Reverend Houston Cypress
|
|
Keynote Speaker
Artist, activist, poet, and ordained minister Reverend Houston Cypress serves as the head of Love the Everglades, an organization devoted to the development of platforms and initiatives for environmental protection and cultural preservation. Cypress also uses his platform to speak out as an advocate for two-spirited and non-binary gender peoples, cultural preservation, business development, and sovereignty. Cypress acts as a cultural ambassador, fostering meaningful exchanges between his society of native clans and the Miami community. Recently he presented a lecture entitled "Decolonizing Gender, Land, and Spirit" at ICA Miami as a way of connecting with the environment and cultivating more diverse and inclusive communities.
|
Mauro Galetti
|
|
Dr. Mauro Galetti is a tropical ecologist at the University of Miami and Director of the Gifford Arboretum. His current research centers broadly on the effects of animal extinction on key ecological, evolutionary and ecosystem processes. Dr. Galetti has intensively worked in understanding how trophic cascades propagates in tropical forest and savanna ecosystems. He has long experience in tropical forests in Brazil. Dr. Galetti is also responsible for auditing one of the largest dataset on the Biodiversity of the Atlantic forest of Brazil.
|
Caroline Lewis
|
|
Speaker
As Founder and Senior Advisor of the CLEO Institute, Caroline Lewis promotes climate literacy and support for bold action. As Senior Advisor, she works with a stellar team to advance climate action as the urgent imperative it is. In 2002, Lewis, a science teacher and high school principal, created the Fairchild Challenge interdisciplinary environmental education program that annually engaging tens of thousands of students in Miami and around the world. As the 2016 founding Director of Cushman High School, Lewis worked with a strong team to provide a unique vision for a rigorous, creative, character-based and civic engagement-focused high school education.
|
Delaney Reynolds
|
|
Speaker
Delaney is a fourth generation Miamian and splits her time between the cosmopolitan city of a few million people where she was born and No Name Key, a 1,000-acre island in the Florida Keys, where her family owns a solar powered home. She is a Foote Fellow and Singer Scholar at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science where she’s pursuing a double major in Marine Science and Coastal Geology, as well as a minor in Climate Science and Policy.
Delaney is the founder and CEO of The Sink or Swim Project, an NGO focused on climate education and advocacy, as well as its website miamisearise.com, where she publishes a popular blog. She is a Board Member for The CLEO Institute, a Dream in Green Youth Ambassador, a Celebration of the Seas Youth Ambassador and sits on the Miami-Dade County Committee of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities. Former service roles include acting as the Director of Sustainability for the Miami Beach Pop Music Festival and member of Philippe Cousteau's EarthEcho International Youth Leadership Council.
She has authored and illustrated three children’s books about the environment in and around No Name Key, as well as a comic adventure book on climate change entitled Where Did All The Polar Bears Go?. She has given a popular TEDx Talk at the Adrienne Arsht Center, appeared with actor/musician Jack Black on the National Geographic Channel's Years of Living Dangerously, with former Vice President Al Gore on MTV's An Inconvenient Special, and with explorer Philippe Cousteau on his Xploration Awesome Planet on FOX. She has addressed the United Nations General Assembly, co-founded the March for Science Miami, helped author and implement a landmark mandatory solar power law in the City of South Miami, and is the lead Plaintiff in the Reynolds vs. State of Florida climate change lawsuit.
