Steering Committee

The steering committee is the highest-level decision making body for the conference.  It serves to create continuity within the conference from year to year.  The committee also provides the perspective of all four systems of higher education with connections to a diverse set of campuses and system offices.  This helps us remain responsive to our diverse constituency. The steering committee focuses on decisions that affect the core mission, principles, vision, and sustainability of the conference.

Meet the 2020 Steering Committee:

Lisa Hannaman, Principal Account Manager, Southern California Edison

Lisa Hannaman is a Senior Account Manager with Southern California Edison’s Business Customer Division in the Government Institution Agriculture Water group. She has lead oversight and partnership with the State of California Portfolio for Southern California Edison which includes UC/CSU, California Community Colleges, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the State of California.  During her time with SCE, she has been responsible for overseeing a portfolio of Strategic and Energy Intensive customers spread throughout SCE’s 50,000 sq. mile territory. She has had significant success with assisting customers with their goals in the areas of energy efficiency, energy resiliency and emission reductions. She is an active member of several key customer groups and committees in the State of California.  She has her Bachelor of Science Degree from California Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Mo Lovegreen, Director, Campus Sustainability, Geography, UC Santa Barbara

Mo Lovegreen is the founding director for campus sustainability at the University of California, Santa Barbara and is also the Executive Officer in the Department of Geography where she coordinates with the IT staff on developing components for the Interactive Campus Map (ICM). Mo manages the 10 Sustainability Change Agent Teams/subcommittees and serves as an advisor to the Chancellor’s Sustainability Committee and the Academic Senate Working Group on Sustainability. Mo also supervised the design, construction and “greening” of Donald Bren Hall – the first laboratory building in the United States to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rating.

Lindsey Kalkbrenner, MBA, Director, Center for Sustainability, Santa Clara University 

Lindsey Kalkbrenner is the Director of Santa Clara University’s Center for Sustainability. She was hired as SCU’s first sustainability coordinator in 2006. She fosters collaboration among campus stakeholders, develops a culture of sustainability among the university community, and has built the Center for Sustainability around an internship program designed to provide students with opportunities to develop experience as change agents for sustainability. Lindsey holds a BS in biology and an MBA, both from Santa Clara University. She was born and raised in Hawaii. In 2014, CHESC recognized Lindsey with a Sustainability Champion Award. The Center for Sustainability, a program of University Operations, has a staff of 4, 16 paid undergraduate interns, 2 student fellows, 2 faculty associates, and 6 staff associates. SCU earned a Gold Rating in AASHE’s , STARS, and is consistently listed among top U.S. higher education institutions in Princeton Review, Green Honor Roll,  and Sierra Magazine’s Cool Schools.

MacAdam M. Lojowsky, LEED AP O+M, Director of Facilities, Mendocino-Lake Community College District

 MacAdam has been in the construction/planning/design field for over twenty years, with five years in the K-12 sector and the past four years within the nation’s largest higher educational system, the California Community Colleges (CCC).  He sits on both the CCC’s Association of Chief Business Officials Facilities Task Force in Sacramento and the Mendocino County Climate Action Advisory Committee in Ukiah, CA. A graduate of the Evergreen State College, he is currently completing his Master’s in Educational Leadership from CSU East Bay.

Connie Ulasewicz, Emeritus Faculty, San Francisco State University

As a member of the SFSU Community from 1997 – 2019, Connie has served as a Dept. Chair & Professor in the arena of Apparel Design & Merchandising where she engaged with students on topics integrating with the circular fashion industry within, visual merchandising & promotion, sustainable product development and the social psychology of clothing. As an emeritus faculty Dr. U continues to engage with the campus through a grant received from the SF Department of the Environment, creating product from the marketing banners when their lifecycle has ended, and through the Wear Movement, a campus collection and distribution site for clothing. 

Mackenzie Crigger, Energy and Sustainability Manager; Adjunct Faculty in Environmental Science and Policy. Chapman University

Mackenzie Crigger has worked as the Energy and Sustainability Manager at Chapman University for the last eight years. She also serves as a lecturer in the Schmid College of Science and Technology, where she teaches the Environmental Science and Policy Senior Capstone course and Corporate Sustainability Management. She holds a BA from Transylvania University, an MBA from Duquesne University, and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at Chapman University. Her research interests include energy efficiency, climate change resilience and adaptation, environmental migration, and education for leadership in the field of sustainability.  Additionally, Ms. Crigger is an active member of the Junior League of Orange County, currently serving on the Board as the Director of Finance. Ms. Crigger also serves on the Board of Sustain So-Cal, a group that strives to foster sustainability innovation in Southern California. In her spare time she is a soccer coach for the Tiyya Foundation, an organization that supports refugee youth in Orange County.

