GoGreen Seattle Conference

Sarah Severn is principal of Severn Consulting, focused on transformative leadership for sustainability and climate change. Sarah began her career with over a decade in advertising and market research before taking those skills to Nike Europe. Relocating to Nike's global headquarters in the mid 90's she led the adoption of sustainability into Nike's operations, product design process and manufacturing supply chain. Sarah spent over two decades in senior sustainability roles leading stakeholder engagement, futures and scenario planning, and championing systems thinking and collaborative change. She initiated Nike's climate change work in the mid 90's and catalyzed the formation of BICEP, (Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy) in 2008. Since retiring from Nike in 2014, Sarah has worked at the intersection of business and policy, developing and advising the Washington Business for Climate Action network, and the Low Carbon Prosperity Institute. She also serves on several non-profit boards.

Laura Clise is the founder and CEO of Intentionalist, an online platform and guide to small businesses and the diverse people behind them. Intentionalist makes it easy to support more connected, inclusive communities through everyday decisions about where we eat, drink and shop. Prior to Intentionalist, Laura held a variety of executive roles leading sustainability, corporate responsibility, supplier diversity, and external communications at AREVA, Plum Creek, and Weyerhaeuser. Laura is an Aspen Institute First Mover Fellow and the recipient of an Exceptional Individual Achievement Award from the Human Rights Campaign. She is an alumna of Carleton College and the Thunderbird School of Global Management. Laura serves on the board of directors for IslandWood and Athlete Ally, and can sing and/or order chocolate ice cream in Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Cambodian, Hebrew, and Turkish.

Brenna Davis is PCC Community Market's Vice President of Social & Environmental Responsibility. Brenna leads PCC's strategic initiatives related to sustainability, supply chain quality and community engagement. Prior to joining PCC, she worked for 20 years advising businesses on sustainability in a variety of roles. She is the chair and a co-founder of Washington Business for Climate Action, and has spoken on the nexus of climate and business in many forums - including at the Obama White House, COP 21, and on a panel with Al Gore at the Climate Reality Project. Brenna is engaged in the community on advisory boards of Huxley College of the Environment, Foster School of Business Net Impact, and GoGreen Seattle. She holds an M.S. in Business Management from Antioch University and a B.S. in Environmental Science at Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University.

Ubax is the Equitable Development Initiative Division Manager in the City of Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development. She currently oversees the EDI fund the City is investing in community-based organizations working in Seattle on anti-displacement strategies and economic development opportunities. Ubax's core values are rooted in Social Justice and transformative practice. she prioritizes working towards equity, authentically listening to community and she has extensive experience in community development and building an inclusive vision with many of Seattle's communities of color. She was a member of the Housing Affordability Livability Agenda Committee. Ubax previously was a Program Director at Puget Sound Sage. She was responsible for advancing Sage's priorities related to equitable transit-oriented development, she focused on land use policy, affordable housing policy, transit-oriented development, community based participatory planning, leadership development and importance of racial justice in policy making. ▾

David is best known as the co-inventor of the Sonicare toothbrush and Clarisonic skin care system, and as the successful co-founder and CEO of both companies. David turned Sonicare into the fastest growing private company in the U.S. before selling it to Philips Electronics. He led Clarisonic onto the Inc. 100 list and sold the company to L'Oreal in 2011. David was a featured speaker at the White House Conference on Corporate Responsibility, and recipient of awards from the Small Business Administration and Ernst & Young, among other recognition. David received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, and studied graduate-level electrical engineering and business at Stanford University. He is author of more than a dozen U.S. patents.

Molly Ray is the Puget Sound Director for Salmon-Safe. Molly has directed and managed sustainability programs and initiatives for large corporations as well as within the hospitality industry. For Office Depot, she created and led the Sustainability Governance Council and developed the company's first public facing sustainability goals in addition to conceiving and directing the Sustainable Business Development Team. For hotel brands such as Pan Pacific, Kimpton and Four Seasons properties, she created programs to decrease energy use, minimize waste footprint and position the luxury experience as a sustainable one for guests and corporate clients. She brings her global experience to the Puget Sound region to build and support the Salmon-Safe community and partners in their efforts to protect and improve water quality for the sustainable growth and health of our communities.

Andrew Himes is a program specialist at the Carbon Leadership Forum at the University of Washington, working on collective impact initiatives to reduce embodied carbon emissions in new building construction. He is a partner in Carbon Innovations LLC, a social impact business consultancy focused on business-based solutions to climate change. In the 80s, Himes was founding editor of MacTech, the leading Apple technology journal, then in the 90s co-founded the Microsoft Developer Network and led the first web development project at Microsoft. In 2018, he was coordinator of Carbon Smart Building Day, a conference affiliated with the Global Climate Action Summit focused on transforming the global building industry to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Himes was founding director for Charter for Compassion International. He is the author of "The Sword of the Lord: The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family".

Ericka is the founding force behind Social Enterprises, Inc. — a full-service event planning firm specializing in conferences and summits with a sustainability or social impact focus. Working off a passion for bringing people together around ideas that will shape the future, she has built a formidable expertise in executing events that drive revenue to support the growth and continued success of non-profits, government programs, and educational institutions. In 2008, Ericka co-founded the GoGreen Conference series in Portland with the intent of holding a much needed dialogue on how regional stakeholders can collaborate to create sustainable economies at scale through the adoption of green business solutions at their own organizations. The series has since expanded and is now also held annually in Seattle. Ericka's previous corporate experience includes leading business development and marketing for a division of AOL/Time Warner, DoubleClick, ZDNet and CNET.

Sierra leads our programming, conference content and speaker management efforts for many of our nonprofit clients. Sierra was most recently Program Director for a non-profit in Alaska for four years prior to joining the Social Enterprises team. She graduated from University of Cape Town in South Africa with a triple major Bachelor of Arts in Media & Writing, Film Studies and Philosophy. You can usually find Sierra camping and hiking or training for her next big triathlon!