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Posts tagged ‘SLCgreen Staff’

Aug 20

SLCgreen Welcomes New Team Members

This summer was full of many changes for SLCgreen. With Debbie Lyons stepping into the role of Director of Sustainability, and the expansion of our programming, SLCgreen had a few important openings to fill. We’re excited to welcome 2 new members of the SLCgreen team, and to celebrate longtime SLCgreen Communications Manager Sophia Nicholas in her new role as Deputy Director!

The New Faces at SLCgreen

In early July, Bimini Horstmann joined the Sustainability Department as our Special Projects Assistant. Bimini recently finished degrees in Environmental Studies and Biology from Davidson College in North Carolina. An avid rock climber, Bimini was excited to make the move back to Salt Lake City and work with SLCgreen’s team on projects including environmental compliance, climate change, air quality, energy, transportation, waste reduction, and food policy initiatives. The Special Projects Assistant plays a key role in supporting the policy and administrative work of our office, helping ensure that SLCgreen achieves our ambitious energy and climate goals.

This year, SLCgreen is also welcoming Catherine Wyffels to the newly created role of Environmental and Air Quality Program Manager. This position will focus on environmental management, reviewing environmental site assessments, and managing SLCgreen’s air quality programs and initiatives. Catherine is joining SLCgreen after 7 years as an environmental engineer with the Utah Division of Air Quality. We are so excited to have Catherine in this role, which will directly impact our community by ensuring that our building and community spaces are healthy and that our air quality continues to improve.

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Aug 9

SLCgreen Welcomes Debbie Lyons as Sustainability Department Director

This summer, SLCgreen’s Debbie Lyons stepped into the role of Sustainability Department Director after the retirement of our long-time director Vicki Bennett. We are thrilled that Debbie will oversee the City’s goals to achieve 100% community renewable energy, reduce emissions connected to climate change, conserve resources, reduce air pollution, and improve community access to fresh, healthy food. Join us in celebrating Debbie’s new role with a look back at how her career has shaped Salt Lake City’s innovative programs and initiatives for over 25 years!

Photo of Debbie Lyons in front of garden in Washington Square.

Prioritizing Safety and Sustainability

After earning a degree in Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety from BYU, Debbie started her work with Salt Lake City in 1995 as an intern with the Public Services Department. During her time as an intern, Debbie was instrumental in developing elements of Salt Lake City’s Waste & Recycling program that continue to have significant impacts, including the first City-wide curbside recycling and compost programs, the expansion of glass recycling around the state, and the City & County Building’s first office paper recycling program.  

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May 27

SLCgreen Thanks Director Vicki Bennett for 20 Years of Service

Vicki Bennett’s remarkable 20-year career with Salt Lake City Corporation reflects the changes in local and national work to protect the environment and act on climate. As director, Vicki has overseen SLCgreen’s work to reduce carbon emissions, improve city-wide waste diversion, support air quality initiatives, ensure that the City is prioritizing community sustainability, and direct equitable policies related to food security and energy. Under Vicki’s direction, Salt Lake City has become an internationally-recognized leader in sustainability.

After 20 years, SLCgreen’s beloved director is retiring. Vicki leaves an outstanding legacy, and she will be deeply missed by her friends and colleagues in the City. Her retirement gives us an opportunity to take a look at Vicki’s many accomplishments, and how our community has been shaped by her dedicated service.

Shaping Sustainability

Vicki became the Environmental Manager for Salt Lake City Corporation in 2001, a role meant to help regulate chemical use and reduce environmental pollution in the city. However, environmental work was quickly shifting towards addressing climate change. Vicki’s role expanded into sustainability, a field that connects equity and economic stability with environmental protection.

Thanks to Vicki, SLCgreen grew into one of the first sustainability departments in the country. As a Environmental Manager, Vicki served on Governor Huntsman’s Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Climate Change in 2007. During Mayor Ralph Becker’s administration, Vicki was placed in charge of a new Sustainability Division. SLCgreen eventually became its own department under Mayor Jackie Biskupski.

The realities of climate change became more and more apparent over that time. As a result, Vicki’s work shifted from climate mitigation to long-term adaptation and resilience. In the changing landscape of climate action, Vicki has continued to shape a vision of sustainability that supports the most vulnerable in our communities and activates our residents to participate in climate work on all levels.

Photo of Vicki Bennett in front of solar panels with a sign reading #ActOnClimate.
Vicki Bennett urges everyone to #ActOnClimate at the opening of Salt Lake City’s 1 MW solar farm.

Internationally Recognized

Vicki’s steady leadership and stalwart commitment to advocacy has positioned Salt Lake City as an international leader in climate action. Vicki’s legacy is one of collaboration and dedication to connecting with others in order to make positive changes.

