities include water quality trading and the Agency's effort to draft rules for trading. Other areas that Gary is involved in include sewer overflows, implementing Ohio's mercury variance rule, and participating in various total maximum daily load teams.

Jeff Thomas
Jeff Thomas has been employed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Soil & Water Conservation for more than 5 years. He works with 18 Soil and Water Conservation Districts in southwest Ohio, providing technical assistance to county employees, watershed projects and landowners. Prior to working for ODNR, Jeff was an Urban Stream Specialist for the Warren County Soil & Water Conservation District and received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Kentucky.

Hale W. Thurston
Hale W. Thurston leads the Environmental Economics Team in the National Risk Management Research Laboratory's Sustainable Environments Branch. Dr. Thurston received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of New Mexico. His research areas include investigating the use of market mechanisms for pollution prevention and the use of non-market valuation techniques to evaluate watershed restoration activities. Jeff Thomas Jeff Thomas has been employed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Soil & Water Conservation for more than 5 years. He works with 18 Soil and Water Conservation Districts in southwest Ohio, providing technical assistance to county employees, watershed projects and landowners. Prior to working for ODNR, Jeff was an Urban Stream Specialist for the Warren County Soil & Water Conservation District and received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Kentucky.

Marcus Zobrist
Marcus Zobrist is the leader of the Water Quality Team in the Water Permits Division of the Office of Wastewater Management at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water in Washington, DC. The Water Quality Team guides the consistent and effective translation of water quality standards into water quality-based permit limitations and conditions. The team addresses technical, policy, and legal aspects of the implementation of water quality standards in NPDES permits, including implementation of TMDLs, Water Quality Trading programs and Watershed-based permitting. Marcus also serves as an instructor in EPA's Basic NPDES Permit Writer's Course and the Water Quality Standards Academy. Prior to joining EPA Headquarters in 2001, Marcus worked for EPA Region 2 (in New York City) where he worked on NPDES permits and enforcement program. Marcus is a Civil Engineer and a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

George Zukovs
Mr. Zukovs is President and CEO of XCG Consultants Ltd. He has over 30 years experience in environmental science and engineering. Mr. Zukovs specializes in the development of integrated wet weather programs for communities. His experience encompasses the application of new and innovative control technologies, regulatory negotiation and overall water resource management. Mr. Zukovs' extensive project management experience includes many large complex and interdisciplinary undertakings. He is the author of numerous technical papers, and is a frequent presenter at international workshops. Mr. Zukovs has an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto and Master of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering also from the University of Toronto. He is an American Society of Civil Engineers Diplomate Water Resources Engineer.