Consensus Environmentalism

Staff

Conn Nugent, President, nugent@heinzcenter.org
Conn Nugent is President of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. Nugent comes to Heinz directly from the JM Kaplan Fund in New York, where he served as Executive Director since September 2000. During his time there, the Kaplan Fund earned a reputation as a quick-reacting supporter of scientists and activists trying to place conservation objectives high on agendas of emerging issues: shipping in the Arctic; fishing on the High Seas; ranching in northern Mexico; pedestrian plazas in New York waterfronts. Previous to his work at Kaplan, Nugent directed the environment program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, ran the Five Colleges consortium in Western Massachusetts, and served as Executive Director of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War when that organization won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. His articles and op-eds have been published in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines.

John Dawes, Chesapeake Commons Administrator, dawes@heinzcenter.org
John Dawes joined the Heinz Center in January 2012 as Administrator of the Chesapeake Commons Data Tool. John is responsible for the implementation and development of this new Bay-oriented data mapping tool that aids watershed organizations in the collection, management and sharing of Bay restoration oriented data. Prior to arriving at The Heinz Center, John worked at Environmental Integrity Project as a Researcher Analyst, mapping public and private drinking water wells and their proximity to hazardous coal ash impoundments. John graduated from Juniata College with a B.A. in Environmental Policy and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). When John is not at work, he can be found kayaking on the Potomac River.

Carleena Graham

Matthew Grason, Fundraising Coordinator, grason@heinzcenter.org
Matt Grason is Fundraising Coordinator for the Heinz Center. Prior to coming to the Center, Matt worked for the Food Research and Action Center, primarily writing proposals to foundations and corporations to support its D.C. Hunger Solutions program. Matt has also provided fundraising or programmatic support to the League of American Bicyclists, Green America, and the CommonGoods Network. He holds degrees in music performance from Manhattan School of Music and James Madison University and is a professional musician, bandleader, and composer in his free time.

Lindi L. Harvey, Director of the Bipartisan Initiative for the Prevention of Breast Cancer, harvey@heinzcenter.org
Lindi Harvey leads the Bipartisan Initiative on the Prevention of Breast Cancer, designed to study possible environmental factors that may contribute to the development of breast cancer and disseminate scientific, evidence-based findings for public awareness. Lindi has served as a business executive in private-sector, government and not-for-profit organizations developing comprehensive strategies, policies and programs; alliance and partnership management; and, effective communication outreach efforts. Most recently, she directed the world’s largest not-for-profit workplace-giving program achieving a record-breaking contribution total distributed to over 4,000 local, national and international charitable organizations. Ms. Harvey has served as Deputy Director of the Office of Global Women’s Issues for the U.S. Department of State, Deputy Director of the U.S. National Park Service for the U.S. Department of the Interior and as Senior Advisor to the National Women’s Business Council for the U.S. Small Business Administration. In addition, Harvey was selected by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) to create and lead the Women’s Majority Network National Initiative. Her private-sector career includes serving as Senior Vice President/Managing Director for the Geneva Strategies Division of Citigroup.

Schneka Hines, Administrative Assistant, hines@heinzcenter.org
Schneka Hines joined the Center as an administrative assistant in March 2010. The newest member of our team, Schneka plays a central role working with all of the projects in support of our wide range of environmental initiatives. She has completed coursework at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and eventually hopes to pursue a career in child psychology. A native of Durham, North Carolina, Schneka loves all things "Tarheels!

Thomas E. Lovejoy, Biodiversity Chair, lovejoy@heinzcenter.org
Thomas E. Lovejoy became the first recipient of the newly created Heinz Center Biodiversity Chair in August 2008. Previously he served as President of the Heinz Center since May 2002. Before coming to The Heinz Center, he was the World Bank’s Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean and Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation. Dr. Lovejoy has been Assistant Secretary and Counselor to the Secretary at the Smithsonian Institution, Science Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior, and Executive Vice President of the World Wildlife Fund–U.S. He conceived the idea for the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project (a joint project between the Smithsonian and Brazil's INPA), originated the concept of debt-for-nature swaps, and is the founder of the public television series Nature. In 2001 he was awarded the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. Dr. Lovejoy served on science and environmental councils or committees under the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. He received his B. S. and Ph.D. (biology) degrees from Yale University.

Anne S. Marsh, Program Director, marsh@heinzcenter.org
Anne S. Marsh, Project Director, leads the Center’s efforts to design indicators, support the technical development of monitoring programs, and promote increased integration of data and institutionalization of indicators. From 2004 to 2008, she worked as a staff scientist for the Center’s Environmental Reporting Group. Before joining the Center, Anne was a visiting scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. She has also worked as a consultant to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and served as a research associate and editor of the National Wetlands Newsletter at the Environmental Law Institute. Anne received her B.A. from Williams College (Environmental Studies), and her M.F.S (Forest Science) and Ph.D. (Ecosystems Ecology/Plant Physiology) from Yale.

