ROBIN CHANAY, DIVERSITY CONSULTANT

Robin Chanay is a nationally-known expert in partnership building to improve watershed health. Robin has over ten years experience in organizing and coordinating efforts to improve watershed health. She is a board member of CRUW, the Coalition for Restoration of Urban Waters. She has worked with many national groups including includes River Network, Adopt-A-Watershed, The Nature Conservancy and EPA. She has special interest in combined sewer overflow (CSO) and urban stream restoration and brings experiences from her work in Atlanta and with the Anacostia River restoration project in Washington.

Her work focuses on partnership building amongst diverse interests to achieve watershed protection and restoration, bringing together grassroots groups, community leaders, governments, schools, underserved communities and other stakeholders in the process. Ms. Chanay believes success can only be achieved when all the community is involved; when the community is informed; and when everyone works in partnership.

KETAYOUN DARVICH-KODJOURI, VICE PRESIDENT, SPITFIRE STRATEGIES

Ketayoun is a senior communications strategist with more than a decade of work orchestrating policy communications campaigns on global health and development topics in collaboration with leading advocacy organizations, Congressional offices and United Nations agencies.

These campaigns have focused on a range of health and development policies related to HIV/AIDS, reproductive and maternal health, support for the United Nations Population Fund, and U.S. government commitments to global agreements on health, development and women’s rights. Her background also includes extensive work with top pollsters to develop messages that engage American audiences on global health, foreign policy and human rights topics.

As the Communications Director at the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), Ketayoun relaunched the advocacy program with a special focus on bringing the priorities of women living with and affected by HIV/AIDS to U.S. decision makers during the critical PEPFAR reauthorization process. Working with pollster Celinda Lake, she spearheaded polling and message development efforts to ensure Congressional outreach by partner organizations such as the UNAIDS-led Global Coalition of Women and AIDS, International Center for Research on Women, International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS and others is framed by policymaker attitudes. With funding by the Ford Foundation and the Levi Strauss Foundation, she designed outreach strategies to bring the voices of developing country women leaders directly to members of Congress and their staff through Hill briefings, one-on-one visits, e-outreach and earned media coverage.

Previously, at the Communications Consortium Media Center (CCMC), Ketayoun managed high-impact media campaigns on a range of policy topics. Her successes included stopping the rollback of U.S. commitments to the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action through a media watchdog campaign with partners including Amnesty International and the Feminist Majority Foundation. Her work to reach women voters during the 2004 U.S. presidential elections resulted in more than 100 print and broadcast stories nationwide and in battleground states in the critical months just before the election.

Throughout her career, she has collaborated with top organizations in the global health and development field, bringing together disparate voices to maximize the impact of nationwide communications efforts. Her campaign partners have included CARE, Family Care International, Family Violence Prevention Fund, General Federation of Women’s Clubs, Global Health Council, National Wildlife Federation, Population Reference Bureau, Save the Children and many dozens of other leading organizations.

Ketayoun is personally committed to improving the communities in which she lives, and has worked and volunteered for domestic violence and sexual assault agencies in New Mexico, Indiana and Washington, D.C. Ketayoun has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Indiana University, Bloomington.

ERIC ECKL, PRINCIPAL, WATER WORDS THAT WORK

Eric Eckl is a seasoned pr and marketing campaign strategist for environmental and other progressive causes. His areas of expertise include campaign planning, message development, online community interaction, advertising, email blasts, web videos, podcasts, community content, and other promotional efforts.

Eric's company, Water Words That Work, serves clients like the National Park Service, the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, the Biodiversity Project, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and government and private nature protection and pollution control organizations.

Prior to launching his own business, Eric led advocacy campaigns, managed media relations, and oversaw web and print publishing activities for a variety nonprofit, government, and for-profit organizations. He has appeared in countless news stories and is a frequent speaker at national and regional marketing and environmental conferences.

