2017 Conference Bios

Nina Goodrich | Sustainable Packaging Coalition/GreenBlue

Nina is Director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and Executive Director of GreenBlue. Nina came to GreenBlue with an industry background in R & D management, innovation, and sustainability strategy. Nina believes that innovation and sustainability are linked as key drivers for our future. Nina has held leadership positions in R & D with Alcan Packaging, Amcor, The Guelph Food Technology Center, and Magic Pantry Foods. Nina has worked to develop a value proposition for sustainability and to share it with all who will listen.

Regarded as a thought leader in the field, Nina speaks and writes frequently on the convergence of sustainability, innovation, and technology.

David Allaway | Oregon DEQ

David is a senior policy analyst at Oregon DEQ’s Materials Management Program, where he coordinates several projects related to sustainable production and consumption. David helped to staff the Oregon Global Warming Commission’s “Roadmap to 2020” project and the Oregon Governor’s Advisory Group on Global Warming, was a contributing author of the ICLEI US greenhouse gas accounting protocols for communities and recycling, and served as an invited science advisor to Wal-Mart’s Packaging Sustainable Value Network. David has a B.A. in Physics from Carleton College, Minnesota.

Sara Badiali | The Reclamation Administration

Sara has been working in building deconstruction practices since 2005. She created the ReclamationAdministration.com, the first building material reuse news website in the country. In 2014 she was board chair for the national nonprofit Building Material Reuse Association. Sara is a consultant on the City of Portland’s Deconstruction Advisory Group. She assisted in training and testing contractors and work force in the City’s Deconstruction Certification. Sara is the author of six articles on building material reuse and deconstruction practices, and has an MPA from Portland State University. 

Laurel Bates | Clackamas County

Laurel has served as Chair of Oregon Green Schools for the past four years. She has an extensive background in K-12 education and has been working in the recycling industry since 2007. Laurel works for Clackamas County Resource Conservation & Solid Waste and the Clackamas County Refuse and Recycling Association to provide waste reduction assistance and education to K-12 schools in Clackamas County. Laurel will present on youth engagement in K-12 schools through the Oregon Green Schools program. There are over 200 certified schools throughout the state, and each school has an active green team of students who are working daily to reduce the environmental impacts of their school. 

Zeb Bates | Oregon DEQ

As an Asbestos Inspector for Oregon DEQ NW Region, Zeb is tasked with conducting compliance inspections of contractors engaged in asbestos removal for compliance determination of licensing, certification, notification, work practices, packaging, and disposal. He makes compliance determinations and develops recommendations to address compliance issues and proposes corrective action strategies for building owners, contractors, and disposal facility operators to safely manage asbestos-containing materials or bring the site back into compliance when violations are identified. He investigates and resolves complaints concerning asbestos and assists with the development of asbestos policies and in agency asbestos rule-making.

Elaine Blatt | Oregon DEQ

Elaine is a senior policy and program analyst at Oregon DEQ. Her primary focus is on sustainable consumption and production of materials, and she led the development of DEQ’s strategy for preventing the wasting of food. Prior to joining DEQ, Elaine worked on a variety of projects related to sustainable production and consumption, energy efficiency, and supply chain management. She has a MA in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a BA in Political Science from Carleton College.

Risa Buck | Ashland Daily Tidings

Risa has lived in Southern Oregon since 1991. She built Ashland's first "off grid" home in 1995 and worked at Ashland Sanitary/Recology for nearly a decade as an outreach/educator in residential and commercial waste prevention and recycling. She help found the Jackson County Master Recycler Program in 2008. Risa has served on the Ashland Conservation Commission for most of her Ashland life. She has been writing the WasteNot column for the Ashland Daily Tidings since last fall.

Nina Butler | More Recycling

Nina is the CEO of More Recycling, the next generation of Moore Recycling Associates; its name is an intentional nod to its predecessor. More Recycling is a research and technology firm with a deep understanding of the recycling ecosystem, especially for plastics. With a focus on information analysis, Nina gathers the critical information to build the tools and programs for sustainable materials management. Nina has more than 17 years of experience in plastic recycling and has designed and implemented numerous programs and resources such as www.PlasticFilmRecycling.org and www.PlasticsMarkets.org. She has been a visionary, leading industry, building collaboration, and shedding light on the information necessary to overcome barriers to the recycling of plastics in the United States. Nina is the Chief Technical Advisor for the Wrap Recycling Action Program, a national plastic film recycling initiative. She has a Masters in Environmental Management from Duke University.

