Carlos Claussell Velez (he/his/el) is a climate change and environmental professional with over 10 years of experience driving equity and community-centered processes and working with community-based organizations, non-profits, government and philanthropic entities committed to advancing climate justice and equity strategies at the local, regional, state and national level. He currently serves as the Climate, DEI and Environmental Justice Manager for the World Wildlife Fund focusing on advancing equitable strategies for the America is All In and Renewable Thermal Collaborative (RTC). Carlos also serves as Vice-Chair for the City of Philadelphia’s Inaugural Environmental Justice Advisory Commission (PEJAC), tasked with advising the Mayor, City Council and Office of Sustainability on environmental justice issues and advocating for environmental justice communities in the City. Carlos is a 2022 Climate Justice Design Fellow from Harvard University, 2022 Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI) fellow, a 2020 Environmental Leadership Program Senior Fellow, and a Board Member for Taller Puertorriqueño, a community-based cultural organization that uses art to promote development within the Puerto Rican community and the Latino Diaspora in the Greater Philadelphia region.

Prior to joining WWF, Carlos worked as a Senior Program Officer at the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC), serving as the National Program Office Lead for The Kresge Foundation Climate Change, Health & Equity Initiative (CCHE), as the Urban Conservation Project Manager for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) North America’s Cities Network tasked with supporting the implementation of Philadelphia's Green City Clean Waters Plan, and as the Urbanism & Infrastructure Project Manager for the Caño Martin Peña ENLACE Project Corporation, an internationally renowned community-led initiative and winner of the 2016 United Nations World Habitat Award. Carlos holds a master’s degree in architecture and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico.

John C. Dernbach is Professor Emeritus at Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He writes widely on sustainable development, climate change law, and environmental law. 

He is the principal author, editor, or co-editor of four books assessing and making recommendations on U.S. progress toward sustainability; the latest is Governing for Sustainability (Environmental Law Institute 2023; co-edited with Scott Schang). He is coauthor, with Matt Bogoshian and Irma Russell, of Sustainability Essentials: Lawyering to Make a Difference (American Bar Association 2022). He is also co-editor, with Michael Gerrard, of Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (2019), a comprehensive analysis and description of more than 1,000 legal tools for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050.

Professor Dernbach co-authored a successful amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 18 prominent climate scientists in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency. His scholarship and advocacy were cited extensively in landmark Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions in 2013 and 2017 that reinvigorated the Environmental Rights Amendment to the state constitution.

Prior to joining the Widener faculty, he drafted four major waste and mining laws at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (now the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)). He also directed the Policy Office at DEP for several years during the Rendell Administration. 

He represented the American Bar Association at the 2022 climate conference in Egypt. He has received lifetime achievement awards from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Environmental and Energy Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Suzette Munley is a COO with 20 years’ experience scaling talent, financial and operational efficiencies to grow purpose-driven organizations into sustainable market leaders across hospitality and non-profit sectors. She translates vision into implementable strategic roadmaps. 

As a volunteer speaker for Beyond Plastics’ Speakers Bureau, Suzette is reducing plastic pollution and improving health in the region by spearheading single-use plastic bag bans in Montgomery County and engaging in education, public policy, and community action.   

Previously, Suzette served as board president of the Center City Business Association, where she repositioned the brand, grew board diversity, and created a sustainable business model. Suzette served as Board Treasurer and Vice-Chair of the Montessori School as well as Vice President and Treasurer for the Philadelphia chapter of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Hotel Association. Suzette has partnered with numerous non-profit organizations. 

R. John Dawes, Executive Director and Co-Founder (The Commons) - John is currently the lead for project strategy with a focus on system design and product development for The Commons. Originating as a small fiscally sponsored program delivering GIS services and information design to environmentally focused organizations, John grew the Commons into a stand-alone nonprofit organization that delivers leveraged products and digital services to organizations working to improve water quality. Prior to founding the Commons, John worked at Environmental Integrity Project as a Research Analyst, mapping public and private drinking water wells and their proximity to hazardous coal ash impoundments. John graduated from Juniata College with a B.A. in Environmental Policy and holds a M.S. in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from Johns Hopkins University. He is a self taught front-end software developer, an avid cyclist, and manages his family’s grass-fed Angus beef operation located in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. 

Alyssa Edwards has over 18 years of experience in the renewable energy sector, focusing on wind and solar energy. Her expert knowledge of wildlife regulations, permitting and sitting issues that impact renewable energy development, construction and operation have helped advance more than 10GW of executed projects.

