Speakers 09

Speakers 2009

About Will Wynn

http://www.willwynn.com

Will Wynn was elected Austin's 50th Mayor in 2003 and served (the maximum) two terms ending his service in June 2009. He also served on the Austin City Council from 2000 to 2003. He is a sought-after speaker on the national and international stage.

Born and raised in the deep north end of Beaumont, Texas, Wynn was the sixth of seven children, and the fifth of six boys. He graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University in 1984 with a degree in Environmental Design. He also completed the optional and demanding three-year cooperative education work/study program.

Prior to first being elected to public office in 2000, Wynn chaired the Downtown Austin Alliance, and has long been a leading advocate for transforming downtown Austin into one of the most vibrant in the U.S. His tenure in office saw transformational, positive change to the urban core, particularly related to residential development and the expansion of cultural and performing arts venues. Additionally, Austin's economy is now regularly recognized as one of the very strongest metro economies in the country.

In 2002, in the wake of a significant economic downturn, then City Councilmember Will Wynn chaired Austin's Taskforce on the Economy. One of its three primary programs, focused on nurturing Austin's creative class, became known as the Keep Austin Weird initiative.

Wynn has over 20 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry, with projects large and small. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute and believes that only through dramatically better land use practices can cities like Austin appropriately deal with challenges like traffic, air quality, public health and fitness, housing affordability and environmental protection.

In addition to his many duties locally, Wynn rose to a leadership position with the U.S. Conference of Mayors organization. From 2004 to 2009, he chaired the USCM Energy Committee, and helped to drive national debate on federal energy policy and climate protection. As Mayor, Wynn also served as – and significantly amplified the role of – Chairman of the Board of Austin Energy, now considered by industry analysts to be one of the most progressive, environmentally-friendly electric utilities in the U.S. He is currently a principal with LPB Energy Management helping large users of electricity reduce their consumption thereby improving their bottom line and sustainability. Wynn also advises several start-ups in other energy-related fields.

Wynn has been featured in numerous national publications, such as Time, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal. President Barack Obama said, "Mayor Wynn has emerged as a national leader on energy policy and I'm honored to have his support."

Wynn is an avid fitness and health advocate. It is thought that he became the first mayor in history to run his/her city's marathon while in office. Wynn used that run in 2007 to raise over $20,000 for the celebrated nonprofit MarathonKids. He has also run the Chicago and NYC Marathons.

Wynn was named Austinite of the Year by Austin Under Forty (back when he was under 40), then named Austinite of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce; was awarded Scenic Austin's first annual Scenic Hero Award; was named Energy Executive of the Year by the (9,000-member) Association of Energy Engineers; received the Alliance to Save Energy's prestigious Charles H. Percy Public Service Award; is a Distinguished Alumni of Texas A&M's College of Architecture; and, following Austin's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, was named Local Public Official of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers.

Will Wynn and his two daughters, ages 13 and 11, live in downtown Austin. Their monthly electricity bill averages less than $45 (500 KwH). He walks to work and to most of his weekly errands. He welcomes questions about his carbon footprint.

Mike Evans: Urban Roots

http://www.youthlaunch.org/about/team-mevans.php

Mike officially joined Youthlaunch in July 2007 after having volunteered as a consultant on the Urban Roots program since the fall of 2006. He has worked in the educational non-profit sector for eight years leading various programs, including coordinating Breakthrough Austin's School Year Program and managing Austin Bat Cave's inaugural writing program in 2007. Previously Mike worked for five years at The Food Project in Boston, MA, running two programs that brought youth from different backgrounds together to grow food for people in need in the greater Boston area. Before that Mike taught elementary school on the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific. Mike received a B.A. in African and African American Studies from Dartmouth College.

Sarah Richards: LCRA

http://www.lcra.org/envedu/index.html

LCRA's primary responsibility is to serve as a steward of the lower Colorado River. Two fundamental elements of that stewardship mission are: protecting the water and lands of the lower Colorado basin and informing the public about how the river affects their lives.

Whether it's monitoring water quality or helping students learn about energy efficiency, environmental leadership and public education figure into all of LCRA's diverse roles and lines of business.

Bill Bunch, Colin Clark and Nancy Scanlan: SOS

http://www.sosalliance.org/

Bill Bunch - Executive Director - bill [at] sosalliance [dot] org

A native of San Antonio and Arlington, Bill left Texas to earn a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. Bill returned to Texas to practice environmental law in Austin, first with the law firm founded by Stuart Henry, later as a sole practitioner, and then as chief counsel with the Save Our Springs Alliance. Bill was part of the group that drafted and successfully petitioned for the Save Our Springs Ordinance in 1992. Bill has been executive director since 2000.

Colin Clark - Communications - colin [at] sosalliance [dot] org

Colin is a native Austinite who began volunteering for SOS Alliance in high school (St. Stephen’s School). Colin was a summer intern at SOS Alliance in 1997 and 1998 and worked full time as communications director from 2001 until 2008, when he began working on a part-time basis.

