Speaker Bios

Baye Adolfo-Wilson of Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District bayeBaye Adofo-Wilson grew up in Paterson, N.J., about 20 minutes away from the rough and tumble of Newark, a city in constant need of rehabilitation and revitalization. In 1999, he took an interest in Newark's Lincoln Park Coast neighborhood, an area that had been home to black artists and jazz music, and started the Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District. The idea was to build a sustainable community that would also help revive the black arts scene. Since 2004, six green mixed-use buildings have sprung up across the neighborhood, and each is expected to be recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council for their energy efficiency and overall sustainable design. "This was an area that had deteriorated over a decade," Adofo-Wilson says. His organization has also created the Green Collar Apprenticeship Program (GreenCAP), that will build a new green jobs workforce for future building development. Back To Top ^

Leon K. Baptiste of LB Electric Leon Baptiste, president of LB Electric, Newark, received an electrical engineering degree in 1991 from NJIT. He also participated in NJIT's Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), which helps minority students earn technological degrees and become engineers. Baptiste is educational chairman of the Metropolitan Electrical League, Long Valley, a non-profit group comprised of some 300 electrical companies. The League offers co-ops and scholarships to NJIT students who study electrical engineering or telecommunications. LB Electric installed a 50-kilowatt solar-powered system on the roof of NJIT's new campus center. An array of 160 solar panels carpets the roof, converting sunlight into electrical currents. The panels provide power for the campus center and save the university $40,000 a year in electrical bills. NJIT also received a $215,000 rebate from the N.J. Board of Public Utilities to offset the cost of installing the system. The solar-powered system prevents 100,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year from being released into the air. That's how much carbon dioxide would issue from a coal-burning power plant had NJIT not installed the panels. The panels also prevent the release of nitrogen oxide and mercury, two other byproducts of a coal-burning power plant. Back To Top ^

James Barrood of Rothman Institute James has developed and managed many of the Institute's innovative academic and outreach programs since 1997. He is active in the regional entrepreneurial and business communities and was recently recognized as among the state's 'Forty Under 40 Business Achievers' by NJBIZ business journal. James frequently lectures/moderates at FDU and business events statewide. He sits on several boards, including the Silberman College of Business, WIRED-North Jersey Economic Innovation Alliance, the Franklin Foundation for Educational Excellence, the National Association of Corporate Directors-NJ (Advisory Committee), NJ Connected Broadband Initiative, and the Billion Minds Foundation. He is also a member of the Council on Competitiveness and Rotary International. James is a columnist for NJBIZ, has written articles for Entrepreneur and GSW magazines and local newspapers, including the Star-Ledger, and is widely quoted both regionally and nationally (USA Today). He brings with him a background in small business/family business and the real estate and automobile industries, as well as marketing and e-business expertise. James holds an MBA from Texas A & M and a BA in Economics from Rutgers College. He and his family live in Somerset. Back To Top ^

Patricia Boswell of Safonique Patricia A. Boswell, creator of Safonique, member of one of WalMart's Sustainability Committees, and successful manufacturer of consumer products. She is also the Principal of Business Sustainability Group, LLC, in which she is supported by a network of sustainability associates specialized in energy, waste reduction, materials science, and change management, to assist companies in making the transition to sustainability. Back To Top ^

Carole E. DeNatale of Porzio, Bromberg & Newman Carole E. DeNatale is a member of the trademark and copyright practice group of Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, P.C. She has over 25 years of experience in domestic and international trademark, copyright, false advertising and unfair competition law matters. Her expertise includes the management of large global trademark, copyright and domain portfolios. She has counseled senior management on global brand strategy, clearance, prosecution, registration, enforcement, litigation, licensing and other transactional issues related to trademarks and copyrights. She also has litigated trademark conflicts before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and handled e-commerce and domain name conflicts. Her background includes the pharmaceutical and health care industries, as well as food and beverage, financial services, entertainment and consumer products. Prior to joining the firm, she was in-house counsel at Wyeth for numerous years. She has also consulted in-house at various Fortune 500 companies, including Pfizer and Colgate-Palmolive. She received her B.A. degree from Mt. Holyoke College in 1976 and her J.D. degree from SUNY at Buffalo law school in 1979. She is active in the Philadelphia and New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Associations and is also a member of the New York State Bar Association, American Bar Association, Arizona State Bar Association, New York Intellectual Property Law Association, and Benjamin Franklin and John C. Lilfland Inn of Courts. Carole has given many presentations on strategies for name selection and protection for Fortune 500 as well as small start-up companies. Carole is admitted to practice before the bars of New York, Pennsylvania and Arizona; and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Back To Top ^

