Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is the chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and president of Waterkeeper Alliance. He is also a clinical professor and supervising attorney at Pace University School of Law’s Environmental Litigation Clinic and is co-host of Ring of Fire on Air America Radio. Earlier in his career he served as assistant district attorney in New York City, and has worked on several political campaigns including the presidential campaigns of Edward M. Kennedy, Al Gore and John Kerry. His reputation as a resolute defender of the environment stems from a litany of successful legal actions. Mr. Kennedy was named one of Time magazine's “Heroes for the Planet” for his success helping Riverkeeper lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. The group's achievement helped spawn more than 130 Waterkeeper organizations across the globe. Kennedy earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia, a Master of Laws from Pace University, and a bachelor’s in American History and Literature from Harvard University.
Roian Atwood is the director of sustainability for VF Jeanswear, which includes Wrangler and Lee Jeans, among other brands. Atwood leads brand sustainability strategy, engages suppliers globally to drive greater social and environmental performance, and works cross functionally with product development and marketing to create more sustainable products and share brand relevant stories. With 15 years of experience in footwear and apparel sustainability, his diverse project management background includes implementing renewables and discovering energy efficiency measures to project managing materials innovation pilots and leading teams into an action-oriented, results-driven approach to corporate sustainability. Atwood earned his Master’s in Environmental Management from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and a B.A. in Complex Systems from Naropa University.
Philip Henson is senior manager of energy and environmental sustainability for HanesBrands, a socially responsible clothing manufacturer and marketer based in Winston-Salem, NC. Henson, whose textile manufacturing career spans 25 years with HanesBrands and predecessor companies, helps lead engineering, energy demand, environmental sustainability and safety activities for Hanes. Henson has been involved in a breadth of traditional facility engineering functions at the site, regional and corporate level and is an ambassador for sustainability. Henson has helped elevate the level of energy management, energy data analysis and reporting, and environmental stewardship to internal and external stakeholders. He is an active participant within the ENERGY STAR industrial partner’s network and has helped Hanes leverage this partnership to improve company energy performance and garner US EPA ENERGY STAR award recognition for the past eight years. Henson earned his Master of Arts in Sustainability from Wake Forest University and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University.
Andrew Hutson is Senior Director of the Fishery Solutions Center at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he leads the Oceans program’s science, fisheries management design, capacity building, and market-based interventions work. Before joining the Fishery Solutions Center, Andrew spent eight years with EDF’s Corporate Partnerships Program, where he opened the organization’s office in Bentonville, Arkansas. As the director of global value chain initiatives, he led the development and implementation of value chain strategies to reduce the impacts of trade and commerce on ecosystems. He received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from UNC-Chapel Hill and holds a Master’s in Environmental Management (MEM) from Duke University. He graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in International Relations.
Bob Inglis was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1992, having never run for office before. He represented Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, from 1993-1998, unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings in 1998, and then returned to the practice of commercial real estate law in Greenville, S.C. In 2004, he was re-elected to Congress and served until losing re-election in the South Carolina Republican primary of 2010.
In 2011, Inglis went full-time into promoting free enterprise action on climate change and launched the Energy and Enterprise Initiative (“E&EI”) at George Mason University in July 2012. E&EI is a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt, educational outreach that lives to demonstrate the power of accountable free enterprise. E&EI believes that climate change can be solved by eliminating all subsidies, including the implicit subsidy of the lack of accountability for emissions. By creating a level playing field in which all costs are transparently “in” on all fuels,
E&EI believes that the free enterprise system will deliver innovation faster than government regulations could ever imagine. E&EI supports an online community of energy optimists and climate realists at republicEn.org. You can say you’re “En” on free enterprise solutions to climate change at republicEn.org. For his work on climate change Inglis was given the 2015 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. He appears in the film Merchants of Doubt and in the Showtime series YEARS of Living Dangerously (episodes 3 and 4), and he spoke at TEDxJacksonville (watch). Inglis was a Resident Fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics in 2011, a Visiting Energy Fellow at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment in 2012, and a Resident Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics in 2014.
Inglis grew up in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, went to Duke University for college, met and married his college sweetheart, graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law and practiced commercial real estate law in Greenville, S.C., before and between his years in Congress. Bob and Mary Anne Inglis have five children (a son, 30, and four daughters, 27, 25, 21 and 19). They live on a small farm in northern Greenville County, South Carolina.
A leader in the field of sustainability, Sarah is on the Board of Directors of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, an author on topics related to ecological integrity, ecosystem valuation, and improving supply chain sustainability. She is a Managing Director with The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) where her work focuses on directing research projects, developing implementation programs, and building stakeholder relationships in order to drive the development and use of TSC products and services. Sarah holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Dynamics, a Master of Arts in French, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology and French Secondary Education. An award-winning educator, having received a NASDAQ National Teaching Award, Sarah is an Adjunct Professor, having taught Environmental Sociology and currently serving on a number of graduate student committees. She is an active and recognized leader in her community. She has served as a board member of the Illinois River Watershed Partnership, served a 4-year term as an elected official on the Fayetteville, Arkansas City Council, and is currently a board member of the Walton Arts Center.