Lawrence J. Gumbiner
Term of Appointment: 01/19/2010 to present
Since January, 2010, Lawrence J. Gumbiner has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Oceans, International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES). In his present role, he is in charge of coordinating the State Department’s preparation for the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20), as well as Green Growth and Green Economy elements in numerous multilateral fora. Mr. Gumbiner has also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science, Space & Health, managing a team of more than 50 foreign affairs professionals and programs in the areas of Science & Technology Cooperation, Space & Advanced Technologies, and International Health and Biosafety.
Mr. Gumbiner is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. Prior to becoming Deputy Assistant Secretary he served as Director of Environmental Policy for the OES Bureau. From 2006-2009 he was Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, serving as chief advisor to the Ambassador on economic and environmental, science and technology matters. From 2004-2006 he was Deputy Director for Regional Economic Affairs in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Gumbiner served as Environment, Science & Technology Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. Between 1997 and 2001, he established and led the U.S. Government’s first Environmental Hub for Central America and the Caribbean, located at the U.S. Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica. Other postings include Deputy Economic Counselor at U.S. Embassy Managua, and Mercosur Liaison in the State Department’s Office of Brazil and Southern Cone Affairs.
Mr. Gumbiner joined the U.S. Department of State in 1988. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Davis, and a JD from Hastings College of the Law. He is licensed to practice law in the State of California.
Felix Dodds is the Executive Director of Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future. He has been active at the UN since 1990 attending the World Summits of Rio Earth Summit, Habitat II, Rio+5, Beijing+5, Copenhagen+5, World Summit on Sustainable Development. He has also been to all the UN Commissions for Sustainable Development and many UNEP Governing Councils.
He has just chaired the 64th UN DPI NGO Conference on Sustainable Societies Responsive Citizens feeding into Rio +20 – over 1500 stakeholders agreed a declaration.
He has set up three global NGO coalitions for UN Conferences, Summits and Commissions these are the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (1993), the UN Habitat II (1995) the WHO Health and Environment Conference (1999). He co- chaired the NGO Coalition at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development from 1997 to 2001. He introduced Stakeholder Dialogues in 1996 through the UN General Assembly in November 1996 for Rio+5 and helped run some of the most successful ones at Bonn Water (2001) and Bonn Energy (2004).
He is at present on the advisory boards for:
Water, Energy and Food Nexus Bonn 2011 Planet under Pressure (2012) Eye on the Earth Summit (2012) The Collaborative Institute for Climate Oceans and Security,
From 1985-1987 he was the chair of the UK Liberal Parties youth wing. He is considered to have been one of the leading contributors to greening the party. He also successfully led the rebellion against the party changing its policy on nuclear deterrent (1986).
From 1997-2001 he co-chaired the UN Commission on Sustainable Development NGO Steering Committee and has been a part of the Green Globe Task Force that advised the UK Foreign Minister on sustainable development issues from 1996-2005
He has written or edited the following books:
·Only One Planet (April 2012);
·Biodiversity and Ecosystem Insecurity (2011);
·Climate Change and Energy Insecurity (2009);
·Negotiating and Implementing Multilateral Environmental Agreements (2007);
·Human and Environmental Security - An Agenda for Change (2005);
·How to Lobby at Intergovernmental Meetings Mine is a Cafe Latte (2004);
·Earth Summit 2002 A New Deal (2000);
·The Way Forward - Beyond Agenda 21 (1997);
·Into the Twenty First Century An Agenda for Political realignment (1988).
He is also a regular contributor to the BBC web site and enjoys blogging from Film Festivals.
Chris Turner - Director, Rio+20 Programs for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Chris Turner currently serves as the Director of Rio+20 Programs for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a CEO-led organization of forward-thinking companies that galvanizes the global business community to create a sustainable future for business, society and the environment. He is a Director with PwC Sustainable Business Solutions, with a background in technology solutions for state & local government and public transit. Prior to joining PwC, Chris worked with EduSystems, a private firm that specialized in technology education solutions and capacity building for emerging economies.
