Our Team
HGCI Co-Chairs
John D. Spengler is the Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation in the Exposure, Epidemiology & Risk Program, within the Department of Environmental Health, at Harvard University's School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
Thomas E. Vautin
is the Associate Vice President for Facilities and Environmental Services
for Harvard University. He is responsible for the management of the
University Operations Services group, which provides facilities operations
and maintenance services, engineering, utilities and energy management,
environmental health and safety, as well as parking and transportation
to the University community of eleven schools in Cambridge and Boston.
HGCI Director
Leith Sharp established
the HGCI in March of 2000, becoming the Director of this emerging organization.
Leith also co-instructs the Harvard Extension School course, Sustainability
- The Challenge of Changing Our Institutions. Leith has a Bachelors
degree in Environmental Engineering from UNSW and a Master of Education
in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University. Leith has
worked with universities for the last 10 years to achieve organizational
change in the pursuit of environmental sustainability. In 1998 Leith
was awarded Young Australian of the Year, NSW Environment Category,
for her work in establishing the Environmental Management Program at
the University of New South Wales, Australia. In 1999 she was awarded
a Churchill Fellowship to research best practice in university environmental
management throughout Europe and the USA. In 2002, Leith was awarded
most outstanding paper for her contribution to the International Journal
of Sustainability in Higher Education. Leith has presented at many conferences
and events across the US and Australia.
HGCI Assistant Director
Mike Crowley manages the Green Campus Building Service, an internal consultancy that helps facility and financial directors to identify and implement cost-effective on-campus conservation projects. Mike also administers the twelve million dollar Green Campus Loan Fund, which has provided low-interest capital for over 140 on-campus conservation projects with a median return on investment of 30%.
Mike earned a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont in 1998, and an MSc. in Environmental Science from Schumacher College/ University of Plymouth in England in 2001. He has served as a Teaching Fellow in the Harvard Environmental Management Program and has been a LEED Accredited Professional since 2004. Position Description (pdf)
HGCI Assistant Director
Nathan Gauthier joined HGCI in September 2004. He manages the Sustainable Design and Construction division of the Green Campus Building Service, offering green building consulting services to more than a dozen Harvard building projects. Prior to joining HGCI, Nathan worked as a research assistant with the South Carolina Sustainable Universities Initiative where he helped implement Environmental Management Systems, lectured on sustainable living, and developed campus sustainability indicators. He has experience as an environmentally-friendly general contractor with "Energy Conscious Builders" and has worked as a fisheries biologist in Texas, Hawai'i and Washington and with the Peace Corps in Ecuador. Nathan is an editor of the "Power of One: College Students and Sustainability" video for the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition and the author of the Resource Guide by the same name. When Nathan isn't working, he can be found in the mountains, on a whitewater river, or at the beach. Position Description (pdf)
HGCI Assistant Director
Jaclyn Olsen joined the Harvard Green Campus Initiative team in January of 2005 as the Longwood Campus Coordinator. Jaclyn comes from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs where she spent three years as the Project Manager for the State Sustainability Program, a comprehensive “Greening the Government” effort to help reduce the ecological footprint of state agency operations. As Project Manager Jaclyn worked with state agencies on specific pilot projects, tracking and reporting of environmental impacts, developing guidance and outreach materials, and planning for sustainability. Prior to her experience with the State Sustainability Program Jaclyn worked briefly as the Sales/Marketing Coordinator for a startup software company. Jaclyn received a Bachelors Degree in Environmental Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1999.
