Rodney Canada; CP Kelco - Director-at-Large

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle?
   My biggest professional challenge goes back to a time when I had to do a culture/course correction change after one year. The change occurred after we experienced the "safest" year ever in the company (measured by incident rate), immediately followed by an even lower incident rate the next year, but one in which we experienced four fatalities. It took myself as the VP of Health and Safety for the company and other senior management to look ourselves in the mirror and realize where we had gotten off track and be willing to chart a new course.
   
   
2. What's your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   My new year's EHS&S resolution is to be more organized and focused more on the important few than the trivial many in terms of the actions and activities I get involved in. I believe making a significant impact in key areas (versus incremental impact in lots of areas) drives positive culture change the fastest.
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   When I was in high school, I was good at math and science, and I was also very involved in Scouting and being outside. I looked for a profession which would combine technical aspects and the environment, so I picked Environmental Engineering. Basically, I went to college with the goal of becoming an EHS&S professional as my career and I am happy to say that 33 years later, I am still in this profession and enjoying it.

Thomas Day; United States Postal Service - Director-at-Large

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle?
   In 2001 I was the Vice President – Engineering for the Postal Service. In October of 2001 we were faced with the anthrax attack that killed five people and injured another 22. The Postmaster General, Jack Potter, asked me to lead the effort in response to the attack. I had to reorganize my engineering staff to devote a portion to the response to the anthrax attack, and the remaining group to continue to perform our normal tasks.
   
   Our response to the attack was broken into two major tasks; 1) Understand the threat of anthrax and other biological agents to the postal system, its employees and its customers, and determine a means to identify and contain these threats in the future; 2) Perform a biological hazard cleanup and restore to service the three processing centers contaminated by the attack.
   
   Between November 1, 2001 and March 1, 2002 (120 days) we were able to complete a Threat Analysis of all viable biologic agents and assessed the various technologies available to detect and contain these threats. This study resulted in a report that was submitted to Congress, who in turn approved $1.3 Billion in Appropriated Funds to implement the program we had created. Over the next two years we implemented a ventilation filtration system, combined with a detection system that utilized polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In parallel to this effort we also completed the cleanup and refurbishment of the three contaminated facilities. The cleanup at the Washington DC Processing Center is the largest biological contamination cleanup ever completed.
   
   Amidst all of this effort, I also served as the spokesperson for the Postal Service on this topic. I participated in press conferences at the White House, testified before Congress and appeared on every major television network. In 2002, we received the Silver Anvil for outstanding Public Relations in a crisis situation.
   
   I would note, that in the two-year timeframe of responding to the attack our staff was able to deploy $1 billion of improved sortation technology each year.
   
   
2. What's your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   To remain actively engaged with the process of determining the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle for the US Postal Service – 180,000 vehicles and a $5-7 Billion purchase
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   My move to the Chief Sustainability Officer position was driven by a management realignment. In 2010, we decided to eliminate the four senior vice president positions at the Postal Service, of which I was one. The Chief Sustainability Officer position was one the opportunities presented. I had previously served, in an ad hoc role, as the Chief Environmental Officer and believe this opportunity was both challenging and rewarding.

Kym Fawcett; Enerplus Corp. - Director-at-Large

1. What’s the biggest professional challenge that you’ve had to tackle?
   My challenge has been keeping a good work life balance. With a busy career and a busy family life (hubby, 4 children, 2 dogs, 2 cats), I always need to be mindful of maintaining an equilibrium between the two.
   
   
2. What’s your new year’s EHS&S resolution?
   Delegate more
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   I came into the profession quite by accident, it wasn't planned. However, it was the best possible outcome. I guess that some things are just meant to be.

John Guttmann; Beveridge & Diamond pc - General Counsel

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle?
   Becoming managing partner of my law firm at age 36 and embarking on a reorganization of many aspects of our business.
   
   
2. What's your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   To focus our clients on how old fashioned legal theories of negligence, nuisance and the like will become increasingly important to the environmental aspects of their operations.
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   I graduated from law school when environmental law was in its early days and was attracted to helping shape it.

Megan Lum; Pacific Gas & Electric Co. - Director-at-Large

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle?
   My biggest professional challenge was early in my career when I was put in the position of doing what I was told to do by my superiors, but I felt what they were asking was unethical. I ended up leaving the company. Something more work related was implementing some complex regulations in a corporate setting (such as implementing Title V for a Fortune 500 company with 100+ facilities when the regulations first came out!).
   
