GreenScreen™ Training - January 24, 2013 in Minneapolis, MN

Speaker Biographies

Monica Becker, Monica Becker & Associates
Monica Becker is the principal of Monica Becker & Associates Sustainability Consultants (MB & Associates), which she founded in 2009. MB & Associates provides consulting services to businesses, universities, governments and non-governmental organizations in areas including: green product development; multi-stakeholder project management & facilitation; development of metrics and decision tools; and government policy research & analysis. Clients include: Harris Radio, Seventh Generation, Green Depot, Clean Production Action, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production and the United Nations Environment Program.

Monica has spent the over 25 years guiding companies through green transformation of products and manufacturing processes and advising government agencies on policies to promote sustainability. Monica held several management positions at the Rochester Institute of Technology's Golisano Institute for Sustainability from 1998 to 2008 and positions at the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute and Tellus Institute. She began her career as an engineer in the paper industry for Eka Chemicals (now AkzoNobel). Monica has masters degrees in Technology and Policy and Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is a Fellow of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production

Emily Campbell , associate toxicologist, ToxServicess
Emily Campbell is an associate toxicologist at ToxServices. She holds an M.F.S. in Forensic Toxicology from The George Washington University and a B.S. in Chemistry from Hope College. At ToxServices, she evaluates products submitted to the U.S. EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) Program and performs GreenScreen assessments.

Prior to working at ToxServices, Emily worked in various roles in the pharmaceutical industry, including quality control as a raw materials chemist and product changeover as part of the process validation department.

Lauren Heine, Consulting Co-Director, Clean Production Action
Dr. Lauren Heine applies green chemistry, green engineering and design for the environment for sustainable business practices. Lauren works closely with the USEPA Design for the Environment Program to facilitate the development of DfE Screens for Safer Chemicals. She co-authored the GreenScreen™ for Safer Chemicals, a tool for benchmarking chemicals based on inherent hazard and currently serves on the California Green Ribbon Science Panel. She is co-chairing the buyers tool development subcommittee for Wal-Mart's Sustainable Value Network for Chemical Intensive Products. She co-founded the Oregon-based Zero Waste Alliance and was a Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the Green Chemistry Program at the US EPA. From 2003-2007, Lauren served as Director of Applied Science at GreenBlue Institute where she initiated and developed CleanGredients™, a web-based chemical information platform, developed in partnership with the US EPA's Design for the Environment Program. Lauren publishes on green chemistry metrics, alternatives assessment and science-based multi-stakeholder processes. Recent publications include a textbook entitled Introduction to Environmental Engineering, 3rd ed. into which she integrated sustainable development, cradle-to-cradle design, green chemistry, green engineering and sustainable materials management concepts. Lauren earned her doctorate in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Duke University.

Amy Hunsicker, founder, Sustainable Assets Alliance (SAA), LLC
Amy Hunsicker founded Sustainable Assets Alliance (SAA), LLC in 2011 to advance a vision of a healthy Earth for animals, plants and people; safe and resourceful products and manufacturing processes; a sensible renewing and cycling of raw materials; clean and healthful water; and collaboration to advance the vision and strengthen social systems. SAA provides technical consulting, research, program development, partnerships and education through a multidimensional understanding and application of chemistry, sustainability principles, and hard work. Current independent SAA projects include development of a system to support products re-made using waste materials that improve the overall impact of commercial production and material recovery.

Amy supports Clean Production Action as a consultant, where she applies her educational foundation in biochemistry and chemistry to help CPA achieve their mission of advancing green chemistry, sustainable materials and environmentally preferable products. Previously, she served as a Project Manager for McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry's Cradle to Cradle® certification program, building a strong knowledge base in materials chemistry and toxicology through active engagement with manufacturers and supply chain networks in search of product material composition and safer chemical alternatives.