Staff
Manager, Graduate Green Living Program
Meryl Brott joined the HGCI team in August 2005 to serve as coordinator of the new Graduate Green Living Program. Meryl has been keen on promoting eco-friendly behaviors since college when she stepped in to rejuvenate the recycling program and coordinate the environmental committee. Since 2001 she has been creating “Earthwise When” drawings that show characters engaging in eco-friendly behaviors (www.earthwisewhen.com). Prior to joining the HGCI, Meryl worked at The Environmental Careers Organization in Boston as Alumni & Donor Services Coordinator. Before moving to the Boston area in 1998, she worked for two environmental education programs, one in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania, in both instructional and administrative capacities. “I am really excited about this opportunity, and can’t wait to help graduate students at Harvard make a difference for the environment through their everyday actions,” shares Meryl. Meryl graduated from Kenyon College with an A.B. degree in Anthropology/Sociology in 1991. Position Description (pdf)
Manager, Green Campus Building Service - Existing Buildings
Darien Crimmin joined HGCI in July, 2006 in Green Campus Building Service. Darien received a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Vermont in 2002, where he was active in planning the University’s first ecologically designed building. Also in Burlington, he helped organize “Visionary Vermont,” a future-oriented sustainability conference. In 2005, Darien earned a M.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University. Darien is an outdoor enthusiast and enjoys running and playing frisbee. Position Description (pdf)
Manager, Green Campus Building Service - New Construction
Jesse Foote began work with the Harvard Green Campus Initiative in August of 2005. He has worked for the organization in a number of capacities, and currently manages new construction services for the group’s Green Campus Building Services. In this role, Jesse works with project teams to review designs, incorporate green features and manage the LEED certification process. Jesse is currently helping to implement a new set of University wide green building guidelines which require all building projects to follow certain minimum green design strategies. Jesse received his bachelors degree in 2001 in engineering and environmental studies from Dartmouth College, where he wrote a thesis encouraging the college to construct a new heating/power plant so that the fuel type could be switched from oil to wood chips. Before coming to Harvard, he helped form a non-profit organization named WinCycle that reused and recycled computers in the Dartmouth area. Jesse also worked for a Vermont based mentoring program, DREAM, where he purchased a 50-acre property and created a summer camp for the organization. Position Description (pdf)
Coordinator, Green Campus Building Service - Existing Buildings
Jenny Harvey joined HGCI in July 2007 as a Program Coordinator for the Green Campus Building Service. She transitioned to Harvard from the Consortium for Energy Efficiency where she managed a national awareness campaign promoting smart motor planning in industrial and commercial facilities. Prior to working in the energy efficiency industry, Jenny taught advanced middle school and high school biology in Baltimore. While in Maryland, Jenny also volunteered for Baltimore Green Week and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. Her background includes outreach, programming and special events coordination for a community literacy center while serving as an AmeriCorps*VISTA. She holds a Bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College and a Masters in the Art of Teaching from Johns Hopkins University. Jenny is thrilled to be working with the HGCI team on greening existing buildings at Harvard. Position Description (pdf)
Coordinator, FAS Undergraduate Resource Efficiency Program
Philip Kreycik joined HGCI in July, 2006 as the Undergraduate Resource Efficiency Program Coordinator. Philip graduated from the college in 2006 with an A.B. in Earth and Planetary Sciences. His thesis documented desertification in the Sahel using a new method to track atmospheric mineral dust. As an undergraduate Philip spent much of his free time working to revive the outdoors club at Harvard. Summer jobs and courses have taken him to Australia and Alaska, and he spent a summer working for an environmental engineering firm that supervised landfill construction in rural Virginia. Philip joined REP in his senior year and is excited to be working full time at the HGCI office. Position Description (pdf)
Special Projects Manager
Emily Martin joined HGCI in August, 2006 as the Special Projects Coordinator. She graduated from Harvard in 2005 with a degree in Environmental Conservation, a self-designed major that integrates biology, ecology, public policy, law, sociology, anthropology, and economics. During college, she spent time in Panamá completing a program in Development and Conservation with the School for International Training and in Costa Rica conducting research for her thesis on environmentally themed intentional communities (ETHICs) and their sociological significance. Since graduating, Emily has worked on the Big Island of Hawaii as a forest manager and as an analyst at the Cadmus Group, an environmental consulting firm in Watertown, MA. She first became involved with Green Campus when she served as a REP in 2003 and is very excited to be back at HGCI. Position Description (pdf)
Manager, Web Development
