The IAC features leaders from the following sectors and communities: commercial, industrial and manufacturing, transportation, low income consumers, energy generation and distribution, environmental protection, energy efficiency and renewable energy, local government, and academic institutions. Listed below is more detailed information on each IAC member.
Chair
Katherine Antos, Undersecretary of Decarbonization & Resilience, EEA
Katherine Antos is the Undersecretary for Decarbonization and Resilience at Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. She leads efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve Net Zero by 2050, equip people, environment and infrastructure to adapt to climate change, and ensure meaningful involvement and access to benefits of the clean energy transition for Environmental Justice communities.
Ms. Antos previously served as the Deputy Executive Director for Planning & Sustainability at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), where she oversaw the Clean Energy, Environment, Land Use, Transportation and Arts & Culture Departments’ plans, technical assistance and initiatives to advance a more resilient Greater Boston region. She oversaw priority initiatives to advance watershed restoration, environmental education, workforce development, community engagement, climate mitigation and resilience, and urban agriculture at Washington, DC’s Department of Energy and Environment as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Director and the Chief of the Partnering and Environmental Conservation Branch. Ms. Antos received national recognition for her work at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office to establish and oversee an accountability framework for ecosystem restoration across six states and the District of Columbia.
She holds a Master’s Degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Brown University.
Members
Kate Dineen, President & CEO, A Better City
Kate Dineen is the President & CEO of A Better City. She served at the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from May 2019 to April 2023. Prior to joining A Better City, Kate worked for the New York State Governor's Office, serving as the Chief of Staff for State Operations, Assistant Secretary for the Environment, and Deputy Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery after Superstorm Sandy.
She was previously U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Policy Director and has worked in the non-profit and media sectors. Kate is an Advisory Council Member for the Tufts University Center for State Policy Analysis and was a Non-Resident Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Homeland Security Project. Kate is also a leading advocate for reproductive rights and was recognized as a 2022 Bostonian of the Year Honorable Mention. She holds a Masters in City Planning from MIT and B.A. in English from Williams College and lives in Boston with her family.
Joe Curtatone, President, Northeast Clean Energy Council NECEC
Joe Curtatone is President of the Northeast Clean Energy Council. Before stepping into the role of NECEC President, Joseph Curtatone forged a reputation for being one of the most innovative mayors in the United States as the nine-term Mayor of Somerville, MA. During his tenure, Curtatone embraced data-driven decision making, employed systems-based solutions to community issues and was an innovator in healthy city initiatives. He has forged regional coalitions to tackle issues around transportation, housing and COVID-19 pandemic response. He also worked to establish Somerville as a leader in climate technology, recruiting Greentown Labs to the city, where it has been steadily growing since 2013. Thanks to his pursuit of cutting edge industries, Somerville saw its workforce increase by more than 40% during his tenure as the city became the home to billions of dollars of new economic activity. Curtatone also did significant work to reshape the city. He is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, the New England School of Law and Boston College.
Berl Hartman, New England Chapter Director, Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2)
Berl Hartman is Co-Founder and Director of the New England chapter of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). Known as The Independent Business Voice for the Environment, E2 is a national community of business leaders who promote sound environmental policy that builds economic prosperity. Ms. Hartman directs the New England group’s strategy, communications and outreach. Ms. Hartman is a senior executive and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in marketing, business strategy and public relations.
Prior to her work with E2, she served as Sr. Vice President at Blanc & Otus, a subsidiary of Hill & Knowlton Public Relations, where she founded and led the company’s first Cleantech/Clean Energy practice. Ms. Hartman was also a founding member of the New England Clean Energy Council (NECEC) and now serves on its Board of Directors and as Co-Chair of the Council’s Policy Committee. In 2008, she received the Council’s first Clean Energy Leadership Award. Prior to her career in cleantech, Ms. Hartman served as Vice President of Strategic Marketing at Sybase, a database software company, and Vice President of Engineering at Computer Corporation of America. She has also held positions at Boston University, University of California and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Marc Draisen, Executive Director, Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Marc Draisen has served as the Executive Director at MAPC since 2002. Mr. Draisen leads the agency’s staff in their work to provide technical and professional services that improve physical, social, and economic health for the people who live and work in the Metro Boston region. MAPC’s work covers a wide range of areas related to smart growth and regional collaboration, including transportation, land use, water resources, clean energy, public safety, public health, housing, economic development, and collective procurement.