When world governments called on countries to commit to emissions reductions in the Kyoto Protocol, Salt Lake City was one of the first cities to join. Examining energy efficiency and tracking carbon emissions was the first step in addressing Salt Lake City’s sustainability goals.

Vicki’s ability to connect with people locally and around the world has helped Salt Lake City focus on critical sustainability initiatives. In Utah, she is a founding member of the award-winning Utah Climate Action Network, a group dedicated to collaborating on climate action in Utah. Vicki also helped launch the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, an organization dedicated to “connecting local government practitioners to accelerate urban sustainability.”

Photo of Vicki Bennett with President Barack Obama.
President Obama and Salt Lake City Sustainability Director Vicki Bennett.
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Mar 10

SLCgreen Welcomes Brian Emerson!

Earlier this year, SLCgreen said goodbye to Food & Equity Program Manager, Supreet Gill. Supreet helped shape the Food & Equity program, shepherding forward the first cohort of our innovative Resident Food Equity Advisors program.

Now, it’s time for a new program manger to pick up the torch.

SLCgreen is thrilled to welcome Brian Emerson to the role! Let us introduce you . . .

Brian Emerson has over 15 years of experience working on food and sustainability issues. He is passionate about the role cities can play in building more just and sustainable food systems, and is eager to support programs that connect social justice and community resiliency.  

Photo of Brian Emerson standing in a verdant garden with a small red chicken on his shoulder. There is a large chicken coop behind them. Brian is white, and has short brown hair and a reddish brown beard. He is wearing a blue zip up hoodie and is looking at the camera with friendly seriousness.
Brian Emerson, Salt Lake City’s Food & Equity Program Manager, befriends a backyard chicken.

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Brian’s career began at Wasatch Community Gardens, helping educate our communities and transform unused spaces into vibrant gardens. Since then, he has worked with Local Futures, researching different approaches to addressing food, energy, and economic needs. Brian also worked with Utahns Against Hunger, where he advocated for critical food justice and anti-poverty policies. In his role at Utahns Against Hunger, Brian witnessed the connections between equity and food access, and helped support efforts to alleviate these disparities.  

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Feb 26

Salt Lake City Says Farewell to Supreet Gill

Food & Equity are critical aspects of our work at SLCgreen. Food exists at the intersection of environmental resilience and community. Our interactions with the food system are complex and made even more complicated by inequities that limit our community members’ access to fresh, nutritious, and culturally-relevant foods.  

Supreet Gill guided SLCgreen’s food and equity work since August 2019.  As Program Manager, Supreet built on our existing programs, dedicating her time to improving community health and well-being by spearheading efforts to improve access to healthy, affordable food. The pandemic revealed just how closely linked food, equity, and climate can be. Despite the challenges of the past year, Supreet worked diligently to alleviate some of the disparities in our food system.  

Supreet has helped shape our department’s food access and equity work, but now it is time to say farewell to our colleague and friend. She and her family are moving out of state. While we hate to see our co-workers go, we’re excited to see what Supreet will do next! And we have a chance to reflect on everything Supreet has done to support our community.  

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Mar 9

Welcome Chris Bell!

Photograph of new Waste & Recycling Division Director, Chris Bell.
Chris Bell joined Salt Lake City as the Waste & Recycling Division Director in January 2020.

SLCgreen is excited to introduce Chris Bell, Salt Lake City Waste & Recycling’s new Director.

The Sustainability Department is comprised of two divisions – the Energy & Environment (E&E) Division, which is the policy division that houses our energy, local food, business engagement, internal policy, and communications roles. And then there is the Waste & Recycling Division which is the operational side of our department. This division is responsible for the daily collection of garbage, trash, and recycling, and other special programs.

So we’re happy to welcome Chris to the Department where he’ll lead the Waste & Recycling Division.

Chris’ career in recycling started almost 20 years ago. He is passionate about using his skills to have a positive impact on the environment and is guided by his philosophy to create a strong legacy of conservation. Chris believes that building a sustainable future is our collective responsibility – and has the added benefit of being good business.

Chris’ work in recycling has taken him from Utah to Colorado to Texas and back. Beginning in paper recycling and moving on though operational and commercial management, Chris is highly qualified in recycling and waste management. He is driven to maintain a strong safety record as well as improve operations to deliver outstanding service to the community.

We are thrilled to have Chris on board to help guide our City towards zero waste and a strong recycling and composting system.

The Waste & Recycling Director oversees 60 staff working to collect garbage, recycling, and yard waste from over 42,000 residents in Salt Lake City.