Trent Carpenter | Southern Oregon Sanitation

Trent has worked in the solid waste industry for over 24 years and currently is the General Manager and President of Southern Oregon Sanitation (SOS). SOS has operations in three different counties servicing over 25,000 residential customers with 18,000 of those having curbside recycling. SOS’s two transfer stations handle over 40,000 customers per year and 62 million pounds of garbage. Trent holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and is SWANA certified in Transfer Station Systems, Integrated Solid Waste Management Systems, and Managing Recycle Systems.

Phil Chesbro | University of Oregon

Phil is the Compost/Zero Waste Events Coordinator for the University of Oregon Zero Waste Program. Under his direction, the University of Oregon has implemented a campus-wide composting effort to bring the university closer to its zero waste goals. Phil brings a Master’s Degree in Education that has enhanced his efforts in educating the public and impacting students. His career and personal goals include: improving access to compostables collection, creating community connection to the compost processes, and strengthening the long term infrastructure to ensure a zero waste future.

Pete Chism-Winfield | City of Portland BPS

Pete started collecting recycling as a student on the U of O campus, steered to managing depot collection and education at Lane County, then he migrated to Portland to advise commercial organizations on best practices. Recently, Pete’s work has focused on program and policy development at the City of Portland. This includes clean fleet analysis, administrative rule development, recovery rate calculation, and commercial food scraps collection. He currently serves as the board chair for the Association of Oregon Recyclers.

Louis "Jamie" Christopher | PakTech

Jamie is the sales and marketing operations manager at PakTech, a company that manufactures high-density polyethylene packaging in Eugene, Oregon. Prior to working with PakTech Christopher owned his own distribution company, was a practicing attorney, and was an officer in the U.S. Navy. Having landed in HDPE packaging sales and marketing, he has been able to use his diverse background to wear many hats to serve his customers as well as the company’s interests.

Killian Condon | Oregon DEQ

A native of Ireland, Killian has spent time in private consulting, manufacturing, and as an environmental regulator in the areas of solid waste, asbestos, and hazardous waste. Additionally, Killian worked part-time for a small Minnesota-based remodeling company, Homestead Remodeling & Construction, where he provided guidance on hazardous material abatement in addition to donning work-gloves to complete residential tear-outs. In his spare time, he partakes in the obscure Irish sport, hurling. 

Dylan de Thomas | The Recycling Partnership

Dylan is Vice President of Industry Collaboration for The Recycling Partnership, working with the team there to increase the quantity and quality of the curbside collected recyclables across the U.S. as well as working to boost the economic health of the recycling industry as a whole. Previous to joining the Partnership, he worked for Resource Recycling, Inc. for a decade, directing and producing editorial content for three publications and three conferences covering various aspects of the recycling industry.

Aaron Donley | Sanipac

​Aaron is the Senior Accounts Manager for Sanipac, a Waste Connections Company serving Lane County, Oregon. He has over 10 years experience in the waste industry serving in a variety of roles including managing sustainability efforts for University of Oregon athletic events and the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Kevin Downing | Oregon DEQ

Kevin has worked for the Department of Environmental Quality since 1992. He is the Clean Diesel Program Coordinator. This program provides financial and technical assistance to reduce health and environmental effects from exposure to diesel exhaust, a multi-billion dollar problem in Oregon. Using primarily federal grant funds, over the last fifteen years he has been able to deliver cost effective projects showing sizeable social returns on investment.

Thomas Egleston | Washington County

Tom is a Senior Program Coordinator with the Washington County Solid Waste & Recycling program. In this position Tom is responsible for managing the County’s waste reduction education and outreach programs serving the commercial, single family, and multifamily sectors. Tom is also the County Emergency Operation Center’s Debris Management Group Supervisor and co-led the development of the County’s Disaster Debris Management Plan. Tom has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Portland State University and a Bachelor’s in Political Science from the University of Oregon.

Penny Erickson | Metro

Penny is the Manager of Metro’s Transfer Station Operations. Metro’s two regional transfer stations provide services to over a half a million customers annually. Penny, an Oregon native, has 30 years of experience working in the industry. Her work includes regulatory compliance, program planning, policy development, and management of related contracts. Most recently, Penny has developed and managed the asbestos waste screening procedures to meet facility compliance requirements.