   
2. What's your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   My new year’s EHS&S resolution – Get out into the field more! It’s way too easy to get over booked with meetings and never leave the office.
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   I was drawn to the EHS&S profession by the idea of wanting to make a difference. I want to make sure that our kids and grandkids and their grandkids have a planet in reasonable health or better health than we have now.

Mike Miller; Dean Foods Co. - 2nd Vice President

1. What’s the biggest professional challenge that you’ve had to tackle?
   I have had a number of challenges that have helped shaped my leadership style and my resiliency. The biggest challenge was shortly after joining Dean Foods while leading EHS activities in all aspects of our manufacturing operations the company split into three. I also absorbed logistics safety of over 5000 drivers shortly before. Also impacting our business and industry at the same time was an increase in OSHA NEP inspections of our PSM systems taking tremendous resources to manage. The next 15 months was a delicate act of reassembling puzzle pieces at the same time achieving rapid reduction of injuries and ensuring compliance.
   
   
2. What’s your new year’s EHS&S resolution?
   Continuing to find new ways to solve challenges. We have aggressive targets both from an overall business perspective and an EHS&S perspective. Being creative, yet focused will be critical to achieve these goals.
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   In college while studying Environmental Science and Policy at Clark University I had a summer job working at Texas Instruments. At TI I worked for Francis Veale, a founding NAEM member. Frank was my first mentor and convinced me to explore EHS as a career. My original plan was law school. I am happy to say that 20 years later, Frank is a good friend and someone I still run ideas and value his opinion on. Mentoring our future EHS leaders is something very important to me personally, as it impacted my decision to join this profession. The networking opportunity provided by NAEM also had a profound impact on my career as I have been an NAEM member for 19 years throughout my entire EHS career. Being able to be involved in career in a business leadership role that positively impacts safety of our employees, customers, and communities while also protecting the environment has been extremely rewarding.

Kris Morico; General Electric Co. - President

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle?
   When I was working at Tyco International, circa 2005, I was involved with the process of splitting up our company into three.
   
   
2. What's your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   This year, I hope to explore more digital opportunities for EHS applications.
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession?
   As an undergraduate in the early 1980s, I took an ecology course with Dr. Sal Bongiorno.

Sandy Nessing; American Electric Power Co. Inc. - 1st Vice President

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle?
   My biggest professional challenge was writing my first sustainability report. It wasn't the report itself that was the challenge; it was the change management that was needed to convince the organization to take a leap of faith with me to begin the journey of sustainability. The report was the conversation starter and, as such, needed to be transparent, to show that we cared and provide clarity of direction and conviction. Early on, there was much resistance to, and discomfort with, publicizing negative things about the company; why would we do that? I got that question all the time. For example, there was a high level of anxiety with reporting publicly about employee and contractor fatalities – we had never done that before. But when the CEO embraced ownership of these tragedies with compassion and determination to prevent future events, people saw that there were no public rebukes. In fact, it ushered in a positive new era for the company's safety culture. It was a brave step forward that led to increasingly greater levels of transparency over the years. Today, it is an attribute we value and of which we are proud.
   
   
2. What is your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   I don't make new year's resolutions in general. But if I had to point to one thing that I would like to do better in 2017, it would be to gain a better understanding of what investors really want from sustainability reporting. Demand for disclosure around environment, social and governance (ESG) matters has grown exponentially among investors and I'm the go-to person for our IR team on ESG requests. Investors, analysts and asset managers tell us sustainability reports are inconsistent in the type, depth and accuracy of the data reported. Yet, they are asking us for data in ten different ways. This is a tough nut to crack but I'm determined that 2017 will be the year I get closer to nailing it.
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   A mentor and a need to make a difference were what drew me to the sustainability profession. I'm a career communicator (journalism, corporate communications and public relations) which is a natural fit for a job that's about bringing people together to collaborate, find common ground and establish mutual trust. My mentor was actually my boss who constantly pushed me beyond my comfort zone and created opportunities for me to try new things – and fail. My favorite part of my job is stakeholder engagement – with employees, customers, NGOs and investors. I love bringing people together, especially if they have opposite views, because when you get to know someone in person that relationship changes forever. You don't see each other through the same jaded lenses as when you first came to the table. As a journalist early in my career, I loved talking to people and asking lots of questions. In my job today I still get to ask lots of questions, but I also feel like I'm making a difference.