Prior to joining MAPC, Mr. Draisen served as President and CEO of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC), where he was responsible for supervising a staff of nine people and a $1.2 million annual budget. Some of his major successes at MACDC included the passage of a first-in-the-nation Insurance Industry Community Reinvestment Act, the development of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, establishment of a program to fund and train community organizers at CDCs throughout Massachusetts, and tripling state operating support program for CDCs.
David O'Neill, President, MassAudubon
David O'Neill has dedicated his professional career to conservation. From 2015-2020, he served as the Chief Conservation Officer and Senior Advisor to the CEO of National Audubon Society (NAS). While there, his powerful vision, collaborative nature, and ability to raise critical funds elevated the entire organization. He led the development of NAS's conservation strategies, helped to unify the organization around a single vision, oversaw the organization's policy, conservation, and science agendas, and launched innovative programs to help fight the impacts of climate change.
Roles prior to his work at National Audubon include Vice President at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Vice President at Cherokee Investment Partners, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and Director of Land Use Policy and Outreach for the Urban Land Institute. He is the recipient of the Andrew White Medal from Loyola University for his leadership on Chesapeake Bay recovery efforts and he has authored publications and spoke often on the relationship between land use and environmental health. As President of Mass Audubon, Mr. O'Neill is focusing his efforts on expanding our work on climate change, tackling equity, diversity, and inclusion issues including our reach to new audiences, protecting habitat for birds and other wildlife, and widening our lens to affect the health and resilience of Massachusetts, New England, and beyond.
Reverend Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space for the City of Boston
Rev. White-Hammond is responsible for leading the Environment, Energy, and Open Space Cabinet in achieving its mission of enhancing environmental justice and quality of life in Boston by protecting air, water, climate, and land resources, as well as preserving and improving the integrity of Boston's architectural and historic resources. Rev. White-Hammond was born and raised in Boston and began her community engagement in high school when she worked as a Peer Health Educator. She was particularly shaped by her involvement in Project HIP-HOP (Highways Into the Past - History, Organizing and Power), a youth organization focused on teaching the history of the Civil Rights Movement and engaging a new generation of young people in activism. After college, she returned to Boston, and became the Executive Director of Project HIP-HOP, where she joyfully engaged young people in community organizing and culture making. After 13 years at Project HIP-HOP in 2014, Rev. White-Hammond left the organization to attend Boston University School of Theology. In 2017, she graduated with her Master of Divinity and was ordained an elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 2018 she founded New Roots AME Church, a multi-racial congregation in Dorchester. In this work, Rev. White-Hammond utilizes an intersectional lens to connect ecology, immigration, climate change, energy policy and economic justice. She is a fellow with the Green Justice Coalition, which brings together eight social/environmental justice groups from around Massachusetts.
Rev. White-Hammond is a public speaker throughout the nation and was a leader for both the 2017 Boston Women’s March and Boston People’s Climate Mobilization. She has received numerous awards, including the Barr Fellowship, the Celtics Heroes Among Us, The Roxbury Founders Day Award and the Boston NAACP Image award. She was selected as one of the Grist 50 Fixers for 2019 and Sojourners 11 Women Shaping the Church.
Bradley M. Campbell, President, Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) – Massachusetts
For the past 25 years, Bradley Campbell has been at the forefront of shaping the country’s most significant environmental policies and laws. A former White House senior appointee during the Clinton administration, he was the Regional Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Mid-Atlantic Region, and served as Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. In 2006, Mr. Campbell launched a law firm with a focus on issues involving the environment, energy, entrepreneurship, and science. A year later, he co-founded Swan Creek Energy, which went on to develop several of the largest net-metered commercial solar projects in the United States.
Mr. Campbell has a wide range of experience overseeing large public agencies, developing strategic litigation, and negotiating innovative agreements that have resulted in environmental milestones in New England and across the United States. His achievements as the principal of Bradley M. Campbell LLC include successful litigation on behalf of a low-income community to remedy contamination of local drinking water; negotiation of power purchase agreements, leases, and financing documents supporting development of commercial and utility-scale solar energy projects; and litigation proceedings arising from catastrophic oil and chemical spills. Concurrent with his law practice, Mr. Campbell founded Swan Creek Energy, LLC, a renewable energy development firm responsible for several of the largest commercial-scale solar projects in New Jersey. Mr. Campbell lectures and writes regularly on major legal and policy issues.
