People

Former Vice President Al Gore is co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management, a partnership that is focused on a new approach to sustainable investing. He is also co-founder and chairman of Current TV, an Emmy Award-winning, independent cable and satellite television news and information network based on viewer-created content and citizen journalism. In addition, Gore is a senior partner with the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a member of the board of directors of Apple and senior adviser to Google.

Gore spends the majority of his time as chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit focused on solutions to the climate crisis.

Gore was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, 1978, 1980 and 1982 and the U.S. Senate in 1984 and 1990. He was inaugurated as the forty-fifth Vice President of the United States on January 20, 1993, and served eight years. During the Administration, Gore was a central member of President Clinton’s economic team. He served as President of the Senate, a Cabinet member, a member of the National Security Council and as the leader of a wide range of Administration initiatives.

He is the author of the bestsellers Earth in the Balance, An Inconvenient Truth, The Assault on Reason, and Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. He is the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary and is the co-recipient, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for “informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change.”

Lyall Knott is a senior partner at Clark Wilson LLP, a Vancouver-based law firm. His area of practice is corporate and commercial real estate law and public-private partnerships.

Born and raised in Vancouver, Mr. Knott earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1971, and Bachelor of Laws degree in 1972, both from the University of British Columbia. He earned a Master of Laws from the University of London, England, in 1973, and in 1985 he was appointed to the rank of Queen's Counsel.

Mr. Knott is the Honorary Captain of the Canadian Fleet Pacific and is an honorary member of the Naval Officers Association of British Columbia. Among his many awards, he was the recipient in 2000 of the Blythe Eagles Volunteer Service Award; in 2002 of the Commonwealth Medal for the Queen's Golden Jubilee; and in 2003 the Medal of Merit Award of the Lions International.

Lyall Knott serves on the Boards of Directors of several charitable organizations. He is Chair of the Rick Hansen Foundation, Board Secretary to S.U.C.C.E.S.S., and Former Chair of the UBC Foundation. He is the Honorary Consul for The Republic of Tunisia and a member of the British Columbia Consular Corps. Mr. Knott was appointed to the Royal Roads University Fellows Council. He is an active member of the Vancouver Board of Trade and is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia.

In addition to having a broad base of experience with both public and private corporations, Mr. Knott has an extensive background and understanding of the workings of government.

Pierre Trépanier has been a member of the Labour and Employment Group of the law firm of Heenan Blaikie where he was a partner since 1975.

He has considerable and extensive experience in labour relations as a legal advisor to national and international corporations, particularly in the negotiation of collective agreements. He represents clients before all courts as well as administrative and quasi-judicial tribunals, at both the provincial and federal levels.

Acknowledged for his expertise, Mr. Trépanier has spoken at many conferences and participated in numerous seminars on labour relations. He was an instructor of occupational health and safety seminars at the McGill University Management Institute from 1983 to 1990.

From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Trépanier was chairman of the Board of Magnétotheque, an audio book production centre for the visually challenged; he was a member of the board of Berlitz Canada from 1991 to 2001, and of Berltiz GlobalNet Canada until 2001. He has served on the advisory board of Care Canada for several years.

Mr. Trépanier has been awarded Martindale-Hubbell´s highest rating (“AV’) for his skills and sense of ethics.

Joseph Comuzzi (BA, University of Windsor, 1954; LLB, University of Windsor, 1980) served six terms as member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Nipigon (subsequently Thunder Bay-Superior North). He chaired numerous committees, including the Standing Committee on Transport, the Subcommittee on the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group, and the Cabinet Committee on Canada-U.S. relations. Mr. Comuzzi also served as minister of state (Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario).

Lana Pollack was appointed as Chair of the U.S. Section, International Joint Commission, by President Barack Obama, effective on June 26, 2010.

Throughout a diverse career in public office, education and the public interest sector, Ms. Pollack has demonstrated effective and thoughtful leadership on a range of public policy issues. She served from 1996-2008 as President of the Michigan Environmental Council, a coalition of 70 environmental organizations working to protect the Great Lakes and Michigan's natural resources and environment. She was elected three times to the Michigan legislature, serving as a state Senator from 1983-1994. As a state Senator, Ms. Pollack became a leading advocate for women, children and the environment. In this capacity, she earned praise as the architect of Michigan's landmark 1990 polluter pay statute which, before it was repealed in 1995, saved taxpayers $100 million by requiring proven polluters to pay for the cleanup of toxic waste.

