Tuesday Lunch Panel
Lunch—Panel: Financing Strategies
Deborah Markowitz
Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
Deborah Markowitz has shaped the environmental agenda of the state of Vermont as Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, focusing on the challenges of climate change, strategic land conservation, growing threats to forest health and integrity, and improving the water quality of Vermont’s lakes and rivers. A graduate of the University of Vermont (B.A., 1983), Markowitz received her Juris Doctorate degree from the Georgetown University Law Center (magna cum laude,1987). She served as a law clerk with Justice Louis Peck of the Vermont Supreme Court (1987-1988) and practiced law with Langrock, Sperry, Parker and Wool (1988-1990). She served as the founding director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns Municipal Law Center (1990-1997).
Markowitz is the author of the Vermont Municipal Guide to Land Use Regulation (1997) and Vermont Municipal Environmental Handbook (1995). She serves as the Chair of Vermont’s Climate Cabinet and represented Vermont on the White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience. She serves on the Executive Board of the Environmental Council of the States and on the Boards of Advisors for the Georgetown Climate Center, Antioch’s Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience, and for the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Robert Sanders
Senior Finance Director, Clean Energy Group
Rob Sanders provides analysis and designs and promotes finance strategies to engage multifamily affordable housing developers, municipalities and other project developers in community resilient power. With over twenty five years of experience in community development and energy related commercial finance, Rob offers deep expertise in designing, implementing and evaluating financing programs, financial products and related services in the areas of clean energy and sustainable community development. Rob was formerly the Managing Director of Energy Finance for The Reinvestment Fund, serving as Fund Manager for the Sustainable Development Fund, as well as TRF Fund Manager for the Pennsylvania Green Energy Loan Fund and the Philadelphia metropolitan area EnergyWorks Loan Fund. Rob holds an MCP from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. from Stanford University.
Joel D. Scheraga
Senior Advisor for Climate Adaptation in the Office of the Administrator at the EPA
Dr. Joel D. Scheraga is leading the EPA’s efforts to adapt to climate change to ensure the Agency continues to protect human health and the environment even as the climate changes. A central element of EPA’s efforts is to strengthen the adaptive capacity of states, tribes, and local communities. Dr. Scheraga was on the team that produced President Obama’s Climate Action Plan in 2013. He was a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Scheraga received an A.B. degree in geology mathematics/physics from Brown University in 1976, and a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University in 1981.
Michelle Demers
Founder and CEO, Boundless Impact Investing
Michele has 20 years of experience as a philanthropy executive, strategist, and social entrepreneur. She is Founder and CEO of Boundless Impact Investing, a market intelligence platform that provides high quality, objective, and actionable research and tools to family offices and private investors interested in maximizing the social and environmental impact of their investments. From 2010-2013, she was Vice President at Foundation Source where she built a knowledge platform on best practices in philanthropy that was used by a network of 1200 family foundations. From 2007-2008, Michele was the Director of Communications for Humanity United, a humanitarian foundation created by Pam Omidyar and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. She has been involved in successful development of more than two dozen philanthropic and nonprofit startups, including her own, Tattersall Consulting, from 2002 to 2007. Michele is regularly called upon for her innovative thinking about the impact investing and social innovation, and she sits on several boards. She is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and has a Master’s in International Relations and Communications from Boston University.
