STAY TUNED
Call for Abstracts Opens
on March 1, 2023
LEAD THE CONVERSATION Submit an Abstract
Are you an expert in your field at the intersection of carbon, climate, equity, ESG, net zero, or resilience? Submit an abstract by April 20, 2023 to speak at NZ23. There’s never been a more crucial time to lead the conversation on climate action towards a #NetZeroFuture.
Net Zero Conference speakers are selected through a scoring process with our Abstract Review Committee (pictured at the bottom of this page). In 2023 we received a record number of speaker abstract submissions. Due to a large number of submissions and a limited number of speaker slots in our program, we are only able to accept approximately 15% of submissions. This is an extremely competitive acceptance rate, and means we’re unable to accept 85% of submitted abstracts. We encourage all speakers to submit again next year as we plan to continue scaling up the Net Zero Conference in the future. Thank you for your participation in building a #NetZeroFuture!
MEET OUR Keynote Speakers
Alexandra Nagy
California Director, Sunstone Strategies
Alexandra Nagy
California Director, Sunstone Strategies
Alexandra brings over 10 years of issue organizing, advocacy and communications experience on climate, food, water, energy and environmental justice issues in California.
Prior to joining Sunstone Strategies, Alex was the California Director of Food & Water Watch where she spent 10 years developing her skills as an organizer, strategist, coalition builder and communications specialist. Based in Los Angeles, Alex has been working on the front lines to protect communities from the expansion of fossil fuels while advocating a just and equitable clean energy transition. She worked with coalitions to win hard hitting campaigns including securing a California fracking ban, stopping new drilling projects, exposing the nation's worst climate disaster caused by the SoCalGas Aliso Canyon gas blowout, and securing a commitment from Los Angeles to transition LADWP to 100% clean energy by 2035 and 100% electric buses by 2028.
Alex brings her passion for organizing and empowering people to all aspects of her life. Her drive to build strong and resilient communities is a through line in everything she does. Alex holds two BAs in Political Science and Social Ecology from the University of California, Irvine.
Panama Bartholomy
Founder & Executive Director, Building Decarbonization Coalition
Panama Bartholomy
Founder & Executive Director, Building Decarbonization Coalition
Panama is the Director of the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a multi- sector forum advocating for and creating solutions for our pollution-intensive building stock. Previously, Panama was the European Director of the Investor Confidence Project where he worked to unlock capital markets for energy efficiency project development. Panama was the Advisor on Energy and Natural Resources to California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez. He has served as Deputy Director of the California Energy Commission’s Efficiency and Renewables Division and advisor for Chairwomen Douglas and Pfannenstiel. He has worked for the California Conservation Corps on vocational environmental education, and ran the Sustainable Schools program for the Division of the State Architect. Panama served on the City of Sacramento Planning Commission and the County of Sacramento Environmental Commission, and is a former board member on the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and past president of the Northern California Chapter of the USGBC. He has worked on climate solutions in over 30-countries, presented at and collaborated on products from the United Nations, the International Energy Agency and the European Commission.
Diandra Marizet Esparza
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Intersectional Environmentalist
Diandra Marizet Esparza
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Intersectional Environmentalist
Kiana Kazemi
Co-Founder & Programming Director, Intersectional Environmentalist
Kiana Kazemi
Co-Founder & Programming Director, Intersectional Environmentalist
Kiana is also the co-founder and CEO of Beaker, a technology company empowering people with sustainability and ethics data. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 2022, with a degree in Data Science and Environmental Management, focusing on the intersection of technology and environmental justice.
MEET OUR Conference Speakers
Adam Umhoefer
Foundation Executive, Creative Artists Agency
Adam Umhoefer
Foundation Executive, Creative Artists Agency
Adam Umhoefer is an Executive in the CAA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Umhoefer works in the Los Angeles office and serves as a strategic advisor to actors, writers, directors, athletes, executives, and corporations on their philanthropic and pro-social initiatives. He leads the company’s climate and sustainability work, providing opportunities for action and helping inspire a global network of climate activists.
Umhoefer has been instrumental in organizing efforts around climate storytelling, building partnerships with NRDC, the Black List, and the Redford Center for the Climate Storytelling Fellowship which supports screenwriters with grants of $20,000 and six months of mentorship. He also helped launch Good Energy’s Climate Storytelling Playbook which empowers writers by giving backstory into climate science and accountability, in depth tools for climate storytelling, and resources for artistic health and partner opportunities.
Umhoefer serves on the Advisory Board of the Hollywood Climate Summit, an annual multi-day conference that creates a community space for thousands of filmmakers, executives, artists, activists, climate organizations, scientists, and other experts for interactive programming and opportunities to take action on climate. In 2023, Forbes listed Umhoefer as one of the top climate leaders changing the film and TV industry.
Alex Wright Gladstein
Founder and CEO, Sphere
Alex Wright Gladstein
Founder and CEO, Sphere
Alex Wright-Gladstein is the founder and CEO of Sphere. Over 80% of Americans are worried about climate change, but 99% of Americans with retirement savings don’t have the option to make climate-friendly investments. Sphere makes values-aligned investing available to everyone with the AtmoSphere platform, which helps organizations understand the climate impact of their retirement plans, and with fund products that make it easy to add climate-friendly options to existing plan lineups. Prior to founding Sphere, Alex was founding CEO of Ayar Labs, an MIT technology spinout that has raised $200M in venture funding and makes data centers and supercomputers faster and more energy efficient by using light to move data between chips. She has also been the energy entrepreneurship practice leader at MIT and an energy efficiency program manager at smart grid company EnerNOC (now Enel X). She received an MBA from MIT and a BA in Political Science and Economics from Tufts University.