David Newman; Comcast Corp. - Director-at-Large

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle?
   Taking a big risk, and leaving EHS for a couple years to become a Plant Manager. I didn't know much about managing a manufacturing plant, manufacturing finance, human resources or production. But, it was a great decision for me, and I learned a ton. I recommend something like this for every ambitious EHS professional.
   
   
2. What's your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   Live life to its fullest! For me, that means enjoying the time we have with our kids while they're young; making a difference at work, in the world, and in life. I want to be 100 percent involved in whatever I do.
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   From the time I was very young, I have spent a lot of time in the wilderness and outdoors. I've hiked, climbed, paddled and backpacked around the world, so protecting the environment has been very natural for me. With my interest in medicine, public health and keeping workers safe and healthy, EHS was a natural fit for me. Several professors were also role models for me, including: Frank Magilligan, Dan Esty, and Bwana Jim Hornig, and also several coworkers: Jenni Carter, Dave Cox and Pete Kershaw

Michelle Redfield; Schneider Electric SE - Treasurer

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle? The biggest professional challenge I have had to tackle is the ongoing and current challenge of consistently being asked to do more and more with our Environment, Safety and Sustainability (ESS) team, while also being expected to reduce costs year over year. Since our corporate ESS team has tentacles into all of our manufacturing, logistics, service, R&D, etc. locations, we are asked to support a wide-range of initiatives that impact our global supply chain and service centers. Managing the ever-growing demands in the face of very volatile business conditions makes it doubly challenging.
   
   
2. What's your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   There are 2 significant focus areas for the team for 2017. The first, related to the challenge identified above, is to prioritize and focus based on our Global Supply Chain Hoshin. Our Hoshin is a tool/method for ensuring that the strategic goals of the company drive progress and action at every level within the company. It is part of our Schneider Production System and is intended to eliminate the waste that comes from inconsistent direction and poor communication. The second focus is to better collaborate and integrate with our front office business, in order to enable our sales and marketing team to differentiate our offers and increase top-line revenue through effective application of sustainability performance story.
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   My Grandmother (born circa 1903) was the fuel for my passion for the environment. She was an avid gardener and caretaker of the natural environment. As a young girl, she would talk to me about how we were “burning out the planet”. Her love of nature and concern for the sustainability of our natural environment infected me with the same love and care for our planet. From middle school on, I was active in nature clubs, environmental clubs, recycling clubs, etc., and it stuck!

Rick Taylor; Parker Hannifin Corp. - Past President

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle?
   The biggest professional challenge I've faced is making EHS a relevant business function.
   
   
2. What's your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   This year I plan to hit our CEO's safety target.
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   I like the outdoors and I wanted to apply my engineering degree to environmental conservation.

David William; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. - Director-at-Large

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle?
   I have held positions outside of the EHS profession at various times in my career. These moves were done to gain a broader set of experiences and skills. Each time I moved out of EHS I needed to establish legitimacy in the new area. Similarly, each time I came back into EHS I need to re-establish my legitimacy. This was a challenge requiring a fair amount of patience and perseverance, but well worth it.
   
   
2. What's your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   I don't make New Year's resolutions; however, I am committed to continuing to focus on the value delivered by the programs and projects I am responsible for leading.
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   In college a teammate of mine graduated two years before I did. He was working in the environmental field and shared his experiences with me when he came back to the university to visit. What he was doing sounded really cool, and was well-aligned with my purpose-driven perspective. That was when I decided to focus on environment and sustainability.

Nicole Wilkinson; CVS Health Corp. - Director-at-Large

1. What's the biggest professional challenge that you've had to tackle?
   Leading a reorganization of my team while dealing with large acquisitions.
   
   
2. What's your new year's EHS&S resolution?
   Leveraging technology and systems present throughout the enterprise to drive and embed the EHS culture.
   
   
3. What drew you to the EHS&S profession? Was there an experience or a peer who influenced your decision?
   I thought I wanted to be a journalist but my SAT scores and my guidance counselor in high school thought differently. Science and math were my strengths coupled with a strong desire to solve problems kept me on the path to where I am now. I enjoy influencing people and improving process and efficiency in a Corporate setting.