In addition to these roles, Ms. Pollack was a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, taught at the University of Michigan, was elected a trustee of the Ann Arbor Board of Education, and served on a number of educational, non-profit and corporate boards. Among these boards, Ms. Pollack served from 2002-2010 as chair the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board, which annually directs $35-50 million in discretionary public funds to protect, purchase and enhance parkland and open space for preservation and recreation. She has served on the boards of NextEnergy (which promotes the development and commercialization of technologies advancing a low-carbon economy) and ReCellular (the world's largest recycler of cell phones). She founded the Michigan Monthly magazine, co-founded the Michigan League of Conservation Voters and has received numerous honors including outstanding legislator awards from the National Association of the Physically Handicapped, the American Association of University Professors and the Michigan Association of Community Art Agencies.

Ms. Pollack, who grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan in Ludington, earned a BA in political science from the University of Michigan (U-M) in 1965, and an MA in Education from U-M in 1970. She is married to Henry Nathan Pollack, with whom she raised two children.

Rich Moy was appointed to the U.S. Section, International Joint Commission (IJC), by President Barack Obama, effective July 11, 2011.

Prior to joining the IJC, Mr. Moy worked as a land and water consultant where he coordinated the development of a comprehensive transboundary Crown of the Continent regional land use and environmental strategy. He was also a Senior Fellow at the Center of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy at the University of Montana.

For 27 years, Mr. Moy focused on collaborative, strategic and science-based approaches to water policy, management and planning, Native American water rights, and transboundary and regional water and land issues for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. He worked extensively with other states and federal agencies on regional water management issues in the Missouri and Columbia River basins including water allocation, fisheries, water quality, reservoir operations and drought management. Recently, he served as chair of the 23-member Flathead Basin Commission, which has a statutory duty to protect water quality and the environment of the largest fresh water lake in the United States west of the Mississippi River. Prior to this work, he directed Montana’s involvement in the High Plains Research Experiment for four years and worked as a park ranger and ecologist in Glacier National Park where he developed the park’s backcountry management plan.

Mr. Moy has worked with the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, the Canadian federal government and the IJC on water quality, fishery, wildlife, apportionment and landscape issues for over 25 years. He served as the U.S. Secretary to the IJC study that evaluated the potential impacts of a proposed coal mine in the headwaters of the Flathead River. He represented Montana in several Canada-U.S. activities including the IJC task force on the apportionment of the St. Mary and Milk rivers, the Crown Managers Partnership whose members manage the Crown of the Continent transboundary region, and the apportionment of the Poplar River. He has negotiated two transboundary environmental accords on behalf of Montana with the provincial governments of British Columbia and Alberta.

Mr. Moy was elected to four terms on Helena School boards and served on the Board of Directors for the Montana Science Institute. He was on the Montana Water Course Advisory Committee and the Water Research Center Advisory Council. He received EPA’s Environmental Achievement Award for work on Flathead Lake and its headwaters in 2006 and the Flathead Lakers’ Stewardship Award for work on Flathead Lake in 2009.

Mr. Moy received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Montana and nearly completed a Ph.D. in animal ecology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He and his wife, Gigi have three grown children. Mr. Moy enjoys carpentry, traveling, skiing, hiking and fly fishing.

Dereth Glance was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate as a Commissioner to the U.S. Section of the International Joint Commission (IJC), effective July 18, 2011.

Previously Ms. Glance was the Executive Program Director for Citizens Campaign for the Environment where she also served on New York State’s Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council, the Clean Water Network and the Onondaga Lake Partnership Outreach Committee. Ms. Glance also served from 2005-2011 as Board Member on the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency where she chaired the Recycling Committee.

Ms. Glance attended Michigan State University where she earned a Bachelors Degree in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy. Ms. Glance was born in Michigan, raised in the Metro-Detroit area, and resides in Syracuse, New York.

Dan Wicklum is the Director General for Water Science and Technology at Environment Canada’s Centre for Inland Waters. As Director General, he is responsible for overseeing Environment Canada's aquatic ecosystem research and monitoring activities.

Dr. Dan Wicklum was the Executive Director of the national NGO 'The Canadian Forest Innovation Council' before joining Environment Canada. Before that, he was Director of Strategic Alliances for Natural Resources Canada's Canadian Forest Service and a Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Natural Resources, Ralph Goodale. Dan's original career was as a linebacker in the CFL, playing with both Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Calgary Stampeders.

