About the Global Good Conference
The annual Global Good Conference highlights sustainable and innovative ways of addressing global challenges with the goal of inspiring students, faculty, and the local community to use their knowledge and skills in the business of building a better world. This conference is reimagining the former Business For Good and Global Opportunities Conference into a combined event, highlighting the interconnections of local and global action and the importance of business as an actor in creating a sustainable world.
2025 Global Good
The Global Good Conference will take place on Friday, September 26, from 9 am to 1:30 pm in the Plemmons Student Union on the campus of Appalachian State University. Register to attend. Add to Google Calendar
Join us for a powerful day of ideas, innovation, and impact as we bring together changemakers from across industries to explore the future of sustainable business.
Keynote speaker, Frank Nutter, President of Reinsurance of America, will take us inside the evolving world of climate resilience in the (re)insurance sector—sharing insights shaped by Hurricane Helene, one year on.
Following the keynote, choose from several sustainability breakout sessions that will dive into cutting-edge topics like carbon savings accounts for sustainable lifestyles, removing forced labor from supply chains, rainforest sustainability initiatives, sustainable fashion, and enhancing the sustainable outdoor economy.
For students and early-career professionals, the 11am career-focused sessions will offer access to sustainability leaders from across the business spectrum—opening doors to mentorship, networking, and real-world opportunities.
Join us at the Global Good Luncheon — Connect with changemakers, share ideas, and help us honor Global Good and Triple E award winners in this vibrant celebration of sustainability and global engagement across our college community.
Conference Schedule
- 8:30 am - Coffee, Pastries & Check-in - Parkway Ballroom, 420 Plemmons Student Union
- 9:00 am - Keynote Address: Extreme Weather, Climate and Resilient Communities: Reflections on Hurricane Helene One Year Later - Frank Nutter, President, Reinsurance Association of America
- 09:50 am - Sustainability Breakout Sessions
- 11:00 am - Career Breakout Sessions
- 12:00 pm - Global Good Luncheon - Parkway Ballroom, 420 Plemmons Student Union
Sustainability Breakout Sessions
- Bioeconomy: The New Frontier for Global Conservation and Forest Sustainability - Victor Salviati, Sustainable Amazon Foundation
- What We Can Do: Bringing Climate to Every Career - Charlie Sellars, Director of Sustainability and Cloud Operations, Microsoft
- What is a Carbon Savings Account?: Employee Benefits for Sustainable Lifestyles - Lizzy Kolar, Co-Founder and CEO, ScopeZero
- Unseen Hands: Forced Labor in Global Supply Chains - David Ledbetter Jr., Global Trade Risk Manager, Owens Corning & Calvin Huelsman, Sustainability Manager, Elevate Textiles
- Sustainable Outdoor Economy - Noah Wilson, Director of Sector Development, Mountain BizWorks; Eric Woolridge, Principal at Destination by Design Planning & Jason McDougald, Executive Director, Camp Grier
- The Path to Sustainability in the Fashion Industry - Andrew Gibbs-Dabney, Founder & CEO and Abby Hollis, Director of Product & Sustainability, LIVSN Designs
- Critical Food Studies as a Lens for Sustainable Business in South Africa - Brian Sibeko-Ngidi, Director of Uthingo Network
Career Breakout Sessions
- Faculty Session on delving into ways to engage with the QEP - Shea Tuberty, Director of the QEP & Laura England, Directory of Academic Sustainability Initiatives
- Outdoor Economy - Jason McDougald, Executive Director, Camp Grier & Noah Wilson, Director of Sector Development, Mountain BizWorks & Eric Woolridge, Principal at Destination by Design Planning
- Supply Chain - David Ledbetter Jr., Global Trade Risk Manager, Owens Corning & Calvin Huelsman, Sustainability Manager, Elevate Textiles
- Strategy - Miriam Makhyoun, Chief Executive Officer, EQ Research & Joe Daniels, Director, Fleet Services Automation Engineering, Walmart
- Social Responsibility - Sirisha Karra, Senior Specialist,Corporate Social Responsability, Gartner
- Consulting & Reporting - Hannah Richardson, Financial Reporting Manager, Truist & Rachel Greenland, Senior Consultant: Sustainability Integration & Value Creation, ERM
- Global Non-profit Management - Brian Sibeko-Ngidi, Director of Uthingo Network
Keynote Speaker
Frank Nutter
President
Reinsurance Association of America
Frank Nutter is president of the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA). Nutter currently serves on the Advisory Board of the OECD’s International Network for the Financial Management of Large-Scale Disasters, the RAND Center on Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation, and the University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner III Center for Insurance and Risk Management Advisory Board. Nutter serves on the Board of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest private funder of research grants to find a cure for childhood cancer. He also serves as chair of EdututorVA, which links college education majors for tutoring with underserved public school students.