Join us in giving Chris a warm welcome to the SLCgreen team!

Nov 8

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Welcome Christopher Thomas!

Christopher Thomas joined the SLCgreen team in November 2019.

SLCgreen is excited to welcome Christopher Thomas to our team as the new Senior Energy & Climate Program Manager!

Christopher brings with him a unique blend of experience in clean energy policy, regulatory engagement, advocacy, non-profit leadership, energy efficiency, data science, and more.

He previously worked with the Sierra Club, HEAL Utah, the energy efficiency firm ETC Group, Salt Lake County, and more. He holds a B.A. in English and Biology from Grinnell College and a Master’s Degree in Information Systems from the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business.

His is an important role for the Sustainability Department and the City as a whole, as the lead staffer (see our farewell post to his predecessor Tyler Poulson) on many of Salt Lake City’s climate initiatives. Learn more by visiting the Climate Positive SLC plan.

Christopher has already hit the ground running and we’re thrilled to put his expertise to work!

His main responsibilities include:

  • Bringing new clean energy projects online to meet Salt Lake City’s municipal power needs
  • Collaborating with our electric utility Rocky Mountain Power, other 100% clean energy communities, state leaders, businesses, and regulatory authorities to move forward Salt Lake City’s community-wide clean energy goals
  • Partnering with city departments and divisions to reduce municipal energy use and pollution through cleaner fleets, energy efficiency, and renewable energy projects
  • Creating programs and partnerships to reduce the City’s fossil fuel footprint

Welcome Christopher!

Oct 4

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Salt Lake City Bids Farewell to Tyler Poulson

Change is in the air at SLCgreen.

In July, we said goodbye to long-time program manager Bridget Stuchly who launched and ran our local food programs for 11 years. In August, we welcomed new team member Supreet Gill. Then, last week, we moved offices from the first floor to the fourth floor in the City County Building.

Phew!

Today we eat the last donut with our co-worker Tyler Poulson, who’s been with SLCgreen since 2013. He and his wife are moving out of state.

Tyler Poulson touring the Scatec Solar Farm in Central Utah, 2015.

We’re a tight team at SLCgreen and while we hate to see our co-workers go (even though we know it’s for new and exciting chapters), it does give us an opportunity to reflect on all they’ve done and how our community has been shaped by their service.

That is certainly true for Tyler.

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Aug 15

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Welcome Supreet Gill!

Supreet Gill is SLCgreen’s new Sustainability Program Manager.

SLCgreen is thrilled to welcome Supreet Gill to the Sustainability Department as our new Program Manager!

Supreet brings 15 years of experience in community food systems and a passion for improving urban and ecological resilience through sustainable agriculture and equitable community engagement.

Supreet has engaged in food systems on all levels — as a farmer, program manager for a refugee agriculture project, coordinator of urban farming and farm to school programs, and nutrition educator, to name a few!

In her prior position with Salt Lake County’s Urban Farming and Open Space program, she worked on numerous projects focusing on public lands management and community food systems. She also served on Salt Lake City’s Food Policy Task Force (now Food Policy Council) and has deep connections in the local food community.

As Sustainability Department program manager, Supreet will continue building our existing programs as well as developing new ones to strengthen the capacity of community residents and leaders to enhance the regional food system.

In short, her work is dedicated to improving community health and well-being, as well as making sure all residents have access to healthy, affordable, local food.

That goal entails a deep focus on community partnerships. She’ll continue making connections in the community– with farmers, local food producers, and other stakeholders. She’ll also work to ensure that communities, groups, and individuals with lower-access to resources are involved as deeply as possible in Salt Lake City’s work.

Finally, Supreet’s role will also include bridging with other government entities– within and outside of Salt Lake City– to prioritize strategies related to social and environmental justice, improving the local food system, and fostering equitable access to healthy food.

We’re thrilled to have her on the team!

Say hello when you see her at an upcoming community event . . . or a garden around town!

Oct 25

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Bridget Stuchly Recognized by Slow Food Utah

This week, our program manager Bridget Stuchly was honored at Slow Food Utah’s Feast of the Five Senses with the “Community Leader – Snail Award.” We’re grateful (and not at all surprised) that she received this recognition! (Though she was surprised, because we all kept it a secret!)

The Slow Food Utah Snail Awards were launched in 2012 as a way of recognizing those people who are ardent supporters and believers in the Slow Food mission. That mission is to “inspire individuals and communities to change the world through food that is good, clean and fair for all.”

Bridget Slow Food Award 2018

Carson Chambers of Slow Food Utah and the Downtown Farmers Market presenting the “Community Leader Snail Award” to SLCgreen Program Manager Bridget Stuchly on October 21, 2018.

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