Dr. Wicklum’s formal training is in aquatic ecology. He received a B.S. in biology at the University of Guelph, a M.S from the University of Calgary and a Ph.D. from the University of Montana (Doctorate of Philosophy in Biology and Ecology). At the University of Montana he was on the faculty as Assistant Professor, after completing his post doc on the effects of exotic species introductions on aquatic foodweb structure and function.

Dr. Wicklum is currently the Canadian Co-chair of the International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Science Advisory Board (IJC). This service has resulted in experience in cross-boundary and multi-jurisdictional natural resources and pollution abatement management issues.

Susan Hedman was appointed by President Barack Obama to be EPA Region 5 Administrator on Earth Day 2010. She directs EPA’s operations in the six-state Great Lakes region, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as 35 federally recognized tribal governments. One of her most important roles is that of Manager of the Great Lakes National Program Office, which oversees restoration and protection of the largest freshwater system in the world. Millions of people depend upon the Great Lakes for drinking water and millions more recreate in and around the Great Lakes.

Prior to accepting the President’s appointment, Dr. Hedman was environmental counsel and senior assistant attorney general in the Illinois Attorney General’s office, where she focused on litigation and legislation relating to environmental protection, energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon capture technology and associated consumer issues.

Dr. Hedman has over 30 years of experience in the environmental protection field. In the early 1980s she was on the faculty of Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, where she taught courses in environmental policy. Dr. Hedman then joined the faculty at the University of Maryland, where she taught environmental policy and law courses, supervised cases in the Environmental Law Clinic, and served as research director for the Center for Global Change.

In 1993, she moved to Chicago and began working for the Environmental Law and Policy Center, where she served as lead counsel for citizen groups involved in environmental cases throughout the Midwest. In 2000, she moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where she was in charge of the legal team for the United Nations tribunal that handled claims for environmental damage from the oil fires in Kuwait and releases of oil in the Persian Gulf, as well as the costs of de-mining and disposal of unexploded ordnance.

William Bowerman recently assumed the role of Chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Technology at the University of Maryland. He was previously professor of Wildlife Ecology and Toxicology in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.

Dr. Bowerman has been studying bald eagle ecology and effects of environmental pollutants in the Great Lakes region since 1984. Working with associates from Michigan State University, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he has trained wildlife professionals and started environmental monitoring programs using sea eagles in America and Canada (bald eagles), Sweden (white-tailed sea eagle), Russia (Steller’s sea eagle), Uganda and South Africa (African fishing-eagle). His research is focused in two primary areas, the use of birds to indicate the health of the environment, and impacts of Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy, a fatal disease of eagles and waterfowl. He received a B.A. in biology from Western Michigan University, an M.A. in biology from Northern Michigan University, and a Ph.D. in fisheries and wildlife-environmental toxicology from Michigan State University.

Dr. Bowerman is the U.S. Co-chair of the International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Science Advisory Board (IJC) where he has been a member since 1996. This service has resulted in extensive experience in cross-boundary and multi-jurisdictional natural resources and pollution abatement management issues.

John Dellinger has been responsible for developing and administering the new Concordia University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He is the founding Chair of the Department and also the Associate Dean for Scholarship and Technology Transfer. Previously, he was a Professor of Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and the Director of the Illinois Poison Center.

For nearly three decades he has studied the developmental and neurotoxic effects of pharmaceuticals and environmental pollutants. He is most widely known for his fish consumption studies of the Ojibwe tribes of the upper North American Great Lakes which demonstrated not only the risks associated with contaminants (PCBs and mercury) in fish, but he also demonstrated that diets rich in fish provided healthy benefits including an apparent protection against chronic diseases in adults. Currently, his research includes studying the sources of omega-3 fatty acids in freshwater fish of the North American Great Lakes, but he still actively pursues clinical toxicology studies regarding addiction through his collaborations with Crossroads Antigua center.

Dr. Dellinger has been a member of the IJC Health Professionals Task force since 2000, and in 2010 he became the Co-Chair from the U.S. The primary function of this task force is to provide the commissioners with a health professional perspective on the issues related to human health for the international watersheds and Great Lakes treaties.

Dr. Jasim received his B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Baghdad University, Iraq, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wales, the United Kingdom.

He serves as the Director at the Great Lakes Regional Office of the International Joint Commission. He directs the Scientific and Technical programs, initiates strategic partnerships with the universities and other stakeholders in the water industry to work on emerging issues related to water quality.

Dr. Jasim was the founding CEO of the Walkerton Clean Water Centre and played a major role in establishing the centre to make it a leader in the drinking water industry for training, education and research.

Dr. Jasim served as the Water Quality and Production Director for the Windsor Utilities Commission. He proposed and successfully implemented the use of ozone in drinking water treatment in Windsor, Ontario.