Paula Durand of New Jersey Economic Development Authority Paula Durand is a Senior Venture Officer for the Technology & Life Sciences Division of the EDA. Ms. Durand focuses on financing early stage clean technology companies under the Edison Innovation Fund. Prior to joining the EDA, Durand was at HSBC where she managed a global portfolio of over 100 public and government sector clients and structured financing for select corporate banking clients. She also worked at Chase in relationship banking and corporate finance, focusing on middle-market clients and in accounting positions at two major Fortune 500 technology companies. Durand serves on the Senior Advisory Committee and is a Voting Member of the Capital Markets Credit Analysts Society, the Board of Directors of the NJ Raritan Valley chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants, and is a member of the Financial Women's Association. Back To Top ^

Leslie Joy of Joy Organic Leslie Joy is co-owner of Joy Organic, a women-owned business based in New Jersey, USA. We are committed to Fair Trade and the distribution of environmentally sustainable products such as Organic Cotton and Alpaca. We have traveled the world looking for the appropriate partners who share our same network of beliefs. We help our producers to grow and build their enterprises so they can become independent and create more jobs for people throughout their regions. We use our skills and resources to help our partners in any way we can. Back To Top ^

Dr. Shihab Kuran of Petra Solar Dr. Shihab Kuran is President & CEO of Petra Solar. Dr. Kuran's experience is in the general Electronics/Semiconductors industries where he has assumed various technical and executive positions at private and public companies. His passion is in the clean tech space and his goal in life is to help solve the world's energy and water problems. A world where everyone has access to clean, sustainable energy and water resources is doable. It just takes a serious commitment to make it happen. On the clean water front, he has co-developed a new and unique technology that applies semiconductors/electronics for water desalination and decontamination. This technology is based on Capacitive Deionization. It is energy efficient and relies heavily on semiconductors for its operation. Cross pollinating the semiconductors and water desalination fields has yielded magnificent results. Dr. Kuran founded Sanabelle Water to commercialize these innovations. On the clean energy front, he co-founded Petra Solar which is a VC backed startup that is focused on reducing the cost of installed photovoltaic (PV) systems by up to 50%. Along with his co-founders he brings a wealth of experience in the electronics and semiconductors areas to the PV market. Petra's products simplify PV systems and make them easy to install while increasing their efficiency and reliability. If you too believe in a world where clean, sustainable energy and water resources should be available for all, Dr. Kuran invites you to contact him to help make this dream a reality. Back To Top ^

Gina LaRoche of Seven Stones Leadership Gina LaRoche is a founder and director at Seven Stones Leadership, a consulting consortium that offers individual and group leadership coaching and development. She leverages over twenty years of experience in delivering executive programs that have challenged leaders, teams and entrepreneurs to accelerate results using vision, strategy and accountability for execution. In 2001 she and her husband founded INSPIRITAS Corporation, a consulting and training firm to advance the practice of leadership. Working with a broad range of industries, Ms. LaRoche's clients include; Credit Suisse, EMC, Miller Brewing, Harvard University, American Student Assistance, Stamford Hospital, and Simmons School of Management where she is a visiting faculty member for their executive education programs. Prior to INSPIRITAS, Ms. LaRoche acquired fifteen years of experience in sales, marketing and training at high-tech and emerging growth companies. She served as director of marketing for Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) where she managed product marketing for the e-Business group. She was also a product-marketing manager at Vicorp Interactive Systems. Ms. LaRoche started her career as a sales professional at IBM where she received numerous excellence awards. Ms. LaRoche holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BSBA from Georgetown University. She serves on several not-for-profit boards. She is married to Alan Price and has two elementary age sons. Back To Top ^

Brad Neilley of Green Planet Group Brad Neilley is President of Green Planet Group, a global organization that is leading efforts to harness technology for a healthy world by providing total solutions in many critical environmental pillars, including solar, wind, and clean water using the latest innovative technologies with growing operations in Europe, Africa, India and Latin America. Prior to becoming President of GPG he was World Wide Vice President at Johnson & Johnson, and part of a team that led a business from start up to over $500 million. Over the years Brad's business leadership responsibility has included years of experience in environmental, health, safety, sustainability as well as building and energy management with experience at a number of other Fortune 500 companies including The New York Times and Deluxe Check Printers. Brad holds a BA in Business from William Patterson College in NJ, an MBA in International Business from Fairleigh Dickinson University and post graduate executive certificates from Wharton School of Business. Brad has run several of his own businesses and adds long-term community service to his background as a Board Member of numerous nonprofit organizations. Back To Top ^