Sean Finney | Recology

​Sean has worked five years in the waste industry, with two years heading the sales and marketing for Recology Organics overseeing nine production sites between California and Oregon. Prior to that, he was the Director of Sales in the produce and agricultural field. Sean lives in Sacramento, with his wife and two children, and has a degree in economics from UC Santa Barbara.

Justin Gast | The Recycling Partnership

Justin is a Technical Assistance Specialist with The Recycling Partnership, a national recycling nonprofit focused on transforming recycling in towns all across America. Before joining The Partnership, Justin managed the Washington County (OR) Solid Waste & Recycling Program’s commercial recycling program, providing materials management assistance to the county’s commercial, industrial, and institutional sectors. Before joining Washington County, Justin was the managing editor for Resource Recycling, Inc. Additionally, Justin is both a SWANA member and an active member of the Association of Oregon Recyclers. He resides in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, Terra.

Gregg Hayward | City of Gresham

Jack Hoeck | Rexius Forest By-Products

Jack is Vice President of Production for Rexius Forest By-Products Inc. of Eugene, Oregon. He has been with the company for 40 years, and he was instrumental in developing the company’s yard debris recycling centers. Jack has worked with the City of Eugene to create the “Love Food Not Waste” program that provides opportunities to compost food waste from commercial businesses in the City of Eugene. Jack has over 30 years’ experience in the production of compost from a wide variety feedstocks. He has received classroom training from the US Composting Council and is invited to speak at many conferences about the composting process and the compost industry. He has served as a board member for US Composting Council and held positions as vice president and president. Jack currently serves as a commissioner for the USCC Certification Commission.

Michael Ingalls | Far West Recycling

Mike has worked in the scrap metal recycling industry for 23 years. He began his career in California with Markovitz & Fox after graduating from Santa Clara University with a BS degree in Economics. He holds an Executive Management Certificate from Ohio State University focused on scrap metal management. He specializes in the procurement and sales of nonferrous metals to consumers all over the world. Since moving to Oregon in 1994 he has worked most recently for Schnitzer Steel managing nonferrous operations at nine facilities in the Pacific Northwest. He currently works for Far West Recycling, which he joined in 2015.

Julie Jackson | Republic Services

Julie began her career as a high school and middle school teacher. Small business owner, historic resources director, and director of a nonprofit economic development organization are all hats she has worn. She came to Republic Services in 2005 as the Recycling Education and Outreach Coordinator and now serves as the Municipal Relations Manager for the company. In that role, she assisted with the transition to a CNG fleet in 2013 in the Corvallis division. The common thread in her work has been an eagerness to work directly with people to build relationships and make an impact. She received her BS from Oregon State University. 

Bryce Jacobson | Metro

Bryce is a Senior Planner with Metro Resource Conservation and Recycling and has been with Metro for 25 years. He is Metro’s Construction Industry Recycling Program Manager. He works closely with the Metro region building industry to minimize the environmental impacts of construction by building more compact and efficient buildings, deconstructing to recover used building materials and recycling everything else. Bryce is a father of two teenage daughters, avid cyclist, builder, metal fabricator, and third-generation Oregonian with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Oregon.

Alisa Kane | City of Portland BPS

Alisa is the Green Building and Development Manager for the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. There she leads policy and program initiatives related to energy efficiency, construction waste, and capital improvement projects. Most recently, Alisa helped design and implement a new law requiring deconstruction of homes over 100 years old that are slated for removal. She holds a master's degree in urban planning and has spent the last 23 years working in the fields of green building, community development, and recycling. 

Sara Kirby | Metro

Sara has been coordinating education and outreach programs for 15 years. Since 2009 Sara has worked at Metro on a variety of waste reduction programs, most recently as project manager for the Regional Multifamily Recycling Project as well as working with commercial recycling programs. She is an active participant in her neighborhood community and serves as vice chair of the Parkrose School Board.