Nurit Katz, Chief Sustainability Officer, UC Los Angeles

UCLA’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, Nurit Katz is working to foster partnerships among academic, research, and operational departments to facilitate creating a world class living laboratory for sustainability at UCLA. Nurit also served as Executive Officer for UCLA Facilities Management for five years. Nurit is an Instructor for UCLA Extension’s Sustainability Certificate Program. Nurit holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, a Masters in Public Policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and a BA in Environmental Education from Humboldt State University

Teresa Buika, Senior Transportation Planner, UC Santa Cruz

For the last 24 years, Teresa has been a dedicated and experienced transportation planner working on the development and implementation of a wide range of sustainable transportation programs, infrastructure projects and policies including carshare, mobility programs, electric vehicle charging programs, etc. In addition, she has garnered over $6,000,000 in external funding for UCSC for capital projects, programs and plans including most recently the reconstruction of the main campus Class I bike path, a robust bike safety education program, vanpool and disability van program acquisitions, and electric vehicle charging stations.   She served as the Chair of the UC Office of the President Sustainable Transportation Working Group for the previous there years and has been an all electric vehicle household for many years.

Maximilian Christman, Sustainability Manager, Caltech

Maximilian manages all facets of the sustainability program at the California Institute of Technology. He’s tasked with creating sustainability programs that match the high achieving reputation of Caltech in areas including alternative transportation, waste management, laboratory efficiency, and climate leadership.

Farrah Farzaneh CCM, LEED AP BD+ C, Asso. DBIA,  Sustainability & Energy Manager, Facilities Planning & Construction Business & Fiscal Department, San Bernardino Community College District 

Farrah Farzaneh is the Energy & Sustainability Manager for San Bernardino Community College District. Some of her primary duties include driving sustainability initiatives across the campuses, working with consultants to continue updating and implementing the district energy conservation plan, identifying renewable energy and energy efficiencies initiatives, and working as a liaison with local utility companies. Farrah has over 10 years of program management, project management, and construction management experience in all phases of the project life cycle from inception to execution and closeout. She is currently managing SBCCD’s Prop 39 ZNE Schools Pilot program. Farrah is a certified construction manager (CCM), as well as a certified design builder (Assoc. DBIA). She is also an accredited professional in leadership energy and environmental design (LEED AP BD+C). She holds a master’s degree in construction management and is an active member of industry related organizations and networking groups throughout Southern California.

Don Reid, Supervisor, Printing Services, American River College

Responsibilities:

Meeting Frequency- Monthly (via Conference Call)

• Ensure the continuity and quality of the conference from year to year;
• Review the top theme and tagline recommendations from the host campus steering committee and select the final theme/tagline;
• Review the top keynote recommendations from the host campus steering committee and select the final keynotes;
• Select the topic areas for the conference;
• Review and approve the schedule for the conference;
• Determine the vision, goals, and intended audience of the conference;
• Develop speaker selection criteria and guidelines that will be applicable across the conference tracks; Speaker selection committees should follow these guidelines, but may add supplemental guidelines/criteria specific to their tracks;
• Select speaker selection committee chairs;
• Promote the call for speaker selection committee membership and assist CHESC staff in identifying applicants; speaker selection committee members will be selected by the speaker selection committee Chairs;
• Select new steering committee members and promote the call for new Steering Committee members; Assist CHESC staff in identifying potential applicants;
• Select steering committee chairs;
• Review the program developed by the speaker selection committees and address any potential areas of concern;
• Select pre- and post-conference workshops;
• Review feedback from conference participants, reflect on the lessons learned and successes of past events, and determine ways to improve future events;
• Review and approve recommendations of the host campus selection committee for new host campus(es);
• Review reports from the budget sub-committee of the steering committee and address any significant concerns;
• Identify potential sponsors and exhibitors and make initial introductions to those companies;
• Make efforts to personally reach out to colleagues and identify potential outreach lists for speaking proposals, committee membership, and event attendance;
• Select best practice award categories;
• Determine which campuses are eligible for awards;
• Review and approve timeline for awards selection drafted by staff;
• Review and approve the self-nomination form for award applicants;
• Determine the structure of the Best Practice Awards Ceremony;
• Collaborate with UCB Green Building Research Center on development of Case Studies; and
• Attend the annual conference (July 9th-12th, 2018).