Amy Fraenkel
Director and Regional Representative
United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for North America (UNEP RONA)
Amy Fraenkel has worked for more than 25 years on environmental law and policy in the U.S. government, inter-governmental organizations, and the private sector.
Ms. Fraenkel joined the United Nations Environment Programme as Regional Director for North America in January, 2008. Prior to UNEP, Amy worked as Senior Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on the Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard Subcommittee. She also served as a senior policy advisor in the Office of International Affairs within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Prior to her public service, Ms. Fraenkel worked in private law practice at the firms Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton in New York, and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae in San Francisco.
Ms. Fraenkel holds a BA in Political Science with a concentration in environmental studies from Grinnell College and a law degree from Harvard University. She also holds a French language certificate from l'Institut Catholique de Paris.
Ira Feldman is founder, president and senior counsel of greentrack strategies, a consultancy focusing on strategic environmental management and sustainable business practices. He has cut an interdisciplinary swath across three usually distinct spheres: "big picture" environmental policy; environmental law and regulation; and environmental management. Today, he is widely recognized as a thought leader in linking the regulatory and non-regulatory trends that form the basis of a “greentrack” or dual track approach to environmental regulation and management; for championing the implementation of a new generation of environmental management tools; for creating voluntary environmental excellence initiatives, and for advancing the state of the art in environmental auditing and disclosure. Mr. Feldman's presentations at conferences and international policy events reflect his focus on the interrelated concepts of environmental management systems, environmental performance metrics, regulatory innovation, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable development. His latest work addresses the emerging legal and regulatory significance of ecosystem services; raises concerns about the lack of attention being paid to climate change “adaptation” as compared to GHG “mitigation"; and analyzes the use of company-specific environmental, social and governance (ESG) information by the financial sectors.
Mr. Feldman is perhaps best known for his leadership role in the development of the ISO 14000 series of standards in the US and at the international level, and for his early recognition of the public policy and regulatory implications of voluntary environmental management standards. He is now one of the six US experts in the multi-stakeholder process developing ISO 26000 on social responsibility. He has served as Chairman’s Advisory Group representative for his SSRO stakeholder group and as co-chair of the international level environmental drafting team. Mr. Feldman also played a key role in the early development of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and in the identification of sustainability metrics used in the GRI protocol. He remains active in GRI as an Organizational Stakeholder. He served on the Environmental Management Task Group of the President’s Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD). An active member of the American Bar Association’s Section on Environment, Energy and Resources (SEER), Mr. Feldman is former chair of the Sustainable Development, Ecosystems & Climate Change Committee. He has also serves as Vice Chair of the Section’s “Environmental Innovation, Management Systems & Trading” and “Environmental Values & Ethics” Committees, and he is a leading participant in the ongoing consideration of multidisciplinary practice (MDP) issues in environmental law. Mr. Feldman is a member of the Environmental Law Institute's Council of Partners.
Previously, Mr. Feldman served as Special Counsel in the Office of Compliance at US EPA headquarters in Washington, DC. In that position he developed and directed the Environmental Leadership Program, EPA’s first program on corporate environmental excellence, and he led the revision of the Agency’s policies on environmental auditing and self-disclosure. Among other responsibilities, Mr. Feldman was EPA's liaison to the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). Before joining EPA, Mr. Feldman practiced environmental law in the private sector in New York and Washington, with particular emphasis on the environmental due diligence aspects of large-scale merger, acquisition, and real estate transactions.
Mr. Feldman has both a legal and a technical background in environmental issues. He completed an interdisciplinary B.A./M.S. program magna cum laude at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar. Mr. Feldman completed additional graduate work in environmental risk assessment and toxicology at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, and he received his doctorate in law from the Columbia Law School in New York where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Mr. Feldman has returned to Penn as a visiting professor to promote interdisciplinary approaches and sustainability concepts in environmental policy, law, and management. He also has an adjunct appointment at American University’s Washington College of Law.