Speaker and Moderator Bios

Walter Grazer, Special Advisor to the National Religious Partnership for the Environment

Walter E. Grazer currently serves as Special Advisor to the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.  Formerly, he served as Director of the Environmental Justice Program and Senior Policy Advisor for Religious Liberty, Human Rights and European Affairs and the for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. At the Conference, he also served as Deputy Director for Migration and Refugee Services and Policy Advisor for Food, Agriculture, and Rural Development. Prior to his service at the USCCB, he directed the Social Ministry Program of the Diocese of Richmond, after working for the City of Richmond’s Commission on Human Relations and the Richmond Community Action Program.  He is author of Catholics Going Green, published by Ave Maria Press in May 2009, and is also co-editor with Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J. of And God Saw That It Was Good: Catholic Theology and the Environment. Mr. Grazer holds a M.A. in International Relations, a M.S.W. in social work and a B.A. degree in philosophy.

Nigel Purvis, President and CEO of Climate Advisers

Nigel Purvis is the founder, President and CEO of Climate Advisers, a Washington, DC-based consultancy specializing in U.S. climate change policy, international climate change cooperation, global carbon markets, and climate-related forest conservation. Mr. Purvis also holds climate change and international affairs research appointments at Resources for the Future, the German Marshall Fund of the United States and The Brookings Institution. He serves as the Executive Director of the bipartisan Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests.

Previously, Mr. Purvis directed U.S. environmental and climate diplomacy, including most recently as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment, and Science. In that capacity he shaped U.S. foreign policy relating to climate change, biodiversity conservation, forests, toxic substances, ozone depletion and environmental aspects of international trade. Mr. Purvis also served as the global vice president for policy and external affairs at The Nature Conservancy. Before that he was a senior scholar in the foreign policy program of The Brookings Institution and an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

His books, essays, articles and interviews on climate change, environmental diplomacy, economic development, international assistance and foreign affairs have appeared in leading book stores, news outlets and academic journals around the world. His most recent and award-winning book, Climate Change and Global Poverty, was published in 2009. Early in his career, Mr. Purvis worked as an international lawyer at the U.S. State Department, as a securities attorney at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell and as a lecturer in international law at Georgetown University. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

Sybil Sanchez, Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life

Sybil Sanchez is the director of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), where she focuses on Jewish environmental sustainability, presenting a Jewish voice on environmental policy, and providing resources for environmentalism and Jewish life. An advocate for years on social-justice issues - including the environment, workers' rights, and universal human rights - Sybil has served as executive director of the Jewish Labor Committee and as director of United Nations Affairs at B'nai B'rith International. Sybil completed her master's degree in international affairs at Columbia University.

Heather McGray, Senior Associate, World Resources Institute

Heather McGray is a Senior Associate in WRI’s Climate and Energy Program. She currently leads WRI’s project on vulnerability and adaptation to climate change.  Ms. McGray’s previous work, within WRI’s Institutions and Governance Program, focused on the role of transparency, participation, and access to justice in addressing environmental problems, including research and civil society training in China’s Yunnan Province. Prior to joining WRI, Ms. McGray’s professional experience included research on environmental management in China; research and negotiations on ISO 14000 environmental standards; coordination of an urban education and development network; and management of educational exchange programs for the Yale-China Association. Ms. McGray holds a Master’s of Environmental Management from Yale University and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Oberlin College

Cassandra Carmichael, National Council of Churches

Cassandra Carmichael is the Washington office and eco-justice program director for the National Council of Churches where she helps serve the environmental and justice ministries of NCC’s 36 member denominations, which represent 100,000 churches nationwide. In her role as eco-justice program director, Cassandra oversees all NCC eco-justice initiatives. Previously, she was director of faith-based outreach at the Center for a New American Dream, where she worked to encourage communities of faith to take action to conserve resources and protect the natural environment. Cassandra has worked as an environmental consultant with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and A Rocha USA, and was a teacher educator, university instructor, and environmental education specialist at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where she received her graduate degree in environmental education. Cassandra has written numerous articles and essays on faith and environment for publications such as Race, Poverty and the Environment journal, Holy Ground, and Heartstone journal. Cassandra is a senior fellow in the Environmental Leadership Program; a previous board member on the Chesapeake Bay Alliance, and in May 2005 received the Community Award from R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for her faith-based work in the Chesapeake Bay region. Cassandra also recently served on the White House Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership Advisory Council Task Force on Climate and Environment and the Advisory Council for the Green Bible.