Camille McMorrow joined HGCI in February 2007 as a Web Developer, with a background in web, art, and editorial work. Since then she has worked on projects such as the Sustainability Pledge and the Green Building Resource. Camille's current work is centered on the redesign of the main Green Campus site. Her goal is to design and build effective, beautiful websites that engage and inspire people, using web standards and usability best practices. Prior to working at HGCI, she was a developer for an agency, and before that, a systems analyst at UT Austin. Position Description (pdf)
Coordinator, High Performance Building Resource
Katherine Moxhet joined HGCI in August 2007 as Coordinator for the High Performance Building Resource. She spent the previous 7 years at Union of Concerned Scientists supporting the organization’s Executive team, and working on communications and outreach projects on issues such as climate change, diesel school buses, and scientific integrity in policymaking. She holds a BS in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont. In her spare time, Katherine enjoys gardening and photographing at night. Position Description (pdf)
Coordinator of Education and Outreach
Krystal Noiseux joined HGCI in August 2007 as the Coordinator of Education and Outreach. She graduated from Juniata College in 2004 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and received her M.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida (go Gators!) in 2007. Krystal has worked as a wildlife rescue/rehabilitator, sea turtle biologist, and environmental educator. With a strong personal interest in sustainable development and living, she joined a group dedicated to corporate greening in the Walt Disney Company while working in conservation education at Animal Kingdom. From there she decided to focus her graduate studies on the human dimensions of conservation, doing research on the promotion and creation of sustainable green communities in Florida. A native of Rhode Island, Krystal is thrilled to be back in New England as a part of HGCI.
Special Projects Coordinator
Dara Olmsted graduated with honors from Harvard in 2000 with a degree in anthropology. She was a teaching fellow at Harvard for four years and taught abroad in Cyprus. She received her Master's degree from Tufts University in 2005 in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. She has worked on several research projects for HGCI, including sustainable purchasing and green cleaning. She is a non-resident tutor in Environmental Studies in Mather House. Position Description (pdf)
Web Developer
Lev Rickards joined HGCI in February 2008 with a background in content management systems and information architecture. He studied ecology at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and graduated with a Masters of Information Science from the University of Michigan School of Information in 2007. He worked in urban agriculture and regional food systems on the south side of Chicago, and studied the overlap between information systems and the built environment while at Michigan. Working for HGCI allows Lev to combine his interest in institutional environmental change with an interest in standards-based web design and ubiquitous computing. When not designing tagging systems for Green Campus, he can be found teaching neighborhood children's classes and checking up on a family of composting earthworms. Position Description (pdf)
Project Coordinator, Green Campus Building Service - New Construction
Andrea Ruedy joined HGCI in February 2006 after receiving a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech. Both of her thesis projects focused on recycling existing buildings and integrating them into the surrounding landscape to maximize and promote environmental responsibility. During school she held various advocacy internships, including studying residents' recycling practices to improve the Town of Blacksburg's programs, and preservation advocacy with New York's Municipal Art Society to encourage reusing buildings. Most recently, she worked as a preservation architect for a Boston architecture firm, and currently teaches drawing courses at local architecture schools. Position Description (pdf)
Mobile Objective
Sheldon Schwartz joined the HGCI in 2001 to become our first web coordinator. Sheldon's latest work can be seen on the Green Building Resource. For more information about Sheldon and the web services he offers, please visit Mobile Objective.
Coordinator, FAS Campus Energy Reduction Program
Gosia Sklodowska has been with HGCI since 2005. Gosia worked first as the Special Projects Assistant, assisting HGCI with a variety of projects, such as the Harvard Vision 2020 sustainability conference, Harvard's greenhouse gas emissions inventory or the Health & Productivity study - a joined research project of HGCI and HSPH. Gosia graduated from the Warsaw University with a degree in French Literature (2002) and from EHESS in France with a degree in Sociology of Religion/Gender Studies (2003). While studying, Gosia worked with a number of non-profit and student organizations, coordinating their educational programs and special events. Looking for something closer to her interests and more "down-to-Earth", she started studying Environmental Management at the Harvard Extension School. The 2nd class that she took in the program was ran by HGCI and inspired her to become a sustainability practitioner herself. "I am very excited to be working with HGCI - it feels great to have a job that brings together everything I've always cared for." When not at work, Gosia can be found traveling through South Asia, sailing on the Charles or having coffee at Peet's. Position Description (pdf)