He has recently served on the Advisory Board of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, an adjunct to the Harvard University School of Public Health, Council of the American Meteorological Society, and the Board of the University Center for Atmospheric Research, a consortium of universities managing the National Center for Atmospheric Research, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and the Worker’s Compensation Research Institute, the Board of Overseers of the Institute for Civil Justice, a subsidiary of the Rand Corporation and on the Board of the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences.
Nutter holds a Juris Doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Cincinnati. The University of Cincinnati awarded Nutter the 2020 Kautz Alumni Masters Award. Nutter was an officer in the U.S. Navy and is a Vietnam veteran. He competed in the 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2025 Senior Olympics in cycling.
Breakout Session Speakers
Connect with our sustainability and career breakout speakers.
Director of Academic Sustainability Initiatives
Appalachian State University
Laura England is an ecologist, environmental communicator and changemaker who taught for fifteen years in the Department of Sustainable Development at Appalachian State University. As of Fall 2024, she is serving as Director of Academic Sustainability Initiatives with her main focus being co-leading Pathways to Resilience, App State's climate literacy focused Quality Enhancement Plan. Among the many hats she wears in that role, Laura hosts the Find Your Sustain Ability podcast. Her academic training is in ecology and environmental science with particular interests in watershed systems, headwater streams, wetlands, terrestrial-aquatic interactions, and community-based watershed conservation. Before coming into the classroom, Laura spent seven years working on issues of environment and sustainability in the non-profit sector, and has been deeply involved in the non-profit sector as a volunteer via service on seven non-profit boards.
Founder & CEO
LIVSN Designs
Andrew Gibbs-Dabney is the founder and CEO of LIVSN Designs. LIVSN creates outdoor apparel products and systems that maximize function and minimize harm to people and planet.
Andrew is dedicated to hedonistic sustainability and believes business success and social progress go hand in hand. He has built LIVSN on these ideals from day one.
He is from Arkansas, where he grew up exploring the bluffs and hollows of the Ozark Mountains. As an outdoor native, Andrew loves being in nature and mainly spends his time mountain biking, paddling, and camping.
Strategic Sustainabilty Consultant
ERM
As a results-driven Senior Consultant in ERM's Sustainability Integration & Value Creation practice, Rachel is focused on supporting clients throughout their ESG & sustainability journey. She has proven expertise in leading complex project, managing cross-functional teams, leveraging business analytics to drive strategic decisions, and enhancing operational efficiency through process optimization. Rachel combines her skills in stakeholder engagement with her experience implementing robust ESG & sustainability programmatic initiatives to support quantifiable growth and impact across industries, including private equity, healthcare, technology, and manufacturing.
Prior to joining ERM in 2024, Rachel served as a Senior Associate within Grant Thornton's ESG & Sustainability practice. She helped Grant Thornton’s public and private clients assess their material ESG topics and where they fall across peers in the industry. Additionally, she has conducted gap analyses for clients seeking to improve their TCFD, GRI, SASB and overall ESG reporting. She also worked with the team to formalize its ESG due diligence offering for the private equity industry. Utilizing her background in business intelligence and executive engagement, Rachel helped develop the ESG & Sustainability team’s industry go to market strategy and successfully applied it to private equity, healthcare, technology, and media & entertainment clients.
