Stefano Boeri

Stefano Boeri, architect and urban planner, is Full Professor at Politecnico di Milano. In Shanghai he is Director of the Future City Lab at Tongji University: a post-doctoral research program which explores the future of contemporary metropolis under the perspectives of biodiversity and urban forestry.

Stefano Boeri’s work ranges from the design of architecture and urban visions to product design, with a constant focus on the geopolitical and environmental implications of urban phenomena.
The attention to the relationship between city and living nature, leads in 2014 to the realization of the Bosco Verticale in Milan, the first prototype of residential building hosting 800 trees and 20,000 plants, an international model for green architecture.

Among the main players in the debate on climate change in the field of international architecture, in November 2018 he was Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee for the first World Forum on Urban Forests (Mantua, 2019). In 2019 he presented in New York the Green Urban Oases project, developed with FAO, C40, UN Habitat e other international research organizations, on occasion of the UN Climate Action Summit 2019.

From 2011 to 2013 he was Councillor for Culture at the Municipality in Milan. In 2018 he has been appointed President of Triennale Milano. Since 2020, Stefano Boeri is President of the Scientific Committee of Forestami, the project aimed at planting 3 million trees in Milan metropolitan area within 2030.

Jad Daley

Jad Daley is serving as the 40th president and chief executive officer of American Forests, the nation’s oldest forest conservation organization, founded in 1875. Under Daley’s leadership, American Forests has grown three-fold and launched partnerships to tackle climate change and social inequity across the United States.
In his current role, Daley serves as the co-chair of the Forest-Climate Working Group, which he co-founded in 2007, and sits on the boards of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, North American Forest Partnership and Nature4Climate. Daley is also the co-founder and co-chair of 1t.org US, the U.S. chapter of 1t.org - a global platform dedicated to conserving, restoring and growing 1 trillion trees by 2030.
Daley has a long record of leadership in the forest community, including serving as the first director for the 22-state Eastern Forest Partnership and establishing a forest-focused Climate Conservation Program during his nine-year stint at The Trust for Public Land. He has also played a lead role in authoring multiple pieces of federal legislation for forests, including the 2021 REPLANT Act, the 2008 U.S. Forest Service’s Community Forest Program and the 2008 Community Wood Energy Program.
Daley’s writing has been featured in media outlets such as the Washington Post, TIME, New York Times, HuffPost, Medium and the U.S. EPA Environmental Justice blog. He is a cited co-author on multiple scientific studies in the area of forests and climate change, including new research between the Forest Service and American Forests, which investigates forest soil carbon.
Daley is a graduate of the Peddie School, Brown University and Vermont Law School, where he earned an M.S.E.L. degree summa cum laude.
Jad is also a nationally competitive runner and triathlete, having twice finished in the top 150 of the New York City Marathon.
Follow Daley on twitter (@JadDaley) and read his latest writings on Medium (americanforests.medium.com).

Brenda Lee Richardson

Ms. Richardson is an eco-feminist and has been working on welfare reform, environmental justice, economic development, education, behavioral health and health issues for the past 30 years.

She currently serves as the Coordinator of the Anacostia Parks & Community Collaborative as well the President of Chozen Consulting, LLC, a consulting company that focuses on community engagement, facilitation, training, and government relations, and is the Principal for “Women Like Us,” an initiative that focuses on design thinking for women. She is also the Vice-Chair of the Friends of Oxon Run Park. She also facilitates the Police Service Area 702 Outreach Committee where she works in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police Department. She serves as the Chair of the Friends of Parkland Turner Library. She represents the Friends of Oxon Run Park on the board of Greenspaces for DC. Ms. Richardson is also an Advisory Board member to Capital Nature. She is a member of the Urban Forestry Advisory Council as well.

Formerly, Ms. Richardson was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Councilmember Marion Barry. Ms. Richardson also served as the Managing Director of the Metropolitan Dialogue, a group of people of faith who met monthly to discuss civic issues in D.C., for many years. From 1995 to 1996, Ms. Richardson was the Director of Resident Services for the D.C. Housing Authority, and prior to that, she was the Executive Director of the Anacostia/Congress Heights Partnership.

