This session will focus on energy and environmental challenges and will highlight impacts, mitigation strategies, and the transition towards a more sustainable future from an AANHPI perspective. Key topics of discussion include international, national and local efforts to combat climate change, as well as steps that we can take as individuals to address this global issue.
Speakers
Destiney Mack, a 23 year old Dallas,Texas native, climate organizer with the Sunrise Movement, a national campaign to advance economic, racial, and gender equality through the creation of millions of new jobs and a Green New Deal. A recent graduate of Salem College, Destiney completed her B.A in Environmental Studies with a concentration on policy and advocacy. As a Trainer with the Sunrise Movement, Destiney balances coordination between grassroots environmental justice organizations and youth climate “hubs.” Her work includes designing curriculum for new organizers in developing strong leadership skills. She is fascinated by the complexity of human and environmental interactions and works to combat the inequities of social and ecological degradation. Throughout college, Destiney focused her research on ecology, sustainability, conservation and most important to her environmental justice . She enjoys using her communication and organizational skills, combined with her studies, towards being a voice in the youth climate movement and an agent of environmental justice. Along with her love for organizing she enjoys bike riding, hiking and anything outdoors.
Nina Lobo is the Mid-Atlantic Policy Associate at Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA). She enjoys developing community-based solutions focused on climate resilience and environmental stewardship, using her civil engineering degree as a foundation. She has 3+ years of project development and research experience in emerging clean energy markets. Her work has primarily been in community solar and is growing to include green stormwater infrastructure for community organizations in the Washington, DC area. Nina draws motivation from her international roots and a deep love of nature, community, and harmony.
Ruchira Shah has a decade of experience working in the climate and energy sphere in a number of different capacities. Currently, she is Director of Product at Geli, a startup focused on optimizing energy storage assets. Prior to arriving at Geli, she has worked at Tesla, SolarCity, SunLink, and the Breakthrough Institute. Ruchira has an MSc in Social Policy from the London School of Economics. In a previous life, she was a struggling actor in Los Angeles.
Susan Jin Davis, Chief Sustainability Officer, has more than 25 years of experience in the communications, media, and technology industry. In her current position, Ms. Jin Davis is responsible for identifying sustainable strategies and priorities and for implementing the Company’s Sustainability Program across all of Comcast NBCU business units and functions. Prior to her current role, Ms. Jin Davis was Senior Vice President of Operations Compliance and was responsible for implementing product policies, operationalizing regulatory and legal requirements, reducing costs to the cable business, and managing business compliance. In 2011, Ms. Jin Davis negotiated a historic Memorandum of Understanding between Comcast and the Asian American community as part of the Company’s merger with NBCUniversal that creates ground-breaking commitments in the areas of programming, supplier and employment diversity, and community investment. She serves on Comcast’s Internal Diversity Council and is a Company liaison to the Comcast and NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Council. She is an executive sponsor of Asian Pacific Americans at Comcast, a Company employee resource group. Ms. Jin Davis was also responsible for launching Comcast’s Internet Essentials Program in 2011. With Internet Essentials, Comcast has connected more than 2 million U.S. households, serving approximately 8 million people, to high-speed Internet at home. Ms. Jin Davis has also been integrally involved in the Company’s approach to digital literacy, providing resources to customers on safe Internet use with particular emphasis on helping families understand the Internet and teaching children how to responsibly use Comcast’s services. She created and led the Company’s On-Line Safety Advisory Council, an external body of leaders in the area of on-line safety. Ms. Jin Davis was recently recognized by Forbes as one of “Five Women of Color Who Should Be On Your Radar Screen.” She has completed the Women in Cable Telecommunications Senior Executive Summit at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, the Women’s Executive Leadership Program at the Wharton School of Business, and CTAM’s Executive Management Program at the Harvard Business School. She received the 2010 Paragon Award of the National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Cable and was a fellow in the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute of the Women in Cable Telecommunications. She has been named one of the “Most Powerful Women in Cable” by CableFAX and one of the “Top 50 Most Influential Minorities in Cable” by CableWorld for many years. Ms. Jin Davis is actively involved in Comcast’s diversity efforts, particularly as it relates to the Company’s relationship with the Asian American community. She serves as the Chair of the Board of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies and is a director on the Boards of the Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund, the Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce & Entrepreneurship, and the Juvenile Law Center. Ms. Jin Davis also serves on the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College. She lives in Kennett Square, PA with her daughter, Sophia.
Moderator
Dakota Pekerti is an Energy Analytics Engineer at Growing Energy Labs Inc. (GELI), a San-Francisco based tech startup where he works to develop renewable energy storage projects by navigating the complex regulatory and economic relationships between renewable energy generation and storage necessary for decarbonizing the energy grid. Dakota is also currently a Fulbright Student Fellow for 2019-2020 and slated to travel to Indonesia in April 2020 to do research on sustainable logistics optimization. Prior, Dakota was a rotational associate at Optoro, a Washington D.C. based tech startup that develops software to help large retailers route and manage their returned inventory, keeping it out of landfills. At Optoro, Dakota has filled a variety of roles across different departments including product management, quality engineering, solutions consulting, financial forecasting, account management, and product marketing. Dakota is also part of Optoro’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) committee, helping to lead company-wide speaker series, unconscious bias trainings, and affinity group events. Dakota graduated from Swarthmore College with a BS in Engineering and a minor in Environmental Studies. While at Swarthmore, Dakota represented Swarthmore at a number of sustainability-oriented events and competitions such as the COP21 in Paris, 2016 PA Power Dialogue, Columbia Economics Review Environmental Policy Competition, and more. In his spare time Dakota enjoys learning new languages, mixing music for house parties, travelling, practicing capoeira and kendo, and experimenting with new spices in the kitchen.