Ali Weinstein
Co-Founder, Hollywood Climate Summit
Ali Weinstein
Co-Founder, Hollywood Climate Summit
Ali Weinstein (she/her) is a queer TV writer, climate storytelling consultant and activist. She co-founded and is an EP of the Hollywood Climate Summit and its annual programs: the Climate Ambassadors Network and Writing Climate Pitchfest. Ali was recently showcased in The Hollywood Reporter for her role as Director of Programming for this year’s event. As a writer, she firmly believes every story is a climate story, which is evident in her previous work on NBC’s “Law & Order: For the Defense”, Netflix’s “Glamorous”, the upcoming AMC's “Orphan Black: Echoes”, and the Web3 video game, "Wildcard". She has been featured in the Atlantic and Forbes for her climate storytelling efforts in Hollywood.
Alisha McFetridge
Co-Founder and CEO, Rainstick
Alisha McFetridge
Co-Founder and CEO, Rainstick
Alissa Feucht
Senior Sustainability Strategist, Glumac
Alissa Feucht
Senior Sustainability Strategist, Glumac
Alissa Feucht, a Senior Sustainability Strategist for Glumac, brings more than 15 years of experience in mechanical design, LEED project review, energy analysis, and commissioning. She assists clients in determining how to reach their sustainability goals and certifications such as LEED, Living Building Challenge, WELL or Fitwel. Alissa has co-authored papers about energy analysis in integrated design and passive design, in addition to presenting at ASHRAE, Living Future and the ASES Solar conferences. Her portfolio includes Seattle-area tech client offices; the LEED Gold REI Headquarters, later bought by Facebook; high-rise residential facilities; Seattle’s Lumen Field; and the Marine Research and Education Center in St. Croix, which targeted Living Building Challenge and LEED Platinum certification. She holds a degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech and is Glumac’s lead Living Building Challenge expert. In her free time, you can find her scaling mountains around the Pacific Northwest and volunteering with search and rescue crews.
Allison Bain
Global Lead, Ecosystem Asset Sales, PUR
Allison Bain
Global Lead, Ecosystem Asset Sales, PUR
Allison Bain (Global Lead, Ecosystem Asset Sales, PUR) is a strategic consultant and sustainability expert, specializing in impact investing, business development, program management, and client relations. In her career, she has supported many purpose-driven social enterprises in their goals for impact and profitability — helping them to revise business models, measure their results, implement strategic sustainability initiatives, and prepare for investment. At PUR, she works with clients to build successful agroforestry and mangrove restoration NbS projects focused on carbon sequestration.
Allyson Chavira
Sustainability Project Manager, OKTA
Allyson Chavira
Sustainability Project Manager, OKTA
Ally Chavira is a Sustainability Project Manager for Okta, focusing on Sustainability Certifications and food & waste programs for Okta offices, globally. In her previous role she led the Embodied Carbon Tracking and ESG Rating program for Webcor Builders General Contractors. She has worked onsite as a Senior Project Engineer, and was a US Military officer with 10 years of service.
Alyce Smith Cooper
Community Growth, Preservation and Arts Advocate
Alyce Smith Cooper
Community Growth, Preservation and Arts Advocate
Alyce Smith Cooper, has worn many hats on this life journey, and values the love of GOD and how that love has shown up for her. As a registered nurse, a minister of the gospel, a storyteller, a poet laureate for the Veteran’s Museum of Balboa Park, and producer of TV programming for over 20 years, Alyce has found that the common denominator for these experiences is loving communication. She has learned how to communicate in love and watched that force of love change the atmosphere and manifest wonderful results. There are many avenues to abundant life. I want to offer you the tools I have learned to achieve your vision.
Amanda Atkinson
Vice President of Sustainable Services, Holder Construction
Amanda Atkinson
Vice President of Sustainable Services, Holder Construction
Amanda Atkinson (LEED Fellow, WELL AP, LFA) is Vice President of Sustainable Services for Holder Construction. Amanda has 20 years of overall experience in the construction industry and pioneered Holder Construction’s efforts to assist clients and partners in exceeding their sustainability goals. Through support of 200+ projects in her career, she has greatly influenced the sustainable building impacts of universities, airports, hotels, data centers, and many Fortune 500 companies. Amanda sets the vision and implements sustainable practices for Holder, a large commercial construction-management firm. She provides industry leadership through her involvement in the Sustainable Construction Leaders network, the USGBC Georgia Market Leadership Advisory Board and as co-chair of the Carbon Leadership Forum’s Atlanta Hub.
Amie Nulman
Associate Principal & Structural Engineer, Arup
Amie Nulman
Associate Principal & Structural Engineer, Arup
Amie Nulman is a Structural Engineer and Associate Principal in the Buildings team in the Los Angeles office of Arup, a global engineering and planning consulting firm. Amie has over 20 years of experience designing and overseeing construction of complex structures around the world. In addition to structural engineering, Amie project manages multi-disciplinary engineering teams on large building projects across various markets including commercial, arts and culture and government.
This year Amie took over the Government Business leader role for Arup in the western US. She supports our projects, clients and collaborators across many jurisdictions and entities with a particular focus on the Department of General Services, the Judicial Council of California, the General Services Administration, and the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations.
Amie has a keen interest in working mindfully with owners, architects, engineers and contractors to develop holistic, simple and elegant design solutions. This is evident in her current and recent structures including the Wrapper Tower, the Audrey Irmas Pavilion on the Wilshire Boulevard Temple campus, and Phase III of the California Science Center, also known as the permanent home for the Space Shuttle Endeavour.