Ms. Richardson is currently a board member of Casey Trees, Potomac Riverkeeper Network, Urban Forestry Advisory Council, Capital Nature, Bridges Across the River and the Council of Governments Access For All Community Council. She is the former Chair of Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Community Advisory Council. She is a former board member of A Greater Washington, Anacostia Watershed Society, Congress Heights Main Streets, DC Commission of Women, DC Public Library Trustee, DC Water Trustee. She has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a Master’s of Social Work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Aloke Barnwal

Aloke leads the Sustainable Cities program of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which supports integrated approaches towards building net-zero, nature positive, resilient and inclusive cities. In his role, he leads programming of GEF funds for sustainable cities and manages GEF's partnerships with cities, countries and a range of specialised institutions. Aloke also works in the adaptation team of GEF as a Senior Climate Change Specialist in programming the Least Developed Countries Fund and Special Climate Change Fund. Aloke has more than 20 years of extensive experience of working in non-profit, private and donor organisations on climate, natural resource management and sustainable livelihoods projects at multiple levels. Prior to GEF, Aloke worked as Climate and Environment Adviser in FCDO, UK in New Delhi, India where he managed climate resilient infrastructure, sustainable urban development and energy access projects. He holds a Master of Public Affairs degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, United States.

Johanna Gibbons

Johanna Gibbons is a Landscape Architect. She is a Royal Designer of Industry, Fellow of the Landscape Institute, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Commissioner with the Jersey Architectural Commission. Jo trained in Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art and is Founding Partner of J & L Gibbons established in 1986.

She is also founding Director of Landscape Learn, a social enterprise established in 2016 to advance a wider understanding and appreciation about the landscapes we design, inhabit and influence. Johanna is a member of various advisory panels including Historic England’s Historic Places Panel and the Forestry Commission’s Forestry and Woodland Advisory Committee.

She is a Trustee of Open City, a charity promoting people-centred cities and a core Research Partner of Urban Mind, a cross-disciplinary project lead by Kings College London with independent art foundation Nomad Projects, exploring how the urban environment affects mental wellbeing. She advocates for the profession on an international stage, lectures widely and has published several research publications, most recently, “Conversations on Urban Forestry”.

Jo was nominated Royal Designer of Industry by the RSA for her ‘pioneering and influential work combining design with activism, education and professional practice’.

Cassandra Johnson Gaither

Cassandra Johnson Gaither is a Research Social Scientist with the Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, in Athens, GA. Her research interests address human perceptions and interactions with nature and the environment. She has published research addressing social group visitation to wild land recreation areas, environmental justice as this relates to minority and lower wealth group access to outdoor recreation facilities. Her work currently focuses on the intersection of property ownership and social vulnerability in the South and the implications of the same for national forest management.

Laura Petrella

Laura Petrella is the Chief of the Planning, Finance and Economy Section at UN-Habitat and has been leading UN-Habitat work on Urban Planning and Design since 2012, with particular emphasis on improving planning systems, promoting sustainable urban patterns and the equitable access to public space for all. Since 2018 she is also the focal point for Professionals and for the Habitat Professionals Forum. She is an architect and urban planner trained in Italy and.

She was in charge of UN-Habitat’s Safer Cities Programme from 2002 to 2010. Earlier she worked on slum upgrading, land security and environmental planning and management.

She has direct experience in project management, capacity development for local authorities and in the management of local planning processes and local consultations. During her career she has advised and collaborated with local and national governments, civil society and academia in all regions.