Dr. Jasim has received awards for his work, including:

• International Ozone Association's Harvey Rosen Award for 2009-2010
• 2008 Emerald Award - Ontario Ministry of the Environment
• 2004 Engineer of the Year Award - Professional Engineers of Ontario
• 1998 Business Professional of the Year, Windsor & District Chamber of Commerce

In the past, Dr. Jasim was the President of the Ontario Water Works Association (OWWA). Currently, he is an Adjunct Research Professor at the University of Western Ontario and Adjunct Professor at the University of Windsor. Additionally, he serves as the President of the International Ozone Association-Pan American Group (IOA-PAG).

Raj Bejankiwar was Water Quality Specialist at the Essex Region Conservation Authority from 2006 to 2010. In this post, he played a major role in revamping the surface water monitoring program and water quality reporting. He also strengthened the ERCA’s water quality program by adding nearshore monitoring and wet weather monitoring to the network. Prior his work with the ERCA, Mr. Bejankiwar worked as Research Associate with National Rivers and Lakes Conservation Director (NRCD, the Government of India), and as Project Fellow at the National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute (NEERI), India. During this period he has extensively worked on waste management projects for industries such as tanneries, distilleries, pulp and paper, solvent extraction and sewage effluent plants. He has presented and published more than 25 papers on water quality and wastewater treatment processes. Mr. Bejankiwar is an executive member of the Soil and Water Conservation Society (Ontario Chapter) and Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the Monitoring and Research Work Group of the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup. He received his B.Sc. in biology and M.Sc. in analytical chemistry from Nagpur University, India, and his M.A.Sc.in environmental engineering from the University of Windsor.

Samantha Dupre spent the last eight months working as a research assistant for the International Joint Commission. As a research assistant, she was responsible for gathering information from a variety of primary and secondary sources to complete an analysis of the current status of risk assessments and early detection monitoring for aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin. She is interested in a wide variety of environmental issues and has previously worked for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment Canada and Carolinian Canada. She is currently completing the final year of her studies at the University of Waterloo with a major in Environment and Resource Studies and a minor in Biology, and hopes to expand upon the IJC research project in completing her undergraduate thesis.

Mr. Burrows is a Physical Scientist at the International Joint Commission (IJC)’s Great Lakes Regional Office in Windsor, Ontario. He has served as IJC's Secretary of the Council of Great Lakes Research Managers (CGLRM) since 2000. The CGLRM advises the IJC on Great Lakes research issues and fosters collaboration and communications among Great Lakes research institutions. He coordinates Council activities focusing on issues related to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, manages the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Research Inventory, and the Great Lakes Association of Science Ships database. Prior to working with the IJC, Mr. Burrows served in the U.S. Coast Guard for over twenty years in variety of assignments with a focus on commercial vessel safety, environmental protection and spill response. He holds an MSE in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of Michigan and a BS in Marine Science from the United States Coast Guard Academy.

Bob Dechert was first elected to the House of Commons in 2008 and re-elected in 2011. From March 2010, he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. In May 2011, Mr. Dechert was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Dechert is a former senior partner with one of Canada’s largest law firms, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, a former president of the Empire Club of Canada, and a former national president of the British Canadian Chamber of Trade and Commerce. He is also qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales.

Throughout his career, Bob has had a close-up view of the issues faced by Canadian businesses, their employees and consumers.

Active in Conservative Politics for over 35 years, Bob volunteered in both federal and provincial elections and served in various roles on all levels of National and Provincial organizations and campaigns. He has also served as president of the Empire Club of Canada and president of the British-Canadian Chamber of Trade and Commerce.

Born in Brampton, Bob obtained an economics degree from McMaster University in Hamilton. He obtained his law degree from the University of Toronto, and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1985.

Bob currently serves on:

- Foreign Affairs Committee
- Canada China Legislative Association
- Canada Japan Inter Parliamentary Group
- Canada UK Interparliamentary Association
- Canada US Interparliamentary Association
- Friendship Groups of Malaysia, Poland, Ukraine, Taiwan, Philippines and Russia

Bob has lived in Mississauga for many years with his wife Ruth Clark.

Dr. Michael J. Donahue is corporate Vice President with URS Corporation, a global consulting firm specializing in planning, engineering, architectural and design services. Donahue focuses on water resources and environmental services for national and international clients and, among others, is leading ecosystem and coastal restoration initiatives in the binational Great Lakes region and the Gulf Coast. He has 25 years of public and private sector experience in all aspects of program and project design, development and management and implementation. Areas of special expertise include water resources planning, management and policy; organizational design, operations and leadership; and government, industry and community relations.