Jim Kitchin | Interworks, LLC

Jim owns InterWorks, LLC, General Contractors, with his wife Debbie. InterWorks specializes in Residential Remodeling and Commercial Tenant Improvements and Renovation. Jim has more than 40 years’ experience in the construction industry mostly as an owner or partner. Jim is a Master Certified Remodeler and Green Certified Professional with the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). InterWorks has been the recipient of several NARI and Oregon Remodelers Association (ORA) awards. Jim has served as chair of the ORA Education committee, on the association board of directors and is a past president. He served on the Oregon Department of Energy Advisory Committee for Energy Performance Scores in 2010 and is currently an industry representative on the Oregon Construction Contractors Board (CCB) Board of Directors. 

Allen Langdon | Recycle BC

Lisa LeDoux | SCRAP PDX

Lisa is the Education Program Director for SCRAP PDX and the SCRAP USA national network of creative reuse centers. Lisa is from Portland, OR, and earned her degree in art from the University of Oregon. Her SCRAP career and foray into the world of creative reuse began in 2011. Lisa's work emphasizes reuse, and more specifically creative reuse, as an important factor in practicing sustainable behavior. Through her programs, she introduces children to environmental education through creative reuse activities and art that inspires ideas about preserving resources. She is passionate about presenting reuse in a fun and exciting way through creating high quality projects, while encouraging creative thinking and problem-solving through reuse.

Bernie Lee | ISRI

Bernie is the Research Analyst for Commodities at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI). His primary focus is to bring more market focused content and analysis on non-metallic recyclables and international trade of scrap commodities. Before working for ISRI, Bernie worked in international development with the World Bank on municipal credit development, as an educator, and as a broker/advisor for secondary market whole loan portfolio financing.

Kristin Leichner | Pride Disposal

Kristin has worked for Pride Disposal Company, in Sherwood, Oregon, since 2004 and is the fourth generation of her family to work in the solid waste and recycling industry. Kristin is the Secretary for the Association of Oregon Recyclers. Kristin also works with the Oregon Refuse & Recycling Association (ORRA) as the Governmental Affairs Committee Chair and as an alternate board member.. 

Lindsey Maser | City of Portland

Lindsey is an advisor with the City of Portland's Sustainability at Work program, where she helps organizations improve their sustainable practices, including recycling, composting, and waste reduction. Recognizing that many sustainability efforts require people to change their behavior, Lindsey pulls from both community based social marketing and behavioral economics to suggest research-backed ways to "nudge" people towards sustainable behavior. Lindsey has spoken to both local and national audiences who say her energy around behavior change is contagious. Her presentations have been described as engaging and motivating.

Christa McDermott | Community Environmental Services

Christa McDermott, Ph.D. is the Director of Community Environmental Services (CES) at Portland State University. A social psychologist, she focuses on human factors such as attitudes, identities, and organizational roles that can help reduce waste and encourage more sustainable use of resources. Working with exceptional students at PSU, she combines this research expertise with the metrics, sorting, diversion, and community outreach work CES has specialized in for over 25 years. She is the lead researcher on a 2017-18 DEQ study of wasted food in Oregon.

Patty Moore | Sustainable Materials Management of CA

Patty is President of Sustainable Materials Management of California (SMMofCA), Founder of Moore Recycling Associates Inc., and a globally-renowned expert on plastic recycling. Patty’s influence on recycling began in 1983; she was manager of the National Recycling Coalition-award winning Recycling Program in Wilton, NH, where she started one of the nation’s first plastic bottle collection programs. Since then, her work has had an uninterrupted, favorable impact on recycling—especially plastics recycling.

Patty founded Sustainable Materials Management of California this year to allow her to dramatically reduce her work responsibilities. SMM of CA specializes in the management of environmental organizations. Patty founded Moore Recycling Associates Inc. in 1989 while she was completing her Master of Science degree in Resource Management and Administration from the Environmental Studies Department of the University of Antioch-New England. Patty was a participant in a Department of Commerce, Plastics Trade, and Investment Mission to China in 1996.

She has returned to China many times and continues to have a strong interest and understanding of the critical role played by China and other developing nations in domestic recycling efforts.

Patty has been published in numerous magazines and trade publications, and has presented hundreds of papers and workshops throughout North and South America, Europe, and China. She lives in Sonoma, California with her retired winemaker husband and her two sons.

Deborah Munk | Recology

Deborah has served as the Director of the Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco since 2007. She also manages the Environmental Learning Center where the company provides educational tours about resource conservation to over 4,000 children and adults annually. In collaboration with Metro and Cracked Pots, Munk was instrumental in establishing the GLEAN Program in Portland, Oregon. Before joining Recology in 2000, she was the assistant editor of Art/Women/California 1950-2000: Parallels and Intersection, published by UC Press. She is a graduate of San Francisco State University and holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Technology focusing on art and media.