John Cooper: Ecomergence

http://www.ecomergence.com/

John Cooper, community broadband and energy network consultant, has 30 years experience in entrepreneurial, consulting, business development, sales, marketing, political, and research roles, and currently consults through his two firms, MetroNetIQ (community broadband) and ecomergence (community energy). Key wireless consulting clients have included the City of San Marcos, Cellnet, Tropos Networks and Austin Energy. Key clean energy consulting clients have included Xtreme Power and Pecan Street Project / Austin Energy. In his two engagements with the electric utility pioneer Austin Energy, John first examined broadband technologies as enhancements to electric utility operations with the Genie Project, which kick started that utility's Smart Grid efforts in 2004, then was asked back in 2009 to launch the Smart Grid 2.0 effort with the Pecan Street Project, as project leader of the Smart Grid committee and ultimately, author of the Pecan Street Project Phase One final report. Prior to consulting, John started VENewNet, a wireless content services company, in 2003 to provide a new media alternative for hotspots that combined wireless, video, and new digital content on-site with interactive advertising. Highlights in wireless consulting included publishing a community broadband website metronetiq.com and authoring a book, The ABCs of Community Broadband. Earlier in his career, John was employed with Getronics (Dell Alliance), PSINet Consulting, C3 Communications, CSW electric utility, Apple Computer, and the Texas Senate Research Center. John has an MBA with honors from the McCombs Graduate School of Business and a BA in Government from The University of Texas at Austin.

Effie Brunson: 1 House At a Time

http://www.1houseatatime.org/

The 1house at a time program

In 2007, Mike Frisch founded 1house at a time to provide home efficiency work events and Effie Brunson founded Rays of Hope to provide solar installations for low-income homeowners. They decided to combine forces and merge both into one comprehensive program under A Nurtured World. A Nurtured World launched the 1house at time™ program to further advance our educational efforts and committment to social service in a way that empowers communities to help vulnerable populations while also making measurable changes in their own lives to reduce their environmental footprint, save money, and improve their quality of life.

The program is focused on low-income homeowners to help them meet their basic needs by providing home utility retrofits. In 2008, the program was expanded to include installation of solar photovoltaic systems and renewable energy technologies. Our goals is to reduce their utility bills by 20-70% depending on the type of retrofit. By using volunteer labor and in-kind donations to support the events, we increase the impact of the program while reducing costs. In addition, we have designed the events so that volunteers can complete their service in less than one day of time commitment. Not only do the volunteers have the opportunity to make a difference for the homeowner, but they also commit to and implement changes in their own lives that result in environmental footprint reduction because of their participation in our work events.

Brigid Shea: Carbon Shrinks http://www.carbonshrinks.com/who.html

Brigid Shea is a principal and co-founder of Carbon Shrinks LLC, an Austin consulting firm specializing in carbon reduction and community stakeholder strategies. A former award-winning journalist, environmental advocate, and elected official, Shea has been advising businesses and governments on environmental and community issues for over 20 years. Her clients have included CH2Mhill, Earth Tech, Green Mountain Energy, City of Austin, PBS&J, Loomis Engineering, Vignette, Seton Healthcare Network, LCRA, SDC Communities, and Public Citizen.

In its new practice, Carbon Shrinks LLC is advising one the largest carbon emitters in Central Texas, Texas Lehigh Cement, how to reduce their carbon emissions and take advantage of any early action benefits.

After nearly a decade in broadcasting, mainly at National Public Radio stations, Shea took up environmental work in response to James Hansen’s 1988 congressional testimony on the threat of Global Warming. She co-founded the Texas state chapter of Clean Water Action in 1988 helping communities push for tougher environmental laws. Shea also headed CWA’s national campaign to ban the use of Ozone Depleting Chemicals, passing local laws in major cities across the US.

In 1991, Shea helped found and direct the Save Our Springs Coalition in Austin. She gathered community support to pass by ballot initiative one of the toughest water quality laws in the nation. The SOS Initiative was the subject of the award-winning, national documentary, Unforseen. Shea was elected citywide to the Austin City Council in 1993 where she championed environmental and quality-of-life initiatives, helping to secure the first wind-power contract for Austin Energy. She retired at the end of her term in 1996 after the birth of her first son, later founding an environmental consulting practice, Brigid Shea & Associates.

Shea has been a frequent commentator on radio and television as well as a guest speaker on environmental issues. She is a founding board member of Liveable City and also on the boards of Solar Austin and Texas Solar Energy Society. Shea is a graduate of the 2000-01 Leadership Austin Class. She received a BA in Liberal Studies from the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota and was a Rockefeller Fellow at UNC Chapel Hill and a Research Fellow at Yale Divinity School. She is a native of North Dakota. She and her husband, John Umphress, have two children.