Governor William & Helen Milliken, Honorary Co-Chairs
Francine Alexander
Francine is an organizational consultant specializing in collaborative efforts in teams, across departments, between organizations, and within communities. Since 1984 she has been the managing principal of Alexander Resources Consulting, LLC, an Ann Arbor based consulting firm. Her work supports both corporate and service sector clients, focusing on organization-wide strategic planning, partnership development, and community engagement. Fran has worked with a wide variety of clients, from Food Gatherers to The Michigan State Bar Foundation to Ford Motor Company. Fran's education includes a Masters Degree from the University of Michigan with a specialty in systems theory and interpersonal development, and postgraduate professional development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mark Bernstein
Mark is currently, the President and Managing Partner of The Sam Bernstein Law Firm, PLLC, a leading plaintiff’s trial firm based in Michigan. He serves on the Executive Board of the Michigan Association for Justice. He was elected by both defense and plaintiff attorneys to serve on the State Bar of Michigan Negligence Section Council where he co-edited the Negligence Section newsletter. Mark was recently honored as a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation. He lectures at the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Michigan College of Literature Science and the Arts on tort and civil rights law.
Mark received a B.A. (’93) from the University of Michigan and graduated from the J.D/MBA joint-degree program (’96) between the Law School and School of Business Administration at the University of Michigan.
Mark was appointed by Governor Granholm to the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, as Chairperson of the Commission, and is currently the longest serving member of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. He also served in the White House during the Clinton Administration as the Director of Press Pool Operations, and worked as an associate in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group with Citigroup Global Markets in New York City.
Mark is very active in the community having served on the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor (Board of Directors), the Isaiah Fund (Trustee), the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County (Chairperson of the Community Relations Committee), the Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County (Advisory Board), and the University of Michigan Hillel (Governing Board and Board of Trustees). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Funds for Justice.
Mark lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his family.
Irene McDonnell Cahill
Irene is a forester for the City of Lansing and an active labor and environmental organizer. Irene joined the Michigan LCV Board in 2000, serving as the board president from 2003-2004. Irene is an active member of numerous other organizations across the state, such as the Michigan Arbor Day Alliance Committee, the Michigan Forestry and Park Association, the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association Legislative Committee, and the Michigan State University Stakeholders Committee. Whether at home in Howell or at work in Lansing, Irene is constantly advocating and organizing for a healthier and more accessible Michigan environment.
The many honors Irene has received over the years include the Environmental Quality Award from the United States EPA in 1991 and the Horticulture Woman of the Year in 1989 from the National Association of Women in Horticulture.
William Farr
Bill is an attorney practicing in Grand Rapids. He is a former President of the Grand Rapids Bar Association, a Fellow of the American Bar Association Foundation, a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation, and a Master of the American Inns of Court. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America for the past several years, and received the Michael S. Barnes Award in 2007 for Pro Bono Service. Politically, he has served as Chair of the Kent County Republican Party and the 3rd District Republican Party, as a delegate to a Republican National Convention, at which he was one of two persons from Michigan who served on the Platform Committee, and he was the Republican candidate for Attorney General of Michigan in 1970. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Pere Marquette Watershed Council, and has been a member of the Mayor’s Environmental Advisory Council. Also, he has served on several church, community, and business boards over the years, and continues to do so today.
Doug Glancy
Doug has more than a decade of experience working on sustainability, climate, and energy issues on Capitol HIll, in the academic sphere, and in the private sector including companies such as Swiss RE and Pratt and Whitney. After working as a Senate staffer for Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) in Washington DC from 2000 - 2004, Doug returned to Michigan to complete his graduate studies. In 2007, Doug was one of the contributing authors on a report for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change entiled "Corporate Strategies that Address Climate Change." That same year, he received his masters from the Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources & Environment as part of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan. He is currently a senior consultant at
The Carbon Trust.
George Heartwell
Now serving in his second term, George Heartwell became the mayor of Grand Rapids on January 1, 2004. During his tenure, City government has “gone green”, implementing a variety of environmental measures including purchase of renewable resource energy, use of alternative fuels in city vehicles, continued attention to water quality in the Grand River, and widespread implementation of energy conservation measures. In January of 2007 the United Nations recognized Grand Rapids as a “Center of Expertise” in sustainability. In May of 2010 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce honored Grand Rapids with the Sieman’s award for Most Sustainable American Mid-sized City.