Angela Anderson, Program Director, U.S. Climate Action Network

Angela Anderson has been engaged in efforts to curb global warming, for nearly a decade, most recently managing domestic and international climate advocacy efforts at Pew and the National Environmental Trust. Angela’s wide-ranging policy expertise is the result of a long tenure in the non-profit community.  Angela has a long relationship with Pew, serving as the first director of the Clear the Air Campaign, a nationwide coalition of legal, policy and public service organizations created in 1999.  Angela managed the campaign’s multi-pronged legal, economic analysis, and legislative program that used rigorous enforcement of the Clean Air Act to draw together the interests of citizens and industry for improved air quality first steps to curb climate. Angela’s policy experience also extends into the areas of consumer protection, health care and international trade.  At a private sector consulting practice, she managed a consumer, labor and industry coalition on telecommunications policy and spearheaded the firm’s grassroots advocacy. Angela also provided policy support to organizations advocating state health care ‘bills of rights’ and led the first large-scale coalition field operation in opposition to trade agreements without adequate environmental and labor provisions. Anderson began her career directing field operations for several NGOs including Public Citizen and the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG).

Kim Carnahan, International Policy Director, International Emissions Trading Association

Kim Carnahan is International Policy Director at the International Emissions Trading Association, a 160-plus member business association dedicated to advocating for and advising on the development of market-based solutions to climate change. In this role, Kim oversees IETA’s work on the United Nations climate change negotiations, international emissions trading, clean energy and carbon offset projects, and reducing emissions from international deforestation.  Before transitioning into her current position, Kim held two other posts in the organization. Prior to joining IETA, Kim worked as an independent research consultant, advising universities, science foundations, and NGOs in the U.S. and Europe on a wide range of energy and environmental policy issues, including incentives for renewable energy deployment, carbon offset project development, and the regulatory challenges of carbon capture and sequestration.

Catherine Pattillo, International Monetary Fund.

Catherine Pattillo is an Advisor, and Chief of the Low-Income Countries Strategy Unit in the  Strategy, Policy and Review Department at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that, she was a mission chief in the Western Hemisphere Department, and worked in the African and Research Departments.. She earned a B.A. from Harvard University and Ph. D in economics from Yale University. Before joining the IMF, she was a fellow at Oxford University, Centre for the Study of African Economies and St. Antony’s College. Her research interests and published articles are in the areas of growth, investment, debt, monetary and exchange rate policies, aid, currency crises, macroeconomic policies and firm performance in Africa, and monetary unions in Africa.

Lou Leonard, Managing Director of Climate Change, WWF

Lou Leonard is Managing Director of Climate Change for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).  He began his career working on endangered species and Native American water rights issues for the U.S. Department of the Interior.  This was followed by several years in California tackling legal challenges surrounding energy and water development at the local, state and federal level.  Later, as a Fulbright Scholar and visiting lecturer at the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, Lou served as a legal advisor to several local and non-profit groups, including WWF, working on problems related to climate change.  He traveled to remote villages and tropical forests, learning firsthand from the people who lived there about how climate change is already impacting their forests and water supplies. Lou joined WWF in November 2008 after serving as an environmental policy analyst and field organizer for the “Obama for America” campaign. 

Mitch Hescox, Evangelical Environmental Network

Mitch joined The Evangelical Environmental Network in August 2009 as President/CEO and publisher of Creation Care Magazine.  Mitch speaks nationally on creation care, especially on the environmental life threatening impacts on the poor. (Rev. Hescox has published numerous articles and is a contributor to an up-opening book Conversion: The Sacred Work of Churches to Protect God’s Climate by New Society Publishers.  He has appeared on CNN, NPR, and numerous radio programs both Christian and secular.  In 2010, Mitch lead the 300 mile Creation Care Walk from West Virginia to Washington, DC  and the 80 mile Gulf Coast Prayer Walk during the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill.  Prior to joining EEN, Mitch pastored a local church for 18 years, and before the call to ordained ministry served the coal and utility industry as Director, Fuel Systems for Allis Mineral Systems. Having a heart for the poor and those without a relationship to Jesus, Mitch’s call is to serve God’s Kingdom through efforts to mobilize The Church to love as Jesus loves and make disciples.  He has traveled the world leading mission teams and teaching evangelism.  He earned a Masters of Divinity, Magma Cum Laude, from Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC, and a Bachelor of Science in Geosciences from the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Billy Pizer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy and Environment

Billy Pizer has been the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Energy since 2008, when he was hired to create and lead a new office responsible for developing, coordinating, and executing the Treasury Department’s role in the domestic and international environment and energy agenda of the United States.  Prior to this, Pizer was a Senior Fellow and Research Director at Resources for the Future (RFF) where his 12 years of research looked at how the design of environmental policy affects costs and environmental effectiveness, often related to global climate change, and included more than two dozen peer-reviewed publications, books, and articles. From 2001-2002, while on leave from RFF, he served as Senior Economist for the Environment at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.  He holds a BS in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel, and a PhD in Economics from Harvard University.

Cecilia Calvo, Program Coordinator, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Cecilia Calvo (B.A., Wellesley College; M.A.L.D., The Fletcher School at Tufts University) is the Environmental Justice Program Coordinator for the USCCB. She oversees the environmental justice program and monitors environmental policy, including climate change legislation. Her prior experience includes research and analysis of environmental and natural resource issues in Latin America, work in the field of mediation and conflict resolution, and management of environmental programs at Target Corporation.