Earlier in her career, Rachel led a project focused on business and governance initiatives within the Fortune 500 for clients ranging from the startup level through the enterprise level.
Rachel is GRI and TCFD certified and holds a GHG accounting certificate through the GHG Institute. She also earned dual B.S. degrees in Journalism and Public Relations from Appalachian State University as well as a minor in Accounting.
Director of Product and Sustainability
LIVSN Designs
Abby Hollis is a designer and artist working to transform the relationship people have with textiles through human-centered design, fiber art, and craft community-building. Hollis works cross-disciplinarily on regional and global scales to shift production systems and consumer culture. Hollis is Director of Product and Sustainability at LIVSN Designs, an outdoor apparel brand creating products and systems that maximize function and minimize harm to people and planet.
Sustainability Manager
Elevate Textiles
Calvin Huelsman is the Elevate Textiles Sustainability Manager and an NC State Wilson College of Textiles alumnus with a passion for producing more sustainable and responsible textiles. He is driven to protect the people, wildlife, and resources that make textile production possible by sustainably sourcing and manufacturing textile products with an extended lifespan.
Director, Fleet Services Automation Engineering
Walmart
Joe Daniels has a passion for community building and environmental justice, which are at the intersection of his work in supply chain sustainability. Daniels brings an interdisciplinary research background, developing sustainable solutions to transportation specific problems/challenges/opportunities. Daniels' work supports industry-wide goals of emissions reduction and the transition to a zero emissions supply chain.
Daniels conducted award-winning research on airfield heated pavement systems using solar energy, for which he was awarded the U.S. Secretary of Transportation's R.A.I.S.E. award, published 5 peer-reviewed journal articles, was granted three consecutive Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Research Fellowships. Daniels shared about his work at TEDx.
Under the community building and service mantra "Build Community Through Love", Daniels speaks and leads community projects centered around diversity, equity, and inclusion, racial justice, and community advancement/development.
Senior Specialist, Corporate Social Responsibility
Gartner
Sirisha Karra is a dedicated Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) and Sustainability professional with a passion for driving meaningful change within organizations and communities. Known for her expertise in developing and implementing strategic community impact initiatives, she excels at integrating environmental, social, and governance principles into corporate frameworks. Throughout her career, Karra has demonstrated a deep commitment to fostering sustainable practices that not only meet regulatory requirements but also enhance long-term value for stakeholders. Driven by a vision of a more sustainable future, she actively seeks to connect with like-minded professionals and organizations committed to making a lasting impact.
Co-founder and CEO
Scope Zero
Lizzy Kolar is Co-founder and CEO of Scope Zero, creators of the Carbon Savings Account® (CSA). Think health savings account (HSA), but for home technology and personal transportation upgrades that reduce employee utility bills and corporate scope 3 emissions. Kolar leads Scope Zero’s mission to reduce personal utility bills and fuel expenses by $300 billion per year, removing the carbon emissions equivalent of 125 million cars from the road. Kolar holds a master’s degree in sustainable design engineering from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University.
Global Trade Risk Manager
Owens Corning
David Ledbetter is a 10-year global trade professional with experience across sourcing, logistics, compliance, and risk management in the footwear and building materials industries.
After completing an undergraduate degree in English at Appalachian State and working locally as the Director of Operations for High Country Soccer Association, David returned home to the Charlotte area and began his professional career. As the Associate Director of Sourcing for Shoe Show, Inc David spent time working in China and throughout southeast Asia where he began to develop a passion for labor rights and social compliance.
In 2021 David transitioned to the role of Global Trade and Compliance Manager for Shoe Show, and in 2023, joined Masonite International just ahead of its acquisition by Owens Corning. In his role as Global Trade Risk Manager, David helps to oversee global trade compliance initiatives that include forced labor mitigation, supply chain security, and business partner due diligence.
