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Meet our Presenters
KEYNOTE
Ginger Scoggins
PE, CEM, CxA, LEED-AP, FASHRAE
Ginger Scoggins is a licensed mechanical engineer with 32 years of experience. She is the President and Co-owner of Engineered Designs, Inc., a full-service engineering which she founded 22 years ago. Ginger is also a certified commissioning agent, as well as a certified energy manager, and works on the design and commissioning of projects ranging from $4 million construction cost up to $90 million construction cost. Her focus is on designing high-performing buildings across a wide variety of markets.
In addition to running her firm, Ginger has been heavily involved in ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning engineers) since 1988 when she joined the Triangle Chapter in Raleigh, becoming the first female president of the chapter in the 1995-96 year, the first female Regional Vice-chair, and the first female Director & Regional Chair for the Region. Recently, Ginger completed a 2-year term as a National ASHRAE Society Vice-President and was named a Fellow of the organization. Ginger is the current President of ASHRAE.
LUNCHTIME PANEL - Empowering Change: Environmental Justice Initiatives & Justice40 Principles
Join us for an engaging lunchtime panel discussion as we explore the vital issue of environmental justice. Our panelists will illuminate local initiatives and projects that resonate with the principles of the Justice40 Initiative. Gain insight into how these initiatives are actively transforming the lives of Detroit communities, all while advancing a future characterized by fairness and sustainability. We invite you to be a part of this crucial conversation, one that aims to bridge divides, heighten awareness, and chart a path toward a more environmentally-conscious and equitable world.”t.
BREAKOUT PRESENTERS
Ann Dougherty, PE, General Manager of Sustainability, Roppe
Session: Is Choosing Green Costing You Green?
Bio: Ann Dougherty is the General Manager of Sustainability for RHC Family Companies, flooring manufacturers. She received her BS & Master's in Engineering and is a registered engineer in the State of Michigan. Ann Dougherty has worked in life cycle assessment, energy reduction, health risk assessment, culture change, education, sustainability marketing, and environmental cleanup, and studies anthropology at Wayne State.
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Brendan F. O'Leary, Ph.D., Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research, Wayne State University
Session: Neighborhood-scale sampling strategies and numerical models to understand subsurface environmental exposure pathways
Bio: Dr. Brendan O’Leary, Ph.D., is a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research at Wayne State University in Detroit. Dr. O’Leary’s research bridges multiple CLEAR projects. Currently, he is developing field screening techniques and numerical modeling approaches to understanding the subsurface transport of volatile organic compounds. Dr. O’Leary recently received a dual titled Ph.D. in civil engineering and urban sustainability at Wayne State University. He received his master’s in geology at Wayne State University and an undergraduate degree in geology and environmental science from Allegheny College.
Chaderique Menard, LEED AP, Principal of Education, NORR
Ashley S. Flintoff, PMP, LEED AP, Director of Planning, Wayne State University
Session: "From Old to Gold: Transforming Underutilized Buildings into Thriving Academic Spaces"
Bios:
Ashley is the Director of Planning and Space Management for WSU's Facilities Planning and Management department. She is a dual graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Masters of Community Development and has a Master of Urban Planning from Wayne State University. Ashley has been an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy on topics such as regional sustainability, community development for institutions, social media for nonprofits, and presentation skills.
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Chaderique, an education design thought leader, has 20+ years of experience crafting exceptional projects for private and public clients. As Principal, Education, he collaborates passionately with academic communities to drive design advancements. His award-winning projects, like Wayne State University STEM Innovation Center and Advance Technology Education Center, showcase his leadership across all design phases. Chaderique excels in campus planning, space programming, and fostering interactive student environments. He strongly supports equal access to digital and physical learning spaces, promoting global educational transformation. A Lawrence Technological University graduate, he brings 25 years of professional expertise.
Chris Bunch, Executive Director, Six Rivers Land Conservancy
Session: Sustainable by Nature​
Bio: Samantha works as the Director of Education for Plastic Oceans International and is currently pursuing her masters in public health at Wayne State University where she is also a T-RUST fellow focusing in environmental health and urban sustainability. As a True Zero Waste Advisor, she concentrates on material life cycles and our relationship with solid waste and its management. She is passionate about community engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration as sustainability issues are complex in character and require holistic solutions for long-term change
BREAKOUT PRESENTERS
Ann Dougherty, PE, General Manager of Sustainability, Roppe
Session: Is Choosing Green Costing You Green?