Dr. Donahue’s experience includes executive leadership positions in the public sector, where he served for 17 years as President/ Chief Executive Officer of the Great Lakes Commission, a binational agency specializing in planning, policy, technical services and project management. Dr. Donahue holds appointments on a number of national and international advisory and policy boards, serving as Vice Chairman of the Chief of Engineer’s Environmental Advisory Board and U.S. Chairman of the Science Advisory Board, International Joint Commission. He presently holds adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, where he is actively engaged in teaching, research, writing and consulting on a range of water resources and related environmental topics. Dr. Donahue is a three time graduate of the University of Michigan, with an undergraduate degree in Resource Policy and Management, a master’s degree in Public Policy, and a doctorate in Urban, Technological and Environmental Planning.

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John is presently an adjunct professor in the Biology Department at Queen’s University and retired senior scientist who supervised research on Lake Ontario for the Ontario government. As an environmental physiologist and ecologist researching fish age, growth, and production, he is particularly interested in long-term studies indexing fish and fisheries and the effects of climate and climate change. In recent years, he has concentrated on prediction and adaptation and believes that research should be strongly linked to science transfer. In August he received the 2008 Award of Excellence of the American Fisheries Society.

Dr. Shannon Briggs is a Toxicologist and manages the beach monitoring program for the Water Resources Division of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. She helped create and manage BeachGuard which provides beach information on the internet, she is a member of the Beach Health Steering Committee for the United States Geological Survey (USGS), co-founder of the Great Lakes Beach Association (GLBA) that began in 2001, served as President of the GLBA from 2005 to 2006 and currently serves as an advisory member. Dr. Briggs has a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Michigan State University.

Pamela Scharfe is a graduate of Ryerson University and a Canadian Certified Public Health Inspector. She retired after a 34 year career in environmental public health, having worked in both urban and rural settings in the province of Ontario. Pamela is currently working as a Project Manager in the Planning Division of the firm BM Ross Engineers & Planners.
Pamela resides on the south east shore of Lake Huron and is very passionate about water protection and has sat on numerous committees dealing with local and Great Lakes water protection. She is currently Vice-Chair of the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation and Vice-Chair of the Environmental Health Foundation of Canada.

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Dr. David Carpenter is a Professor at the Environmental Health and Toxicology Division, School of Public Health at the University of Albany in New York. Dr. Carpenter is currently an editorial advisor of the Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice and International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health. He is the host of a 30-minute public health information show called "The Public Radio Health Show", which is carried on more than 170 stations nationwide including the Armed Forces Radio Network and Voice of America. Prior to joining the University at Albany, Dr. Carpenter was a Research Physician at the Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research.

Dr. Kashian's research focuses on the role of disturbance, including invasive species, climate change, and contaminants, on aquatic communities and ecosystems of the Great Lakes. Her work specifically focuses on how multiple disturbances impact toxicity. Her work involves multidisciplinary collaborations incorporating science, policy, engineering, sociology, and industry professionals in addressing complex environmental issues. She strives to develop an understanding of interactions among organisms, the environment, and humans at local and even global scales.

Meredith B. Nevers is a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center in Porter, Indiana. She received her B.A. in biology/English from Wittenberg University and her M.S. in marine biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She has worked with the USGS for the past 14 years. Her research interests include microbiological contamination of beaches, improving public health protection through beach monitoring, impact assessments on biological communities, and aquatic ecology. Nevers has published extensively on beach health and improving monitoring accuracy through predictive modeling as well as in the ecology and natural occurrence of indicator bacteria. She is the team leader for predictive modeling in her research group. Nevers is an active member of the Great Lakes Beach Association, American Society for Microbiology, and the International Water Association. Within her research program, she currently explores environmental sources and processes influencing nearshore water quality and models to improve real-time water quality estimations.

Carol Miller is Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Wayne State University. She is an active water resources researcher, having received grants from the National Science Foundation, Great Lakes Protection Fund, Engineering Foundation, and others. Her research has included both surface and subsurface water supplies and has recently included topics with a water/energy interface.

Dr. Miller teaches courses in Fluid Mechanics, Engineering Sustainability, River Engineering, and Groundwater Hydraulics. She is especially interested in urban environmental issues, having helped launch the Urban Watershed Environmental Research Group (UWERG) at Wayne State University. Dr. Miller received all her academic degrees from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Michigan and past chair of the State Licensing Board. Her favorite off-campus activities most always include either a tennis racket or water.