Chief Executive Officer
EQ Research
Miriam is the CEO of EQ Research, a clean energy policy consulting firm headquartered in Cary, North Carolina. When she is not managing EQ Research's overall business, she serves as an expert witness in utility commission proceedings for clients advocating for electric utilities to integrate more renewable energy, energy storage, and demand response into their resource portfolios. Miriam has over a decade of utility and energy industry experience, most recently as Power Supply Contracts Manager at MCE, California’s first Community Choice Aggregation Program where she managed MCE’s 2018 Energy Storage Request for Offer process. Other experience includes portfolio management for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Company procuring Resource Adequacy capacity and carbon compliance instruments. Before PG&E, Miriam provided customized research for the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) members. Ms. Makhyoun also conducted market intelligence at the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA). In 2011, Miriam obtained an M.S. in Appropriate Technology and an M.B.A. with a concentration in Sustainable Business, from Appalachian State University, where she wrote her thesis, "Economic Analysis of Automotive-derived Engine-Generator Sets as Energy Conversion Systems at Small Landfills," inspired by the Watauga County Landfill Project using this technique.
Executive Director
Camp Grier
Jason has been involved in the outdoor industry professionally for almost 40 years and recreationally his entire life. In 1987, when Jason was 12, his father opened a small outdoor store called Appalachian Outfitters in Greensboro, NC which specialized in backpacking, climbing, and paddling equipment. Mentors were easy to find in this outdoor community and it wasn’t long before Jason found himself on rocks, rivers, and bigger mountains around the world. Jason has a Master’s degree in education and has been a fourth grade teacher, climbing guide, wilderness instructor, and camp director. Since joining Camp Grier in 2013 he has helped lead the organization into an era of expansion and growth by partnering with the USFS and other community based organizations to grow the outdoor economy in Old Fort. These efforts have led to $8M invested in public outdoor recreation infrastructure in Old Fort which is catalyzing more than $75M of nonprofit and impact investments in tourism, workforce development, commercial retail, and workforce housing projects.
Financial Reporting Manager
Truist
As Financial Reporting Manager at Truist, I lead reporting initiatives at the intersection of finance, sustainability, and regulation. My work focuses on financed emissions and sustainability-related regulatory disclosures, ensuring compliance with evolving standards while providing transparency for stakeholders. I partner with cross-functional teams to strengthen data quality and enhance reporting processes.
Former Director of Institutional Development and Innovation
Sustainable Amazon Foundation
Victor Salviati is the former director of institutional development and innovation with the Sustainable Amazon Foundation (SAF). He is a biologist with a Master’s in Sustainable Development and has been working with conservation and financing conservation in the Amazon since 2009. Among his duties at SAF are fundraising, forest monitoring, innovative arrangements for conservation, REDD+, R&D, and public policies. As key ongoing projects, Victor is leading the first-of-its-kind FSC certification for protected areas’ management, designing FAS’ strategy for climate adaptation in isolated riverine communities in the Amazon, and supporting the regulation of the Environmental Services Law in the State of Amazonas.
Sustainability Director
Microsoft
Charlie Sellars is a Director of Sustainability at Microsoft, which pledged to become Carbon Negative, Water Positive, Zero Waste, and Protect Ecosystems by 2030. As one of the youngest directors at the company, he has overseen sustainability for both the Windows & Devices and Cloud Operations portions of Microsoft, helping launch several sustainability-forward products ranging from new Windows PCs with repairable and recycled components to the Ocean Plastic Mouse.
Recognized by IM100 as one of 2024’s top 100 most impactful individuals in the digital infrastructure industry, Charlie also serves as a governing body member of the iMasons Climate Accord, an industry coalition united to decarbonize the digital infrastructure that underpins the next generation of cloud and AI services.
Charlie has previously served as board member and CTO of an impact-focused non-profit, The $100 Solution, which believes that “solutions to big problems start with small steps.” He initially joined this non-profit while studying for his Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics from Williams College, a small liberal arts school nestled in the Berkshire mountains which helped to grow his love for nature.