Bio: Ann Dougherty is the General Manager of Sustainability for RHC Family Companies, flooring manufacturers. She received her BS & Master's in Engineering and is a registered engineer in the State of Michigan. Ann Dougherty has worked in life cycle assessment, energy reduction, health risk assessment, culture change, education, sustainability marketing, and environmental cleanup, and studies anthropology at Wayne State.
Brendan F. O'Leary, Ph.D., Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research, Wayne State University
Carol Miller, Professor and Co-Director, Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) at Wayne State University
Session: Neighborhood-scale sampling strategies and numerical models to understand subsurface environmental exposure pathways
Bios:
Dr. Brendan O’Leary, Ph.D., is a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research at Wayne State University in Detroit. Dr. O’Leary’s research bridges multiple CLEAR projects. Currently, he is developing field screening techniques and numerical modeling approaches to understanding the subsurface transport of volatile organic compounds. Dr. O’Leary recently received a dual titled Ph.D. in civil engineering and urban sustainability at Wayne State University. He received his master’s in geology at Wayne State University and an undergraduate degree in geology and environmental science from Allegheny College.
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Carol Miller is Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at WSU, and co-Director of CLEAR.
Chaderique Menard, LEED AP, Principal of Education, NORR
Ashley S. Flintoff, PMP, LEED AP, Director of Planning, Wayne State University
Session: "From Old to Gold: Transforming Underutilized Buildings into Thriving Academic Spaces"
Bios:
Ashley is the Director of Planning and Space Management for WSU's Facilities Planning and Management department. She is a dual graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Masters of Community Development and has a Master of Urban Planning from Wayne State University. Ashley has been an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy on topics such as regional sustainability, community development for institutions, social media for nonprofits, and presentation skills.
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Chaderique, an education design thought leader, has 20+ years of experience crafting exceptional projects for private and public clients. As Principal, Education, he collaborates passionately with academic communities to drive design advancements. His award-winning projects, like Wayne State University STEM Innovation Center and Advance Technology Education Center, showcase his leadership across all design phases. Chaderique excels in campus planning, space programming, and fostering interactive student environments. He strongly supports equal access to digital and physical learning spaces, promoting global educational transformation. A Lawrence Technological University graduate, he brings 25 years of professional expertise.
Chris Bunch, Executive Director, Six Rivers Land Conservancy
Session: Sustainable by Nature​
Bio: Chris Bunch is Executive Director of Six Rivers Land Conservancy and is a dedicated land protection professional who has played a significant role in advancing the mission of land preservation and environmental stewardship. He is also President of Heart of the Lakes, a state association of land conservancies where he continues advocating for the preservation of natural landscapes across the state.
Gwendolyn Schmidt, WSU Office of Campus Sustainability
Session: Addressing Food Waste at Wayne State University
Bio: Gwen has been working with the Office of Campus Sustainability (OCS) at Wayne State for the past two years. She is studying environmental science and geology. Within the OCS, her focus has been on education and engagement in energy, carbon emissions, recycling, sustainable lifestyles, and food waste diversion.
Jason Lindy and Eric Douglas, King Street Block
Session: Saving Detroit Homes with Adaptive Reuse
Bios:
Eric has been at the forefront of community-based projects and campaigns in
Detroit. His notable achievements include building an off-grid strawbale greenhouse with an in-ground aquaponic system using natural and reclaimed materials. As a contributor team member for the Carbon Almanac Project, Eric brings a wealth of knowledge on sustainable practices and community engagement.
Jason has taught a USGBC course in Neighborhood Development. This course was based on a community-led plan for the greater Eastern Market that he facilitated through direct engagement of the residents and organizations in the area. Many of the elements of this plan have now been incorporated into Eastern Market’s official expansion plans. Since teaching this course Jason has received a formal education in historic restoration through a neighborhood training program called Living Trades Academy. For the past five years he and his colleagues have led a worker-owned home restoration cooperative called Building Cooperatively focused on serving the residents of Detroit.
