Eban Goodstein

Eban Goodstein directs the Graduate Programs in Sustainability at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Degree options include (1) the low-residency MBA in Sustainability based in NYC, ranked the #1 Green MBA by Princeton Review (2) M.S. Degrees in Environmental Policy and in Climate Science and Policy; and (3) an M.Ed. in Environmental Education. Professor Goodstein holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in Geology from Williams College.

Goodstein is the author of numerous articles and three books: Economics and the Environment, (John Wiley and Sons: 2020) now in its ninth edition; Fighting for Love in the Century of Extinction: How Passion and Politics Can Stop Global Warming (University Press of New England: 2007); and The Trade-off Myth: Fact and Fiction about Jobs and the Environment (Island Press: 1999).  His research has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, Time, The Economist, USA Today, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and he has testified in Congress on the employment impacts of environmental regulation.

He serves on the editorial board of Sustainability: The Journal of Record. For a decade, he also served on the Board of Directors of the Follett Corporation. Goodstein is best known for leading international educational events around climate change, engaging thousands of colleges, universities, and K-12 schools in solutions-based dialog. Next up: the WorldWide Teach-in on Climate and Justice set for March 30, 2022. At Bard he also directs C2C Fellows, a network of undergraduates and recent graduates who aspire to sustainability leadership in business, NGOs and government. 

Kristen Hazard

After earning degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Law, Kristen became fascinated by the challenges of Silicon Valley startups and programing and began to invest time bridging the gap between what people wanted and the code that created it and started developing software solutions. In 2008, Kristen built her first company, Suntoucher LLC., specializing in web and mobile applications to serve project managers and field staff. Along the way she also became a partner in an environmental consulting firm. This is where the prototype of the Wildnote app was born.

At Wildnote, a platform that replaces manual processes with automation to better manage environmental compliance, they rely on 20 years of agile development experience, expert industry guidance, meaningful user feedback, and a stellar team, to deliver a software experience that saves clients time, money and frustration when collecting, managing, and reporting environmental data.

Along the way, I found agile practices and Ruby which we combined to create joyful applications for all Suntoucher's clients. Aside from programming passions, Kristen also supporting the fight for our environment through 1% for the Planet movement, and empowering women through free JavaScript trainings with CodeSLO.

MICHAEL J. KALEDA, P.E.

Mike is a career construction management executive with 40 years of federal, state and local government experience as well as private practice.  Currently he is providing operational readiness services to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in preparation for the opening of their new station in Grand Central Terminal.  He is planning, organizing, and facilitating table-top exercises as well as pre-opening live exercises to ensure station staff are prepared for opening day revenue service 4Q/2022.  He managed the operational readiness program for NYS Empire State Development on the Moynihan Train Hall project – the first train station serving 10 or more platform tracks to be built in the United States since the 1930s, assisting Amtrak and the LIRR with a successful on-time opening January 1, 2021.  Prior to that he served as Senior Vice President and Program Executive for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Construction Company’s $11B East Side Access project – the largest active transportation infrastructure project in the United States.  In that capacity he was responsible for the re-construction of Harold Interlocking – the busiest 2-mile railroad corridor in North America.  During his career Mike managed military, school, and transportation construction programs.  He is a Professional Engineer in New York, a certified LEED AP, O+M professional and a Climate Change Ambassador (GBRI).  He graduated from Manhattan College with a BE in Civil Engineering, from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with an MBA in Management and from the University of Illinois with an MS in Civil Engineering.  He is a military veteran, having served on active duty in the United States Air Force and is the recipient of the Sverdrup and Toulmin medals from the Society of American Military Engineers.

He is a frequent lecturer at The Cooper Union and CUNY’s The Grove School of Engineering on professional ethics, communications, and best practices for a successful professional career in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry.

Micah Kotch

Micah Kotch serves as the Managing Director of URBAN-X by BMW/MINI and Urban Us. URBAN-X is the accelerator for startups reimagining city life. He is a founding partner at investment syndicate C3 which invests in early-stage climate tech startups.

Before joining URBAN-X, Micah served as the Director of NY Prize and Strategic Advisor for Innovation at NYSERDA.  At the NYU Tandon School of Engineering Micah served as Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where he launched NYC’s first sponsored tech incubator and the Urban Future Lab - helping emerging companies address climate, energy and resiliency opportunities. Micah has a track record of delivering results for utilities, government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions and startups.  He is a core national faculty member for the National Science Foundation’s i-CORPS program which focuses on commercializing federally-funded research.  

Micah graduated Colgate University with a degree in China studies and started his first company putting games on phones in China in 1998.  He is a Brooklyn native (where he lives with his family) and a proud board member for Green City Force, an Americorps program that engages young adults from low-income communities in national service related to the environment.  He is a Next City Vanguard Fellow and a member of the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Network.

Catherine Liu

Catherine Liu is an expert in primary and secondary education course design and training, with specialties in computer thinking, mind mapping, finance, coding and programming, robotics, 3D printing and STEM courses.

Catherine is Executive Chairman of CampassPoint Mentorship (CPM), a nation-wide education nonprofit planning organization dedicated to preparing high school students for university life. CPM has prepared more than 500 high school students for Ivy League schools, including Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, Cornell University and other top universities worldwide.

CPM was highly recognized by the former United States President Clinton’s “Clinton Global Initiative” and the California state government. Catherine is also a Board Member serving the Asian American Parents Association (AAPA), which focuses on solutions to challenges faced by children in basic education by providing training for students through various activities conducive to the development of children.

Toni Stein

Dr. Toni Stein works in developing engineering criteria for Sustainability Standards to reduce impacts from environmental and public health exposures especially in the built environment and conducting educational outreach to provide information and best practices to reduce impacts from environmental and public health exposures. She works to advocate and address issues of vulnerable populations.

Toni is the founder and Chair of the Occupational Environmental Health & Safety Alliance (OEHSA) (2014 to present) an organized labor organization and International Alliance that serves and advocates for improved Environmental Health & Safety of workers.