Dr. Cutler Cleveland, Professor of Earth and Environment, Boston University
Cutler Cleveland, PhD, is author and editor of acclaimed reference works on energy that include the Encyclopedia of Energy (Elsevier, 2004), winner of an American Library Association award, the Dictionary of Energy (Elsevier, 2005), the Concise Encyclopedia of the History of Energy, the Handbook of Energy (Elsevier, 2013), and Energy and Climate Change: A Primer (Trunity, 2013). He is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Earth, named the Best Geoscience Website by the Geoscience Information Society. Dr. Cleveland is the recipient of the Adelman-Frankel Award from the United States Association of Energy Economics for “unique and innovative contributions to the field of energy economics.” He is co-author of Environmental Science, the Web’s first entirely electronic introductory textbook on the subject.
Dr. Cleveland’s research on the valuation of ecosystem services, funded by the National Science Foundation, is highlighted in NSF’s Top Discoveries series. Dr. Cleveland has been a consultant to numerous private and public organizations, including the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, Charles River Associates, the Energy Information Administration, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Cleveland holds a B.S. in Ecology from Cornell University, a M.S. in Marine Science from Louisiana State University, and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Paulina Muratore, Clean Transportation Program Campaign Manager, Union of Concerned Scientists
Paulina Muratore is a Campaign Manager for the Clean Transportation Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). In her role, she manages UCS transportation campaigns in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, with a focus on mobilizing UCS members, activists, and other experts to reduce tailpipe emissions while building a cleaner, more equitable transportation system. She also works with state and regional transportation coalitions, partnering closely with a wide range of groups to enhance our collective advocacy voice. Prior to joining UCS, Paulina worked with companies and investors on low-carbon transportation alternatives with Ceres, and also worked as part of a New York/Northeast regional advocacy team at the Natural Resources Defense Council. She holds an MS in environmental planning and policy from Tufts University, and a BA in international relations from Boston University.
Elizabeth Turnbull Henry, President, Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM)
A proven corporate sustainability leader, Elizabeth Turnbull Henry makes the economic case for Massachusetts to lead the nation in environmental quality, innovative policy, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Prior to joining ELM, Ms. Henry managed climate, energy & environmental programs at the global retailer Adidas. She designed the greenENERGY Fund, investing in energy efficiency, renewables, and distributed energy. She also advanced the sustainability of new construction, co-led the team that set Adidas’ industry-leading targets for sustainability, and raised Adidas’ voice on national and global climate policy. Ms. Henry was an EDF Climate Corps Fellow in 2010. She also consulted to the US Department of Energy, worked as Sustainability Lead for a Massachusetts-based residential construction firm, and led international travel programs to over 30 countries. Ms. Henry has an MBA and Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) from Yale University and a BA in Environmental Policy and Economics from Colby College. Raised in West Virginia, she now lives in Jamaica Plain with her husband and two children.
David McMahon, Commonwealth Green Low Income Housing Coalition
David McMahon has been co-executive director Dismas House for almost 20 years. In the past twenty years, Mr. McMahon has helped Dismas grow, spearheading three new housing projects with a blend of public – private supports. These projects include The Mass. Parole Board project Almost Home – a 24 hour residential therapeutic community, The Father Brooks House – a permanent housing facility for homeless former prisoners and their families, and the Dismas Family Farm – a 35 acre residential organic farm.
Additionally, Mr. McMahon is the Project Director of Commonwealth Green Low Income Housing Coalition, an effort launched in 2014 to utilize Massachusetts award-winning energy efficiency programs and solar programs to stabilize low-income housing in the face of the great recession. He has served on numerous Boards and commissions in the Worcester community. He was a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and a professional fellow at Harvard University Kennedy Center Hauser Center.
Ronald C. DeCurzio, Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company
Ron DeCurzio is the chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company, a not-for-profit public corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth that provides a broad range of energy, financial, risk management, and other services to the state’s consumer-owned municipal utilities.
Dr. Kurt Roth, Head of Building Energy Systems, Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation CMI
Kurt Roth, PhD, leads Energy Systems applied R&D at Fraunhofer USA. The team collaborates with industry on applied research to develop, analyze, test, demonstrate, and evaluate building technologies and technologies that enable integration of large quantities of renewable power with the electric grid. Currently, Dr. Roth is co-PI of a DOE Building America project to use communicating thermostat data to perform remote home performance assessments. In addition, he was recently Co-PI for a DOE SunShot demonstration project to optimize the operation of MW-scale PV, energy storage, and facility load management to enable the electric grid to reliably integrate high levels of PV.
Dr. Roth has also led several studies to assess the energy savings and commercialization potentials of building technologies, including HVAC, building controls and diagnostics, and information (IT) technologies, as well as studies characterizing building energy consumption by different end uses. He has presented at numerous conferences and meetings and authored more than sixty ASHRAE Journal "Emerging Technology" articles. Dr. Roth received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), all in mechanical engineering. He is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), and Sigma Xi.