Mayor Heartwell has overseen a period of rapid economic development in Grand Rapids, even during an extended downturn in the Michigan economy.
He also serves as President and CEO of Pilgrim Manor Retirement Community.
Mayor Heartwell is married to Susan Heartwell who is the Executive Director of the Student Advancement Foundation. The Heartwells have three children and six grandchildren.
Jerry Jung
Jerry's bio is coming soon!
Peter Kotila
Peter's bio is coming soon!
Elizabeth Lykins
Elizabeth is an attorney with The Lykins Law Firm, PLC and works exclusively in the area of labor and employment law. Her work includes assisting management with issues related to hiring and firing, wage and hour compliance, union avoidance and negotiations, as well as all aspects of employment law with various government agencies on the local, state and federal levels. She has extensive experience practicing in front of the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, and the state/federal Departments of Labor. Elizabeth is also a trained mediator.
In 1995, Elizabeth received her law degree from Ohio State University, where she served as a top editor for the Law Journal. She graduated from Penn State University with a history/business degree with honors and magna cum laude in 1992. After law school, she practiced labor and employment law with Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, PLLC, a large firm located in Louisville, Kentucky. She then returned home to Grand Rapids, Michigan and joined Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey, PLC, where she continued her labor and employment law practice.
Elizabeth is very involved in Grand Rapids' vibrant non-profit community. She is a graduate of the Leadership Grand Rapids program and is the immediate past chair of the Board of Directors for Home Repair Services, an organization dedicated to assisting low income homeowners. She is the past Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Home & Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids, where she served as a Board Member for three years and is a long-time chairperson of the Human Resources Task Force. Elizabeth is a past board member for Camp Henry as well as Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Hugh Michael Beahan Foundation (which serves St. Andrew's school students), and Social Venture Philanthropy (a Grand Rapids Community Foundation fundraising group). She is also active at Westminster Presbyterian Church and with the West Michigan Center for Arts & Technology (WMCAT) (an organization that engages youth through the arts to keep them in school).
Robert Martel, President
Bob has been a principal with the consulting firm of Dunbar and Martel, L.L.C. based in Ann Arbor, Michigan since 1992. He specializes in developing large medical office building projects for physician groups.
Bob has over twenty five years of business experience, including work with the Consulting Divisions of Arthur Young & Company (now Ernst & Young), and Touche Ross (now Deloitte & Touche); Bob also served as the Chief Financial Officer of several companies, including a publicly held computer start-up, and was integral in several ventures, which include an inter-state trucking company and a tourist-oriented television station in New Orleans. Bob and his business partner own and manage a portfolio of real estate properties in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area.
Bob has served on a number of non-profit boards, including The Ann Arbor Art Center, The NEW Center, Planned Parenthood of Mid-Michigan, The Washtenaw Land Trust, and The Washtenaw Affordable Housing Corp.
Bob received his Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan in 1980, with a concentration in corporate finance, and his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from the University at Albany (SUNY) in 1978, with a concentration in marketing and economics.
Claudia Rast
Claudia is a principal at Pear Sperling Eggan & Daniels, P.C., where she specializes in Business, Technology and Environmental law. Prior to joining Pear Sperling in 2001, Claudia was a Member at Dickinson Wright PLLC, where she served as the Director of Dickinson’s eBusiness Group (1998-2001) and Manager of its Environmental Practice Group (1997-1998).
Claudia is a member of the Michigan Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) Technology Training Advisory Board and was the chair of the IT Forum Committee for the Ann Arbor IT Zone (2002-03). From 1994-99 she served as a Council Member for the Environmental Law Section of the Michigan Bar Association; from 1998 99, she was a member of the Task Force on eBusiness for the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), she is a member of the Advisory Board of the Michigan Council of Women in Technology (2002- ), and as a member of the ABA Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources, she has Chaired the International Environmental Law Committee and the Technology Committee, served as a member of Council (1998-2000), as Secretary of the Section (2003-2005), as the Vice Chair of the Section (2006-2007) and in 2006 she was elected to become Chair of the Section for 2008-2009.
