June 2013: Made in California
Bios
John Anderson (Session I)
John Anderson is the Director of Programs at California Manufacturing Technology Consulting® (CMTC) and has been working to maintain and expand manufacturing in California using his strong business background in a wide variety of industries from aerospace to food processing. John has been involved in the manufacturing community for more than 30 years. His leadership experience in current and past positions has included increasing sales, driving operational efficiency and improving customer satisfaction. He serves as CMTC’s Program Manager for a strategic program focused on Continuous Energy Improvement with Southern California Edison and Southern California Gas.
As Vice President of Operations for a manufacturer with 130 employees, he led the operational and financial turnaround by using business improvement techniques and workforce development to exceed customer quality and delivery expectations. This resulted in large annual sales increases. He owned and operated a $5 million fulfillment and distribution facility that led the industry in productivity and profitability. With the Department of Defense, he managed studies conducted by multi-disciplinary teams of engineers, chemists, hydrologists, biologists and technical writers on nationwide assessment studies of past hazardous waste disposal practices. For this program, he developed innovative sampling protocol to reduce program costs by millions of dollars.
John holds a M.S. in Management and a B.S. in Biochemistry.
Krysty Emery (Session III)
Ms. Emery has been practicing in the environmental resource and waste management field for over 14 years. Her professional experience includes project siting and CEQA analysis, stakeholder engagement and facilitation, business process improvement, and research in biomass and emerging technologies.
For both the public and the private sector, Ms. Emery has lead teams in the development of landfill planning projects, directed staff conducting environment impact analyses of power plants and water management projects. Ms. Emery has worked to facilitate stakeholder engagement in developing policies and incentives for emerging technologies. Many of the projects she has worked on focused on identifying tools for local governments to more easily access project development incentives. Ms. Emery has also managed recycling programs for a corporate waste management company as well as for a rural grassroots recycling group.
Ms. Emery is currently responsible for assisting Bay Area jurisdictions with recycling program implementation and reporting and market development. Ms. Emery is also involved in special projects relating to commercial recycling and climate change.
Michelle Fay (Session II)
Michelle Fay has over 8 year’s experience working in public sector waste reduction. Michelle joined the Alameda County Waste Management Authority, or “StopWaste,” in September 2012 and provides project management for the business assistance team servicing Alameda County. She provides outreach, communications, and programmatic support for the Reusable Transport Packaging project (UseReusables.com), Mandatory Commercial Recycling business assistance, as well as institutional food waste prevention. Michelle is the lead coordinator for the annual StopWaste Business Efficiency recognition event that features select businesses for outstanding waste reduction achievements. Prior to her work at StopWaste, Michelle spent 8 years at Castro Valley Sanitary District (CVSan) with roles ranging from recycling and organics program outreach to schools, businesses, and multi-family properties, to CalRecycle annual report preparation for AB 939, and served as the staff lead to CVSan’s Community Advisory Committee. She graduated from California State University East Bay with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and is currently certified as a Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems Technical Associate from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA).
Tony Fernandez (Session II)
No bio submitted yet.
Tibora Bea Girczyc-Blum (Session II)
Tibora Bea Girczyc-Blum is an artist, educator and entrepreneur. Her artwork plays with environmental concepts particularly the interaction of man and nature. It was during her travels to Eastern Europe, Central America and Africa where she started seeing flashes of the creative functional reuse of objects; glass shards replacing barbed wire, plastic water bottles used as funnels. Through creative reuse she has fused her passions for arts, education, environmental conservation, social work, and community building. She started developing and researching creative reuse centers in 2010.
Maureen Hart (Session IV)
Maureen Hart has been working in Recycling, Energy, and the Community Based Economy since1980, first in Michigan and then in California. Ms. Hart has worked in corporations, for non-profits, government and as a consultant. She managed an Appropriate Technology Center in East Lansing for 5 years that still exists today, 30 years later (Urban Options). She has also managed large recycling centers in the San Francisco area marketing over 120,000 tons/yr of recyclables to domestic and export markets (Norcal Waste Systems). Ms. Hart worked with towns in Northern California as they planned their transition from a logging based economy (Center for Environmental Economic Development). In 2000, she became a Zone Administrator working with the Humboldt RMDZ and Del Norte Waste Authority to form the North Coast RMDZ. Presently Hart works with the NCRMDZ, Redwood Coast Energy Authority, and as a private consultant.
Ms. Hart loves Zonework’s Peershares because it highlights the collaborative learning from all over the state of California and from ZA’s located in different departments such as Economic Development, Planning, or Public Works. It also showcases all the work that is being done in the RMDZ and shows the potential of more. The RMDZ is one of the building blocks of the green economy and she looks forward to the day when its concepts move into the main stream of industrial development in California and the U.S. As a green industrialist, she looks forward to the hard work ahead to make this transformation happen.
Long live the RMDZ!!!!!
Jim LaTanner (Session V)
James LaTanner is a graduate from California State University, Sacramento and Golden Gate University, Sacramento in Business Administration Finance. Mr. LaTanner has worked at CalRecycle since 1995, primarily supervising the Recycling Market Development Revolving Loan Program. Prior to the state, James worked in the private banking industry for 17 years as a corporate loan officer.
Jana Nairn (Session I)
Jana is CEO and owner with her husband, Rob, of Rubber Bark, Inc., a tire derived product manufacturer of Rubber Bark® rubber mulch, mats and more, diverting over 1 million California scrap tires from landfills annually. Jana has 15 years of experience working in the tire recycling industry working closely with Cal Recycle, RMDZ Loan program and State legislators on scrap tire issues. Jana’s industry-wide involvement has included ISRI Tire Processor Chapter, Rubber Pavements Association, Association of Synthetic Grass Installers and California Chamber of Commerce. Jana has served as an officer of ISRI’s Scrap Tire Processor Chapter and has been involved with ISRI Tire Task Forces on specifications and best management practices. Jana Nairn has her Bachelor Degree in Agricultural Business Marketing from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where she was a member of the 1995 National Championship NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Association) Marketing Team. She has 3 children, ages 12, 9 and 5.
Paul Stark (Session I)
Paul Stark is the Regional Manager for The Corporation for Manufacturing Excellence (Manex Consulting) and covers Northern California. He is a graduate of California State University at Sacramento in Business Management and spent most of his career in business development and corporate consulting. He currently works with Manufactures to help them streamline operations, become more efficient, identify new sales and marketing opportunities and become profitable and successful right here in Northern California.