Howard Neukrug, PE, BCEE, Hon. D.WRE
Professor of Practice in Water Leadership and Innovation, University of Pennsylvania
Senior Fellow, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy
Faculty Fellow, Penn Institute for Urban Research
Principal, CASE Environmental LLC
Senior Advisor, Global Water Leaders Group
Mr. Neukrug comes to us with nearly 40 years of experience in the Water Industry, most recently as the CEO of Philadelphia Water. He is a national expert, advisor, lecturer and professor on water infrastructure, technology, science, policy, regulations and management and water’s role in creating sustainable and resilient cities. Mr. Neukrug is a Professional Engineer, a member of the US National Drinking Water Advisory Council, and, most recently, was named the Professor of Practice in Water Leadership and Innovation at The University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Neukrug is also the principal of CASE Environmental LLC, which provides consulting advice to cities, water utilities, foundations and private companies and is a Senior Advisor to the Global Water Leaders Group and Chair of its Leading Utilities of the World CEO Network.
Nooshin Razani, MD, MPH
Director, Center for Nature and Health, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland
Reed Addis
Principal, Environmental and Energy Consulting
Reed Addis provides strategic and legislative support for EEC’s clients. This includes the establishment of advocacy programs, development of policy positions, and relationships within the Legislature and Administration. Mr. Addis works with legislators, agency staff, and other advocates to monitor political processes to help clients maximize their influence over policy decisions and increase funding opportunities for their programs. Prior to founding EEC, Mr. Addis worked for nine years with the consulting firm, Conservation Strategy Group (CSG), where he worked on funding and policy advocacy as the firm’s legislative director.
Mr. Addis has served as an adviser to Assembly Budget Chair John Laird, Representative Sam Farr, and Speaker Pro Tempore Fred Keeley, and has extensive experience with issues ranging from recycling and conservation to environmental protection and clean energy policy. Mr. Addis also has experience in human rights law, as he consulted with the European Union at the Danish Institute for Human Rights to promote corporate social responsibility standards at private corporations.
Mr. Addis graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz with degrees in Environmental Studies and Politics.
Don Bessler
Director of Public Works at City of Tempe
The Tempe Public Works Department is responsible for the stewardship of all city-owned infrastructure. This includes the street network, lights and signals, bridges, storm drains, public buildings, golf courses, parks and pathways, transit system including buses and bus stops, water distribution and wastewater collection. The city’s infrastructure system plays an important role in maintaining sound economic conditions and a high standard of living for the community. Public Works uses a formal program for managing more than $7 billion worth of investments in city infrastructure.
Under the direction of Public Works Director Don Bessler, more than 400 employees are responsible for maintaining and renovating the city’s infrastructure. Public Works also provides Tempe businesses and residents with life-essential city services, such as trash & recycling and transit operations. We maintain public buildings and the city’s fleet of vehicles and equipment. Public Works is also responsible for the procurement of all contracts related to design and construction within the city.
Dr. Akif Eskalen
Plant Pathologist and Cooperative Extension Specialist, University of California, Riverside
Akif Eskalen is an Extension Specialist in plant pathology and microbiology at the University of California, Riverside. He received Ph.D. in plant protection and mycology at the University Cukurova in Turkey. Dr. Eskalen completed a post-doctoral research and then worked as a project scientist in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis.
Dr. Eskalen’s primary research interests include the identification, biology, epidemiology and control of fungal pathogens including insect vectored fungal diseases.
Dan Flanagan
Executive Director, Friends of the Urban Forest
Dan Flanagan is a seasoned leader, team-builder, fundraiser and fiscal manager. For more than two decades he has primarily served in the non-profit world.
Dan is Executive Director of Friends of the Urban Forest, a non-profit organization that helps individuals and neighborhood groups to plant and care for street trees and sidewalk gardens in San Francisco.
Previously, he held leadership positions at several non-profit organizations, including Interim Executive Director and Board Chair at Frameline, the oldest and largest LGBT film festival; President and CEO at Yosemite National Institutes, which provides educational wilderness adventures; and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the North Carolina Outward Bound School.
Dan also held leadership positions in the private sector, including Board Member at Aircast, Inc., a successful orthopedic device company; Chairman and CEO at the Wall Street investment firm of Josephthal and Company Inc.; and Chairman at Josephthal’s successor, JCH Holdings.