In her role as Senior Vice President, Environmental Affairs and Government Relations, Alyssa along with her team, leads on environmental compliance and permitting for development, construction and operational phases for the U.S. portfolio. Additionally, they’ve created a successful biodiversity program in the U.S. that supports our global sustainability objectives.

Alyssa also manages government relations in the United States. Through extensive stakeholder engagement with legislators, regulators and environmental organizations she promotes renewable energy policies and legislation at the local, state and federal levels.  Alyssa has highly established governmental agency and stakeholder relationships regionally and nationally and has served on advisory councils, committees and boards.

Alyssa holds a B.S. Environmental Science, Lehigh University and an M.S. Environmental Policy, Planning and Regulation from The London School of Economics and Political Science.

Ann is honored to serve on PennFuture's board and believes that a healthy environment is a fundamental component of human health. 

She is a Certified Oncology Nurse, currently working as a Clinical Research Coordinator. Advocacy is inherent to her profession and carries over to her volunteer activities. A member of The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Ann also serves as chair of the Brodhead Watershed Associations Climate Action committee and is a current board member and past officer.  

She is an active participant in Trout Unlimited’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Climate Change workgroups, and is dedicated to creating a welcoming environment for all while working to protect our cold water resources for future generations. She also serves on the board of Brodhead Chapter Trout Unlimited, where she remains dedicated to their Stream Girls program, a STEM program for girls that helps break down barriers in science and the outdoors. 

Ann is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and is a lifelong resident of northeastern PA where she has lived within 20 miles of the free-flowing Delaware River for most of her life. She currently resides in the Pocono Mountains where you may find her casting a line in the Paradise Creek that flows behind her cottage.

Joyce has experience with community and economic development, with expertise in entrepreneurship consulting. She is also proficient in visioning and early stage project management, including branding, marketing, graphics, social and traditional media, as well as effective group facilitation, public engagement and team consensus-building utilizing the Art of Hosting techniques (World Cafe, Open Space Technology and Graphic Illustration.) She is an experienced host for online and physical gatherings of up to 100 participants. Other skills include collaborative project development, business plan development, proposal writing, program and grant structuring. 

Jennifer Shukaitis is a Stroud Township Supervisor in Monroe County and a Medical Coding Specialist II at Lehigh Valley Hospital. 

Shukaitis is the oldest granddaughter of Nancy Shukaitis, a champion defender of the Delaware River. She was elected Stroud Township Supervisor in 2019 and serves as vice-chairwoman and vice-secretary. Her policy interests include sustainable jobs, affordable living, responsible zoning and investment in open space, and preservation of precious natural resources. She has also served as Secretary of the Brodhead Watershed Association.

Shukaitis has over 24 years of business management and marketing experience, and holds a bachelor's degree from East Stroudsburg University and a master's from Colorado State University.

Aside from her community engagement on various fundraising and activities committees, Shukaitis helps local leaders create and implement success strategies to be effective managers and achievers, and she spends her free time in the outdoors of the Pocono Mountains with her golden retriever Lily.

John Armstead is the retired Senior Executive Service Director for the Environmental Protection Agency Region 3 Office. 

He began his environmental career in 1978 driven by a dedication to protecting our living resources. That dedication marked a career spanning 45 years. 

Mr. Armstead began his environmental career in Maryland in 1978 before joining the EPA in 1980. John's steady performance gained him a wide range of experience in environmental matters in hazardous waste and toxic chemical management, water management, laboratory and information management services, brownfield redevelopment, and environmental justice. 

As adjunct professor at Villanova, he is shaping future minds on current and emerging challenges in environmental management. He is also working with his alma mater to build minority participation and contribution in protecting health and the environment from pollution.

He holds a bachelors degree from Lincoln University and a MPA from Temple University. 

John enjoys the outdoors, particularly SCUBA diving (a certified instructor and former EPA scientific working diver), fishing and boating, and playing "OK" golf. Mr. Armstead is an avid cyclist and promotes cycling for both exercise and the environment.

Eddie M. Guerra, PE, is Vice President of Civil Infrastructure Development at RIZZO International where he is responsible for the firm’s business development and international project pursuits.