Professor Marcia Valiante teaches courses in Canadian Environmental Law, Municipal Law, Land Use Planning Law, and International Environmental Law. Her research and publications cover a range of issues in Canadian environmental law and policy, Canada-U.S. environmental relations with a focus on the Great Lakes, water law, and citizen access to environmental decision-making.

She is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. She sits on the International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Science Advisory Board and is active in the Detroit River Canadian Clean-up. In May 2007, she was appointed a part-time member of the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal.

Matthew P. Cullen is president and chief operating officer of Rock Ventures LLC, an umbrella entity formed to provide operational coordination, guidance, and integration to Quicken Loans and Dan Gilbert's portfolio of companies and investments.

Cullen also has responsibility for Gilbert's "Detroit 2.0" initiative, which is an effort to spark development in the city, and includes Quicken Loans national headquarters' recent move to downtown Detroit. In addition, Cullen is president and chief operating officer of Rock Gaming LLC, a Midwest-based gaming partnership formed with an initial focus to develop first-class casinos in downtown Cincinnati and downtown Cleveland, which will create thousands of jobs and spark urban development in two of Ohio's largest cities.

Cullen is a 29-year veteran of General Motors (GM) where he was general manager of economic development and enterprise services. In addition to coordinating economic development initiatives in the communities in which GM operates, he created a shared services organization and had responsibility for the corporation's vast 450 million sq. ft. global real estate portfolio.
Cullen was chief architect of GM's $500 million acquisition and development of the Renaissance Center as the automaker's global headquarters. In that role, he also oversaw the billion dollar redevelopment of the city's international riverfront and became the founding chairman of the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy, whose vision is to create more than five miles of continuous walkways along the river.
Cullen also serves as volunteer CEO of the M-1 RAIL light rail line initiative that will be the foundation of a Southeast Michigan regional transit system. The 3.4 mile light rail line along Woodward Avenue will connect Detroit's largest cultural, entertainment and employment centers and drive economic development for a stronger city. It will also be the catalyst for a broader regional transit system that will make the Detroit area more globally competitive by fostering new investment and helping retain and attract top talent.
In addition, Cullen is the chairman of Invest Detroit; vice chairman of the Downtown Detroit Partnership; serves on the executive committees for Mosaic Youth Theater and the University of Detroit Mercy; and is a Hudson-Webber Foundation board member. He has previously chaired the Metropolitan Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau, The Parade Company and the Metropolitan Detroit YMCA, and retains current executive committee membership with all three organizations. For more than 10 years, Cullen served as the governor-appointed chairman of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) Executive Committee.
Cullen earned a degree in economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Detroit Mercy. He also completed the Senior Executive Program at Harvard University.
A native Detroiter, he resides with his wife Karen and their three sons in metro Detroit.

Dr. Whitman has studied the aquatic resources of the Great Lakes nearly 30 years. He was an associate professor at Indiana University NW for ten years and served as chief scientist for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for six years before becoming the chief of the USGS Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station, where he has been for the past 15 years. He is an internationally recognized expert in the occurrence and distribution of indicator bacteria in temperate waters and has produced over 100 scientific papers during his career. His contributions include descriptions of new species, identification of new exotic species within the Great Lakes, discovery of new, non-enteric sources of indicator bacteria, and development of modeling paradigms for recreational water quality. His particular interest is the microbes inhabiting lake and stream sands and other natural aquatic habitats.

Cameron Davis is Senior Advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. In that capacity he provides counsel to Administrator Lisa Jackson on the Obama Administration’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. His job includes coordinating Great Lakes policy and funding initiatives with more than a dozen federal agencies and with state, municipal, tribal, business and civic stakeholders. The focus of this work involves restoring habitat, reducing pollution, cleaning up toxic hotspots, preventing the introduction of invasive species, reducing runoff and enhancing coastal health for people, fish and wildlife.

For more than two decades, Mr. Davis has worked to develop and implement water quality and quantity policy. Starting as a volunteer, he served as a litigating attorney and law teacher at the University of Michigan Law School before serving as CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. He earned his law degree, including certification in environmental and energy law, from the Kent College of Law and a B.A. from Boston University in International Relations.

While working in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and throughout the eight Great Lakes states, Cam lives across the street from Lake Michigan with his wife Katelyn, a child psychologist, and young son, where they try to swim in the lake several times a week, but only when it’s warm enough.