Emily Murkland | Community Environmental Services

As Projects Manager at CES, Emily oversees daily operations, project work, and staff. Emily currently manages the Port of Portland Technical Assistance Project, the City of Portland Events Recycling Project, Portland Multifamily Recycling Project, DEQ Wasted Food Measurement study and various private Solid Waste Assessment contracts. Emily has worked on the Fairview Recycle at Work project and the EPA Pollution Prevention and Outreach project, in addition to Solid Waste Assessments. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Community Development from Portland State University. Emily has also worked with ROSE CDC, SPI Industries, and SOLVE. In her free time she enjoys hiking throughout the NW, spending time with her dog, and cooking.

Deveron Musgrave | City of Eugene

After working in the nonprofit sector in sustainability and reuse, Deveron shifted into a role as a public employee for the City of Eugene. As the Waste Prevention and Green Building Program Coordinator she coordinates the City’s Sustainable Events program and the Love Food Not Waste commercial composting program, and also serves as the Internal Zero Waste program coordinator for the City.

Deveron has served as the City of Eugene liaison for the 2016 US Olympic Track and Field Trials Sustainability Committee, and is the City’s lead on developing the Water Station Project. She frequently speaks on sustainable event topics on to various community groups and at conferences and events, most recently at the Oregon Sport Summit. She is a board member for the Eugene Springfield tool lending library, the Tool Box Project, and the Programming Committee chair for Cascadia Green Building Council’s Eugene Collaborative.   

Veronica Pardo | California Refuse Recycling Council

Veronica serves as the Regulatory Affairs Director for the California Refuse Recycling Council (CRRC) in Northern California, where she advocates on behalf of the waste and recycling industry. Thanks to the growing complexity of the industry since the passage of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, Veronica has the pleasure of working on a diversity of requirements and environmental issues ranging from general reporting, to air and water emissions, to organics management, to renewable energy production. In her downtime, Veronica is an avid hiker and novice gardener.

Pete Pasterz | Oregon DEQ

Pete is the Materials Management Specialist at DEQ, where he leads or participates in several upstream and downstream projects, including managing the study on Oregon recycling market prices he’ll be discussing at the conference. He’s implemented recycling programs in several sectors, starting in 1982, founding a community-based, nonprofit recycling program where understanding markets was paramount to keeping the doors open. For a large public university, Pete planned the nation’s first LEED Gold-Certified MRF, cost-justified with projected revenues based on long-term average materials pricing.

Pam Peck | Metro

Pam is the Resource Conservation and Recycling Manager at Metro where she oversees regional waste reduction policy and planning projects. Prior to her current position she managed communications and marketing for Metro’s waste reduction and sustainable behavior change programs. Pam is a graduate of the University of Vermont, where she studied political science and communications. 

Jerry Powell | Resource Recycling

Jerry is the editorial director at Resource Recycling.

Stephen Reichard | ReBuilding Center

Susan Robinson | Waste Management

Susan is the Senior Public Affairs Director at WM. Her 30 years in the industry includes work in the public sector, nonprofit, consultancy, and over 20 years in the private sector. Experience includes global commodity marketing, research and analysis of industry trends, as well as 20 years managing municipal solid waste and recycling contracts. Susan is currently responsible for WM’s public policy efforts around recycling, organics management, natural gas, and new technologies. She is a frequent speaker at conferences across the country on recycling, lifecycle thinking, and goal-setting.

Vinod Singh | Far West Recycling

Vinod is the Outreach Manager at Far West Recycling (FWR). Vinod has been in the recycling industry and working at FWR for 20+ years. His primary focus over the years has been on facility operations. Over the years, he has worked at and managed multiple FWR locations learning the company/industry from the ground up. He is currently serving on the AOR board as the Markets Chair.

Brian Stafki | Oregon DEQ

Brian is a materials recovery specialist for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Brian’s focus is ensuring the opportunity to recycle is extended to tenants of commercial and residential multi-tenant properties. Previously, he was with Washington County Solid Waste & Recycling and Thurston County Solid Waste Division for six years. He has a Master of Education in Environmental Education from Western Washington University and Bachelor of Science in Biology from New Mexico State University.

