+ Armond Cohen, Clean Air Task Force
Armond Cohen is Executive Director of the Clean Air Task Force, an organization founded in 1996 and dedicated to reducing carbon emissions from the global energy system. CATF’s work includes research, public education and collaboration with the private sector to develop and deploy low emissions technology. CATF’s technology innovation work focuses on advanced renewable energy, catalyzing commercial scale demonstration and scale-up of fossil fuel electric carbon capture and storage (CCS) and its enabling technologies in the US and China, advanced nuclear energy, and zero carbon liquid fuels for power generation and transportation. CATF advances its objectives through both policy change and collaboration with the private sector. Prior to his work with CATF, Armond founded and led the Conservation Law Foundation's Energy Project starting in 1983. He is an honors graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School.
+ Aimee Curtright, RAND
Aimee Curtright is a Senior Physical Scientist in the Pittsburgh office of the RAND Corporation. Her research interests include a broad range of topics in energy policy and technology assessment, ranging from solar to oil sands to biomass to hydraulic fracturing. Her work often explores the tradeoffs between energy technology performance, costs, and social and environmental impacts. Her past experience includes postdoctoral research at Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Engineering and Public Policy and research in microbattery fabrication at the U.S. Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC. She received her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and her B.S. in chemistry from University of Miami.
+ Mike Griffin, Carnegie Mellon University
Mike Griffin is the Executive Director of the Center for Climate Decision Making at Carnegie Mellon University. He also serves as an Associate Research Professor in Engineering and Public Policy and the Tepper School of Businesses. He previously served as the Executive Director of the Green Design Institute at CMU. Griffin earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Rhode Island and holds a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Dayton.
+ Mark Alan Hughes, University of Pennsylvania
Mark Alan Hughes is a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design and Director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. He is the Faculty Director of the Fels Policy Research Initiative at Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, a Faculty Fellow of the Penn Institute for Urban Research, a Senior Fellow of the Wharton School’s Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership, and a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Penn’s Fox Leadership Program. He was Chief Policy Adviser to Mayor Michael A. Nutter and the founding Director of Sustainability for the City of Philadelphia, where he led the creation of the Greenworks Plan. Hughes holds a BA from Swarthmore and a PhD from Penn in Regional Science. Hughes has published in the leading journals of economic geography, urban economics, political science, policy analysis, and won the National Planning Award for his research in city and regional planning.
+ Robert McKinstry, Ballard Spahr
Robert B. McKinstry, Jr., M.F.S., Esq., heads Ballard Spahr LLP’s Climate Change and Sustainability Practice Initiative, as well as the firm’s sustainability efforts, and is a member of the firm’ s Environmental and Natural Resources Group and its Energy and Project Finance Group. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. Mr. McKinstry’s practice spans the full range of environmental issues encompassing litigation, remediation, counseling and transactions. He completed a six-year appointment as the Maurice K. Goddard Chair in Forestry and Environmental Resource Conservation at the Pennsylvania State University School of Forest Resources on July 1, 2007. While serving as Goddard Professor, Mr. McKinstry focused on international environmental issues where states and private companies and organizations had taken the lead in the face of federal inaction. He successfully represented a group of leading climate scientists before the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA, where the Court ruled that there is authority to address emissions of greenhouse gases under the federal Clean Air Act. He represented clean energy utilities supporting EPA rulemaking in EPA v. EME Homer City Generation and Michigan v. EPA. He holds a B.A. with Honors from Swarthmore College, a J.D. from Yale Law School and an M.F.S. from Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.
+ Sonny Popowsky, Former Consumer Advocate of Pennsylvania
Sonny Popowsky served as the Consumer Advocate of Pennsylvania from 1990 to 2012. He started his career at the Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) as an Assistant Consumer Advocate in 1979. He served as the President of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) from 1996 to 1998 and was previously Chairman of the NASUCA Electric Committee. He served on the Board of Trustees of the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) from 1997 to 2001 and the NERC Stakeholders Committee from 2001 to 2006. In 2010, Mr. Popowsky was appointed by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to the Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee and served as Vice Chair of that Committee from 2012 to 2016. Mr. Popowsky also currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Advisory Council to the Electric Power Research Institute, the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Energy Coordinating Agency of Philadelphia, the Executive Council of the Pennsylvania AARP, the Board of Directors of Regional Housing Legal Services, the External Advisory Board of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, and as a pro bono member of the Certification Decision Committee of the Center for Sustainable Shale Development. Mr. Popowsky graduated Cum Laude from Yale University and received his J.D. Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania.
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PEC Staff
+ Lindsay Baxter, PEC
Lindsay Baxter is Program Manager- Energy and Climate at Pennsylvania Environmental Council. She works with Pennsylvania communities to implement sustainability projects, particularly those related to energy efficiency and renewable energy, including low-impact hydropower.
Prior to joining PEC in 2011, she was the Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Pittsburgh. In this role, she initiated projects to reduce the environmental footprint of City operations and provided education and outreach to the Pittsburgh community. Baxter holds a B.A. from Allegheny College, an MS in Environmental Science and Management from Duquesne University, and earned a Certificate in Renewable Energy from St. Francis University.
+ John Walliser, PEC
John Walliser oversees all of PEC’s policy work, and helps manage legal and governance issues. He has been with PEC since 1997. Walliser currently serves on the Board of Directors for the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Citizens Advisory Council, the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board, the Department of Environmental Protection Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee, and as a non-voting member of DEP’s Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board. He also has served in numerous stakeholder initiatives for PEC.
He received his B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, and J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Walliser has been published on the subjects of conservation and resource protection law.
+ Davitt Woodwell, PEC
Davitt Woodwell is President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC). Working with PEC since 1991, Woodwell took a leave of absence during 2000 and 2001 to serve as Executive Director of the Riverlife Task Force that developed a master plan for Pittsburgh’s waterfronts and proposed the creation of the new “Three Rivers Park.” Woodwell’s current work focuses on issues including energy and climate, water resources, and trail and riverfront development.
A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Woodwell is currently a member of the board of the Aspinwall Riverfront Park. He also serves on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Natural Gas Advisory Committee, DCNR’s Ecosystem Management Advisory Committee, and participated in the Institute of Politics’ Marcellus Shale Roundtable. Additionally, Woodwell is an active board member with Center for Sustainable Shale Development and Renerge, Inc.