Jonathan Mawdsley, Program Director, mawdsley@heinzcenter.org
Jonathan Mawdsley, Project Director, co-directs the Center’s efforts to promote sustainable responses to the challenges posed by global climate change. He is the lead author of the Center’s newly released reports, “Strategies for Managing the Effects of Climate Change on Wildlife and Ecosystems” and “Measuring the Results of Wildlife Conservation Activities,” which was funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation through the Wildlife Habitat Policy Research Program of the National Council for Science and the Environment. Before joining the Center, Dr. Mawdsley worked for five years at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, where he served most recently as a Program Director administering national and regional grant programs on topics that included native plant conservation, invasive species management, endangered salmonid restoration, and the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Prior to working at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Entomology of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. In addition to his work at the Center, he maintains an active research program at the National Museum of Natural History that focuses on insect and pollinator conservation in the United States and southern Africa. He received his B. A. from Harvard University (Biology) and his Ph.D. from Cornell University (Entomology).

Tom Nichols, Vice President, Finance and Administration/CFO, nichols@heinzcenter.org
Tom Nichols is a seasoned financial professional with over 25 years of oversight experience in strategic planning, budgeting, accounting, financial analysis, international human resources, administration, government grants management and contracting. Tom has established staffing plans, systems, policies and procedures for accounting, financial management, human resources, information technology, contracting and administration for more than 30 offices in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He is also a highly skilled trainer, facilitator, presenter and team builder. Prior to his time at The Heinz Center, Tom has served as VP for Operations and CFO for Washington DC based environmental organizations such as the African Wildlife Foundation n and World Wildlife Fund - US. Tom is also an accomplished producer, sound engineer, composer and musician.

Dennis Ojima, Senior Scholar, ojima@heinzcenter.org
Dennis Ojima is a Senior Scholar at the Heinz Center. He is also a Senior Research Scientist of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) at Colorado State University where he was Interim Director from 2005 to 2006. Dr. Ojima received his BA and Masters Degree in Botany from Pomona College (1975) and the University of Florida (1978), and his PhD from the Rangeland Ecosystem Science Department at Colorado State University in 1987. His current US research contributes to the North American Carbon Project. His research areas include global change effects on ecosystem dynamics and regional climate change assessment for the Central Great Plains, as well as international efforts in Central Asia, Mongolia, and China. His research with the Chinese Academy of Sciences includes development of Regional Carbon Management. Dr. Ojima is also member on the U.S. National SCOPE Committee and member-at-large on the Governing Board of the Ecological Society of America (2005-2007).

Leslie Corcelli, Program Associate, corcelli@heinzcenter.org
After 22 years as a real estate professional, Leslie Corcelli had an epiphany brought on by a summer trek through a Florida swamp. She retired from real estate, enrolled at University of Central Florida as an undergrad, and has been on the go since. She received her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies in May of 2012, and is now a Master of Science candidate in Environmental Science and Policy at Johns Hopkins University. Leslie is the President of the Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute Alumni Association, having served as a fellow at the institute from 2009 to 2010. Leslie joined the Heinz Center in November of 2012 and focuses on outreach to state agencies, wildlife management, pollinator research, and climate change.

Martha Surridge, Program Associate, surridge@heinzcenter.org
Martha H. Surridge joined the Heinz Center as a Program Associate in 2011. She has worked previously for World Wildlife Fund as a Program Officer for Conservation Planning and Design. In that capacity she led strategic planning workshops and designed financial models for conservation projects around the world. Most recently she worked in Swaziland with All Out Africa and the Lubombo Conservancy on a variety of wildlife monitoring projects, including research on leopard tortoises and marabou storks. As a consultant with the Corporate Executive Board in Washington, D.C., she conducted best practices research on human resources management and corporate recruiting. Martha holds a M.S. in Sustainable Development & Conservation Biology from the University of Maryland-College Park. As a part of her studies, she worked as a consultant for FWS to model the potential impact of sea level rise on marshes in coastal Refuges. She has a B.A. in Physical Anthropology, with a concentration on primate behavior, from Yale University.

Kathryn Wallace, Program Associate, wallace@heinzcenter.org
Kate received her Bachelor of Science in Resource Economics at the University of Connecticut in May 2012 and is currently pursuing her Master of Public Administration at George Mason University (Environmental Science and Public Policy Concentration). While completing her undergraduate degree, Kate worked for the Science and Technology Advisory Council for the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. She joined the Heinz Center team in September 2012, where she focuses her efforts on pollinator conservation in her home state of Rhode Island and other eastern states. Kate's recent publication, Rhode Island Pollinators and Agriculture, is now shared by several environmental and agricultural agency websites in the northeastern United States. 

Carmen R. Thorndike, Executive Assistant to the Biodiversity Chair, thorndike@heinzcenter.org
Carmen R. Thorndike is the Executive Assistant to the Biodiversity Chair of the Heinz Center. Ms. Thorndike has been with Dr. Lovejoy since 1987, when he was Vice President for Science at the World Wildlife Fund. Since that time, she has served with him at the Smithsonian Institution, the World Bank, and the United Nations Foundation. Before joining the World Wildlife Fund, Ms. Thorndike had been a Project Associate for the Latin American Manufacturers Association (LAMA). She received a business administration degree from Cenecape Andrés Bello, Peru.

Tim Tourbin, Director of Finance, tourbin@heinzcenter.org
Tim Tourbin joined the Heinz Center as Director of Finance in November 2009 after working here as a consultant since March 2009. He brings over 20 years of experience in accounting, finance, administration, and human resources. Prior to joining the Center he served as director of finance for the Public Education Network. He also worked in public accounting with Raffa, P.C. in their outsourcing department, where his clients included numerous local and national non-profits. Tim has a passion for the arts and has performed on many stages in the D.C. area, including the Kennedy Center and Signature Theatre.