With training in environmental and physical studies, he has held various management and administrative positions with Environment Canada since 1981. He currently develops and coordinates the Government of Canada's multi-departmental Great Lakes Program as Director of Great Lakes and Corporate Affairs of Environment Canada's Ontario Region.

Matthew has combined a distinguished academic career with senior executive experience in Government.

Prior to assuming his current position, Matthew served from 2004-2009 as a Deputy Minister in the Ontario government where he held responsibility, variously, for Intergovernmental Affairs, the Democratic Renewal Secretariat, and the Office of International Relations and Protocol. He also served as Associate Secretary to the Cabinet in Cabinet Office.

Prior to joining the Ontario government, Matthew was a member of the Political Studies Department at Queen’s University for over a decade where he published widely on Canadian politics, Quebec politics, public opinion, federalism and democratic institutions. He also served as Director of the Canadian Opinion Research Archive.

From 1996 – 1998, Matthew took a leave from Queen’s to work with the federal government as a Senior Advisor in Privy Council Office, where he worked on national unity and constitutional issues, and served as team lead for public opinion research.

Matthew received his B.A. from McGill University and Ph.D. from the l’Université de Montréal, and held a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia. Matthew serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations.

Ted Smith has worked for the EPA for 21 years, and has served as the Great Lakes National Program Office Pollution Prevention and Toxics team leader for the past 10 years. Prior to coming to the Agency, Ted worked in the petrochemical industry as a design engineer for several years. Ted has a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois Champaign - Urbana, and a Masters Degree in Environmental Chemistry from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Mr. Austin was first elected to the Michigan State Board of Education in 2000 and serves as board president. He is Director of the Great Lakes Economic Initiative with the Brookings Institution and previously held the position of Executive Director of the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan. Austin served as policy director for the Lieutenant Governor's Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth. He is also a Lecturer at the University of Michigan. Mr. Austin holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College in Economics and Political Science.

Dr. Gary Klecka is a Senior Fellow with the Toxicology and Environmental Research Laboratory of The Dow Chemical Company. He holds B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin. He has been a research scientist and technical consultant with Dow since 1980. His research is focused on the fate, transport, effects, and risks of organic chemicals in the environment. He has conducted research on the mechanism and kinetics of organic chemical degradation in wastewater treatment systems, the fate and transport of chemicals in surface waters and sediments, and extensive work on the microbial transformations and bioremediation of organic compounds in groundwater. As a leader on EPA’s Remediation Technologies Development Forum Bioremediation of Action Committee, he led a research program examining the importance of natural attenuation of chlorinated solvents in groundwater conducted at Dover AFB. For over 15 years, he has applied these concepts to the remediation of groundwater contaminants at industrial facilities around the world. Dr. Klecka has considerable experience in the evaluation of environmental persistence and transport potentials of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances (PBTs), and he has served as Chairman or Co-chair of two SETAC Pellston Workshops on the Evaluation of Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) chemicals and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Among his current interests include the biological fate and effects of endocrine active compounds and other chemicals of emerging concern in wastewater treatment systems and receiving waters. As a member of the International Joint Commission’s Science Advisory Board, he has served as co-chair of the Chemicals of Emerging Concern Workgroup for the past two priority cycles. In addition to the assessment of environmental exposures to chemicals of emerging concern in the Great Lakes basin, he is currently leading a project to assess the performance of wastewater treatment facilities in the watershed.

Gavin Christie is newly manager of the Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences with Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Burlington, Ontario. He received training in ecology and fisheries science at the University of Toronto. Gavin spent two decades as a member of the secretariat of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission working to tackle the challenge of the invasive sea lamprey in the Great Lakes. He recently spent time the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources as part of their Lake Ontario management team. In his new role, Gavin is participating with the Great Lakes Water Quality Board, Council of Great Lakes Research Managers, and the Aquatic Invasive Species rapid response workgroup.

Click here to read Chris Marvin's bio at Environment Canada

Lori Boughton was appointed Director of Pennsylvania's Office of the Great Lakes in November 2002. She is part of the Department of Environmental Protection and is responsible for overseeing, coordinating, and implementing all of Pennsylvania's environmental activities in the Great Lakes. She represents Pennsylvania on numerous international and national Commissions and Boards within the Basin, including the International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Water Quality Board. Locally, she is focused on protecting Presque Isle Bay and the Lake Erie watershed. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Boughton worked on watershed and strategic planning issues for DEP while on a one year loan from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency. Ms. Boughton was with EPA for twelve years and worked in various programs dealing with hazardous waste investigation, regulation, cleanup, and property reuse.