Dan earned bachelor degrees in History and French at Middlebury College in Vermont and a Degree Superieur at the Universite Aix-en-Provence in France.
Ryan Gilipin
Environmental Analyst at HortScience
Ryan Gilpin is the Environmental Analyst at HortScience. In addition to working as a consulting arborist, Ryan has an interest and background in wildlife habitat and ecology. Ryan is co-author of the Tree Care for Wildlife in California Best Management Practices. He has a Bachelor’s degree from UC Davis in Environmental Biology and Management and a Master’s degree from Germany in International Nature Conservation.
Steve Harriman
Public Works Operations and Maintenance Division Manager for the City of Rancho Cordova
Community Enhancement Fund is funded by Measure H, a ½ cent local sales tax measure that was approved by Rancho Cordova citizens on November 4, 2014. The measure passed with 61% of residents in favor of the measure. It provides locally-controlled funds for local priorities that included hiring a city arborist and planting 100 trees in fiscal years 2015/2016.
John Kevin Jefferson III
Director of Research, Urban Releaf
John Kabashima, Ph.D.
Environmental Horticulture Advisor, Emeritus, UC Cooperative Extension
John’s varied research and extension programs have included the management of insects, diseases, and biological control of exotic and invasive pests.
John received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural biology from Cal Poly Pomona, master’s degree in pest management from UC Riverside, an MBA from Pepperdine University and a doctorate in Entomology from UC Riverside.
In 2014 he was inducted into the Green Industry Hall of Fame, and in 2016 he received the Arboriculture Research Award from the Western Chapter of the ISA.
John is currently working on the Invasive Shot-Hole Borers/Fusarium Dieback complex as an UCCE Emeritus Advisor.
Dr. Joe McBride
Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning, UC Berkeley
Joe R. McBride is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught courses in ecological analysis, forest ecology, urban forestry, and California landscapes during his time on the faculty at Berkeley. His research has focused on various aspects of urban forestry. This research has included studies of the effects of trees on air pollution in urban areas, transition of wildland forest to urban
forests, the influence of biome characteristics on urban forests around the world, the reconstruction of urban forest destroyed by warfare, and the impact of climate change on street trees in California. McBride received a B.S. in forestry from the University of Montana and M.S. (Forestry) and Ph.D. (Botany) degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Greg McPherson
Research Forester, USDA Forest Service
John Melvin
State Urban Forester, California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
John Melvin works for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) managing the Urban and Community Forestry Program (U&CF). John graduated from Humboldt State University in 1999 with Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Forestry and a minor in business. He is an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist (WE-5889A) and a California Urban Forest Council Certified Urban Forester (#101). He is also a State of California Registered Professional Forester (RPF #2817).
John worked in private industry utility forestry for two years prior to joining CAL FIRE in early 2002. He spent 7 years working as a Regional Urban Forester for CAL FIRE (4 years in southern CA, 3 years in northern CA) prior to promoting to manage the
U&CF Program. Other aspects of John’s job include: wild land firefighting, medical first response, and occasional geographic information systems (GIS) use.
CAL FIRE’s U&CF Program has delivered over $41 million in pass through grant funds, primarily from state funding sources, over the past 14 years. Grants were for tree planting, tree inventory, urban forest management plans, urban forestry education, and innovative urban forestry and urban greening projects.
Kevin O'Hara
Vice President of Urban and Government Affairs, NPRA
Kelaine Ravdin
Urban Ecologist, Owner, Urban Ecos
Kelaine Ravdin is an urban ecologist whose love of nature and cities guides her sustainability and green consulting work. She has a background in ecology and landscape architecture and has pursued research in these fields as a Fulbright Scholar in Berlin and with the U.S. Forest Service. Her firm, Urban Ecos, offers ecological consulting to cities, educational institutions, and private companies to make our cities greener, more sustainable, and more environmentally sound.
Jon Swae
Urban Forest Plan Manager, San Francisco Planning Department
Jon Swae is a Citywide Planner with the San Francisco Planning Department and Manager of the City’s Urban Forest Master Plan. He has over 10 years’ experience working to create more sustainable and resilient cities. He recently led the completion of San Francisco’s Street Tree Census – the first comprehensive inventory of the city’s street trees and vacant planting sites. Jon is also a member of the City of San Francisco’s Urban Forestry Council.