TOM NICHOLS, CPA

Tom Nichols is a seasoned financial professional with over 25 years of oversight experience in strategic planning, budgeting, accounting, financial analysis, international human resources, administration, government grants management and contracting. Tom has established staffing plans, systems, policies and procedures for accounting, financial management, human resources, information technology, contracting and administration for more than 30 offices in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He is also a highly skilled trainer, facilitator, presenter and team builder.

Tom has served as VP for Operations and CFO for Washington DC based environmental organizations such as The Heinz Center, the African Wildlife Foundation, and World Wildlife Fund - US.

During his time at the African Wildlife Foundation, Tom was responsible for overseeing accounting, financial management, government grants management, human resource, administration, information technology, and administrative operations of all AWF’s offices located in 11 countries as well as the Washington, DC headquarters.

Tom served as the Chief Financial Officer at World Wildlife Fund - US. He was responsible for overseeing accounting, budgeting, investments, contract and grant management functions of this large non profit conservation organization. Tom served as part of a team that designed systems and procedures and set up for WWF-US’s 26 field offices. Tom lead a team of European financial managers among WWF Network national organizations to create and standardize an international chart of accounts and accounting system which was implemented across all WWF offices in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Tom is also an accomplished producer, sound engineer, composer and musician. He owns his own music company which specializes in Independent Artist development and producing music and performances for non profit organizations. He is serving as the Producer in the launch of an innovative new music/fundraising initiative through Choice Hotels; a program that matches new songs from Independent Artists to charities, to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes. www.choicehotelsmusic.com

P.J. SIMMONS, CHAIR , CORPORATE ECO FORUM

P.J. has worked for over 15 years as a trusted sustainability analyst, strategist, and bridge-builder. After serving as a researcher on environmental affairs at the National Security Council (1993-1994), he founded and directed the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change & Security Program, the Carnegie Endowment’s Managing Global Issues program, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s U.S. in the World program. He also directed the strategy practice at Saatchi & Saatchi S, where he advised companies on corporate-wide sustainability strategies in the electric utility, consumer goods, pharmaceutical, and publishing sectors. Major publications include Washington DC's The Greener Business Guide, Managing Global Issues: Lessons Learned, U.S. in the World: Talking Global Issues with Americans, and (with Dan Esty) The Green to Gold Business Playbook: How to Implement Sustainability Practices for Bottom-Line Results in Every Business Function. (March 2011). P.J. served twice as the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Deputy Chair for Energy & Climate Change and remains an advisor to CGI on energy and environmental affairs. P.J. received his B.A. in political science (summa cum laude) from Tufts University, his M.A. from Johns Hopkins SAIS, was a Fulbright scholar, and holds a Certificate in Conservation Biology from Columbia University. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

WALT SISSON, VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION, WOMEN IN CABLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Walt Sisson currently serves as the Vice President of Finance and Administration for Women in Cable Telecommunications, Inc, a non-profit engaged in providing education and leadership training to women in the cable industry. In this capacity, he oversees all accounting, financial investment, human resource, information technology and office administration functions.

Prior to joining WICT, Walt served as Vice President for Finance and Administration at American Rivers, Inc for 11 years. He previously worked in the recycling and environmental services fields, where he assisted several large municipal entities in establishing residential and commercial recycling programs.

Walt also served as an appointee to the Citizen’s Advisory Committee for Solid Waste and Recycling in Fairfax County, Virginia. He earned a B.A. in accounting from Old Dominion University and an M.B.A. from Virginia Tech.

In his spare time Walt enjoys running, cycling, soccer and spending time with his son hiking in the Shenandoah and rafting the rivers of the east coast.

JON STAHL, SENIOR STRATEGIEST, GROUNDWIRE

Jon worked as a Senior Strategist with Groundwire (formerly ONE/Northwest) for 16 years, where he helped nonprofit environmental organizations with technology and communications strategy. He is currently enrolled in the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington where he is pursuing a Masters of Public Administration.

He is also an active member of the Plone community, which builds an open-source content management system. He has served two terms on  the board of the Plone Foundation, one as President, and is currently on the Foundation’s advisory board.

His educational background is in political science and environmental studies. He is excited about collaboration tools and strategies, effective leadership, good writing and grassroots organizing.