Patty Birkholz was recently appointed by Governor Rick Snyder as Director of the Office of the Great Lakes. She just completed two terms in the Michigan Senate and three terms in the Michigan House of Representatives. She was chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee where she provided leadership on a variety of key Great Lakes issues including the adoption of the Great Lakes Water Compact, passage of state regulations for water withdrawal, and ballast water regulations.

Murray was a water quality Research Scientist with Environment Canada in Burlington for 33 years before retiring in 2007. His studies covered all the Great Lakes except Michigan. Murray has been interested in near shore issues for a long time and was the co-author of the 1996 SOLEC Nearshore Report. In 2005 the International Joint Commission awarded Murray the Biennial Award for Great Lakes Science for outstanding research and leadership dedicated to restoring the health of the Great Lakes. Murray received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association for Great Lakes Research and was their keynote speaker in 2010. He continues his interest in Great Lakes issues.

Sommer Abdel-Fattah completed her Bachelor degree in Science (H. BSc) in 2002 and went on to complete a Master’s degree in Engineering and Public Policy at McMaster University.
Sommer is currently a PhD Candidate conducting research on Climate Change in the Great Lakes with Dr. Gail Krantzberg. Sommer’s research involves statistically predicting local future climate at several AOC in order to access the future risk to the beneficial uses and create adaptation solutions and policy responses. This research has recently been awarded by the International Association of Great Lakes Research. Sommer also recently completed a research project for the International Joint Commission‘s Work group on Binational Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Rapid Response. For this project, she performed an assessment of Chemical Response Tools used for AIS rapid response. Sommer is passionate about conservation, adaptation response and policy implementation.

Frank Ettawageshik lives in Harbor Springs, Michigan, with his wife, Rochelle. They have four adult children and four grandchildren. An Odawa (Ottawa) Indian from northern Lower Michigan, he grew up in Harbor Springs, on Little Traverse Bay, in the Odawa homeland of Waganakising (the Crooked Tree). He opened Pipigwa Pottery & Gallery in 1974 in Traverse City, Michigan.

In 1989 Frank was elected to the board of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB) serving as Vice-chairman until April of 1991 at which time he became Tribal Chairman. He held this office until July of 1999. In 1994, the LTBB successfully ended a 120 year legal dispute with the US Government with the passage of Public Law 103-324 which reaffirmed the political relationship between the LTBB and the United States. While Tribal Chairman, Frank was the CEO of the tribal administration and he represented the LTBB in its dealings with the governments of other Tribes, the State of Michigan and the United States. Frank served as the Chairman of the tribe’s Economic Development Commission 2002-2003 before being reelected as Tribal Chairman in July 2003. In August 2005 he was elected to a four year term as the first Tribal Chairman serving as the head of the Executive Branch of the Tribal Government under a new Tribal constitution adopted on February 1, 2005.

As an artist, Frank has worked to revive the making of the traditional Indian pottery of the Great Lakes area. After years of research and experimentation his pots are virtually indistinguishable from the pots once made in Michigan. Not only was his goal to make the pots that his ancestors had made, but also to revive traditional pottery making as a contemporary art form in the Indian communities of Michigan. His pottery is in public and private collections throughout the world. In addition to making pottery, Frank is a traditional storyteller. His father, Fred, was a well known storyteller throughout Michigan. Many of the stories told by Frank are ones that have been passed down from his father.

Each year since 1974 Frank has given numerous demonstrations, lectures, workshops and in-service training programs on stoneware pottery, Indian pottery, Indian culture and storytelling. He has also worked as a consultant for several universities, museums and private organizations.

In 2005, Ettawageshik was a leading advocate to bring together both Native American and First Nation groups to form the United Indian Nations of the Great Lakes – a new organization dedicating to restoration and protection of the waters of the Great Lakes in the U.S. and Canada.

Dr. Joseph F. Koonce is a Professor of Biology at Case Western Reserve University with a secondary appointment as Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer and Science. He received his B.A. Degree from Dartmouth College and M.S. and Ph.D. Degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in Zoology. Dr. Koonce has broad research interests in aquatic systems ecology. He has served on a number of Boards and advisory committees for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the International Joint Commission, National Research Council, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He served as the Ecosystem Partnership Coordinator for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (1992-1993) and as U.S. Co-chair of the Habitat Advisory Board of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (1997-1999). Currently, Dr. Koonce is the leader of the Lake Erie Ecological Modelling Project a co-director of the Center for the Environment of Case Western Reserve University.