Delaney has been honored with the George Eastman Young Leader’s Scholarship from the University of Rochester, the Gloria Barron Scholarship Prize for Young Heroes, the Broward County Green Leader Award, The CLEO Institute Leadership Council, The Miami Herald's Silver Knight in Social Science and the inaugural National Geographic Teen Service Award.
|
Nkosi Muse
|
|
Speaker
Nkosi Muse is an Environmental Science and Policy PhD student at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and Abess Center. Muse is interested in ensuring that our cities are equitably prepared for the implications of climate change, while also working to mitigate contributions to global warming. His research involves mixed quantitative and qualitative methods, from identifying exposure and vulnerability to climate threats (i.e., extreme heat, flooding), to analyzing and proposing equitable and inclusive policy. Muse also serves on the City of Miami's Climate Resilience Committee, advising city commission on matters of local climate resilience."
|
Teddy Lhoutellier
|
|
Moderator
Teddy Lhoutellier is the current Sustainability Manager for the University of Miami. Renewable Energy, Sustainability and Environmental Science are his passion. He started at the U in 2014, implementing the University's first comprehensive Sustainability Action Plan, after receiving a Silver ranking through the Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Rating System program. Teddy graduated Magna Cum Laude from Florida International University, holding a MS degree in Environmental Studies - Energy Policy. He's also a LEED Green Associate.
|
Jude (Wu) Abel
Jude is an Independent Consultant focused on climate finance for nature-based solutions. She has held senior strategy and management roles in the international conservation and environmental services arenas in the U.S. and Hong Kong for Conservation International and in New Zealand for Nelmac Ltd. Before transitioning to the sustainability arena, she worked in strategy/IT management consulting, legal services and the dot-com startup sectors. Jude holds a B.A. In Politics from Princeton University and a Master in Environmental Management from the Yale School of the Environment
Rafael Benke
CEO & Founder of PROACTIVA – South-American Consultancy specialized in ESG risk management, Business & Human Rights, and Sustainable Finance. Rafael is an executive with more than two decades of international experience, having lived in 8 countries and worked in all continents. He worked at senior positions with Vale (top global mining company), where he had an international career, including as Vice President of Vale Inco (based in Toronto), Senior Sustainability Executive (Switzerland) and Director-Global Head of Corporate Affairs (Rio de Janeiro). He has held relevant positions including in Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Organization of American States,World Trade Organization. He was the Chairman of Brazil’s Council on Foreign Relations (CEBRI), member of Royal Dutch Shell’s Sustainability Committee, member of the Global Advisory Council on Business and Peace with Oslo Peace Research Institute and Stellenbosch University, member of the Foreign Trade Board of FIESP. Attorney, Master in International Law (PUC-SP), LLM in International Economic Law (Warwick/Chevening, UK), visiting scholar at Georgetown University (Washington), trained in business management (IMD, Switzerland) and FGV/ISAE , Sustainable Finance (Rotterdam), Finance (Chicago Booth), International Environmental Law (HEID/Graduate Institute, Switzerland), Board Member Specialization (IBGC).
Claudio Rizzi
Claudio Rizzi is a Ph.D. candidate in Finance at the University of Miami Herbert Business School. He holds an MS and a BS in Finance from Florida State University. His research focuses on the interdisciplinary connection between environmental sustainability, climate change, and finance. Specifically, he seeks to understand the role of nature for firms and local economies. He strives to contribute to the fight against global warming by advancing the research in finance and providing policymakers with insights related to the climate emergency.
Julia Spinasse
Corporate Sustainability Manager at Suzano, has worked for 15 years on the incorporation of sustainability best practices in several business activities, including: strategic planning, risk management, supply chain, products and services, majorly within the financial sector. Graduated in Environmental Management, with master’s in Environmental Technology and postgraduate in Sustainable Business from Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
Alex Merola
Executive Director of Commercial Strategies, ESG & Private Markets. Alex Merola serves as executive director of commercial strategies for Private Markets at IHS Markit. Mr. Merola is responsible for product development, system integrations and client engagement for the Private Markets. He joined IHS Markit through the acquisition of Ipreo in 2018, where he held the position of Global Head of Solutions Engineering for the Private Markets. As an accomplished leader with more than 10+ years in the software and financial technology space, Alex has a proven track record of optimizing client experiences through innovative products and technology solutions and brings a wealth of subject matter expertise to the Private Markets. He previously worked for AvePoint Inc. as a senior member of the Financial Services Division. Alex holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Villanova University. https://ihsmarkit.com/experts/merola-alex.html