Dr. Ethne Swartz of Fairleigh Dickinson University Dr. Ethne Swartz has taught at universities in South Africa and the UK. Prior to joining the Silberman College of Business, she served as a faculty member in the Department of Corporate Strategy at Leicester Business School, DeMontfort University, Leicester, UK. Whilst at Leicester Business School, Dr. Swartz taught strategic management and entrepreneurship; she was also instrumental in setting up a center for research into business continuity management. She is the co-author of "Business Continuity: A Crisis Management Approach". Dr. Swartz is an active contributor to New Jersey's entrepreneurial organizations through her collaborations with the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners, and the Small Business Administration. She also collaborates with The Technology Management Education Association. She sits on the editorial board of Risk Management: An International Journal, and FDU's Global Issues Gateway. Dr. Swartz serves as Vice President for the Minority and Women's Division of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) and in this capacity serves on the board of USASBE. Her research and teaching interests include entrepreneurship and innovation, management of technology, business continuity and crisis management. Dr. Swartz's corporate career includes experience with The Economist Group, General Motors (South African), and Kodak (South African). Back To Top ^

Robert Willard of Sustainability Advantage Bob is a leading expert on the business value of corporate sustainability strategies. In the last five years, he has given hundreds of keynote presentations to corporations, governments, academics, and NGOs. Bob applies business and leadership development experience from his 34-year career at IBM Canada to engage the business community in proactively avoiding risks and capturing opportunities associated with sustainability issues. He is the author of The Sustainability Advantage which quantifies potential bottom-line benefits from using sustainability strategies, and The Next Sustainability Wave which shows how to convince senior executives to commit to sustainability strategies. His most recent venture is a DVD presentation of The Business Case for Sustainability. It is used in webinars and videoconferences and helps reduce his carbon footprint from global speaking trips. Bob is on the faculties of the Sustainable Enterprise Academy and the Education and Sustainability Academy; is on the advisory boards of The Natural Step Canada, Durham Sustain Ability, Learning for a Sustainable Future, and eQuilibrium; and is a member of the Education Alliance for a Sustainable Ontario, the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP), and the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS). He has a BSc from McGill University (1964), an MEd from the University of Toronto (2000), and a PhD from the University of Toronto (2005). A resident of Ontario, he is the proud owner of his third hybrid car, a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid. Back To Top ^

Robert Wisniewski of Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District Rob brings 14 years of green building design, construction & project management experience to LPCCD. His main responsibilities include designing energy efficiency and renewable technologies into all residential projects, coordinating project planning with LEED certification requirements, and providing overall design oversight to ensure the sustainability goals of Lincoln Park Master Plan are met. Previous to his current position, Rob worked as a Senior Consultant with MaGrann Associates, an energy consulting & engineering firm where he was responsible for managing, consulting and supporting sustainable design & LEED for Homes projects in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Prior to his work with MaGrann Associates, Robert provided green building project management and consulting services to developers and design professionals of affordable housing projects while working as a Green Building Specialist with the award winning New Jersey Green Homes Office. He is also former co-owner of the Colorado based sustainable design/build firm Within Designs, specializing in constructing environmentally integrated, energy efficient homes in the Western U.S. Rob holds a B.S. degree in Environmental Science & Engineering from the University of Delaware with graduate work in urban planning and architecture from the San Francisco Institute of Architecture. Back To Top ^

Frank Zammataro of Rentricity Mr. Zammataro has over 20 years of operating experience with large and small organizations primarily in the development and marketing of emerging technology. Prior to co-founding Rentricity, Mr. Zammataro served as the Chief Marketing Officer of w-Technologies, a wireless software company, where he drove the global market and product strategy, business development, and corporate communications activities. At Merrill Lynch, he served as FVP/ Managing Director of Investments and Alliances in the Private Client Division, where he maintained overall responsibility for technology related strategic alliances, investments, marketing, and sales ($70MM budget). Mr. Zammataro has been a contributing columnist, spoken frequently at leading industry events, and participates in various industry, municipal, and academic organizations. After graduating from St. John's University with a B.A. in Political Science and Communications Arts, Mr. Zammataro attended New York University pursuing a Master's in New Media. Mr. Zammataro also completed the Executive Leadership Development Program at The Wharton School. Back To Top ^