Eddie is a licensed civil engineer with over a decade of experience in water and energy infrastructure projects across the world. Eddie’s career has spanned projects in more than a dozen countries, working with a range of clients including governments, NGOs, corporations, non-profits, community leaders, and tribal nations.

Among Eddie’s most notable projects are: consulting the government of Peru on climate resilient and flood control infrastructure; leveraging water rights in tribal nations for the design of solar pumped storage hydropower facilities, evaluating the seismic resilience of nuclear power plants after the Fukushima Daiichi earthquake, and assessing the feasibility of small modular reactors for island territories, among others.

Eddie has continuously supported the advancement of infrastructure improvement in his native Puerto Rico. Eddie has participated in public hearings for the Senate and House of Representative of Puerto Rico on matters of energy security and resilience of public infrastructure against natural events, cyber threats and climate change. Eddie has also co-founded non-profit organizations to advance the state of civil infrastructure in Puerto Rico. In 2015, Eddie co-founded The Nuclear Alternative Project to educate stakeholders about the advances in nuclear energy. In 2020, in the aftermath of Puerto Rico’s most devastating earthquake in a generation, Eddie co-founded the Voluntariado de Ingenieros y Profesisonales de Puerto Rico, with the mission to assist low-income families in emergency response and reconstruction efforts.

Eddie is a recognized leader in the U.S. nuclear industry. Eddie served in the Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee (CINTAC) which advice the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on the global competitiveness of the U.S. nuclear industry. Eddie serves in committees for standards of the American Nuclear Society on matters of risk and safety against natural and man-made hazards. He is currently a member of the SMR Working group at the U.S. department of commerce and a contributing author to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Eddie holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico and a master’s degree in Structural Engineering from Lehigh University. He holds professional civil engineering licenses in Pennsylvania, Texas and Puerto Rico. Eddie is a lifelong member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society.

Michael Werner, J.D. is a shareholder at the law firm of Strassburger McKenna Gutnik & Gefsky. For more than 20 years, Werner has represented individuals and small businesses throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania in areas of estate planning/administration, general business matters, and nearly all facets of real estate law.

Michael has developed a large property assessment appeal practice and every year successfully reduces hundreds of residential and commercial property owners’ tax burdens. He has served as an arbitrator on Allegheny County’s Special Landlord/Tenant Arbitration Panel since 2005, presiding over and adjudicating Landlord/Tenant hearings. Michael also has experience advising a venture capital fund on legal matters and business strategy.

He serves as the Pro Bono Landlord Tenant Mediator for Allegheny County’s Court of Common Pleas and appeared in a 2023 WESA 90.5 story on helping Allegheny County residents reduce their properties’ assessments.

Sherwood Johnson (he/him) is a veterinary internist who has lived with his family and pets in Pittsburgh since 2004. He has been an active member of PennFuture member ever since 2004, participating as a solar tour host in 2011-2012, and regularly attending PennFuture events such as member field trips and information sessions. 

He is an early adopter of EVs and green construction technologies, and was awarded the PennFuture Green Power: Save It award in 2011 for the design and construction of his home to LEED platinum standards. 

Sherwood left his veterinary career in 2019 to devote more time to his family, hobbies, and to volunteer for several nonprofit organizations and give back to the community that has supported him. He lives in Gibsonia with his wife, three children, and more pets than he cares to admit publicly. He is passionate about conservation, anything involving water or fish, gardening, DEIJ work, energy-efficient construction, renewable energy, EVs… and the intersection of all of these. (They DO intersect.)

Jia is an accomplished Supply Chain and Procurement leader with over 20 years of experience in supply chain and business management. She firmly believes that operating sustainably always makes good business sense over the long term—whether for the bottom line, the communities, or corporate reputation. She consistently drives sustainable business practices across all her projects, from space-saving package designs to reduce transportation volume, solvent and catalyst recycling, to capital projects achieving Silver or higher LEED Certification.

Currently working in J&J as senior Procurement Manager, leveraging her employer’s scale and procurement power, Jia collaborates with suppliers to ensure accurate reporting and improvement of scope 3 emissions throughout J&J's value chain.

Beyond her professional commitments to sustainability, Jia integrates these principles into her daily life. She practices Doug Tallamy's Homegrown National Park philosophy to help regenerate biodiversity starting with her own garden. Additionally, she participates in citizen science program, monitoring and reporting on stream health in the Wissahickon watershed.
Jia holds a Master of Business Administration from Rutgers University and a Master of Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.