Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Oct. 15, 2001–The ever-transforming relationship between the business world and the natural world is to be the focus of the upcoming “Sustaining Ecology and Economy: The Leadership Challenge” conference. Hosted by Williams College’s Center for Environmental Studies, department of economics, and Program in Leadership Studies, the conference will take place on Oct. 19-20 in Williamstown.
Participants in the conference will include professors from colleges throughout the United States, members of Congress, a former journalist, and representatives from environmental organizations and asset management companies.
The keynote panel discussion, which will take place on Friday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall, will focus on the sustaining ecology and economy. The speakers include Christopher Flavin ’77, president of Worldwatch Institute; Carl Gagliardi, director of environmental business services at International Paper; Geeta Aiyer, president and senior portfolio manager of Walden Asset Management; and Andrew Hogeland, senior environmental, health, and safety counsel for General Electric Plastics.
Flavin is responsible for overall management and fundraising and for leading the Worldwatch Institute’smanagement team. He helped found and is on the board of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, as well as serving on the boards of a number of other environmental organizations.
Gagliardi is responsible for the management of the programs that support International Paper’s environmental performance. He joined the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1983 as a special assistant and later ran the office of Communications, Education, and Public Affairs. He has also worked for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and as a special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of the Interior.
Aiyer founded Walden, which was acquired by United States Trust Company in 1998. She worked previously as a consultant at Cambridge Associates in Boston. Originally from India, Aiyer received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of New Delhi, India, and her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
As a member of the senior staff at General Electric, Hogeland is responsible for providing legal advice and support for EHS and product stewardship matters in a global business setting. He has been a lecturer at the Harvard Law School and an editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review. He has served as assistant U.S. attorney in Boston with a specialty in environmental matters and as a trial attorney with the Environmental Enforcement Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The other conference panels will focus on international environmental law and global leadership, government regulation and leadership strategies.
All sessions are open to the public. Information about the program can be found at www.williams.edu/CES.
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Published October 15, 2001
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