Keynote

Join us after dinner for a concert, fashion show, and keynote speakers.

Lisa P. Jackson, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator

Administrator Lisa P. Jackson leads EPA’s efforts to protect the health and environment for all Americans. She and a staff of more than 17,000 professionals are working across the nation to usher in a green economy, address health threats from toxins and pollution, and renew public trust in EPA’s work.

As Administrator, Jackson has pledged to focus on core issues of protecting air and water quality, preventing exposure to toxic contamination in our communities, and reducing greenhouse gases. She has promised that all of EPA’s efforts will follow the best science, adhere to the rule of law, and be implemented with unparalleled transparency.

Jackson is the first African-American to serve as EPA Administrator. She has made it a priority to focus on vulnerable groups including children, the elderly, and low-income communities that are particularly susceptible to environmental and health threats. In addressing these and other issues, she has promised all stakeholders a place at the decision-making table.

Before becoming EPA’s Administrator, Jackson served as Chief of Staff to New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine and Commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Prior to joining DEP, she worked for 16 years as an employee of the U.S. EPA.

Jackson is a summa cum laude graduate of Tulane University and earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University. She was born in Pennsylvania and grew up a proud resident of New Orleans, Louisiana. Jackson now resides in Washington D.C.

Bill McKibben, 350.org founder and environmental activist

Bill McKibben wrote the first book for a general audience about climate change: The End of Nature, in 1989. He's written a dozen other books, and with seven college students founded 350.org, the grassroots global climate campaign that has coordinated 15,000 demonstrations in 189 countries. Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College, his work has appeared frequently in magazines like the National Geographic and the New Yorker. Time Magazine recently called him "the planet's best green journalist," and the Boston Globe said in 2010 that he "may be the country's most important environmentalist." Foreign Policy named him to it's inaugural list of the 100 most important global thinkers.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Green For All Chief Executive Officer

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is the Chief Executive Officer of Green For All. Under her leadership, Green For All has become one of the country’s leading advocates for a clean-energy economy, and one of its most important voices on the intersection of economics and environment.

Phaedra has led Green For All to several groundbreaking policy victories at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, she led a successful effort to include two key provisions in the House’s climate and energy bill: securing funding for job training, and guaranteeing broad access to clean-energy jobs.

Under Phaedra, Green For All has helped states like Washington and New Mexico pioneer state-level green jobs and energy-efficiency programs. And the organization is helping cities like Portland and Seattle craft groundbreaking energy-efficiency home retrofit programs that use innovative financing mechanisms and community agreements about job standards to cut energy bills, create green jobs, reduce pollution, and expand business opportunities.

Prior to joining Green For All, Phaedra was a leader in California’s labor movement, heading both the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and Working Partnerships USA. This has given her a unique perspective that has enabled her to bring labor, environmental, business, grassroots, and government leaders together in common purpose.

Phaedra leads on numerous boards including serving as the Chair of the Department of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, the Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change for the Joint Center, the Economic Policy Institute, the Leadership Council of California Forward, the Tipping Point Community Board, and the Partnership for Working Families. Phaedra serves as a Young Global Leader with the World Economic Forum.

SEE-I

SEE-I is a 9-piece funk ‘n’ soul reggae band from Washington, DC. SEE-I delivers their music from a 1970′s roots angle, but there are many other influences that can be heard in the music ranging from blues to rock, latin, soul, funk and brazilian beats. This diversity of sound makes sense because of the variety of bands that the SEE-I band members hail from. 4 of the 8 members are part of Thievery Corporation and other bands represented include All Mighty Senators, Fort Knox Five, Sin Miedo, Thunderball, Wailin’ Love, Nayas, International Velvet, and Soul Brazil.

SEE-I has been rocking a legendary weekly Wednesday gig at DC’s 18th Street Lounge for years, and has just returned from a tour in the Western USA. The Wednesday night gig, referred to lovingly as ‘reggae night,’ has been turning even the most up tight DC politicos into dancing maniacs since its inception. SEE-I delivers a positive vibe that keeps the dancefloor packed and grooving all night with smiles on everyone’s faces.