Catherine Finneran, Vice President, Transmission Project Development, Siting & Project Services
Catherine Finneran is Eversource’s Vice President, Transmission Project Development, Siting & Project Services. In this role, Catherine leads the development of Eversource’s major projects, delivering important siting outcomes to enable a strong grid that can deliver clean energy, ensure resiliency and meet regional decarbonization goals. As part of this role, she manages stakeholder interactions throughout project lifecycles. Catherine has more than 25 years of experience in clean energy, environmental protection, and economic development. Prior to her current role, Catherine served as Vice President, Sustainability and Environmental Affairs at Eversource where she led cross-functional environmental and climate initiatives, including Eversource’s industry-leading goal to become carbon neutral by 2030 and commitment to setting a Science Based Target. Under her leadership, Eversource consistently earned recognition for environmental and corporate sustainability.
Before joining Eversource, Catherine served as Senior Director of the Renewable Energy Generation Division at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, where she oversaw the design and implementation of programs to grow Massachusetts’ clean energy market. She also served as the Director of Clean Energy for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) overseeing clean energy efforts across air, water, and waste bureaus. She served as the state point of contact for brownfields redevelopment, working with developers and municipalities to support the cleanup and reuse of underutilized sites. Early in her career, Catherine served as a municipal Development Manager and helped launch a non-profit community development corporation.
Dr. Gaurab Basu, Co-Director, Cambridge Health Alliance Center for Health Equity Education & Advocacy (CHEEA)
Gaurab Basu, MD, MPH is a physician and founding co-director of the CHA Center for Health Equity Education and Advocacy (CHEEA). He is an Instructor at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. Dr. Basu is a Health Equity Fellow at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment and Faculty Affiliate at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Dr. Basu has received numerous awards in medical education, including the inaugural Equity, Social Justice and Advocacy Faculty Award and the Charles McCabe Faculty Prize in Excellence at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Basu was named to the 2021 Grist 50 list of climate leaders. He also received the Union of Concerned Scientists’ 2020 Science Defender Award. He has served on the city of Cambridge Mayor’s Climate Crisis Working Group and its Net-Zero Climate Task Force.
Dr. Basu was a Sommer Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he studied human rights. From 2018-2021, he was a part of the Robert Wood Johnson Culture of Health Leaders program. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Basu has served as one of the clinical leads of Cambridge Health Alliance’s COVID Community Management clinical services. He has previously worked for numerous global NGOs including the Gates Institute, Partners in Health, the Child in Need Institute and Last Mile Health.
Reverend Vernon K. Walker, Climate Justice Program Director, Clean Water Action
Reverend Vernon K. Walker is the current Climate Justice Program Director at Clean Water Action. Rev. Walker has over a decade of social justice organizing experience in the Boston area with a focus on the intersections of racial and climate justice. Originally born and raised in Philadelphia, Rev. Walker attended Penn State University for college where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Organizational Leadership and a minor in Psychology. After graduating from Penn State University, Rev. Walker attended Boston University and earned a Master Degree in Theological Studies (M.T.S) with a focus on community engagement. He has served as an associate pastor previously at the Berachah Church in Boston for several years.
Rev. Walker is a Senior Fellow at the Environmental Leadership Program and Senior Fellow at Tufts University Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life through the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. Rev. Walker is a Senior Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Boston campus Center for Collaborative Leadership. Rev. Walker currently is a graduate student at Tufts University pursuing a master's in public policy degree with a focus on environmental justice. He is a 2022 Neighborhood Fellow.
Dr. Noelle Eckley Selin, Professor, MIT
Noelle Eckley Selin, PhD, is Professor in the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also serves as Interim Director of IDSS (2023-2024), and as the co-chair of MIT’s Climate Nucleus (2021-2024). She was Director of MIT’s Technology and Policy Program from 2018 to 2023. Dr. Selin’s research uses modeling and data analysis to inform decision-making on sustainability challenges, including air pollution, climate change, and hazardous substances such as mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Her work develops new methods and systems-based approaches to address sustainability challenges, and examines interactions between science, technology, and policy. Her specific areas of expertise include systems modeling; sustainability science and engineering; climate change; air quality; toxic substances; environmental health; and science-technology-policy interactions. Prof. Selin received her PhD and MA in Earth and Planetary Sciences, and her BA in Environmental Science and Public Policy, all from Harvard University.