Matt Spitsen

Matt Spitsen leads the Arbor Day Foundation’s Alliance for Community Trees program, a network of community-based organizations that plant, care, and advocate for trees in cities and towns across North America. Through this program, he ensures network members are provided with educational and networking sessions, professional resources, and access to funding opportunities with the Arbor Day Foundation’s network of donors and corporate partners around the world. For over 17 years Matt has volunteered and worked in director roles in the nonprofit sector with organizations like Nonprofit Hub, Launch Leadership, the Boy Scouts of America Cornhusker Council, the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network and the Green Communities Leadership Institute.

Abdallah Tawfic

Abdallah is an Architect, Environmentalist and Urban Farmer. He holds a master’s degree in Resource Efficiency in Architecture and Planning from HafenCity University, Hamburg, Germany. He worked as a Project Manager at The Research Institute for a Sustainable Environment (RISE) at the American University in Cairo (AUC), managing Urban Agriculture projects and leading several research experiments for different techniques of soil less agriculture. He is currently working as an advisor at the German International Cooperation (GIZ), supporting Egyptian farmers in implementing improved agricultural irrigation projects and building their capacities about different water efficient farming practices. He is also the Cofounder of Urban Greens Egypt, a Cairo-based company aiming to promote the concept of Urban Agriculture in the cities of Egypt. He is also a freelance Consultant for the United States Forest Service (USFS) International Program, working to promote urban green infrastructure projects implemented in Egypt and the MENA region. Abdallah is also a frequent writer for the online magazine “The Nature of Cities” & “The Urban Activist”.

Tamsin Faragher

Tamsin Faragher works at the City of Cape Town in South Africa as a principal resilience officer. She is a landscape architect, designer, policy maker and strategist, researcher, author and mentor. Tamsin relentlessly pushes the profession’s boundaries in terms of its role in making cities liveable, resilient and climate adaptive. Curiosity about why cities look the way they do spurred development policy research focused on the nexus between policy, practice and implementation, particularly as it relates to the competing demands between the environment and development – and how they manifest in water sensitive design, food systems and urban health. An invitation to lead the International Federation of Landscape Architects Africa Climate Change Working Group has opened up other opportunities for advocacy and activism across the continent to promote landscape architecture’s role in climate adaptation and mitigation. Tamsin has a Bachelor of Architecture, a Masters in Landscape Architecture and a further Masters in Infrastructure Design and Management all from the University of Cape Town

Amanda_Ikert

Amanda Ikert (“Mandy”) serves as Head of Adaptation Implementation at C40. In this position, she is responsible for supporting cities as they work to meet their climate change adaptation and water management goals. Before taking on this role, Mandy served as the City Director for Jakarta at C40 where she worked closely with the Governor and regional government of Jakarta to identify, develop and implement programmes and projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Before joining C40, Mandy was a city planner in New York, serving in both NYC’s City Planning and Parks and Recreation departments. She has a research background in urban and architectural history as well as international environmental programming, including projects with the Asia Foundation and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Mandy holds a Master of City Planning and a Master of Science in Architectural Studies from MIT and a BA in History from Wesleyan University.

Gadwal Vijayalaksh

Mrs. Gadwal Vijayalakshmi is an Indian-born politician who, since 2021, has been serving as Mayor of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, the fifth largest City of India, with a population of almost 11 million people. She is the first woman Mayor of Hyderabad appointed since the creation of the State of Telangana. Mrs. Gadwal Vijayalakshmi holds a Post Graduate in Journalism from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Laws from the Osmania University, both in Hyderabad. A former American citizen, she migrated back to India in 2004 to fulfil her long cherished desire to serve people in her home land, particularly the poorest. Once back to India, Mrs. Gadwal Vijayalakshmi dedicated herself to public service, with a particular focus on Education, Health, Sanitation (Cleanliness) and Environment. Among her achievements as Mayor of Hyderabad is the implementation of a plantation programme under the Haritha Haram programme, a flagship programme of the Telangana Government to increase the present 24% tree cover in the State to 33% of the total geographical area of the State. Under her administration, the city of Hyderabad has been declared as one of the world’s most liveable cities and, in addition to being recognized as a Tree Citiy of the World by FAO and the Arbor Day Foundation, it has been awarded the “World Green City Award 2022” by the International Association of Horticulture Producers (AIPH).