Holly Stirnkorb | Oregon DEQ

Holly has more than two decades of experience working with both the public and private sectors on a wide range of materials management issues.  She started her career at Washington County Solid Waste and Recycling, moved to consulting, and recently joined the DEQ’s Material Management team as a Senior Program and Policy Analyst where she is leading the development of the State’s Wasted Food Recycling Strategy. Holly has a great deal of experience in the area of wasted food prevention, rescue, and recovery dating back to the early days of program development in the Metro region. She was also a key member of the development team that achieved successful permitting of a leading-edge food waste-to-energy anaerobic digestion facility and was responsible for managing issues ranging from securing food waste for the facility to community engagement and public policy.

"Handyman Bob" Strong | Around the House​

Bob has been a licensed general contractor since 1997, spending the first 18 years specializing in residential maintenance and repair, hence the nickname, Handyman Bob. Since January 2008, he has also hosted the home improvement radio show, Around the House with Handyman Bob, on FM News 101 KXL, where he helps listeners throughout Oregon and Washington tackle their home improvement goals. In January 2016, he became certified as an Asbestos Building Inspector. Under this accreditation, he now operates EnviroTest, an environmental testing company.

Shauna Sutcliffe-Shadle | City of Gresham

Shaunna is the Residential Recycling Coordinator for the City of Gresham. She has worked for the City for nearly nine years. After starting out as a Business Recycling Specialist in 2008, she was promoted to her current position in 2014. She grew up in Gresham and has a passion for her work, whether it’s the Eat Smart Waste Less Challenge, multifamily recycling, the Earth Day Recycling and Reuse Event, reducing contamination, encouraging waste prevention, teaching sustainability classes or tabling at events. Shaunna also doubles as a yoga therapist, wife, and mother to her son, step-son, 3 cats, and a dog.

Matt Tracy | Metro

Matt is the Principal Transfer Station Operations Planner in Metro's Property and Environmental Services. Since 2007, he has managed an EPA/DEQ grant for diesel particulate retrofits. The grant has provided retrofits for over 100 decades-old trucks owned and operated by 20 individual hauling companies throughout the Metro region. For the past five years, Matt has also served as President of the Board of Directors for the Columbia Willamette Clean Cities Coalition. The CWCCC is a not-for-profit funded by the US DOE that promotes the use of clean, domestically-produced alternative fuels, and reducing consumption of petroleum-based fuels.

Rick Wallace | Oregon DOE

Desirée Williams-Rajee | City of Portland BPS

Desirée is the Equity Specialist for the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. Her role focuses on culture change towards a multi-cultural anti-racist organization, while concurrently providing support to use an equity lens in the programs, policies and services of the Bureau. In 2016, Desirée was honored by the White House as a Climate Equity Champion of Change for her work on the City of Portland Multnomah County Climate Action Plan which has set forth a new model of engagement and policy making for cities across North America.

Karen Reddick Yurka | CARTM Recycling

Karen is the Executive Director of CARTM Recycling on Oregon’s north coast since 2014. She previously served on the CARTM Board of Directors for seven years, four years as its Chair. Karen imagines her real job title as "Evangelist in Chief," extolling waste reduction, creative reuse, and recycling throughout rural Tillamook County. Karen has a B.A. from Lewis & Clark College. She is the chair-elect of the Manzanita Planning Commission. A lifelong environmentalist, Karen was a high school student when she coordinated a river clean-up in Denver on the first Earth Day. When she is not traveling the world, Karen lives in Manzanita.

Ashley Zanolli | Oregon DEQ

Ashley is considered a national expert on wasted food prevention. Ashley is currently on assignment from the US EPA to the Oregon DEQ Materials Management Program as a senior policy and program advisor. Her main focus is to help develop a statewide strategy to prevent the wasting of food, a statewide residential and commercial measurement study to understand what food is wasted and why, and to engage stakeholders. For over the past five years, Ashley co-led the EPA-convened West Coast Climate & Materials Management Forum and led the development, implementation, and evaluation of EPA’s Food: Too Good to Waste toolkit. This community food waste prevention toolkit has been tested throughout the US and helps households save money while cutting their wasted food by up to 50%. She holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and serves on various national advisory councils, including advisory groups for Food Waste Reduction Alliance (FWRA) and ReFED.