Board of Directors

Officers

Amanda Kuhl, President

Amanda leads the development and implementation of ClimeCo’s digitalization and automation strategy with the goals of creating value for clients and partners. She assists business leaders enhance long term value by guiding the integration of sustainability into their operations with a focus on commercial opportunities. Amanda joined ClimeCo after its acquisition of Global Affairs Associates (GAA), the women-owned ESG and sustainability consulting firm in Houston. Before GAA, Amanda worked to better social and environmental conditions in IKEA’s North and South American supply chains and improve the environmental footprint of its products.
Amanda co-hosts the ESG Decoded TM Podcast and frequently speaks publicly on ESG and related topics. She was a contributor to Climate Risks in the Texas Power Sector: Stakeholder Views and Management Approaches. Amanda earned a B.B.A. in Finance from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas in Austin.

Steve Stelzer, Vice President

In his former role as the Program Director of the City of Houston Green Building Resource Center since 2008, Steve offered green building strategies to plans brought in by the public, developed and maintained green strategy displays and education programs, and maintained codegreenhouston.org, the green building portal of the City of Houston. Steve was a career architect in Houston prior to joining the City, with a BS in Architecture from the Ohio State University in 1976, and an MBA from the University of Houston in 1989. He is an advocate for backyard composting and moving the needle on zero waste and curbing pollution.

Brooke Campbell, CNP, CVA, Secretary

Brooke is the Director of Community Outreach and Disaster Recovery at the United Way of Greater Houston. She is a wife, best friend, AmeriCorps NCCC alum, rescue kitten mom, backyard gardener, instructional designer, international traveler, INTJ (information architect), better listener than talker, collaborative networker, and is obsessed with doing good. Since serving as the “Service Learning Initiator” for her AmeriCorps team, she has created space for intentional service learning reflections among program participants and colleagues throughout her career. She is also experienced in building state AmeriCorps programs including the development of work plans for AmeriCorps VISTAs. Brooke served as the Director of Volunteer Houston for four years leading the operation of a web-based volunteer recruitment platform, designed the corporate volunteer program, and consulted with hundreds of local nonprofits to improve their volunteer engagement programs. Brooke is trained in instructional design, has authored two professional training courses for a national nonprofit, and serves on the Power Tools for Nonprofits Conference advisory committee. She is a Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) and Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA). Brooke has been active in the disaster management space in the greater Houston region for four years and dreams of a time in the not-so-distant future when distributing resources after a disaster efficiently and equitably becomes second nature for everyone involved.

Members

Leo Brito

Leo Brito is the owner of Woodlands Escapes, a landscaping business in The Woodlands, Texas. A strong advocate for less waste and more efficient sustainable practices, he started Zero Waste Houston, a curbside food waste pick-up service in order to do his part to reduce the tremendous amount of waste in our society by facilitating the composting of food waste. He also does zero waste consulting and designs and installs native plantscapes. He is is TRUE Zero Waste certified and is a Master Composter, Master Gardener, and Master Naturalist.

In his spare time he loves to spend time with his wife and three children enjoying the beauty of our world and work in his large vegetable garden.

Susie Hairston

Susie is a mother, grandmother, environmental advocate, and teacher (now retired). She has been on the City of West University Place Recycling Board, and was appointed to the City of West U’s first Sustainability Task Force. A huge proponent for food waste composting, she has helped move West U towards increasing its food waste composting by helping organize a drop-off pilot, encouraging residents to sign up for curbside food waste pick-up, volunteering at school and city events to collect food waste, and helping develop a food waste diversion program for West U Elementary. She co-teaches a master recycler course, and in her past life, developed and taught an environmental studies course for high school students. She spends much of her free time reading about environmental issues, particularly climate change and plastics, playing with her grandchildren, communing with nature, and walking her dogs.

One thing Susie has realized over the years on her journey to try to make a difference is that you have to bring others along with you, form coalitions, develop community. That is why she joined the board of CEC, to help it grow its mission of connecting environmental organizations, community leaders, and concerned citizens to work on protecting our shared environment.