Teresa McGrath, NSF International
Teresa McGrath represents NSF International, a not-for-profit public safety company based in Ann Arbor Michigan. Before working for NSF, Teresa earned her Masters degree in Clean Chemical Technology at the University of York, England and a B.A. in Biology from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. She spent two years at the EPA in the Design for the Environment (DfE) Branch of the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT). She now is the Supervising Toxicologist for the Green Chemistry Programs at NSF which include: Chemical Product Formulation Reviews for the EPA’s Design for the Environment Safer Labeling Program, Ingredient Reviews for the CleanGredients™ Database, Risk Assessments, Inventory Assessments, Sustainable Product Certifications, Eco-Efficiency Analysis and Green Screen Assessments.

Cheri Peele, Consultant to Clean Production Action
Cheri Peele has worked for the past six years as a consultant to Clean Production Action, as well as clients including the Washington State Department of Ecology and King County, Washington, on issues of chemicals policy and product stewardship.

Prior to her work as a consultant, Cheri worked for the state governments of Massachusetts and Washington. In Massachusetts, she was the lead author of the Massachusetts Mercury Action Plan; in Washington, she was a lead author of both the Washington Mercury and PBDE Chemical Action Plans.  Cheri received her BS from Cornell University and a Master of City Planning with an emphasis on environmental policy from MIT.

Fredric Petit, Director Sustainability, DSM
Fredric Petit has some 20 yrs experience with DSM - the Life Sciences and Materials Science company. He is the Director Sustainability for DSM Engineering Plastics, a global player in (bio-based) polyamides and polyesters serving the electrical and electronics, automotive, engineering and packaging industries. Before this role, Mr. Petit was the Global Business Director and General Product Manager for the (co-) polyester product lines Arnitel TPC and Arnite PET & PBT.

Mr. Petit chairs the CEN TC411 committee Bio-based products and is member of GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals Steering Committee.

Prior to working within the DSM Engineering Plastics business group, Mr. Petit spent several years with DSM Fine Chemicals as Area Sales Manager for the Asia-Pacific, South America, Russia and Africa region and as Project Manager for a business acquisition in Japan. DSM Fine Chemicals produces and markets ingredients for a.o. the food, beverage, pharma and coating markets.

When joining DSM, Mr. Petit started as Business Development Manager Stanyl Polyamide 46 with DSM Fibre Intermediates who produce caprolactam and acrylonitrile, which are raw materials for synthetic fibers and plastics.

Mr. Petit holds a Master of Science in Chemistry from the Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands, studied in France and Russia and has completed several business programs at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switserland.

Margaret Whittaker, ToxServices
Dr. Whittaker has over seventeen years of experience in both the performance and management of toxicology and human health hazard and risk assessment-related projects.  She is currently the Managing Director and Chief Toxicologist of ToxServices LLC, where she serves as the project manager and technical lead of ToxServices projects for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Production Action, international certification organizations, testing laboratories, and consumer products companies that manufacture and test products such as cleaning chemicals, fragrance agents, cosmetics, dietary supplements, food additives, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, drinking water additives, and drinking water system components.  As project manager and technical lead for contracts with these organizations, Dr. Whittaker has contributed to and/or managed the development of 500 human health risk assessments, as well as hundreds of product-specific toxicology evaluations and hazard-based alternative assessments. 

Dr. Whittaker is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology who earned a Ph.D. in Toxicology from The University of Maryland, Baltimore and an M.P.H. in Environmental Health from The University of Michigan.  Dr. Whittaker is a U.K./Eurotox Registered Toxicologist, as well as a Chartered Biologist and Fellow of the U.K. Society of Biology.  Dr. Whittaker has built her career on a foundation grounded in leadership and adherence to details and timelines.  One of her first career awards (1992) was a United States Coast Guard Commandant’s Award for Outstanding Civilian Service, where her “alacrity and tenacity” displayed while working on projects associated with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 were officially recognized.  In addition to her extensive program management experience, Dr. Whittaker has extensive technical experience in hazard identification and non-cancer and cancer dose-response assessment, including quantitative risk assessment (e.g., benchmark dose modeling for both carcinogens and non-carcinogens), and predictive toxicology modeling.