Jessica Loding, Director of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, Schupan
Lex Rutledge, Sustainability Program Coordinator, Schupan
Session: Advancing Public Space Recycling Efforts Through Event Programming
Bios:
Jessica has more than 15 years of international event management experience. In the past eight years, she has specialized in integrating sustainable business practices with custom-created programming to enable events to positively contribute to the environment and community. She oversees an event and client portfolio of over 90 projects throughout the United States, which have diverted more than 2,175 tons of material annually from the landfill.
Lex is a recent graduate of Northwood University and has over three years of experience in the recycling industry. She lead the initiative at Northwood to create the first on campus recycling program. At Schupan, she leads customer accounts for large national clients including IndyCar and Detroit Jazz Festival.
Joel Howrani Heeres, Director, Public Sector Consultants
Session: Leveraging the inflation reduction act to promote climate resilience
Bio: While riding his bicycle from Michigan to California, observing the natural and human world at a slow pace, Joel realized that he wanted his work to improve people’s quality of life by helping them connect to and understand nature. As director on the energy and environment team, he helps organizations think strategically about improving their climate resilience by developing implementable frameworks for organizational transformation. Joel also revels in making data more visible and understandable through interactive visualizations. When he’s not helping communities plan for a more livable, resilient, and low-carbon future, you can find him traversing the state in search of great biking and skiing trails; growing, cooking, and preserving homegrown veggies; or coaching his kids’ soccer games. Learn more about Joel.
Justin Thompson and Tommie Dooley, Co-managers, Back Alley Bikes / The Hub of Detroit
Session: Reuse, Rebuild, Re*cycle*: Back Alley Bikes as a Community Bicycle Resource
Bios:
Justin is the co-manager of the Hub of Detroit and Back Alley Bikes. He believes bikes can be used as tools toward social and environmental justice, and he is honored to be able to work to make Detroit the best bike city it can be!
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Tommie started fixing bikes at 14, since before he even knew what he was doing. He happened to move around the way from the Hub and got a job as a mechanic, and as he learned more about bike repair there he realized he'd found his calling. It's not just working on bikes that Tommie enjoys but also the feeling of doing a good job helping keep the community's bikes running. He's currently helping manage the Hub and Back Alley Bikes, splitting his time between fixing bikes at the shop and teaching people repair skills at the community workshop.
Keenan Gibbons, PLA, LEED GA, SmithGroup, University of Michigan
Session: Selden Courtyard: Reclaiming Detroit's Industrial Hardscape
Bio: Keenan is a licensed landscape architect and urban design professional practicing in the Detroit area of southeast Michigan. His expertise is in the sustainable planning, design, and implementation of green infrastructure, parks, streetscapes, and creative stormwater management strategies. Keenan is a lecturer at the University of Michigan and advanced in digital media, design and computational/parametric modeling, and is an FAA Remote Pilot actively conducting heat island research.
Kyle Ritchie, Consulting Team Lead, Catalyst Partners
Session: Energize via Circular Economics
Bio: Kyle is the Author of the Circular Economy for Dummies and the Consulting Team Lead at Catalyst Partners, in Grand Rapids, MI. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Boston Architectural College, teaching Energy in the Built Environment and Resilient Design for the College's Master of Sustainable Design Program. In addition, he is the CEO and Founder of the Circular Economy Studio, which is composed of consultants around the world who are driving forward the adoption of circular practices within the built environment through education, writing and research. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from Ball State University and a Master's Degree in Sustainable Design from the Boston Architectural College (BAC). Kyle is a LEED BD+C, ID+C, WELL, and EcoDistricts Accredited Professional with 10 years of experience in the AEC Industry.
Lisa DuRussel RLA, LEEP AP, Landscape Architect + Assistant Professor of Practice, UM-Ann Arbor School for Environment and Sustainability
Tanya Stephens, Director of Land Stewardship, Detroit Vacant Land CDC
Session: Detroit Land Lab
Bios:
Lisa DuRussel, RLA, LEED AP, ASLA has a unique background as an educator, landscape architect, urban ecologist, builder and design activist. Her 15+ years of experience has resulted in a progressive landscape design portfolio of professional work, creative inquiry into ecology + design, a flexibility in teaching interests and enthusiasm for transdisciplinary collaboration within the academy and the profession. Her desire to teach was born from an interest to create a stronger connection between theory and practice - - - to expand practice by deepening design inquiry through the lens of landscape architecture. She has led the design and implementation of award-winning projects that innovate on ecological design as a project leader at established design firms: West 8 New York, Future Green Studio Brooklyn, MNLA New York, and Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects Chicago. Her own collaborative practice dubbed Site Science, partners students - that she calls “Field Catalysts” with nonprofits and community partners to use landscape as a lens to amplify thoughtful public engagement with collaborative action and impact.