Raghav Mathur

Raghav is a CEC Board Member and an energy, technology and sustainability consulting leader based in Houston. Over the last decade, Raghav has advised large energy companies on maintaining compliance with internal and regulatory policies as well as innovating and digitally transforming their operations for value capture.

In his spare time he loves to spend time with his wife and three children enjoying the beauty of our world and work in his large vegetable garden.

Alex McCray

Alex currently works for the City of Houston at the Houston Permitting Center in the Communications, Education & Outreach Division providing Houston building codes and permitting process trainings and efforts to revitalize the Green Building Resource Center. Previously at the City he was the Project Manager for Houston’s Construction Code Modernization (CCM) project, to adopt current building codes that lay the foundation for resilient buildings as laid out in the Resilient Houston Plan and Climate Action Plan.

Before moving to Houston, Alex lived in Atlanta, GA and served as Executive Director of the Olmsted Liner Park Alliance (OPLA) after serving as the Director for Mayor’s Office of Environmental Affairs for the City of Atlanta. He was awarded the Community Service Award by Atlanta City Council and awarded Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Environmental Ennovation. He has held many board positions and currently serves as Vice President on the Houston Chapter of the International Code Council.

Jessica Wilt Navas

Jessica is the Executive Director of the Central City Co-Op, Houston’s organic food Co-Op. She is passionate about bringing people together, building community to make meaningful change, and sustainability. The first of its kind in the city, the Co-Op now acts as a micro-business incubator and hub and provides a space where members and non-members can shop daily to support local organic farmers, growers, and makers. Jessica is also Vice President of the Sunset Heights Civic Association, serves on the Houston Symphony’s Wine Auction and Collector’s Dinner committee, volunteers with animal rescue organizations, and advocates for saving historic trees. She has worked abroad as a journalist for a major D.C. newspaper, is fluent in Spanish, and loves to travel. Jessica holds a Master of Science in Community and Economic Development from The Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Wittenberg University. She and her husband Erick live in the Heights with the pets that adopted them, Kiko, a Shiba Inu, Luna, the cat with the magnificent tail, and other rescues

Parker Norton

Parker Norton is a Manager with CBRE’s Renewable Advisory team where he is focused on
building and nurturing customer relationships and developing business strategies related to
community solar, distributed generation, energy procurement services, transferable renewable
energy tax credits enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and utility-scale renewables,
including virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) and physically-delivered power purchase
agreements (PPAs).
He previously worked at NextEra Energy Resources as a Senior Regulatory & Political Affairs
Analyst covering Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In this role, he was
responsible for developing and implementing legislative and regulatory strategies to advocate for
the company’s position to trade associations, community organizations, and state and local
governments. Parker also previously worked on the Regulatory & Political Affairs team covering
New York and New Jersey, as well as in early-stage development with the Distributed
Generation team. Before his work at NextEra, Parker worked with the Origination and Power
Marketing team at EDF Renewables, and on Capitol Hill as a Congressional Staff Intern with
Congressman Bill Flores.
Prior to his private sector career, Parker served in the United States Marine Corps as an
infantryman and radio operator for his platoon. He resides in Montgomery, TX, and holds both
an MBA and a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Texas A&M University.

Eden Taylor

Eden is a conservation communicator and dedicated advocate for environmental protection, serving as a board member for the CEC in the Houston/Gulf Coast region. She brings her expertise in communication and public engagement to the CEC, helping to advance its mission of connecting and supporting environmental organizations.

In addition to her role with the CEC, Eden is the Communications Manager for the National Wildlife Refuge Association. In this capacity, she manages the Association’s website, email marketing, and social platforms, leveraging these tools to broaden the audience and support for the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Eden earned a B.S. in Natural Resources Ecology & Management with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Louisiana State University. She is passionate about bridging the gap between conservation science and the public through compelling communication. In her free time, Eden enjoys hiking, wildflower photography, finding quaint places to read under trees, and paying attention to the smaller things in life that often get overlooked.