Mark Schauer
Mark received a B.A (’84) from Albion College where he graduated Summa Cum Laude, and two M.A’s: one in Public Administration (’87) from Western Michigan University and the other in Political Science (’94) from Michigan State University. He has worked as an Urban Planner in Marshall, MI, was executive director of the Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan in Battle Creek MI, and was a coordinator for Calhoun County Human Services Coordinating Council, also in Battle Creek, MI. Mark has served as a Michigan State Representative in the 62nd District, a Michigan State Senator in the 19th District, and a member of Congress in Michigan's 7th District.
Mark has made a significant community impact. As a member of Congress, Mark held federal agencies accountable for the emergency response and cleanup of Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo river, passed legislation to require timely industry reporting of hazardous liquid spills, and facilitated regional progress to secure support for the Detroit-Chicago high-speed rail project. He has been a long supporter of early childhood development in Calhoun County, MI, where he facilitated the development of Calhoun County Communities in Schools, an initiative focused on Kindergarten readiness, and established teams to meet the needs of high-risk children and families. Mark was also a founding Board Member of the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Battle Creek, MI.
Dr. John “Joe” Schwarz
A longtime resident of Battle Creek, Joe is a dedicated physician and public servant. With a medical degree from Wayne State University, Joe has practiced otolaryngological medicine (ear, nose, and throat) in his home town since 1974. Elected to the State Senate in 1987, Joe served in the Michigan Legislature until 2002. In 2004, Schwarz was elected to represent the seventh district of Michigan in the U.S. Congress. Schwarz is a member of The Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans for Choice and Republicans for Environmental Protection. In January 2007, Schwarz was appointed to Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s Emergency Financial Advisory Panel.
Joe currently sees patients at the Family Health Center in Battle Creek and teaches at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. In 2008, Joe led the successful passage of Proposal 2, which allowed state funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Sanjiv Sinha
Sanjiv is a Vice President at a natural resource management and environmental engineering consulting firm, and has significant public and private sector experience in a wide variety of big-picture policy development and implementation projects relevant to the management of natural resources. His recent projects include developing targets to delist nearly a third of the Areas of Concern located within the United States, assisting the Great Lakes Habitat and Species Workgroup of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration with improving the efficiency of restoration/conservation of the basin’s habitat and species, leading the development of economic performance indicators to assess impacts of changing Great Lakes water levels due to climate change, and assisting with the development of Great Lakes Fishery & Ecosystem Restoration Plan which is a $100 Million authorization of the United States Congress. A common theme in Sanjiv’s recent work has been to focus on quantifiable economic valuation of natural resource amenities while discussing the need for continued restoration within the Great Lakes basin.
Previously, Sanjiv was a Management Consultant at Booz & Company, a top-tier corporate strategy consulting company that delivers business strategy related consulting services to Fortune-500 companies. Sanjiv has a Ph.D. degree from University of Iowa, and over 70 papers, journal articles, book chapters, presentations and other publications to his credit.
Mark Stranahan
Mark's bio is coming soon!
Bruce Wallace, Vice President
Bruce is Hooper Hathaway Beuche and Wallace’s senior litigator. Hooper Hathaway’s litigation department, which Bruce has built over the past 30 years, comprises the majority of the firm’s attorneys, each of whom have extensive experience in major litigation throughout the United States. Under Bruce’s leadership, the litigation department emphasizes aggressive strategies to win prompt disposition of difficult disputes and creative use of alternative techniques, including arbitration, mediation and facilitation where appropriate, with the goal of reaching the most economical result by the most expedited available measures. Bruce has obtained successful trial results in lawsuits spanning contract disputes, employment, securities, trade secrets, environmental protection, personal injury, defamation, unfair competition, antitrust, banking, uniform commercial code, class actions, and complex commercial and business tort lawsuits. As prevailing counsel in numerous summary judgment and appellate decisions and as general counsel to a variety of corporate and non-profit clients, Bruce’s roles as litigator and counselor involve many different industries and public and private entities throughout southeastern Michigan and elsewhere. Bruce is the author of numerous articles on various legal topics, as well as books on environmental litigation and discovery practice, and is a frequent lecturer at the University of Michigan, Wayne State and other law schools. Bruce is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
Terry Ziemba
No bio available.
Director Emeritus:
Michael D. Moore
Lana Pollack
Mark Richardson
Joan Wolfe
Advisory Board:
John Austin
John Carver
Hon. Vern Ehlers
Marcia Gershenson
Phil Roos
Tom Porter