Charlie is the author of Author of "What We Can Do: A Climate Optimist's Guide to Sustainable Living" Taking a holistic, data-driven view across our Personal, Professional, and Political lives, What We Can Do aims to instill readers with a pragmatic optimism in the fight against climate change. Using a lens of organizational design and modern environmental frameworks, his best-selling book also underscores "how sustainability gets done" by highlighting how every job can be a sustainability job.
Raised outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Charlie is currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Director, Quality Enhancement Plan
Appalachian State University
Dr. Shea Tuberty is the director of Appalachian State University's Quality Enhancement Plan, Pathways to Resilience. Dr. Tuberty teaches Invertebrate Zoology, Ecotoxicology, Fauna of Australasia, Careers in Biological Sciences, Belize Reef and Rainforest Ecology, and the freshman Biological Concepts II courses at ASU. The Tuberty Lab (including high school, undergraduate, & M.S. students) is focused on a great variety of interests related to southeastern ecotoxicology, ecophysiology and aquatic ecology issues. At the root of our efforts is a passion for sustainable management of water resources.
Brian Sibeko-Ngidi
Director
Uthingo Nework
Mr. Brian Sibeko-Ngidi is an accomplished leader with over 13 years of experience in program management, advocacy, and community outreach, specializing in LGBTI rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and peer education. Currently serving as the Director of Uthingo Network, Brian is known for developing and executing strategic initiatives that drive social change and enhance organizational impact. His expertise spans stakeholder engagement, resource mobilization, policy advocacy and financial oversight.
With a Master of Education in Education and Development (Distinction) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Brian combines academic rigor with hands-on experience in leading research projects, capacity building, and technical assistance for implementing partners. He has worked with various organizations, including Matchboxology/PSI, Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, Human Sciences Research Council and Tshwane University of Technology, demonstrating a strong commitment to advancing rights-based approaches.
A Mandela Washington Fellow (2023) and recipient of the Andrew Mellon Fellowship, Brian has contributed to several scholarly publications and conferences on gender, sexuality and human rights. He also serves on advisory boards for key advocacy initiatives and continues to push for inclusive, community-centered programming across Africa.
Director of Sector Development
Mountain BizWorks
Noah serves as Director of Sector Development at Mountain Bizworks, a Community Development Financial institution working to build a vibrant and inclusive entrepreneurial community in Western North Carolina by helping small businesses start, grow, and thrive. In his role there, he leads Mountain BizWorks’ initiatives to expand entrepreneurship and economic opportunity through industry cluster and related place-based development strategies, with a special focus on the Food/Farm, Outdoor Industry, and Craft sectors.
Noah specializes in helping communities and organizations work together to build shared infrastructure and systems, and achieve economic development goals larger than any one organization could tackle alone. As part of this work on collective impact, he has managed numerous infrastructure development projects and programs, including feasibility studies, pilot projects, and both physical and digital product development processes.
He has also planned and facilitated numerous high-level planning retreats and think tanks on behalf of organizations such as the Appalachian Regional Commission, Appalachia Funders Network, NC Biotechnology Center, Sustainable Food Lab, and the Central Appalachian Network.
He has deep knowledge and networks in the outdoor recreation, food/beverage, and craft sectors. He has expanded and supported these industries in Western North Carolina both during his time at AdvantageWest and Mountain BizWorks and through contract work for clients such as the NC Biotechnology Center, Rural Support Partners, the Appalachia Funders Network, the Outdoor Gear Builders of WNC, and the Just Transition Fund.
Director of Planning and Business Development
Destination by Design
Eric is the director of planning and business development at Destination by Design, a multi-disciplinary place-making firm based in Boone, North Carolina. He has worked in planning and economic development for more than twenty years and during his career has assisted more than 150 local government jurisdictions in the fields of land use planning, place-based economic development, open space and greenway planning, downtown revitalization, and place-branding.