Tanya Stephens, Director of Land Stewardship, Detroit Vacant Land CDC specializes in the preservation, beautification, and activation of Detroit’s vacant land through creative land re-use, transforming it into one of the City’s greatest assets. Her practice is keenly focused on creative neighborhood regeneration strategies, preserving cultural arts, material culture, public art, and physical legacies in Detroit’s historic cultural neighborhoods.
Marta Gazda-Auskalnis, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, SEED, Associate and Project Manager, SmithGroup
Dan Kinkead, AIA, NCARB, Principal, Director for National Urban Design Practice, SmithGroup
Session: Adaptive Reuse: a stealth, and meaningful, sustainable projects approach
Bios:
Marta Gazda-Auskalnis is an architect and an enthusiastic designer with 25 years of professional experience working in Chicago and Detroit neighborhoods. Marta has worked on a broad range of project types and scales including many adaptive reuse projects for institutional clients, not-for-profit organizations, and private developers. She is passionate about sustainability and making positive and lasting impact through her work on the communities she works in.
Dan Kinkead is a Principal, Design Architect, National Urban Design Practice Director for SmithGroup. He has over 25 years of experience in urban design, adaptive reuse, and mixed-use developments. Dan’s work carefully integrates intuitive creativity and analytical methods to yield transformative impacts for clients, stakeholders, and cities across the globe. Formerly a Director of Projects for Detroit Future City, Dan is passionate about Detroit’s renewal.
Rahul Mitra, Associate Professor, Superfund Research Program Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) at Wayne State University
Lyke Thompson, Professor and Director, Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State U.
Session: Community-Centered Research for Environmental Health: Volatile Organic Chemicals in Detroit
Bios:
Rahul Mitra (PhD, Purdue University) is an Associate Professor of organizational communication at Wayne State University, and currently leads the Research Translation team at the university's National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) Superfund Research Program.
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Lyke Thompson is Director of the WSU Center for Urban Studies, and leads CLEAR’s Community Engagement Core.
Shane Trexler, Principal, Sustainable Consulting Group, LLC
Session: Decrypting Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG)
Bio: Shane has a depth of experience in sustainable design and engineering. He has advised local, federal, and private entities on the implementation of their energy conservation plans. He has also designed, developed and integrated renewable energy technologies across private, commercial, and government clients. As society turns to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) to provide additional insight into a company’s operations, Shane and the SCG team have worked with industry leaders to provide quantifiable methods of conveying ESG strategies to your clients and the market. Shane holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an Master of Business Administration from George Mason University. Shane has authored and presented at sustainability conferences in the U.S. and abroad.
Stephanie Campeau, Senior Director Stakeholder and Community Relations, Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority
Session: The Gordie Howe International Bridge – Energizing Southwest Detroit
Bio: Stephanie is the Senior Director of Stakeholder Relations at WDBA, with more than 20 years of experience as a professional communicator. Since 2015, Stephanie has led the development and implementation of a comprehensive engagement strategy for WDBA in Canada and the United States. Prior to joining WDBA, Stephanie worked in a variety of sectors including post-secondary, automotive and utility. She holds a BA Honours degree in Communication Studies from the University of Windsor.
Steve Christensen, Commissioning Provider, Catalyst Partners
Session: Connecting LEED and ENERGY STAR: Stronger Together
Bio: Steve is a Commissioning Provider with Catalyst Partners, an employee-owned, women led, B Corp certified organization providing sustainability consulting and services since 2002. Steve has 23 years of experience in residential sustainable construction covering both single- and multi-family dwellings. Prior to working for Catalyst Partners, Steve was the Assistant Director of Weatherization at Wayne Metro Community Action in Detroit, MI.
Steve is a RESNET HERS Rater, BPI Energy Auditor, PHIUS Verifier and holds LEED AP - Homes and Green Associate credentials. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology and a Juris Doctor, both from Wayne State University.