Theodore Endreny

Theodore Endreny is a professor in the Department of Environmental Resources Engineering at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. His scholarship involves developing i-Tree software to guide strategic land cover changes that deliver needed ecosystem services. He teaches courses in engineering hydrology and hydraulics, river form and process, and applications of i-Tree tools. He earned a BS at Cornell University, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer, worked at the Environmental Law Institute, earned a MS at North Carolina State University, and earned a PhD at Princeton University.

Francisco Escobedo

Francisco Escobedo is a Research Scientist with the USDA Forest Service-Pacific Southwest Research Station and the Los Angeles Center for Urban and Natural Resources Sustainability. 

His research focuses on the environmental sustainability and resilience of communities and ecosystems in urban peri-urban forests as well as measuring and informing the public about the benefits and costs of urban forests and how socioeconomic factors and policies drive changes to these ecosystems.

Most recently he was a Professor of Socio-ecological Systems at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogota, Colombia (2016-2020) and an Associate Professor of Urban and Community Forestry at the University of Florida (2006-2015).  He has a PhD in Forest Policy from State University of New York-ESF (USA), an MS in Watershed Management from the University of Arizona (USA), and a BS from New Mexico State University. 

Sharon Gil

Sharon is responsible for the United Nations Environment Programme's work on sustainable urbanization. She works to develop practical tools, research and solutions for implementing urban metabolism, systems thinking and circular economy approaches in cities in developing countries. An urban planner by profession, she also coordinates partnerships and joint resource mobilization on sustainable urbanization for UNEP. Sharon's career in the field of sustainable urban development began in the early 2000s and has spanned several topics and many cities and countries around the world. She has worked on eco-industrial development in the Philippines, urban renewal and design in Hong Kong, disaster risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific region, and land management in Zambia. Sharon holds a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University and studied urban planning at the University of Hong Kong as a Japan/ADB fellow.

Sakaja Arthur Johnson

H.E Sakaja Arthur Johnson, is the Governor of Nairobi City County, the capital city of Kenya. He has served as the immediate former Senator of Nairobi, previously as a nominated member of the National Assembly and Chairperson of the ruling party (2013 – 2017) During his tenure in Parliament, he served as Chairman of the standing committee on Labour and Social Welfare and the Vice Chairman standing committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations in the Senate. H.E Governor Sakaja also served as the Chairperson of the Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association (KYPA) and distinguished himself as a legislator addressing the most contentious issues of the Nation. The Governor has been awarded Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear (CBS) First Class by the President of The Republic of Kenya for his extensive legislative work in the 11th and 12th Parliament. He has been nominated among top 100 Future Leaders: The World’s Most Influential Young people in Government (2018) by Apolitica and awarded Change Maker of the year 2016 at the African Achievers Award, in recognition of his leadership skills and youth empowerment in Kenya. He currently serves as the C40 Vice Chair as the African Representative in their steering committee; above being nominated 2023 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader earlier in 2023. The Governor has co-authored a book in collaboration with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ - Kenya Chapter) on Representation and Fiscal Decentralization, having particularly written on the Operational Framework for Devolution in Kenya. H.E Sakaja Arthur Johnson now leads the regions’ economic hub on the mantra; A city of order, dignity, hope and opportunity for all.

Jennifer Lenhart

Jennifer Lenhart is WWF’s Global Cities Lead, which has engaged over 700 cities in almost 70 countries. She holds a PhD in urban climate governance from Wageningen University and an Erasmus Mundus MSc in Environmental Science and Policy co-hosted by Lund University and Central European University. With 15+ years’ experience addressing urban environmental challenges via holistic approaches, Jennifer previously worked at UN-Habitat in Nairobi, Kenya, the City of Malmö, Sweden, and an urban sustainability consultancy in Seattle. She is currently based in Santiago de Chile.