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CEC Greater Houston Environmental Summit 2019 Featured Speakers
July 29, 2019

CEC Greater Houston Environmental Summit 2019 Featured Speakers

Featured Speakers

In addition to giving a brief talk, each featured speaker will answer questions at a Table Talk immediately following their presentation.

Speaker Bios:

Jim Blackburn – Rice University. SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

Jim Blackburn is an environmental lawyer and planner as well as Professor in the Practice of Environmental Law in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department where he teaches environmental law and sustainable design. He is co-director of the Severe Storm Prevention, Education and Evacuation from Disaster (SSPEED) Center at Rice and a faculty scholar at the Baker Institute and Director of the undergraduate minor in energy and water sustainability. Also active in civic affairs, Blackburn was among the founders of the Trinity Edwards Springs Association (TESPA), a Texas Hill Country non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting springs and groundwater, and he also founded the Bayou City Initiative (BCI), a Houston-based NGO focused on community recovery and long-term flood protection post Harvey and serves on the board of the Matagorda Bay Foundation and The Aransas Project, two NGOs committed to protecting the Texas coast.

Lara Cottingham – Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Houston. SDG 13: Climate Action

With 13 years of communications and public policy experience, Lara is the Chief of Staff of the Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department and the Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Houston. In addition to leading the Mayor’s Sustainability Office, Lara is the public face of ARA in the media as well as before City Council, industry stakeholders, and customers.

Prior to joining the City of Houston, Lara was a member of Hill+Knowlton Strategies’ Houston office, providing strategic counsel in sustainability and social responsibility issues for a broad range of clients across the energy sector. Lara worked in Washington, DC and served as Communications Director for the Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Vice Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, and Vice Chairman of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Caucus, as well as for congressional campaigns in Colorado, West Virginia, and Texas. 

Thomas Garcia-Pratts – Founder of Small Places, LLC. SDG 2: Zero Hunger

Tommy has over eight  years of hands-on experience in farming and farm management. He has worked under some of the most innovative farmers in the country and hemisphere including Rock Spring Farm, a 20 acre certified organic farm in Decorah, IA, known for its systems development and process-oriented operations.

Tommy also leads the business’s community engagement component using his experience in community development and relationship building during his time in Nicaragua. Tommy is active in his immediate neighborhoods serving as the Business Representative on the 2nd Ward Super Neighborhood Council Board (#63) and various advisory committees related to 2nd Ward development and community feedback.

Iris Gonzales, Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience (CEER). SDG 10: Reduced Inequality

Iris is the director or Houston’s Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience (CEER). She has over 10 years of experience in leading effective community development initiatives and bilingual stakeholder engagement strategies at dynamic non-profit organizations in the Midwest and Texas. She believes in strengthening communities to create lasting social change through projects that are creative, meaningful, and have a measurable impact.

Christopher Hudson – Instructional Development Specialist, Centerpoint Energy. SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

Christopher has spent 20 years in the energy industry in roles spanning from pipeline construction and maintenance, field training, and technical training. Currently, he works in Organizational Readiness – assisting front line and other employees of CenterPoint Energy be ready, willing and able to adapt to changes brought on by new technology, systems or processes.

Grace Rodriguez – Impact Hub Houston. SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Grace Rodriguez helps do-gooders do greater. After co-founding Station Houston to unite the local tech community and connect entrepreneurs with the resources to launch and grow high-tech startups, Grace realized that many diverse entrepreneurs were still being left behind. In 2018, she decided to tackle that problem by moving on to co-found and lead Impact Hub Houston: a locally rooted, globally connected startup hub working to transform Houston into a role model for how the world solves its most pressing issues. With 100+ Hubs in over 50 countries around the world, the Impact Hub network is recognized by the United Nations to support social entrepreneurs and build inclusive ecosystems that foster innovative solutions toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Rives Taylor – Regional Sustainability Leader, Gensler Architects. SDG 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goal

Rives directs our Firmwide Design Performance teams and initiatives. He is a recognized global expert in resilient, high-performance and sustainable design and has been a faculty member of both Rice University and the University of Houston for 25 years. Rives has authored more than 150 articles for diverse publications like ULI’s Urban Land, WIRED, Fast Company, and Texas Architect and has been an invited speaker at symposiums on five continents. He founded the Houston Chapter of the USGBC and recently received the Center for Houston’s Future’s Impact Award. A member of the prestigious AIA Fellowship, Rives holds a B.A. in Architecture from Rice University and a Masters from MIT.

Charriss York – Program Specialist,Texas Community Watershed Partners. SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

Charriss York is an Extension Program Specialist at TCWP where she works on stormwater projects.  She joined the TCWP team in the spring of 2006 and in 2008 took over the Stormwater Program. Charriss focuses on increasing awareness about stormwater, non-point source pollution and Low Impact Development.  She has been involved with projects to implement on the ground examples of stormwater best management practices and stormwater wetlands in Galveston and Harris Counties. Charriss has also led the Wetland Restoration Team for TCWP, taught at the High school and college level and has worked on conservation projects for Buffalo Bayou Partnership.  Charriss holds a B.S. in Biology from Truman State University and a M.S. in Botany from Oklahoma State University.

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